February 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Thread

[Mark Cooper]

By my count, 37 participants reported for our first February 2020 MWL weigh-in! If I neglected to include anyone, or you notice an error in the tally, please let me know (via PM so we can keep the thread as tidy as possible).

Here are the results for the 1st Friday in February:

Week ending 2/7/2020: 37 participants reported a total loss of -28.50 pounds
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Wstokes +2.00
Pootsy +1.60
Jiffy +1.40
Etoirocks +1.10
Deweyswakms +1.00
Johnatmh +0.80
VegSeekingFit +0.60
Colleenaprn +0.50
FoodisFuel +0.40
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Total gains: +9.40
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NO CHANGE / MAINTAIN / STARTING OUT
Alishana 0.00
Butterfly043 0.00
Carrieann 0.00
Frowsyowl Start Week
Kirstykay No Access To Scale
Pradeepa 0.00
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Michele613 -0.20
NomeOslo -0.40
Lbell -0.50
Rlechols -0.50
LeahMT -0.70
Pbnew -0.80
Ltolar -1.00
MaryP -1.00
Moonlight -1.00
SherryW -1.00
Stormy -1.00
VGuzman -1.00
Abe -1.20
Drew* -1.40
Miss Meta -2.00
Stillcrazy -2.00
JaBee -2.40
Laurag -3.00
BlackBeanSoup -3.40
Chaz01 -4.20
MonicaHolly -4.20
RacingSnake108 -5.00
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Total losses: -37.90
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Cumulative group loss for February 2020: -28.50 pounds
Average loss for 1st week of February 2020: -0.77 pounds
Cumulative group loss for January 2020: 384.15 pounds

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, February 14, 2020

I want to take a moment to laud everyone who chose to participate in the MWL group this week, both continuing group members and our new faces! Pat yourself on the back for taking action to make positive changes in your life! Those of you who jumped aboard as a New Year’s Resolution, your resolve has borne you six weeks into the year! Way to go!

Reading through all of this week’s weigh-in reports, I took note that several people directly felt the benefit of the accountability provided by participating in this group and the weekly weigh-in. For others, unexpected feedback from the scale left them feeling a bit disappointed or discouraged. I thought it would be worthwhile to review the reasoning and research behind the weekly weigh-in - Jeff’s post To Weigh or Not to Weigh covers this in detail.

Adding self-weighing to a behavioural weight loss programme may improve weight loss. Behavioural weight loss programmes that include self-weighing are more effective than minimal interventions. Accountability may improve the effectiveness of interventions that include self-weighing.

Is self-weighing an effective tool for weight loss: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2015 Aug 21;12:104. doi: 10.1186/s12966-015-0267-4

Of course, just weighing ourselves each week, without attending to the behaviors that lead to weight loss, will undoubtedly be ineffective, as demonstrated in the review referenced above.

If you want to lose weight and maintain that weight loss permanently, your main focus needs to be on eating well consistently over time. But tracking your weight (whether you want to weigh yourself once a day, once a week, or once a month) has been shown to be a very helpful and effective practice.

I think it is valuable to keep in mind that it is the behaviors (outlined in the MWL 10-Point Checklist) that will actually deliver the results we are seeking, one of which being a reduction in weight. The data we receive from weigh-ins is useful feedback to encourage us or help us become aware of a need for stricter adherence, but any single week's scale result isn't what determines our level of success, now or in the future.

Keep in mind that while not all weight changes or fluctuations are due to an increase of fat (most are due to fluid/water), it is still valuable to notice them because they help you to see the impact of what you are eating. For instance, you will be able to see the impact of anything that is high in salt on your weight fluctuations. If you went out to eat at a restaurant and gained 1-3 lbs, you know that food was very high in salt.

We can learn something from whatever information the scale sends our way, when we consider it in the light of our patterns of behavior. I would encourage you to take a moment to read Jeff's full article, which presents evidence from several systematic reviews and long-term studies. Keep getting on the scale each week (provided you are able to access one ) and importantly keep taking actions that are congruent with your goals.

[moonlight]

Thank you, Mark, for the links to JeffN’s discussion on the benefit of weekly weighing. On a similar topic, could you please confirm something for me? I can’t find where I read this... When following the MWL plan, should we expect to lose 1% of our body weight weekly, if we’re meeting all 10 points each day?
Thanks!

[Mark Cooper]

Thank you, Mark, for the links to JeffN’s discussion on the benefit of weekly weighing. On a similar topic, could you please confirm something for me? I can’t find where I read this... When following the MWL plan, should we expect to lose 1% of our body weight weekly, if we’re meeting all 10 points each day?
Thanks!

One percent per week on average over time is considered safely attainable, Jeff discusses it in this post.

Weighing yourself on a scale, as I mentioned above on a weekly basis is the best method to tell if you are in a negative calorie balance. On average, you should be able to safely and healthfully lose about 1% of your weight a week and maybe even more. That is an average over time and some weeks will be better and some weeks will be less. While it may not seem like much, if you multiply the number out by 12 weeks or 24 weeks or 52 weeks, this could be 24, 48 or 100 lbs lost.

[MaryP]

Interesting article about whether to weigh or not. I have always weighed myself every morning. Not having access to a scales for so long will be an interesting experiment. Not having one hasn't tempted me to be non compliant. It does have me fearing if I am doing the right thing with nothing to gauge my progress other than how I look in a mirror or how my clothes feel.

There was a question as to whether we can expect to lose 1% of our body weight a week. Maybe that should be clarified based on my own experience. Many things other than what we eat contribute to our weight like our gender, our age, our health picture and our genetics. In January, I feel like I adhered to the points at least 95% of the time, only eating tofu once and eating a total of 6 corn tortillas during the month. I didn't eat any oil or sugar. I ate a salad or soup or fruit before every meal, followed the 50/50 plate rule and got at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. And yet I only lost 6 pounds. I should have lost almost 10 pounds.

Because of all the variables contributing to weight loss, I have not set a weight loss goal. Instead, I have set health goals. Mostly I want to get off my medications. I am hopeful this will be possible with adherence to the program and eventual weight loss. It may take me a couple of years but I think it will happen! I remain optimistic. If for no other reason, I would like to show my doctor it can happen with a plant based diet!

[Mark Cooper]

MaryP - I think you make a useful point. How quickly and easily we are able to lose weight is influenced by myriad factors, and to my best understanding we have agency over only two of those contributing elements - our food choices (most importantly) and our level of activity. Some people are able to consume a somewhat more calorie dense diet and still lose (or maintain) weight; it seems to me this is often because they are either quite active or they are predisposed to need a more modest volume of food to feel satiated. Volume eaters, like myself, might not feel full without eating significantly more each day, and consequently need to lower the overall calorie density of their diet to lose weight (or maintain a healthy weight). I think your decision not to have a specific weight loss goal is quite wise, especially if you find the health goals you are working toward to be motivating. Concentrating on changing our daily behaviors to those that are health-promoting, and then maintaining those changes until they are habituated is the path that will lead us to where we want to be. In my own case, my doctor was able to discontinue BP medications after about 6 months, and he was absolutely shocked! I don't think the average general practitioner is at all accustomed to patients actually improving their health via lifestyle changes. I share this with you not to suggest a timeline for results, but to affirm your optimism that it can be achievable.

[deweyswakms]

Sunday Feb 9, 2020

Morning all. I agree with Mary P about myriad factors affect rate of weight loss. I am now 73 and now my weight loss is slow, but also steady. I usually post the last few weeks of my weigh-in #s because it helps me see that even a small loss (.-4) is STILL a loss and consistent with prior weigh-ins.

Truly the behavior change and steady routines are the keys to my success.

I like what everybody posts; it helps ME stay the course!

Marsha

[MaryP]

We were moved to a sister resort because of some problems in our unit. This one has a weight room with a scales so I was able to weigh myself.

Lost 1 lb.
Weight: 215

Not as good as I hoped. But I'll take it.

[chaz01]

I wanted to offer my thoughts on the weekly weigh-in process. In all honesty, I was a bit skeptical in joining this group because I thought weekly weigh-in would a waste of time and perhaps even counter-productive. After all, the results I am looking for have more to do with behavior and habit change - I want to see weight loss as a result of those changes rather than focus on the weight loss itself. But after going through process this 4 or 5 times now, I've completely reversed my opinion. Weighing-in publicly each week, as imperfect as the scales may be (see more about this below), is forcing me to evaluate my progress and analyze what I've done right and wrong on a weekly basis. It also providing me a powerful motivator to stay on track and/or get back on track when I've started to stray. If I'm committed to posting my weight publicly each week, I want to do the very best I possibly can.

Having said that, I know we have daily weight fluctuations that can skew any one weighing one way or another. I was curious how much my weight fluctuates day to day, so last week I took a different approach and weighed in virtually every single day. I'm not that preoccupied with the actual numbers, but I was really curious to see how my weight goes up and down. And to mix things up, I weighed in at the same scale at my health club, but at different times of the day wearing different types of clothes (sometimes street clothes, sometimes lighter exercise gear). I was expected some swings, but I was even surprised at the results.

I saw a difference of 7.2 lbs between my high weight for the week and my lowest weight recorded for the week. But more importantly, these two readings occurred only two days apart, and both of them were taken at the same time of day wearing similar clothes! Interestingly enough, the beginning weight for week and the ending weight reported in this forum both were in between these two values.

The lesson I learned is you can't really take too much stock in any one reading, as it might easily be skewed a couple pounds in either direction. It's the overall trend over several weeks or even months that we should be focusing on.

I don't know if this is scientifically accurate or not, but I like to think I have two "weights" - a "true weight" and my "actual weight". My true weight is the measure of my muscle and fat density that I want to improve, while my actual weight is going to fluctuate up or down around my true weight depending on hundred of factors (hydration levels, time of day, last meal eaten, etc.) that have nothing to do with my true weight. Although the scale will accurately measure my actual weight, using it to try and determine my true weight is kind of analogous to using a globe to find a specific street address in another city - it can tell you the general direction you should be headed, but it's far too vague at that level to find an exact street address.

Hope this helps,

Chuck

Reading through all of this week’s weigh-in reports, I took note that several people directly felt the benefit of the accountability provided by participating in this group and the weekly weigh-in. For others, unexpected feedback from the scale left them feeling a bit disappointed or discouraged. I thought it would be worthwhile to review the reasoning and research behind the weekly weigh-in - Jeff’s post To Weigh or Not to Weigh covers this in detail.

Adding self-weighing to a behavioural weight loss programme may improve weight loss. Behavioural weight loss programmes that include self-weighing are more effective than minimal interventions. Accountability may improve the effectiveness of interventions that include self-weighing.

[Mark Cooper]

MaryP - I've updated the summary for the week to include your report. Congratulations on a nice loss! Keep in mind that those gradual, consistent losses can accumulate - at the rate of 1 lb/week, a year from now one would find themselves 52 lbs lighter! The goal here is to learn how to apply the MWL principles in our daily behaviors, make those health-promoting behaviors into habits, and, ultimately, become confident in our ability to continue that lifestyle under a wide range of different circumstances and environments. If we can do that successfully, the weight loss will inevitably follow.

Chuck -

After all, the results I am looking for have more to do with behavior and habit change - I want to see weight loss as a result of those changes rather than focus on the weight loss itself.

I think that point-of-view is very sensible and beneficial!

My own weight also fluctuates a surprising amount on any given day - I recently posted the following, in response to a discussion in the maintenance group -

I weigh myself everyday. I've tried once a month, once a week, and everyday; the best fit for me is daily weigh-ins smoothed out by a 7 day rolling average which really helps me to view data from the scale as just one of several metrics that I value in evaluating my status. My day-to-day weight tends to bounce around quite a bit (I imagine it is because I consume such a significant volume of food) but the rolling average stays remarkably stable and has actually been trending slightly downward from what I assumed was my maintenance weight over time.

I went back and checked my weigh-in log for the week and there was a fluctuation of nearly 5 lbs between the highest reading and the lowest, but my rolling average as of today is nearer the bottom number than the top.

The lesson I learned is you can't really take too much stock in any one reading, as it might easily be skewed a couple pounds in either direction. It's the overall trend over several weeks or even months that we should be focusing on.

I tend to agree with you, with the caveat that, as Jeff says in the above linked article, a given weigh-in result can provide valuable information about the impact of the specific foods one is eating (e.g. the effect of foods high in salt).

[Aprincess]

Hello All,

I have a confession to make. I’ve gone off the rails again and haven’t been posting my weight. I’m not sure what the weight was when i did post it last time. I think it was about 203 something. Well, this morning I got on the scale and was scared straight. It was 207! Instead of beating myself up, I’m going to go back to the 10 point checklist, read it about 5 times over and get back at this. I’m not sure why I do this to myself but all I can do is keep trying. Thanks for listening!

~ Amy

[chaz01]

Here's a question I've often pondered that's related to this discussion. I'll pick Thanksgiving dinner for sake of an example, as that is typically a large meal for many people, but the same question would apply to to any meal we eat.

Let's assume someone weighs in immediately before Thanksgiving dinner, and then proceeds to sit down and eat 3 lbs of "food". If they weighed-in immediately after the meal is consumed, the immediate net impact on their weight would be an increase of 3 lbs, right? In other words, if a 200 lb person eats 3 lbs of food and immediately weighs themselves, I would expect them to weigh 203 lbs after the meal is consumed.

Of course, how much of that 3 lbs of food is converted into energy and/or converted into fat and/or digested and expelled depends on the composition of the food that was consumed. Did they eat 3 lbs of turkey and mashed potatoes or 3 lbs of baked sweet potatoes or 3 lbs of cheese cake, pumpkin pie and deserts? Naturally, I would expect the longer term impact on weight to be completely dependent on the composition of those 3 lbs of food and the amount of calories in the meal.

My question, how long does that digestive process take for that 3 lbs of food to be processed and digested, with the excess calories being converted into fat? Does that take a couple of hours, a day or can that take multiple days for that to complete? Another way of pointing it, when does that 3 lbs of immediate weight gain return back to a new "normal" for that person?

I tend to agree with you, with the caveat that, as Jeff says in the above linked article, a given weigh-in result can provide valuable information about the impact of the specific foods one is eating (e.g. the effect of foods high in salt).

[chaz01]

Hi Amy,

First, I'm glad you're back on track and have a positive attitude. Hopefully your situation was just a temporary set-back that will help you make better decisions this time around.

I think your situation is a great example that directly relates to the thread we've been having on the benefits/problems of using the scale to measure our progress. Maybe you really did gain 4 lbs, But on the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised if at least some of that extra weight is just temporary fluctuations that will go away on it's own.

The point is that I wouldn't be too concerned over any one scale reading!

Hello All,

I have a confession to make. I’ve gone off the rails again and haven’t been posting my weight. I’m not sure what the weight was when i did post it last time. I think it was about 203 something. Well, this morning I got on the scale and was scared straight. It was 207! Instead of beating myself up, I’m going to go back to the 10 point checklist, read it about 5 times over and get back at this. I’m not sure why I do this to myself but all I can do is keep trying. Thanks for listening!

~ Amy

[Mark Cooper]

Amy - I'm glad you aren't planning on "beating yourself up," and I think returning to and reviewing the MWL 10-Point Checklist is exactly the right idea. If you are able, you might also want to consider taking some time to try to really think through the chain of events that sent you "off the rails." In my personal experience, if I could figure out a specific area of pressure under which my plans and strategies became fragile and vulnerable, then I was often able to alter my preparation and routines to account for that pressure. Just to give you a slightly different point-of-view, at 207 you are still (I believe) 3 lbs lighter than you were on January 1st; keep trying, be kind to yourself, and concentrate on making the "next right choice."

Chuck - For a VERY thorough review of the digestive process from start to finish, I would recommend this post from Jeff. (Although it is an article outlining why we needn't worry about food combining, it provides a thorough examination of the process of digestion).

This post more specifically and succinctly gives a general answer to your question.

Digestion time is influenced by many factors none of which is whether the food came from an animal or a plant.

There are many phases to digestion (mouth, stomach, small intestine, large intestine), however, in regard to the stomach, carbohydrates spend the least amount of time in the stomach, while protein stays in the stomach longer, and fats the longest. Total time in the stomach is estimated to be between an hour or two but can be as quick as 30 minutes for simpler carbs and up to 4 hours for high fat foods/meals.

The rest of the process can take up to 12-24 hours in a healthy person consuming a healthy high water, high fiber diet and up to several days in someone who is not.

On a somewhat related note, I recall from past weeks that some group participants had commented or asked questions about feeling very hungry during their intial period of MWL adherence and some later discussion of a "drop-off" in the level of hunger. This discussion speaks to that topic.

In my experience it is not a common occurrence when the principles are followed. Problem is, lots of misunderstandings of the principles, especially in the beginning. We rarely see this at the residential programs.

However, several reasons why it can happen...

- the recommended food has a much lower calorie density and it takes about 30-50% more volume/weight of food to get the same calories.

- the recommended food is very high in bulk, water & fiber, which makes the above difficult for some in the beginning.

- most people come from a diet much higher in fat & much lower in fiber and so making the adjustment takes time.

- A higher fat diet is not as satiating but has a slower digestion time. A higher fiber diet is much more satiating but has a quicker digestion time and so we may be hungrier sooner in the beginning, while we adjust to this.

[Aprincess]

Thanks so much Chuck and Mark. January 1st I made the decision to stop eating sugar “things”. I know for me one cookie can set off cravings that won’t be denied until I satisfy them. So, at the end of January, we celebrated my daughter’s 34th birthday at an Italian restaurant. So, there was white pasta, whatever is in their sauce, along with mushrooms, peppers and onions. I thought that wouldn’t be too bad given that it was a special occasion. Then the cake came out. I honestly believe it was the cake that set me off. I did later have a discussion with my husband and daughter suggesting we need to find other ways of celebrating things that don’t involve food. This past weekend we went to my nephew’s 7th birthday. Oh yeah, I couldn’t stay out of the chips, and then of course, cake. Ugh... I think I will just stop socializing altogether. Lol

[MaryP]

How smart, Amy, to nip a slip at the start. We have all been there. With me, I would let months go by without starting back on program and of course I would have gained a lot of weight back. You have recognized your need to be on program right away. You can be proud of yourself!