April 2021 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[Mark Cooper]

Please note - I replied to each participant individually in the two lengthy posts linked below, provided that their reports followed the guidelines for weigh-ins.

Mark's Replies for April 2 - Part 1
Mark's Replies for April 2 - Part 2

By my count, 25 participants reported for our first April 2021 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, or in a post here if you cannot PM).

Here are the results for the first Friday in April:

Week ending 4/2/2021: 25 participants reported a total loss of -19.50 pounds
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Cliv +4.00
CindyD +0.70
Gimmelean +0.40
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Total gains: +5.10
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NO CHANGE / MAINTAIN / STARTING OUT
birdy birdy 0.00
Josietheschnauzer 0.00
Krebolledo 0.00
RebeccaF 0.00
SatyaPrem 0.00
Trishe 0.00
Vicmor104 0.00
--------------------------------------------------
Cmcavazos -0.20
PonysPlants -0.40
GreenFroG -0.60
JaBee -0.80
Chef16 -1.00
HoustonJason -1.00
Noella -1.00
Texaslil -1.20
Kakapo_chick -2.20
Squealcat -2.30
Anne57 -2.40
Bunsofaluminum -2.50
PotatoHead1980 -2.60
Rachael -2.60
Rebecka22 -3.80
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Total losses: -24.60
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Cumulative group loss for April 2021 to date: 19.50 pounds
Average loss for week ending April 2: 0.78 pounds
Cumulative group loss for January 2021: 117.20 pounds
Cumulative group loss for February 2021: 39.40 pounds
Cumulative group loss for March 2021: 73.20 pounds
--------------------------------------------------

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, April 9, 2021.

My congratulations to everyone participating in our initial April check-in! I salute your efforts toward maintaining a pattern of behavior that delivers healthy, sustainable weight loss.

Since we have several new members joining the group, this seems like an appropriate occasion to share a few favorite articles and posts relevant to our mutual goals here. These are all favorites of mine, and definitely worth your time.

The Road to Success: Creating Healthy Habits

Simplicity: The Key to Health!

Passive Overconsumption: The Unintended Intake of Excess Calories

I think Jeff's article, Hedge Your Health!, is particularly applicable to the question of making decisions when dining out, and whether we ought to allow ourselves "exceptions."

Dr. Lisle's Three Top Tips for Dietary Success stresses the importance of being able to reliably produce healthy, adherent, delicious meals for ourselves. I think Jeff's fast and easy recipes offer a great structure for meeting that challenge, particularly when using the "conveyor belt" method.

To start, whenever you cook a meal, batch cook it. Make 2 - 3x (or more) of what you need. Whether it is plain oatmeal, pasta, rice, beans, potatoes, or meals like lasagna, Mexican chili, soup, Indian curry, my FF Burgers, etc.

Then, consume part of that for your meal. Put a part of it in the fridge and part in the freezer. If you are hungry, you can eat more of what is in the fridge or make something new.

The next day, you do this again. Keep doing this for about 5-7 days.

Now, you have been well fed for these few days and you have a variety of healthy food in the fridge (which will easily last 5 days if not more) and a variety of healthy food in the freezer (which can last months). You should easily have enough that if you didn't cook for 2 weeks, you would be fine without only having to re-heat leftovers of your favorite food.

While you can do that, and then in 2 weeks start over, the system works best when you keep adding back as you take out. So, keep making new meals a few times a week to keep restocking what is in the fridge and what is in the freezer.

Whether you are single, or feeding a family, it still works because you are only making multiples of what you eat and need.

As you draw ever closer to you end goals, concerns about transitioning, relapse, and weight gain can be a nagging concern. Here is a post Jeff shared, offering one possible strategy for managing those concerns; it seems especially relevant for those who may soon be joining the Maintenance Group.

To close the week on a fun note, I thought you might enjoy seeing the fabulous birthday "cake" my wife and daughter prepared for me.

Yes, it was delicious! Celebrating in an adherent fashion can be great fun!

Best to all! Have an excellent week!

[wildgoose]

Mark, your wife and daughter are so creative! The "cake" is fabulous — cuter than an Edible Arrangement, and completely MWL compliant. Happy Birthday!

Goose

[PonysPlants]

Gain of 0.2lbs this week. Boooooo!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. NO
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. NO
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES Easy. Vegan for life

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados,) NO
6. Eliminate any added oil. NO
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. NO
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. NO. Only managed 5 days this week.

The above “nos” came from one meal that we had as a holiday treat for my husband. He wanted Chinese food so I had the vegetable soup and the mock duck pancakes starter with some boiled rice for my main fully with the intention of not eating the mock duck. But I did. The restaurant was unable to do a meal for me that was oil free so I thought the pancakes and spring onions would be the best route and then I ate the oily stuff anyway. Ugh. It was just a starter sized portion though, so at least there’s that. It was not fun having to think about portion sizes again at all. Being able to eat as much as I want on MWL is such a blessing. I am surprised that it caused a weight gain though. I don’t know if stress might have played a part? My husband is a cancer survivor but this week he’s been having symptoms again, which has obviously been playing on my mind. Hospital appointment on Monday though so hopefully we’ll get some answers soon.

Thanks to the moderators as always abs especially Mark. I hope you had a wonderful birthday!

[anne57]

...

[squealcat]

Weight change +/- in lbs: +1.3 pounds

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.Not at dinner
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert.yes
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.no
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).no
6. Eliminate any added oil.no
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.no
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).yes
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.yes
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).I walked my usual 5/7 days but probably overall one mile less this week.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:This week went pretty well when I look back to how it would have gone a year ago. I have learned so much ! We had the tempting (for me) ham on Easter and I really made it a "ham-less" meal ! I had raw veggies and fruit as sides along with a couple other things that my husband bought. I kept those "other" things to a small amount and didn't dip into them later (as would have happened last year). My husband has since put the rest of the ham in the freezer and threw away what he didn't want to be tempted with either. He is a good support !

There were two times when I ate out at restaurants . I kept it as simple as I could choosing a starch as the main and vegetables with the starch. There was oil , I am sure, (even though I asked it to be left off) and higher salt and I did add tofu to my rice bowl at one of the places. I am hoping the weight gain was a result of the salt as, really, I didn't eat THAT much off plan.

I wanted to make it out of the obese category this week but maybe it will happen next week. Since I had a gain, I measured myself and compared it to January's measurements. I have lost almost 5 inches since then ! I am happy about that! I am planning on posting my food in my journal for the next week just to tighten it up a bit. There are no big events this week and that is good.

Hope everyone is doing well and hope YOU, Mark, had a wonderful birthday !

-squealcat (Marilyn)

[vicmor104]

Week of 4/2-4/8/2021
-1.6# weight loss, .4# fat % decrease. My Renpho scale also reported a drop in metabolic age from 59 to 58. (since I’m 55, this makes me super happy!)
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Mostly, but not all. I will prep soup today, so I have it on hand. My favorite is a broth made from onions, celery, and carrots.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. Yes
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. Yes, no sugars and lowered salt intake.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES, easiest for me as I have already eliminated animal foods prior to starting this MWL plan.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). I had a few slip ups here. This is my area of focus for the upcoming week. At 33% body fat, I know I must eliminate all nuts and nut butters. Plan – clean up the environment and ditch the nuts.
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes. Will continue. Back to water sautéing and it is working like a dream.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e. bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. I did have some strong cravings for bread and cereal this week. For the bread, I opted for a potato and that was very satisfying. I did have a bowl of cereal but I’m thinking I could have just as easily has a bowl of chopped romaine when I’m craving the crunch. I’ll make that swap this week.
8. Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes. No problem here. Just drink water.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don’t starve yourself and don’t stuff yourself. Yes.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). I walked every day this week, logging over 11K steps daily. Much improved from my 2-5K steps daily over the past few weeks. Last night I followed the Leslie Sansone 3 mile indoor walk and it was fantastic. My heart rate was in the “fat burn” zone for most of the walk. I will do this again!
11.
Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Walking was a huge victory for me this week. I’ve been sitting too much and this week I got in over 10K daily. One meal victory that was huge for me: I was searching for something and I opted to have broccoli and napa cabbage over rice. It was really delicious and satisfying. Another victory is taking the time to prepare food. I always experience this anxious energy around 5 that dinner needs to be ready. This week, I took some time being mindful of chopping veggies, sauteing them, cooking the rice and potatoes. Before food prep was rushed and frazzled. This was calm, purposeful, and intentional. That was a huge shift that carried over to the way I ate as well.
All week I listened to the MWL book on tape while I was walking.
I love the support of having this board to check-in with weekly. I'm finding it helps keep me focused (until this becomes a habit!)

[bunsofaluminum]

Weight change +/- in lbs: 0

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Sushi last weekend
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). YES
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. YES
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Awesomeness to report today: I am wearing jeans that are one size down from the first of this year! I bought some really cute boot cut jeans with rivets and rhinestones decorating the front and rear pockets. ADORABLE, but they didn't fit when I bought them probably two years ago. Well, when I was able to put on a pair of "skinny jeans but in the same size" this week, I wanted to try these AND THEY FIT! and I'm wearing them, and they're comfortable. The scale didn't show down any, but it hiked by two lbs in the middle of the week and took its time going back down. gotta love it NOT.

And nowadays I'm sorta craving my walks. Like "must move my booty NOW" and waking early after a solid night's sleep every morning...5:00 a.m. is my usual rising time and I love it. After all, the energy and clear calm headed focus, and the complete absence of symptoms from pretty much anything is the main reason why to follow this W.O.E. But I love it that I'm shrinking!

[Rebecka22]

164.0 Weight change +/- in lbs: -0.2 pounds
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. NO
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). NO
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. NO
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. NO
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: This week could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse too. Work is still super stressful, but I’m still working on healthy coping strategies. The no’s are mostly Easter where I made it until after dinner skipping all temptations, but gave in on chocolate cake and vegan ice cream. I also had chocolate chips once later in the week. Successes were all the things I didn’t have including one night when I was tired and almost used coconut milk for ease, but decided to take the extra step to modify the recipe. I’m hoping for an easier week all the way around next week. Happy Birthday Mark!

[GreenFroG]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -0.2 lbs

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6. Eliminate any added oil.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Had a pretty good week and stayed on track for all but one meal. Choose to have one vegan dish off plan, but tried to steer right back on track. Enjoyed the family and fun, and not indulge outside of my one cheat I gave myself. I was going for no exceptions for the weekend, but then changed up at the end. Didn't get to read all the articles and posts this past week, so will be catching up this week. But I did see the picture of your birthday cake Mark - loved the idea. Happy Birthday!

[curcubit]

Hi, I have read all the materials and want to join (late) the weigh in group. I participated last fall for a month...but dropped out over the winter. Happy to say I have lost seven pounds over that time, which is huge for me, as I typically gain weight in the winter.

But I find myself missing community, so I am back for the support and connection with others living this lifestyle. Looking forward to everyones journey. Also, my dear husband has finally embraced WFPB and stopped eating meat and fried food at home. That is a big help to me...not to have that in my environment anymore. Otherwise, I find the food delicious. The key for me is 50/50 plate...when I start to drift into more starches and less low calorie density food then I stop loosing. I also have not been sleeping well... I wake up in the middle of the night with a growling gnawing stomach and it is hard to fall back asleep. Any ideas out there to rectify that? I stop eating by 6:30 pm.

Hugs to everyone, we contain multitudes (paraphrasing Walt Whitman)
Curcubit

[trishe]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -1.1 lbs

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. N
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. /N
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. Y
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Y
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Y
6. Eliminate any added oil. Y
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. Mostly
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Y
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Y
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Strained my back last week so didn't do much the beginning of the week. Working on getting motivated to get moving again.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Some Useful Links

[Mark Cooper]

PonysPlants - Kudos for keeping the NOs confined to a single meal, Naomi! Because of all the added salt, restaurant meals can often have a disproportionate effect on an individual scale reading; adherence is the surest way to reverse any gains in short order. I think not having to think about portion sizes, or count calories, is one of the best aspects of MWL; it is very liberating to set all of that aside, right? When we know WHAT to eat, WHEN/HOW MUCH/HOW OFTEN start to take care of themselves. Your husband will be in my thoughts. I hope Monday brings encouraging information and the best outcomes.

anne57 - Not 100%, but you did keep the "exceptions" confined to the holiday weekend. Being deprived of adequate sleep can certainly make nearly any task feel more burdensome. Your adjusted goal seems like a reasonable aspiration. Cheers for a new week full of new opportunities!

squealcat - 5 inches! And you kept Easter "ham free!" Good for you, Marilyn! I think it is important to take time to reflect upon the progress you've made and how far you have come. Taking advantage of your food journal seems like a great tool for tightening things up.

vicmor104 - Great progress! Congratulations on your many and varied victories this week! Your points of focus for the days ahead, planned adjustments, and "swaps" seem on target to me. Carry on making those changes!

bunsofaluminum - You dropped a size since the start of the year! Awesome, indeed! Fitting into those "aspirational outfits" is such fun! I know what you mean about craving a walk; like you, I'm up at 5am each day, and I really enjoy those first hours of the day. Keep at it!

Rebecka22 - It sounds like you did pretty well navigating the holiday! Great work taking the time and effort to adjust that recipe to be adherent. Cheers for all the troublesome things you didn't have, but also for all the helpful, wholesome things you did! Wishing you a smooth sailing in the days to come.

GreenFroG - Your scale continues to tick downward! Well done getting right back on track after that single off plan meal. It's wonderful that you enjoyed a fun time with your family.

curcubit - Welcome back and congratulations on the 7 pounds lost in the interim! I can imagine how helpful it feels to have your husband on board. If you are waking up hungry, the recommendation from the MWL Checklist would be to eat some adherent food. If that isn't convenient, might it help to eat a bit more earlier in the day? Starch generally offers the most lasting satiety, so being extra mindful to include an adequate amount could possibly help, too. I'll be looking forward to your report next Friday!

trishe - Nice loss! It looks like you had a fairly solid time practicing the recommended behaviors. Apart from exercise, were there any particular areas where you felt challenged or ran into some obstacles? Aim for continuing improvement where you see the chance. Hope your back feels better!

[connielovesdogs]

Previous weight 169.4
Current weight: 167.8
-1.6 lbs

MWL checklist:
Start each meal with soup and/or salad and/or fruit: No
Follow the 50/50 method: Yes
Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts: Greatly reduced, so yes!
Eliminate all animal foods: Yes
Eliminate all higher fat plant foods: No, but very close (had some soy milk)
Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods: By the end of the week this is a yes, but it didn't start out that way. My husband and I had gotten into a habit of snacking on rice chex. He still does it, but is now storing the box out of sight, which is all I needed to cut the habit
Don't drink your calories: No (soy milk)
Eat when hungry (don't starve/don't stuff): Yes
Avoid being sedentary: Yes-daily walks, some gardening, and a camp gladiator workout.

There is definitely room for improvement, but it's a decent start.

Question for anyone who might have ideas on this: I'm going backpacking (just one night) next week and would love to hear of any ideas for food. It is a bit tricky b/c it is already getting hot here and I need to bring food that doesn't need to be cooked. In the past I have brought packaged refried beans and whole wheat tortillas, trail mix, apples, and packaged oat meal (I will be able to boil water). Going to aim for MWL this time around!!

[HoustonJason]

From Houston Jason
April 9 = 207

Total = - 45 pounds

Weight change +/- in lbs: - 2 pounds

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit No, most of the time.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. No, most of the time
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. Yes
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e., bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. No I ate a small slice of tiramisu for my wife’s birthday. She has really been amazing - eating the same food as me the last 3+ months! She doesn’t have the weight issues I do, but she has even noticed feeling better and more fit.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
I still have a little unsweetened almond milk in my coffee and oatmeal.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Yes.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). I jumped on the rebounder 5 out of 7 days. I also do quite a bit of dancing in my elementary music classes.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I have never been so happy to see 2 pounds off the scale. I really needed a 2 rather than a 1 or a zero this week for my morale. My birthday is April 28. My lofty goal in January was 50 pounds by my birthday and I am “oh so close”. These next 2 weeks I’m going to really keep to the program and hopefully hit that goal, but if it takes a little longer, it’s all good. I got several compliments at work this week and tightened my belt to the last hole! Thanks as always for this forum. It is keeping me focused.

Original Weight = 252 on January 1, 2021 Jan. 8 = 244 Jan. 15 = 237 Jan. 22 = 234 Jan. 29 = 231 February 5 = 226 Feb. 12 = 225 Feb. 19 = 221 Feb. 26 = 219 March 5 = 218
March 12 = 212 March 19 = 210 March 26 = 210 April 2 = 209 April 9 = 207
HoustonJason

[Noella]

Happy belated birthday, Mark.
I really want you to know how much I appreciate your inspiring words of wisdom and encouragement each week. Thank you so much for your steadfast commitment to MWL!

Weight Change +/-.2 pounds

1. Yes, I started my meals with soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2. Yes, I followed the 50/50 plate method for my meals, filling half my plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and the other half with minimally processed starches. I had fruit for dessert.
3. Yes, I greatly reduced added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too.
4. Yes, I eliminated all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. Yes, I eliminated all higher-fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6. Yes, I eliminated added oil.
8. Yes, I did not drink any calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. Yes, I followed the MWL principles, eating whenever hungry until comfortably full. I didn’t ever starve or stuff.
10. Yes, I did the minimum 30 minutes of exercise each day.

Comment: I made a list of all the starchy foods I enjoy eating and I was pleasantly surprised to see the great variety of foods I get to enjoy at every meal.

I have changed my goal weight from 147 pounds (BMI of 22) to 140 pounds (BMI of 21). Each pound that I lose gets me closer to my dream goal of saving my knees from needing to be replaced. I was 110 pounds as a teenager, 120 pounds in my twenties, 130 pounds in my thirties, 140 in my forties...I don’t totally understand why I gained so much weight so rapidly in my fifties, but I certainly did. ( stress + lemon yogurt!?) So here I am, now, trying to get my life back by following MWL.

Best regards,
Noella

“Eating starch shuts off the hunger drive and that’s what satisfies your desire for food.”- Dr John McDougall