The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - February 2022 Group

[Gimmelean]

Post for week ending 2/18/22

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.  

Yes.
I steamed broccoli rabe and saved a pot of the cooking liquid. The “pot likker”. I’m trying to eat less fruit but always have a good assortment of fresh fruit on hand.

2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals:

Yes.
I batch cooked sweet potatoes,
butternut squash, roasted ratatouille, dal,and bought a big container of pre-washed salad greens this week.

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. Not even a temptation anymore.

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.

While I’m eating much smaller amounts relative to what I ate in the past, bread continues to be a challenge to completely eliminate and I’m working on this. I keep thinking about Wildgoose’s comment that MWL is a choice. I’ve got to make better ones here.


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. Is this really me?

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: I find that focusing on behaviors, food choices, good sleep, and exercise make such a feel good positive difference. Good results on the scale follow when everything else is aligned. Have a good week!

[josietheschnauzer]

MWL Check List 2/18/22
Lessons learned: Item number 9-starving or stuffing: While I eat less dense food, I eat more food! How basic is that? Funny how, it takes many tries to get the brain in gear. Mark, opened my “brain door” with his comment about truly being hungry last week.
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit: Yes.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals: Yes. I try and add more green vegetables to my eating.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts: In addition to making my own, I have found a sodium free brand which is actually very good!
4. Eliminate all animal foods: Yes.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods: Yes.
6. Eliminate any added oil: Yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products, popcorn and dried fruit: No, one whole food plant based lasagna meal made by friend who used corn tortillas, but not many. She added extra spinach to make it more vegetable dense. The dish was delicious BUT I think one could make it without the tortillas. I have never seen this idea in the many, many recipes I have read, but: why not put a layer of cooked brown rice instead? I am going to try it “some day” when I cook stuff other than my routine food!
8. Don't drink your calories: Yes
9. Eat when hungry & until comfortably full. Don't starve and don't stuff: Yes, thank you, Mark! You made another enlightening comment to another participant last week. I am too lazy to look it up so I hope I paraphrase correctly. This is the deal, I am eating less calorie dense food, so when I eat a lot, I really am not eating lots of calories. I don’t feel stuffed, but I eat a lot! When I see how little other “animal food eaters” are eating I was thinking that I was stuffing. I am now looking at it differently. For me, eating a pound of broccoli is nothing. I love it and don’t feel stuffed. On the other hand, I am still going to ask myself between meals, the magic question: Am I hungry or thirsty? Most of the time, drinking water or herbal tea is the solution.
10. Include 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily: Yes, I walk every day at 5am.
I have completed seven weeks on this go-around. I lost 2 pounds last week for a total of 10 pounds in that time frame.

[GreenFroG]

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 - adding more on my plate for dinner seems to help me not snack later at night as long as I keep to the 50/50 method.
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 - had a take out meal of steamed veggies and rice and was able to stay away from the added sauce on it, which was full of oil. It tasted great and I felt successful. We took our meals to a park, hiked around, and celebrated Valentine's Day.
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, felt like I avoided a lot of temptations on Valentine's day by going to the park. My husband was very helpful in supporting me.
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: Victory was that I had a pretty successful week and was able to post today! I missed two weeks due to unusual circumstances, but was able to maintain my weight during that time. Mark's suggestion to eat a little more at dinner time as long as it in the 50/50 method has helped me to not snack after dinner. My husband helped me a lot in celebrating Valentine's Day. He said he purposefully did not buy me chocolate and we planned an outing together where food was not the main focus. We went to a park and hiked around for the day. Slowly learning to incorporate these behavioral changes into my lifestyle!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

Hope that everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!!

I appreciate reading everyone's posts here. So much to relate to!!!

I did work to incorporate Mark's suggestion from last week to slightly increase dinner portion to circumvent compliance issue with #5 & 7 that happens at night (PM snack goblins). I think that this helped and I will continue to do this for the upcoming week and try to be consistent / mindful of this.

I had 4 days with 100% compliance and 3 more troublesome days. My goal is to do better than that for next week.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes. I have mainly been eating salad this week as a preload since I am eating soup for main lunch and dinner (due to the cold weather). In addition to finger food salad, I have eaten some tomato, cucumber, radish, red onion salads. Delicious!

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.
I have had oatmeal with fruit every day for breakfast.
I have mainly had Mexi Soup (sometimes over rice or potato) for lunch.
I have had Split Pea Soup for dinner (cannot get sick of this; keep making more).
I have had oranges (Sumo and Cara Cara) or frozen fruit and additional veggies, including roasted mushrooms.

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, of course.

5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
No.
* I continue to have periodic after dinner mental struggle with the nuts.
* I will work to slightly increase dinner volume to head this off. This has helped over the week - when I remembered to follow it!
* Next time that these tempt me, I will wait 10 minutes to be sure hungry and if so, then will eat salad, fruit, and soup or bean burger.
* I continue to work to eliminate.
* I plan to do better this week.

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.
See #5 above. Comments are same (except pretzels).

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.
* Walked outside 3 days !!! Have decided to remain indoors only when temperature is below 20 degrees. So tired of the cold!
* Exceeded goal of averaging 8K steps / day over the week (still Pacing with a Purpose...)
* My husband has compared me to a caged animal as I pace around the house. I told him that this is exactly how I feel - trapped!


Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

I am going to continue recording daily food, exercise, adherence to the Checklist for next week (in my daily planner). Also, I am going to continue to slightly increase amount of dinner to ensure "comfortably full" as strategy to improve my compliance with #5 / 7.

While I do struggle with 5/7, it is always the same food item at the same time of day. I did tackle peanut butter months ago and haven't looked back .... so I think I can get there ...

Hope that everyone has a great week ahead!!! Filled with starch and veggies....and exercise and sunshine

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Mark Cooper]

The window for reporting this week's behavioral results has officially closed.

The remainder of my replies and the weekly summary will follow.

[Mark Cooper]

Noella - Thank you for sharing what worked for you this week with exercise! I love the idea you mentioned about staying active in ways that also serve a dual purpose in accomplishing a useful task.

squealcat - Hi, Marilyn! I very often eat my meals from bowls, as well; I have a 16 Cup stainless steel mixing bowl that is my go-to for nearly all of my meals (it works great for salads, soups and SNAP meals). Not bringing those troublesome, tempting foods like birthday cake home with us is always a good choice, so well done there. I think you are right about it being helpful to prepare ourselves for those little food-related "surprises" (often these seem to be related to social occasions). Of course, it is tough to "game out" every conceivable scenario, but I find it really helpful to think through (almost like roleplaying) my potential responses to the general situation of being presented with non adherent food. Once I have "rehearsed" an appropriate path to take, I can try it out "for real" and see if it works. If it does, great; if it doesn't, why not and how can I change or adjust to be more successful? It sounds like you are making good progress managing the challenges at your daughter's house; you can get to a point of confidence with other complications, too. Time, adherence, practice and experience overcome MANY obstacles, right? Have a great week!

carwex - Congratulations on getting such an encouraging offer on your apartment, Carol! I have a couple questions, to help get an idea if and how the group can serve your goals: Are you underweight at present, or in a healthy range for BMI? During your time following MWL and losing weight, did you ever drop into the underweight category? If underweight is a concern, this MWL group probably isn't well-suited to addressing that. I've been following MWL myself for 5+ years, and for the majority of that time I've maintained a BMI near the lower end of the healthy range, without any modifications to the MWL checklist. However, during and in the immediate aftermath of my hospitalization 15 months ago, my weight did fall significantly into the underweight category. I followed the steps outlined by Dr. McDougall in this article (listed under Make the Following Changes in this Order to Regain Weight in a Healthful Manner) and pretty quickly returned to a healthy weight, whereupon I resumed MWL and have maintained in that healthy range ever since. I would encourage you to review the same article, How Do I Gain Weight on the McDougall Diet? I’m Not Joking!, if this is an issue for you. Otherwise, if your weight is healthy (or you have a bit to lose), and you want to "tune up" your diet, this group can help you do that by aiming for adherence will ALL of the recommended behaviors. If the MWL recommended pattern of behavior doesn't suit your needs at present, I certainly understand, and I'd direct you to the Maintenance Group as a great place to work on pursuing more individualized goals with the McDougall program. Hope that all makes sense. We want to try and make sure that everyone finds the right help for their particular need.

Gimmelean - Your closing sentiment is SO RIGHT! When we focus on aligning our overall pattern of behavior to be congruent with the goals we seek to achieve, results inevitably follow over time. Great job making your food prep routine really work toward contributing to success. I LOVE wildgoose's comment about MWL being a choice, too.

MWL is a choice. A choice you’re making for your health and your weight, to get where you want to be. It gets easier with time. Does the Pleasure Trap ever quit tempting you? No. You learn to stay away from the biggest temptations, and how to get right back into the groove if you stray. But are you ever totally immune? No. It’s always a choice. I look at a year-plus at goal weight, a level of health that I haven’t known in years, a wardrobe where everything is comfortably loose and everything in the closet fits — and I’m OK with not having some of my old comfort foods around.

Another comment she wrote that strikes me as both brilliant and relevant:

Sometimes it feels like a tempting food is reaching out, grabbing you by the collar, prying your jaws open, and leaping into your mouth. The desire is so strong, it feels like you HAVE to satisfy it, RIGHT AWAY.

But you don’t. Nothing awful will happen to you if you don’t inhale that sweet, salty, fatty thing that’s calling to you. You will be uncomfortable for a short while. Maybe for a little more than a short while. Ignore it. Distract yourself. It will pass. And then you will be all right. Better than all right, in fact. In addition to feeling physically better, you will have achieved a mental and emotional victory that is worthy of pride.

The process is also cumulative. The more times you surf through those urges to eat off-plan, the more time you are building up between now and the last taste you had of what you’re trying to avoid. The memories of that taste are less fresh, less acute. In addition, your successes mount up and you believe in the process more and more. It gets easier.

I feel very lucky to have the benefit of her insight informing this group! Onward!

josietheschnauzer - Cheers and congratulations for your progress, Elsa! That relationship between calorie dilution and food volume that you describe was a real, "BOOM"-"mind-blown" moment for me when it sunk in, too. Jeff has a great Q&A that really solidified my understanding of that concept: Finding The Sweet Spot: Balancing Calorie Density, Nutrient Density & Satiety. If you try out that "lasagna" recipe using brown rice, definitely let us know how it goes. I think I've made something similar using sliced potatoes in place of tortillas, in the past. Funnily enough, I made Jeff's veggie lasagna this week, with whole wheat noodles - it was AMAZING, and a real hit with the family.

Vegetable Lasagna

made with spinach, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, onions, peppers and home made sauce.

Tomato Sauce
2 Boxes POMI Chopped Tomatoes
Fresh Garlic, Basil, Oregano

Lasagna
1 lb frozen chopped spinach
1/2 lb frozen mushrooms
1 lb frozen zucchini
1/2 lb frozen carrots
1/2 lb frozen onion, pepper mix
2 sweet potatoes baked

Filling
Mashed sweet potatoes and thin with warm water while veggies thaw and then mix thawed veggies in with the mashed sweet potato to make the filling

1/2 cup sauce on bottom of pan
1 layer whole grain noodles
1 1/2 cup sauce
1/2 sweet potato/veggie mix
1 layer noodles
1 1/2 cup sauce
1/2 sweet potato/veggie mix
1 layer noodles
1 1/2 cup sauce
sliced tomatoes

Bake covered for 45 minutes at 375

GreenFroG - What a great, successful week! Reading your report had me grinning with pride, particularly:

Yes - had a take out meal of steamed veggies and rice and was able to stay away from the added sauce on it, which was full of oil. It tasted great and I felt successful. We took our meals to a park, hiked around, and celebrated Valentine's Day.

and

My husband helped me a lot in celebrating Valentine's Day. He said he purposefully did not buy me chocolate and we planned an outing together where food was not the main focus. We went to a park and hiked around for the day. Slowly learning to incorporate these behavioral changes into my lifestyle!

A wonderful illustration of what we can achieve with time, adherence, and ongoing practice. Carry on!

VegSeekingFit - Kudos to you for achieving FOUR 100% days, Stephanie! Can you think of any significant-seeming differences between those 4 days and the other 3? Any changes in situation, context or routine? I fully agree with you that your challenges with points 5 & 7 are something you can overcome with time, continuing effort, and adjustments based on your observations and assessments - especially since you've overcome similar obstacles in the past. I enjoyed some Sumo oranges this week, myself. Really well done maintaining your exercise habit through variable conditions; it'll be a happy day when spring arrives, right?

My husband has compared me to a caged animal as I pace around the house. I told him that this is exactly how I feel - trapped!

Thank you so much for sharing that fun anecdote! A week ahead filled with starch, veggies, exercise and sunshine - who could ask for more?!?

[Mark Cooper]

Please note - I replied to reporting participants in the two posts linked below.

Mark's Replies for February 18 - Part 1
Mark's Replies for February 18 - Part 2

Congratulations on completing this week of TIME + ADHERENCE! We will have one more check-in for February (on the 25th), and then it will be ON TO MARCH!

I have some lovely practices, observations, and anecdotes to share from this week's reports:

Rebecka22 successfully resisted the temptation to have a holiday dessert splurge.

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 To be completely honest this was very close to a no. On Monday after the takeout I was really tempted to have cookies and ice cream after dinner, since I already had no’s from dinner, but then I thought that wasn’t fair when he clearly tried so hard to honor my eating habits so I ate fruit instead and thankfully the rest of the week wasn’t too hard after I refrained that night.

Noella has been putting in the work to build a durable exercise routine.

I like doing physical exercise and accomplishing something useful at the same time. This week turned out to be quite productive. I followed your advice to get started doing just ten minutes of something physical, as a priority. That small goal of just ten minutes meant I did at least a little and it I usually led to me doing more. I then felt motivated to follow some basic exercises with spring cleaning. My washing windows and decluttering closets inspired my husband to install additional upper shelves, and apply fresh paint inside our bedroom closets and our kitchen pantry cupboard. so trying to get more exercise led to lots of nice improvements:
Our pantry cupboard looks AMAZING with fresh paint and organizing of the big jars with a variety of whole grains, legumes and whole grain pastas on display, so colourful, inspiring and beautiful to look at. My closet looks wonderful with fresh paint, another upper shelf for storing off-season clothing, and its much more organized, too. I have all of my workout clothes in one basket and all my cross country ski clothes in another. I put these active wear baskets on a shelf at eye level with labels to further motivate me to get moving each day.

Marilyn used her planned strategy to navigate a challenging outside environment.

Snacking at my daughter's continues to be a challenge but I go there only once a week. I just brought along plenty of food to eat and have extra, cooked potatoes at home for when I am tempted.

Gimmelean showed us how batch cooking gets done!

I batch cooked sweet potatoes, butternut squash, roasted ratatouille, dal, and bought a big container of pre-washed salad greens this week.

GreenFroG and her husband made Valentine's Day a success, and had what sounds to me like a very lovely time, too.

6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes - had a take out meal of steamed veggies and rice and was able to stay away from the added sauce on it, which was full of oil. It tasted great and I felt successful. We took our meals to a park, hiked around, and celebrated Valentine's Day.

Yes, felt like I avoided a lot of temptations on Valentine's day by going to the park. My husband was very helpful in supporting me.

My husband helped me a lot in celebrating Valentine's Day. He said he purposefully did not buy me chocolate and we planned an outing together where food was not the main focus. We went to a park and hiked around for the day. Slowly learning to incorporate these behavioral changes into my lifestyle!

And Stephanie showed us what a little dedication and determination to stay active can achieve.

* Walked outside 3 days !!! Have decided to remain indoors only when temperature is below 20 degrees. So tired of the cold!
* Exceeded goal of averaging 8K steps / day over the week (still Pacing with a Purpose...)

I hope everyone finds something in the weekly reports that can be applied to your own practice and routine.

If you would like some further reading, check out a favorite article of mine that came up in our discussion:

Finding The Sweet Spot: Balancing Calorie Density, Nutrient Density & Satiety

Wishing you the very best life, filled with starch, veggies, fruit, sunshine, exercise and HAPPINESS!

[josietheschnauzer]

Thank you, Mark, for the recipe and for re-posting Jeff's article on calorie density and finding the sweet spot. I truly need to keep reviewing everything he has written! And, I am going to make that lasagna recipe you shared of his! Thank you, again!

[moonlight]

I am late reporting the past week's adventures. I wanted to go ahead and send in a report.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
I'm doing this more and more. I'm not 100% but pretty close. I've noticed it has helped me to have smaller portions of my main meal.

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.
This has gotten routine finally. It's easy to do when I'm focused and committed. Being organized has helped a lot.
When I don't have anything prepared, I've discovered a pot of steamed veggies works. I'm keeping bags of frozen veggies for those quick meals.

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.
This has never been a problem for me.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Definitely improved on this one. I've eliminated cheese from my diet.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Still eating a few nuts occasionally. Much improved!

6. Eliminate any added oil.
Not a problem for me.

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.
Still the hardest one for me. A little bread... No more crackers or cereal, though.

8. Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Not a problem

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don’t starve yourself and don’t stuff yourself.
Not a problem anymore.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Again, 100% on this one! I've been doing a lot of hiking. I love being outdoors for exercise! I've also added yoga to my morning routine.

I feel so good about my food choices. I feel calmer about food and eating. I managed to make a couple of main meals ahead for the week. I also pre-chopped greens and carrots to have ready when needed. I respect the process and know that I need to stay focused.

I'll brag a little about surviving the Valentine's Day minefields without succumbing to the chocolates. I really stressed to my sweet husband that I really really really was serious about NO BOX OF CHOCOLATES!! We, instead, cooked dinner together using a new stir-fry recipe for our new wok. It was fun. The next day I was on my way to go hiking. I had a friend riding with me. I told her how good I felt about fiending off the chocolate. We got to our destination, meeting a couple of other friends, and the friend riding with me pulled out 4 bags of chocolates! - dark chocolate with a freeze-dried strawberry inside... Very good sweets for sure! She started giving us all our bag of chocolate and when she got to me, she said she understood if I didn't want the gift after hearing my story in the car. I said she was right, and I politely declined. I'm not sure I would have had the resolve to do that on my own. I was so thankful for our previous conversation. The peer pressure of being in the group may have won out and I would have taken the bag. Anyway, long story but a good one for me.

All the best to everyone this week. Thank you, Mark, for your kind support.

[josietheschnauzer]

Oh my, good for you, thank goodness you declined the chocolate! That took plenty of fortitude! Good for you again!

[Noella]

I'll brag a little about surviving the Valentine's Day minefields without succumbing to the chocolates. I really stressed to my sweet husband that I really really really was serious about NO BOX OF CHOCOLATES!! We, instead, cooked dinner together using a new stir-fry recipe for our new wok. It was fun. The next day I was on my way to go hiking. I had a friend riding with me. I told her how good I felt about fiending off the chocolate. We got to our destination, meeting a couple of other friends, and the friend riding with me pulled out four bags of chocolates! - dark chocolate with a freeze-dried strawberry inside... Very good sweets for sure! She started giving us all our bag of chocolate, and when she got to me, she said she understood if I didn't want the gift after hearing my story in the car. I said she was right, and I politely declined. I'm not sure I would have had the resolve to do that on my own. I was so thankful for our previous conversation. The peer pressure of being in the group may have won out, and I would have taken the bag. Anyway, long story but a good one for me.

Thank you for your Valentine's Day story, Moonlight. The "peer pressure of being in the group may have won out..." but it didn't! Way to go!

Best regards,
Noella

[carwex]

Dear Mark,
Thank you for your concern and your helpful remarks on my last post. It helped me to assess my situation and understand where my confusion lies.
Let me assure you that I am not underweight, nor have I ever been underweight in my whole life. Only fat and overweight. Today because of Dr McDougall and the MWL i have managed to reach my "ideal " weight of 125. I never thought this was possible. I think I was in 3rd or 4th grade when I last weighed 125! Better late than never.
My current BMI is 21.4 which is not too low and my concern is more with my age of nearly 80 and what one reads and hears from the medical establishment- that in the elderly it's better not to be too thin bec if you have to be hospitalized and you lose weight it might further impair your health.(Then there are those who comment on the increase of wrinkles as one ages and gets thin.GRRR)
Well, usually I am very skeptical about what the medicos say about diet and in addition about the elderly. BEING OLD IS NOT A DISEASE.
If I am in excellent health because of this program and exercise and take NO medications, why should I be hospitalized? In a medicalized world, I refuse to be medicalized!
So my thinking is that I want to continue with MWL because whenever i start going off into higher fat foods and bread, I'm on a slippery slope leading back to the Pleasure Trap. i now have a clear goal: concentrate on keeping my eating compliant yet consume enough to keep my weight fairly stable. This will take time and effort, making sure the right foods are prepared and looking for new recipes to keep it fresh. Once I figured all this out today, my food was easy, compliant and satisfying. I had no desire to get into the higher fats.
I have joined the off-topic thread for more support and am looking at the new maintenance thread for inspiration.
Blessings to you for pointing me in the right direction and to Dr. McDougall who started it all.
Carol

[KerryH]

Hi,
I'm Kerry and I would love to join this group. I have completed the orientation mm materials and have the MWL book. I also have two Masters Degrees in Nursing & Social Work. I often felt like an imposter as a severely overweight nurse. How could I help others if my own health was so horrid?

A little over 2 years ago I had a vertical gastric sleeve done for super morbid obesity. I am a success story for losing 130 pounds. However, I am at a BMI that would still qualify me for surgery despite my weight loss. And my weight loss stalled. My bariatric program harped on protein from lean meats and calcium from dairy. Ugh. They mean well though.

About a year ago I changed my diet to Vegan and a couple of months ago after reading numerous books, I revamped my diet to WFPB-SOS. 3 days ago I incorporated Dr McDougall's MWL plan after reading the book. My weight had been stable for months but since adopting MWL, I am losing again and feel great. I would love to join this group please to connect with others on this path and learn/incorporate all that I can.
Thank You.
Kerry

[josietheschnauzer]

Hi, please, where is the off topic thread? Welcome, Kerry. Thank you, Elsa.

[Mark Cooper]

moonlight -

She started giving us all our bag of chocolate and when she got to me, she said she understood if I didn't want the gift after hearing my story in the car. I said she was right, and I politely declined. I'm not sure I would have had the resolve to do that on my own. I was so thankful for our previous conversation. The peer pressure of being in the group may have won out and I would have taken the bag. Anyway, long story but a good one for me.

carwex - Thank you for your response (and kind words). The thought process you describe and your appraisal of the situation both make sense to me. Jeff's article, Finding The Sweet Spot: Balancing Calorie Density, Nutrient Density & Satiety, helps to provide an expansive understanding of the same overall concept. Carry on!

KerryH - Hi, Kerry! Welcome to the group; we're glad to have you!

josietheschnauzer - That thread is here; however, I think it will probably be merged with the regular group thread soon, since the substance of that discussion seems quite germane to our focus and some helpful observations and anecdotes are being shared. I think seeing that discussion would benefit the whole group.