January 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Thread

[pootsy]

Has been an interesting week. Started off doing a lot of reading and cooking to be prepared. Took a suggestion to keep cooked potatoes on hand which was a good one for a quick meal . Made a great vegetable stew, quinoa, whole wheat pasta . Had oatmeal for breakfast with fruit. Not perfect but since I have read this is "not a confessional" wont list all my sins! I am surprised at how easy it is to self sabotage but keep trying ! Motivated to succeed at MWL and continue to review to 10 point plan as a way to my goal. Lost 1.6 lbs and even more determined to hit all the marks this week.

[Mark Cooper]

RosieLB - Kudos!

LynnStarr - Pat yourself on the back for abstaining from diet soda! I agree that travel can be a challenge and planning is essential.

Marilyn - Hang in there! It seems like you have assessed the stumbling blocks that knocked you off track this week, and have accounted for how to avoid them in the week to come.

FoodisFuel - Kudos! Do you feel like things went well for you this week?

LennieP - Nice loss!

Denise46 - Glad the week felt successful to you. Getting rid of those calorie dense processed foods definitely makes a difference, doesn't it?

Drew* - Finding some manageable recipes that you enjoy is SO important!

Bee175 - That's a 2 lb loss this week, if I'm not mistaken? How are you feeling about the process?

Shirlshel - That is a substantial loss!

colleenaprn - Nice loss! So sorry that your post didn't seem to materialize in the thread, feel free to post again if there are more points you would like to share.

Carrieann - Way to go with integrating some exercise! You seem to have identified food choices that went counter to your goals - foods that combine sweet with high-fat can be PARTICULARLY tempting, in my personal experience. Awesome positive attitude heading forward!

JaBee - Congrats on a successful week! 100%! Great idea to calibrate your expectations for next week, as well.

ltolar - Sorry you are feeling disappointed. For some, losses can take longer than others. Day to day fluctuations are common, do you have a sense of any areas on which to focus, in light of the MWL Checklist?

Miss Meta - Kudos!

pootsy - Sounds like a good week to me! Awesome motivation! Understanding & adherence can build through practice, and often those impulses to "self-sabotage" start to fade proportionally.

[Johnatmh]

Starting weight 1/4/2020: 381 lbs
Weight today 1/11/2020: 368.2 lbs
Down -12.8 lbs

I'm fully aware this is largely water loss and not typical but this is a very encouraging start for me. My goal is to lose about 1% of my weight each week going forward. So next week if I meet or exceed a loss of 3.5 pounds I'll be satisfied with that.

[Mark Cooper]

Starting weight 1/4/2020: 381 lbs
Weight today 1/11/2020: 368.2 lbs
Down -12.8 lbs

I'm fully aware this is largely water loss and not typical but this is a very encouraging start for me. My goal is to lose about 1% of my weight each week going forward. So next week if I meet or exceed a loss of 3.5 pounds I'll be satisfied with that.

First of all, congratulations on a significant change! It is great that you are feeling encouraged, and I absolutely applaud your measured assessment of the weight loss. I think you are very wise to move forward with patience and reasonable expectations in mind.

[Jiffy]

Hello all! This has been a good week of getting back on track with my eating. I am planning ahead and preparing meals to last a number of days so that I don’t wear myself out each day with too much food prep. And I am enjoying trying new recipes and building a list of favorites. Encouraging thought - Last night I came home from work - tired and not wanting to eat what I knew i needed to eat. But I powered through, made a tasty dinner and was so glad i didn’t give in to the temptation! One day at a time - we can do it!

Starting weight 1/03/20 249.6 lbs
Current weight 1/10/20 243.8 lbs
Down 5.8 lbs

[cbritten101]

1/5/20 starting weight 148.8
1/10/20 146.6

This week I feel I was successful, even though my weight loss might not seem outstanding. I am a chronic dieter (by that I mean for 48 years I have been on a diet more than 70% of the time). I am also only 5 feet tall.

I feel successful because I have been following the principles of the plan, and am planning out to what to eat so I am prepared ahead of time. I'm learning how to do this long term. I've found I am struggling somewhat to get my veggies in. Starches are no problem

So this will be my focus for the week. More green and yellow veggies!

Thanks!

[Mark Cooper]

Hello all! This has been a good week of getting back on track with my eating. I am planning ahead and preparing meals to last a number of days so that I don’t wear myself out each day with too much food prep. And I am enjoying trying new recipes and building a list of favorites. Encouraging thought - Last night I came home from work - tired and not wanting to eat what I knew i needed to eat. But I powered through, made a tasty dinner and was so glad i didn’t give in to the temptation! One day at a time - we can do it!

Starting weight 1/03/20 249.6 lbs
Current weight 1/10/20 243.8 lbs
Down 5.8 lbs

That is fantastic, Jiffy! Way to plan and prepare, so you are well-positioned to succeed! My commendations for not giving into that momentary temptation - one day at a time, indeed.

[Mark Cooper]

1/5/20 starting weight 148.8
1/10/20 146.6

This week I feel I was successful, even though my weight loss might not seem outstanding. I am a chronic dieter (by that I mean for 48 years I have been on a diet more than 70% of the time). I am also only 5 feet tall.

I feel successful because I have been following the principles of the plan, and am planning out to what to eat so I am prepared ahead of time. I'm learning how to do this long term. I've found I am struggling somewhat to get my veggies in. Starches are no problem

So this will be my focus for the week. More green and yellow veggies!

Thanks!

Well done! I think you are approaching things with a great deal of wisdom. Understanding and following the principles and being prepared are very valuable practices for the long haul.

[Gramswhap]

Good day!
My starting weight was 199.0.
Today, my weight is 195.6.
I'll take it! Transitioning is going better than I thought.
Peace...

[Mark Cooper]

It's great you feel your transition is going well, Gramswhap! Kudos on a nice loss.

[Vibrant2020]

I lost 4 lbs! I was surprosed because I devisted from the plan some days.
So, I am very happy with first week's result.

Another win was I went to gym for first time in months, doing 45 minutes cardio. It felt great!
I walked over 13,000 steps yesterday.

[Mark Cooper]

Vibrant2020 - Awesome! Way to go with getting moving and starting some exercise.

[brucel1223]

Okay. So I'm living in an abundance of riches here. I've bought a number of WFPB cookbooks. The thing is, I've tried a number of them and a large number of times my reaction to the dish has been, meh... And all this trial and error takes the time to: buy the food, make the dish, then the days it takes to eat the food, so that it doesn't go to waste, before I can try another recipe. And it seems to me that to be successful long term with a new way of eating, you need to have a collection of recipes you REALLY enjoy eating. So I had a thought. Maybe I could tap into the experience of the group here and ask if any of you have a favorite MWL go-to meal recipe that's a real workhorse for you, that you could post here, that I could take of picture of your posting on my phone, and then go into my kitchen and be able to make it. And hopefully it'll become a fav of mine, too, saving me a ton of trial and error time. Maybe you could start off your posting with something like: "A favorite dish I like to make is this:" Thanks, all, in advance. I've noticed a few ideas already in this thread that I've noted. Hopefully a collection of favorites could benefit us all.

Bruce

[Mark Cooper]

By my count, 72 participants reported for our second January 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 2nd Friday in January:

Week ending 1/10/2020: 72 participants reported a total loss of 183.45 pounds
--------------------------------------------------
squealcat - Marilyn - +2.20
Carrieann +2.00
AnnetteW +0.60
--------------------------------------------------
Total gains: 4.8
--------------------------------------------------
NO CHANGE / MAINTAIN / STARTING OUT
Alishana 0.00
Juni 0.00
Larrke 0.00
Pradeepa 0.00
Symbas 0.00
--------------------------------------------------
Ltolar -0.20
Troypohl -0.30
Fiddler -0.40
LynnStarr -0.40
Lynn Fox -0.60
victw - Vic -0.60
FoodisFuel - Lisa -0.80
Miss Meta -0.80
BeTrue01 -1.00
Butterfly043 -1.00
Debsal -1.00
deweyswakms - Marsha -1.00
MaryP -1.00
Sunshine88 -1.00
VGuzman -1.00
Wild4Stars -1.00
Cmh1305 -1.20
Knt -1.50
lbell - Leah Bell -1.50
Pootsy -1.60
TurtleDove -1.60
Drew* -1.70
Bee175 -2.00
KatieLovesPotatoes -2.00
LennieP -2.00
Pbnew -2.00
rlechols - Rachel -2.00
Cbritten101 - Carrie -2.20
LeahMT -2.20
Rukaspooka -2.20
ElizabethAdams -2.25
RosieLB -2.70
stillcrazy - Vee -2.70
Jlowe -2.80
NomeOslo -2.80
Catswcravats -3.00
JTaks -3.00
Moonlight -3.00
WholePlanetBased -3.00
Abe -3.10
Lynn's Husband -3.20
Denise46 -3.40
Gramswhap -3.40
kirstykay - Kirsty -3.60
VegSeekingFit - Stephanie -3.80
BlackBeanSoup -4.00
Colleenaprn -4.00
Gj1310 -4.00
jdaleske -4.00
Vibrant2020 -4.00
Jocewally -4.20
Michele613 -4.20
Aprincess - Amy -4.30
JaBee -5.00
Stormy -5.00
tllaurie -5.00
Wstokes -5.00
Shirlshel -5.20
MonicaHolly -5.60
Jiffy -5.80
KathyS -6.60
Cnmsth -7.00
Bruce1223 -9.00
Johnatmh -12.80
--------------------------------------------------
Total losses: -188.25
--------------------------------------------------
Cumulative group loss for January 2020: -236.45 pounds
Average loss for 2nd Week of January 2020: -2.5 pounds

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, January 17, 2020

You cannot expect to reap the corn you have not sown.

I applaud everyone who chose to participate this week! Good for all of you - you showed up and were counted!

I feel like the thread was pretty vibrant this past week, and it seems that many have derived some valuable information, feedback, and mutual support. In an effort to foster that participation, I'm sharing a basic template for weigh-in reports to help suggest some ideas and (hopefully) make it a bit easier for members to engage.

• Weight change +/- in lbs
• Points from the MWL Checklist where I succeeded this week
• Points from the MWL Checklist that need greater attention
• General impressions, comments & observations / resources to share / sources of excitement / requests for input & support

I realize that not all participants are equally comfortable in sharing experiences that feel vulnerable, and I want to encourage everyone to engage at the level where they feel secure and content. That said, it seems to me that a focus strictly on change in weight risks missing what is most valuable about the MWL program - learning to understand and integrate a set of behaviors that support well-being and produce healthy, sustainable weight loss.

This week I had a correspondence with Jocewally that I found really valuable; I think it speaks to some of these same ideas. With permission, I'm sharing the thread below -

Thank you so much for keeping this journal. I'm in the January 2020 MWL group and Jeff Novick recommended that we check out your journal to see what 10 point list compliance looked like. It was so helpful, especially the food pics. I know that had to have taken a lot of time each day, but it was helpful to see what you meant by your recipes, your serving sizes, your non compliant episodes, etc. So thank you for taking the time to do that. I really benefited!

I know this is a personal question, so please feel free to disregard. I was wondering if you would ever be willing to share an overview of your weight status from the beginning of this MWL journal to the end. I was wondering as I read it how this journey affected your weight. For example...at the beginning of this MWL Journal my starting weight was _________ and at the end of it it was __________________.

. . . I was wondering as I read it how all of these decisions affected your weight.

I've been working for 5 years on health and weight loss. So far I've lost nearly 100 lbs, but am struggling to keep up the weight loss using WFPB. Most of my weight loss has been through keto (I felt terrible) and water only fasting. I am really trying this time to just lose weight slowly using WFPB eating.

There were a few complicating factors in my case. I was overweight when I first started this WOE; I saw most of my weight loss when I was eating the regular McDougall diet - from 220 lbs at my heaviest down to ~155 lbs (I'm 6'2" tall). However, I wasn't really practicing / understanding the diet correctly - I was still counting calories and using portion control. That deprivation sometimes led me to binges on healthy, but calorie dense foods. Looking back, honestly, I was probably also OVER-exercising.

About 2 years ago, after an injury, I developed a chronic pain condition (which later was diagnosed as CRPS) and I decided to try MWL as a way to manage my inflammation and exert some control over my situation. After a lot of practice and many stumbles, I finally understood how I could use MWL / the 10-Point Checklist to be able to eat to satiety without any calorie counting or ever really going hungry, and my pain is relatively well-managed. My weight stays generally around 155 lbs, with a bit of variation based on the seasons and my level of activity (it has been as low as 148 lbs, but that actually felt too low, to me). So, I was already at or near my ideal weight when I started the journal, I think I lost about ~5 lbs during the time I was regularly journaling. Keep in mind that the closer one is to their "natural weight" the more adherence becomes necessary. In my case, what MWL gave me was freedom and peace of mind - I was able to let go of my past obsessive behaviors in regard to food & exercise.

Thank you so much for that feedback! I really appreciate it.

My struggle too is not knowing how to eat to satiety. That was one reason your food pics were SOOOO helpful in your MWL food journal. I've been starving myself and then unable to stop myself from binging, bc my whole body felt starved. Your pics helped me realize that I need to eat until I'm satisfied and then I won't feel binge-y. But I also need to adhere to the other end....not eating unless I truly am hungry. I just enjoy the pleasure of food so much, but I have learned from reading The Pleasure Trap and lots of other WFPB lit. Now I just need to keep doing what I know is right.

I DEFINITELY empathize and identify with that struggle you are describing, and feeling that vanish was the real gift I received via MWL. It was a transition that happened very gradually over time, for me. Concentrating on doing the next right thing and being gentle and understanding with yourself is a valuable mindset.

I hope the forum has provided everyone some food for thought this week. Best wishes for a rewarding and health-supporting week to come!

[tllaurie]

Ok, not sure if this is the right place to post - but here is my update:

January 11, 267
-5 for the week (started at 272)

Pretty good as I was traveling all week. I wasn't perfect, but made huge improvements so this is great.