Ren1999 - Welcome! How was your first day of "cold turkey" following the MWL 10-Point Checklist? MWL is designed for establishing a pattern of behavior and a way of living that produces steady, healthy, and lasting weight loss; it should serve you well
irrespective of your past history with dieting. I'm glad your friend pointed you toward this group & pleased to have you "on board."
Miss Kim - I wish your son a full and easy recovery; enjoy the visit, it's great that you are able to help him recuperate. I'm sure your husband is pleased to be almost off crutches. Let me applaud your success in deciding not to indulge in those M&Ms that were tempting you.
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And it looks like you did a pretty great job adhering to the MWL 10-Point Checklist generally, even with the change in location. Have a great week, have fun, keep it up, and keep working at it!
squealcat - That sounds like a very challenging few days!!! What a bummer to have to pitch that prepped food.
squealcat wrote:Most of the MWL points were a problem for me the past 3 days. I realize that I must learn to not turn my back on those in the future. If this is my life now, I need to see this way of eating as an easy way to eat even when life changes very quickly around and I suddenly am in the dark with no power.
That feels significant and is a valuable insight to extract from this week's obstacles. I imagine you have seen these already, but here are Jeff's
resources and
basic principles for Dining Out, in case you're faced with a similar situation in the future.
jasonrhoads1 - Family bike rides and swimming!! That sounds like great fun! It is SO true - much easier to get the food (and associated behaviors) right, than trying to "out exercise" counterproductive choices. Sounds like that shopping trip has you well-positioned for a successful week to come.
Rufus_519 - Anything in particular contribute to making this week a rough one? As you observe, behaviors to which we aren't attending can get out of control pretty easily. Learn what you can from any recent challenges, then put them behind you and focus on making your very next choice congruent with your goals.
Zoey - Doing fine, apart from a single day's deviations is worth taking note. Those "good reminders" of reasons to abstain when recognized and remembered can be quite motivating, I think. It seems great that, in general, you are feeling more "under control," that is always a nice feeling.
carwex -
carwex wrote:I realize now that my problem was that I was not paying attention to the MWL- AS IT IS WRITTEN. When I re-read the 10 principles I saw that except for #3 and #8 I really did not adhere to the rest of the principles.
This underlies what Mark is always harping on- Rather than worrying about the weight loss., we need to direct our attention to the appropriate food behaviours outlined in the 10 principles. Losing weight is the result of adhering to these principles.
This has been a learning experience.
That's exactly why I continue to harp on it!
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Seriously, good for you turning a challenging week into an important lesson - it seems to me those subjective learning experiences are absolutely part of the process. Thanks for the potato recipe - YUMMM!
Lakegirl - Another good week, another consistent loss!
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I'm glad you enjoyed the cauliflower mashed potatoes; parsnips sound lovely. Consciously continuing to make time for preparation, follow your plan, and remind yourself to enact the appropriate behaviors is exactly the path that leads to making those activities automatic habits. Well done! I realize that from the outside my lifestyle and adherence to MWL can appear to be easy; I sincerely hope participants don't feel as though I'm judging them, or that I think less of anyone for struggling. As you can see from my own journal, I battled against the same challenges and difficulties as many here, and it took a significant amount of time before the most important lessons really "sunk in;" I have nothing but empathy for how difficult it can feel to make these changes in behavior. In the end, the answer is the same - do the best you are able to put the behaviors outlined in the MWL 10-Point Checklist into practice. From my perspective, eliminating temptation (before behaviors are habituated) nearly always makes things easier; but, hiding troublesome foods away has been effective for some. One question to ask yourself with respect to keeping those foods, or giving them away - are you planning to eat them eventually? Whatever you decide, be sure to take note of the result, and what it tells you.
courtneywagasky - Feeling very good is pretty important and worth acknowledging! The last bit of weight is always the most difficult to lose, for all the reasons Jeff explains
here. A given pattern of behavior produces an associated equilibrium; the way we change the level of that equilibrium is by changing the pattern of behavior.
Tian-De - Awesome! From my perspective, the shift in mentality you describe is crucial to long term, enduring success in practicing this WOE.
This thread discussing the misunderstandings and misinterpretations around "set point" theory has a post that really made things click for me.
JeffN wrote:I would argue that the set point theory may exist but not as commonly believed. That our weight is not the result of a certain predetermined number that our body fights to maintain but that our weight is the result of our maintaining an environment and a certain set of behaviors (diet, activity, etc) in a "zone" that we are most comfortable with. If we change these behaviors (the difficult part), we change the resulting weight and/or set point. Granted, this is not easy, but can be done. So, the question is, are we returning to a certain number/weight, or are we returning to a certain set of behaviors that result in that weight?
Did everyone's set point rise dramatically in the last 25 years? Or is this the result of a change in the environment and the behaviors related to energy balance including an increase in the availability of inexpensive calorie dense food, and a environment that encourages a sedentary lifestyle?
JaBee - Way to go! 9/10 is great! Just keep working at it, keep paying attention and #9 may take care of itself.
Lucas - Kudos! It sounds like your week went pretty well! Putting in that time for food prep is a great idea and should be a real help - as you say, no excuses if the food is ready to go. An evening walk seems like it could be a wonderful addition to almost anyone's day. Enjoy!
Moonlight - I think that is fabulous! Consistent, steadily improving adherence yields steadily improving results. Keep on that path of steady improvement, doing the best you can. Is there anything you could change in your environment that might make reaching for that bread more difficult or effortful to do?