The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

For those wanting to learn about and follow the McDougall Maximum Weight Loss Program. You can also join our monthly weigh-ins.

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The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby Mark Cooper » Sun Oct 02, 2022 3:40 am

OCTOBER 2022 RESOURCES
This section will be updated throughout the month with links to useful resources, as they are added to the thread.

Orientation Information for Time & Adherence:
The Behavioral Path to MWL Success

MWL 10-Point Checklist
MWL Program Guidelines
Calorie Density: How To Eat More, Weigh Less and Live Longer
MWL Recipes
SNAP Meal Template
1- 28 oz Can No Salt Added Tomatoes (or broth for those who don't like tomatoes)
1- 14 oz Can No Salt Added Beans (which is about 1.5 - 2 cups)
1- 16 oz Bag Frozen Mixed Veggies (any type)
**optional - 1/2 cup Frozen Greens
1.5 to 2 cups of a *Cooked* Starch
~1 tbsp. Salt Free, Dried Seasoning/Spice

The Road to Success: Creating Healthy Habits
The Pleasure Trap: Dr. Doug Lisle at TedxFremont
How to Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind with Dr. Doug Lisle
Dr. Doug Lisle on The Ego Trap
Dr. Doug Lisle: The Story of Willpower – What it Is & How it Works
Dr. Lisle's Three Top Tips for Dietary Success
Jeff Novick, RD - Nutrition & Health FAQ: Answers To The Most Asked Questions
A Review of the Rules & Guidelines for Reading Labels
Passive Overconsumption: The Unintended Intake of Excess Calories
Can You Really Eat As Much As You Want?
Why We Hit Plateaus and What We Can Do About Them
Top 10 Reasons for Lack of Success
Dining Out and Travel Food
Exercise, Health & You: How Much Is Enough?
Optimum BMI? / Optimal BMI - redux
Building Self-Efficacy
You Are Not Broken
wildgoose - How I determined my "goal weight"
Finding The Sweet Spot: Balancing Calorie Density, Nutrient Density & Satiety
Amy's Giant List of Links to Dr. Lisle's Lectures
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby VegSeekingFit » Sun Oct 02, 2022 8:13 pm

Hi All, :)

Happy October!!! Hope everyone is getting a great start to the month.

(carryover from September thread)...
Thank you so much, WildGoose for sharing that excellent recipe and idea for traveling oats -- WARM!! I definitely could leverage the thermos for everyday use (sounding great right now as weather is chilly!)... So, ordered and will experiment this week.

Thanks, MakeHealthLast, Moonlight, Gimmelean for additional ideas / thoughts here.

Thanks, Mark for your comments on "add in" - definitely resonates and I am considering. Also, appreciate that you linked Jeff's travel food thread. I have read awhile back (must be how I came up with my "out of house food bag")... :lol: Going to add corn to my list!!!

Best,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby Noella » Mon Oct 03, 2022 9:04 am

Report for Week of Sept. 24-30, 2022, -- Sorry, I am late reporting...I was attending an AGM and couldn’t find the time to post.
1. Start each meal with soup and/or salad and/or fruit. :-D Yes...Trying to keep my fruit to a reasonable number of servings per day.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. :-D Yes...I like this idea and find it very helpful.
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 stop them. :-D Yes...I do use a reduced amount.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). :-D Yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). :-D Yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. :-D 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. :D
8. Don’t drink calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). :-D
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself, and don't stuff yourself. :-D Yes
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). :crybaby: I am more active than two years ago, but growth and learning are still needed with point #10

MakeHealthLast/Health1st: I wish you the very best! I agreed wholeheartedly with Mark when he explained his view: “I'm not sure framing things in terms of "off-" or "on-plan" is conducive to success. Try to keep in mind: the prevailing pattern of behavior we maintain over a significant period of time is the key determinant of our results. What that pattern of behavior looks like in the aggregate is what is important!”

Drew: Your steadfast commitment to improving your health is inspiring. Way to go! I send you my best wishes for a successful surgery followed by a speedy recovery.

Beth: Congratulations on your progress with meal planning. I believe that a few days of feeling under the weather after having the Shingles vaccine is well worth it to avoid this long-lasting, severe and debilitating disease. (I had Shingles when I was about 50 years old, survived, and hope never to have it again.)

Stephanie: I just got back from a three-day conference/AGM, and the restaurant at the hotel did a fantastic job of ensuring that all of my meals were wfpb/vegan with no oil added. It was wonderful! I had brought pre-baked potatoes, pre-cooked oatmeal porridge, fruit and veggies with me just in case the meals weren’t suitable, but, happily, I didn’t need to worry. I hope your meal planning for your trip works out well.
I look forward to hearing all about it.

Ejg - I agree with what Mark said, “Hang in there! Setbacks happen, but what is most important is what we can learn from them and how we move forward in their wake to emerge more resilient and better prepared for future challenges.”

BambiS - I think it's terrific that you are organizing, decluttering and feeling less burdened by having fewer unneeded items while learning to organize, prepare for and improve your daily health habits. Way to go!
  

I had a successful week following MWL while travelling to a professional conference and AGM. I found the courage to request special meals, which worked out well. I believe in having a growth mindset, which means I trust that I can continually learn and improve my abilities. I can focus on developing my abilities to embrace challenges, sustain the effort, and try new strategies. When I notice qualities I don’t like about myself, I try to keep in mind that people can change; that means, yes, I can change for the better.

I’m driving south from BC through Washington and Oregon to get to Bishop, California, to attend my cousin’s funeral. My trip will be for six days starting on Thursday. This is my first trip to the USA since before COVID. I’m excited to see family and happy to go shopping at a USA grocery store and find some of the favourite MWL foods I read about here.

Mark, Wild goose, Jeff and others: If you have a minute and are willing, please help me by listing several of your favourite MWL adherent grocery store products; items that you keep on hand in your pantry/fridge, so I can stock up and take some of your favourite foods, condiments and spices back home. I would appreciate your suggestions. Chances are that the products many of you enjoy using are not readily available in Canada, and many of these are too expensive to order and have shipped across the border. This is my opportunity to buy a McDougall’s dried soup and tPomi tomatoes. Also, which chains of grocery stores do you recommend?

Best regards,
Noella


“What I am about to tell you is so utterly simple and true that it may deceive you: Health feels better than sickness. You will be happier at your ideal weight than you are overweight. You will be proud of yourself. You’ll have confidence. You’ll feel so many good things that right now you cannot imagine and I cannot describe. But the net effect is that you’ll like yourself a lot more. You’ll look in the mirror and actually like what you see; you may even love what you see. You will have honored the person within yourself who longs to be healthy, beautiful, and free of all those burdens that being overweight brings. Life will not be perfect, but it will be better.” ― excerpt from The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss
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Last edited by Noella on Wed Oct 05, 2022 8:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby JeffN » Wed Oct 05, 2022 6:45 am

Noella wrote:Mark, Wild goose, Jeff and others: If you have a minute, and are willing, please help me by listing several of your favourite MWL adherent grocery store products; items that you keep on hand in your pantry/fridge, so I can stock up and take some of your favourite foods, condiments and spices back home.


Here you go. It may seem simple, but it is really what makes up about 90% or more of our food expenses and what helps us easily maintain the program.

https://us4.campaign-archive.com/?e=e22 ... 3eaa68bf9d

We buy the local store brands (Publix, Target, Walmart, BJ's & Aldi) sometimes organic, always salt free or very low sodium, and also order online from Vitacost and Amazon. It is almost entirely the first 7 items on the list and #10. We also buy lots of fresh produce items too. My wife's main starches are basmati rice, buckwheat/kasha and white sweet potatoes and mine is rice and barley. We keep things very simple and rarely use a recipe.

Hope that helps
Jeff
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby Noella » Wed Oct 05, 2022 8:27 am

JeffN wrote:
Here you go. It may seem simple, but it is really what makes up about 90% or more of our food expenses and what helps us easily maintain the program.

https://us4.campaign-archive.com/?e=e22 ... 3eaa68bf9d

We buy the local store brands (Publix, Target, Walmart, BJ's & Aldi) sometimes organic, always salt free or very low sodium, and also order online from Vitacost and Amazon. It is almost entirely the first 7 items on the list and #10. We also buy lots of fresh produce items too. My wife's main starches are basmati rice, buckwheat/kasha and white sweet potatoes and mine is rice and barley. We keep things very simple and rarely use a recipe.

Hope that helps
Jeff

Yes! This helps! Very much so! Thanks so much, Jeff!
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby Artista » Wed Oct 05, 2022 8:57 am

Hi Mark and the MWL group, I would like to join you all for October. I was last in the MWL group in July but life got really busy and I needed to take a break. Also I think I was trying too hard to do it perfectly (is that even possible?) and I got to a point where I just needed to step away for awhile. I appreciated your comments about not thinking in terms of “on plan” or “off plan”. I haven’t heard that before and I’m going to give it some more thought. I tend to be a black and white thinker. Since being on the MWL group I’ve managed to stay pretty closely to the MWL foods, but the areas where I most need improvement are #1, 2, & 10 of the guidelines, especially if I want to continue to make progress. I’m looking forward to participating in the group again and moving forward with my weight and health goals. I’ll review the orientation materials to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything.

Jeff, thanks for the link to healthy grocery store products. I was happy to see that all of those, except for 8 and 9, are products that I buy and use regularly. It was a good reminder of how simple and economical it is to eat healthfully.
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby wildgoose » Wed Oct 05, 2022 10:08 am

Noella wrote:Mark, Wild goose, Jeff and others: If you have a minute and are willing, please help me by listing several of your favourite MWL adherent grocery store products; items that you keep on hand in your pantry/fridge, so I can stock up and take some of your favourite foods, condiments and spices back home. I would appreciate your suggestions. Chances are that the products many of you enjoy using are not readily available in Canada, and many of these are too expensive to order and have shipped across the border. This is my opportunity to buy a McDougall’s dried soup and tPomi tomatoes. Also, which chains of grocery stores do you recommend?

Jeff did the master list, which is the best summation we have by far of packaged foods. So I’ll just add a few of my personal favorites, which mirror Jeff's in many ways.
  • Pomi tomato products. The absolute best, if you can find them. I use Muir Glen canned tomatoes, no salt added, as well — particularly the fire roasted.
  • Tinkyada brown rice pasta, my favorite of the whole grain pastas.
  • Shelf-stable brown rice bowls, just rice, no oil. Harder to find in grocery stores (impossible around here — I always have to order online). My favorite brand is Nishiki. I use my rice cooker (Zojirushi) for everyday rice and store the leftovers in 2 cup bowls in freezer or fridge, but the Nishiki rice bowls are a lifesaver for traveling. Heat in the microwave for 90 seconds.
  • Bob's Red Mill steel cut oats. The only brand I use for my "traveling oats," and I use it at home as well. Buy in bulk, store it in the freezer, keeps forever. Also from Bob's, their polenta and Creamy Buckwheat cereal.
  • Mrs. Dash seasonings. I like the Table Blend, because it's ground finer and is good for sprinkling at the table. Other blends are coarser but work well for cooking.
As for grocery stores, we're limited here. Kroger is my main choice (Ralph's, Fred Meyer, etc. on west coast — same ownership). Otherwise it's Aldi, Walmart, or online. No access to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. But we eat very well. Like Jeff and his wife, we keep it very simple and don’t use recipes. We like potatoes (Yukon Gold, with the occasional Russet), sweet potatoes (white, orange and Japanese), whole grain pasta, brown rice, and oatmeal for our main starches.

Goose
My story: MWL works!
How I determined my "goal weight"
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby Mark Cooper » Wed Oct 05, 2022 12:32 pm

Noella - My answer is very similar to what Jeff and wildgoose have shared. I, too, love Pomi tomatoes and the various Dash seasoning blends (original, lemon pepper, and hot & spicy are my favorites). I'm on the east coast (in New Jersey) and do most of my shopping at Wegmans and Trader Joe's. Looking at my grocery list, the things I buy habitually are:

Fresh produce: Apples, brussels sprouts, lettuce, celery, cucumbers, carrots, habanero peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Frozen: Onions, peppers, collard greens, kale, spinach, "California blend", broccoli, brussels sprouts and green beans. I usually just buy the store brand. Costco "Normandy Vegetables" are great, too.

Brown basmati rice, lentils, pinto beans, black beans, small red beans, kidney beans, whole wheat pasta

Apple Cider Vinegar, Lime Juice, Lemon Juice (for the citrus juice I usually buy Santa Cruz Organic). My primary personal condiment is a mix of ACV and lime juice with Dash seasoning.

Pomi Diced Tomatoes, Pomi Strained Tomatoes

I buy most of my herbs and spices from either Penzeys or Local Spicery.

Like Jeff and wildgoose, I eat pretty simply. My main starches, by a wide margin, are potatoes (usually Russet) and sweet potatoes, with brown basmati rice probably being the next most frequent option. Occasional meals with oats or whole wheat pasta. Also, lentils or various beans. I'm mostly buying whole or minimally processed foods in a "commodity" form, so almost always buying a store brand or direct agricultural product.

The Pomi tomatoes, Dash seasonings, and Santa Cruz juices are my favorite "name brand" items.

My all time favorite food: Okinawan / Hawaiian purple sweet potatoes. I buy mine at either a local ethnic market, or online from Hawaii Veggie Farm. I would expect these are probably fairly readily available on the West Coast. My wife's extended family are in Washington state, so I'm reasonably familiar with that area; they have really great apples, particularly my #1 personal favorite: the Cosmic Crisp. My condolences on the loss of your cousin; I hope your trip is pleasant and enjoyable, and you are able to sample some delicious, adherent local fare.

Artista - Happy to see your post & welcome back!
Artista wrote:I think I was trying too hard to do it perfectly (is that even possible?) . . . I appreciated your comments about not thinking in terms of “on plan” or “off plan”. I haven’t heard that before and I’m going to give it some more thought. I tend to be a black and white thinker.
I definitely think an inclination toward "perfectionism" can, under some circumstances, be detrimental to our efforts, particularly if we aren't accustomed to treating ourselves with compassion and understanding. I think many of us often hold ourselves to a standard higher than we would ever reasonably expect from someone else. As is so often the case, I think this is really about our ontological framework and / or mindset. Certainly our aim is to focus on adherence to the recommended pattern of behavior, but from my perspective the concept of "on plan" vs. "off plan", as applied not to a particular food, but rather as a label for our state of being at present, is usually counterproductive. "Because I had item X at that last meal, I'm off plan, so I might as well just eat WHATEVER non adherent food for the rest of the day / week / month." "I'm waiting to start on MONDAY, because I want to be fully on plan." &c. The foods we consume and certain other individual behaviors may be adherent or non adherent to the recommendations, but I think it is best if we distinguish our choices and behaviors from our identity and sense of self. I look forward to your participation this month!
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby JeffN » Thu Oct 06, 2022 6:59 am

They say, "success leaves clues."

There are a lot of similar clues in the responses from the three of us.

Take note! :)

This is a commodity program based on some simple minimally processed staple foods.

In Health
Jeff
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby VegSeekingFit » Thu Oct 06, 2022 7:55 pm

Hi Team Time and Adherence! :)

Sorry that I am reporting early ... have a plank to walk with work stuff tomorrow (and maybe Saturday too) and wanted to report for the week... I am pretty sure that I am not going to deviate from this assessment in the next few hours... :cool:

Loved that Noella asked question on food to Jeff, Mark, WG... and now feel like we have a view into pantries / refrigerators/freezers!!! :lol: Totally, liked to review the Top 10 foods list from Jeff (and have to say ... LOVE this artwork on top too... pretty cool!!)... Thinking common things for success are: keeping to this list + produce aisle??? Simple, less recipes??? Did I miss something there????

So, yeah... personally try to understand things...I am ok to embrace commodity concept which I think I have been (but just wasn't thinking of in these terms ). I do like to insert a bit of fun into shopping... Like, trying new fruit / veggie / grain... Last week it was kohlrabi for me and I just cut it raw. It was pretty good!! :D

Anyway, here is my assessment for the week.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly no. I did do this a few times. Was excited to get awesome apples at Farmers Market. Super sad that this weekend will be last opportunity for Farmers Market.

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. Reduced, not eliminated.

4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
YES, of course. :D

5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Yes. :-D

6 Eliminate any added oil.
:nod: 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.
:-D 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. I did not stuff or starve....


10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes. :)
* 7/7 days walked briskly
Have actually enjoyed (now that I am used to brisker weather) my 6:30AM walks... You can start with a view of the stars and then see the sunrise... Pretty awesome!!! Also, 100% amused by Halloween decorations and such!!!


Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!!

Hey, glad to see you back Artista!!! I still do the swing thing!! :)

Cheers,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby Ejg » Fri Oct 07, 2022 6:36 am

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Think I did this pretty consistently this week
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. Pretty successful on this too. Limiting fruit to strictly a dessert is proving to be kind of challenging for me but I continue to experiment to see what works and I'm confident will (sooner or later) land on something that works. Not bringing into the house would probably be a good start
:!:

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). In a moment of weakness I got a bag of salted pistachios in the checkout at the grocery store the other night
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. last night while packing my daughter's lunch I had a few handfuls of her goldfish crackers. more on this below
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). didn't have any of this
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. didn't starve or stuff
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). did this every day

I arbitrarily picked Thursday morning as the day/time I would weigh myself every week and so far, have been seeing positive results. However I noticed that these positive results usually end in my temporarily letting my guard down and straying off the path a little bit. Perhaps has to do with the feeling of rewarding myself but admittedly, this is NOT a good way to reward myself. Probably akin to an alcoholic celebrating some period of sobriety by allowing themselves to drink. These wobbles have so far been limited and I've not allowed myself to use them as an excuse to completely go off the rails. cumulative change: -3, week over week change: -1
Though it feels malevolent, resistance operates with the indifference of rain and transits the heavens by the same laws as the stars. When we marshal our forces to combat resistance, we must remember this.
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby carwex » Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:54 am

Hello to all participants, new and old. I’m happy to report a good week.
1. Start each meal with a soup or salad. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method, ½ starch and ½ vegetables. YES.
3. Reduce or eliminate added sugars and salts. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods. YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. YES no nuts.
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES except once when eating in restaurant.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie dense foods. YES, finally had a week without bread
8. Don’t drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. YES
10. Avoid being sedentary. YES

This week was almost perfect adherence. I was impressed by the idea of keeping a checklist of the 10 principles during the day. This led me to analyze those situations during the week that throw me off track. For example, one day a week my husband and I babysit for a LONG day with a 5 year-old grandson. I realized that in order to remain adherent in my children’s house, I have to prepare my own lunch and snack and take it with me. This really works.
The other place I fall is at restaurants. Whether it is sharing food or choosing non-adherent foods or not being satisfied, it is usually a trigger to cravings. However, when I know what dish to order and I know it is as adherent as I can make it and satisfying then it does not derail me. This also requires preparation like going to places I know have adherent food or steering others towards those places or researching the offerings at a new place.
I have made a list of restaurants and the dishes in each that I can order if we suddenly have an invitation or my husband wants to go out to eat. Clarity around what I can eat makes it easier.
Tomorrow is my book club. the most comfortable way of dealing with this is to have a really satisfying lunch just before I go to the book club which starts at 2:00 and tea at 4:00. If I’m not hungry I can choose something like fruit at tea time and not have a breakdown. It also helps me if I have a dinner already prepared when I get home from these events.
FinalIy, I have been thinking about Mark’s question: What is success for me? It’s just to keep coming back to this forum, keep on sharing, keep on trying as best I can to stick to the MWL. I don’t know if I will ever get to a constant state of just doing it naturally but if I keep coming back, I can’t go too wrong. That sounds like time and adherence to me.
Love you all and grateful to be part of this group.
Carol
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby carwex » Fri Oct 07, 2022 8:28 am

I wanted to relate to what Beth asked about weighing. I also read Mark's answer to her. I loved what Mark said about this being a personal choice. I have heard so often that it is triggering to weigh oneself too often. My "dirty little secret" is that I weigh myself every morning before breakfast and have been doing so since starting the MWL 2 1/2 years ago, I have experienced very few "fluctuations". I am now at my goal weight. If i am adhering, I do not gain weight. Pure physics. For me this is a reality check. It does not trigger me or set me up for a fall. On the contrary, having been fat or overweight - even on the McDougall plan -for most of my life (since the age of 5)- it is such a pleasure to see the scale register the same low weight every day that i adhere to the plan. At the age of 80, no one is going to take that away from me! Grateful to Mark for the validation.
Carol
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby BambiS » Fri Oct 07, 2022 11:33 am

10-7

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


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 desert
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).
Yes, not an issue here

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Yes, no problems

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). Still no intent exercise, I did better this week

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
I feel like I’ve been more stressed since my mother moved in town last January. I’ve noticed my weight loss really slowed, and most likely because I’ve tasted things I shouldn’t, mostly bread. Obviously, it has affected my weight loss. I haven’t done terrible, but could have done better.
I’ve watched the pleasure trap, I kept those principles in mind and gad a great week. In 1 oz loss I will be in the 160’s
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - October 2022 Group

Postby VegSeekingFit » Fri Oct 07, 2022 7:32 pm

carwex wrote:Hello to all participants, new and old. I’m happy to report a good week.

FinalIy, I have been thinking about Mark’s question: What is success for me? It’s just to keep coming back to this forum, keep on sharing, keep on trying as best I can to stick to the MWL. I don’t know if I will ever get to a constant state of just doing it naturally but if I keep coming back, I can’t go too wrong. That sounds like time and adherence to me.
Love you all and grateful to be part of this group.
Carol


Hi, :)

Cannot love your post enough, Carol!!! :-D I remember one you posted in a prior month about us all being "Stars in Training"... So glad to see you back...

Also, your post reminded me a bit of gratitude... AGREE 100%... Love this group and am super grateful... (from another who wears heart on sleeve... :D )

Best to all and huge THANK you,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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