The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - April 2022 Group

[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]

squealcat - Kudos for your ongoing efforts, Marilyn!

My weight is stable right now and my clothes fit better than they have or are a little loose.

Congrats! That is a very nice non-scale victory. Knowing that the difficult times were largely confined to Tuesday and Wednesday seems like useful information. Questions I would ask myself about that: In what ways were those days different from all the other days? What changed and what stayed the same? On those days when it felt like you could "not get filled up" and you kept "looking for more food", were the foods you were looking for adherent foods, or were they from the categories that have been troublesome for you?

One thing I have been doing the last couple of weeks is having a starch-cooking day. I roast sweet potatoes, cook yellow potatoes the the instant pot followed by brown rice and then steel cut oats. Making my starches for the week has helped me a lot. I also have a veg soup day where I make some type of veg soup for the week.

This seems like an excellent practice to me. Thank you for sharing it. Congratulations to your youngest son (and you, too) for the upcoming nuptials! I'm sure that will be a joyous occasion, although I can imagine how it could induce some tension, as well. I think your utilization of the checklist is a really solid and beneficial practice, and adding some journaling seems like a worthwhile experiment to try (if it doesn't feel to burdensome for you).

I keep reminding myself that this is a journey others have been on and been successful. I can be successful too !

Just so. Carry on with your efforts, keep assessing and adjusting, and you will get it figured out over time.

Gimmelean - Nice progress! Swimming sounds so wonderful to me right now, too; I cannot wait until our pool opens for the season.

Taking inventory and using up the good things in my pantry, and taking a few minutes to jot down some meal ideas at the beginning of the week kept me on track for success. It doesn’t have to be hard or complicated.

I quite agree; it is exactly this sort of small, but valuable habit, performed thoughtfully and consistently, that supports successful adherence, rather than some elaborate, complicated scheme. Simpler is nearly always better, no? See you in May!

VegSeekingFit - Woo-hoo! You are heading into May and that 1 year MWL anniversary with a 10/10, Stephanie! Awesome!

To commemorate this milestone, I will be having soup, salad, fruit, and potato (not necessarily in that order).

I love it! Thank you very much for sharing your reflections, descriptions and brainstorming related to tackling the situation around that "high risk checkpoint". As someone who lives with two family members, neither of whom practice this way of eating (although they generally will eat my cooking for the evening meal), I have some affinity and fellow feeling for what you describe. Over the course of my own experience adhering to MWL, I found the foods that were most challenging to my adherence were often not "junk" or "treats", but foods that, although calorie rich, were otherwise reasonably healthful, much as you describe. In my case (and speaking for myself and to my situation only), I realized after MANY different occasions of struggle, that even though those foods might be fine and even health promoting for many people, I wasn't able to consume them responsibly and in moderation (as much as I certainly tried over the years! ). I made the decision to remove them from my diet permanently (this was largely a change in mindset, more than practice or environment), with the understanding that I could decide differently if the situation changed and warranted reevaluation. Something that really helped me in that transition was committing to the idea of ALWAYS eating whenever I felt hungry, and never restricting myself, so long as I was eating the recommended foods. These granular details and the finetuning of practices that accompany them are slightly different for all of us, and consequently may require varying solutions, but the fundamental, underlying principles remain the same: whenever hungry eat of the recommended foods, in the recommended fashion, until comfortably full. Rinse and repeat. I think the mindset and framing that you are applying to your efforts is extremely well suited to building a durable program for long-term success. Carry on!

Noella - Woo-hoo! Really great efforts, and your consistency serves you well!

I think eating more whole grains helps me succeed in eating fewer highly processed grains. Whole grains are more satisfying

I agree. I've certainly found that to be the case, as well.

I decided to focus on what I could do. I like doing valuable things. I can walk to do housework, such as vacuuming for two to three hours; I can walk at a large grocery store or warehouse. I can do the exercise routine for arthritic knees that Mark recommended to me last week while listening to a podcast on a topic I am interested in. Each day, I tried to find some form of exercise and activity that I could sustain for a long time while low intensity.

Focusing on what feels manageable at this time, and then devoting effort to that in a way that is consistent and sustainable seems like a recipe for building success over time. It is also a great example for others of how to keep active while dealing with constraints.

[Mark Cooper]

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

Mark's Replies for April 29 - Part 1
Mark's Replies for April 29 - Part 2

Congratulations, everyone! That brings April to a close. I feel like this was a really great month for the group, with the sharing of SO MUCH valuable information and useful practices from each of you, as you navigate building a foundation for this way of eating in your lives. I think this sort of detailed, specific, "boots on the ground" information is an invaluable resource for others who may be trying to adopt these behaviors. I find the many commonalities AND the situationally-specific variations in everyone's practices to be fascinating and insightful. Thanks to all of you for making this an amazing month!

The new thread for May 2022 will be posted tomorrow, and I hope I will see all of you there.

As a finisher for this month, I want to quote a post from geo that I referenced last week; I think it does a great job of highlighting the focus on simplicity we've been discussing.

Just take a plate fill it half full of starches and the other half full of veggies/fruit. Then start the meal with a bowl of soup or salad or both! Follow that with the main plate and then finish that off with a piece of fruit if you want desert. Your drink should be water.

That's it. eat what you serve yourself. If you're still hungry, have another round! Just eat till you're comfortably full, NOT STUFFED. Then eat again when you're next hungry. There's no time table to follow or certain number of meals to eat a day. You can eat one or two meals if you want or a dozen meals if that's what keeps you comfortably full (satiated). Just don't over eat or stuff yourself.

Have a great week, take care & be well!