Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

Good Evening Everyone,

Thank you for taking the time to check-in this week. It's always lovely to hear from each of you.
I have found that while losing weight and trying to change my long ingrained habits, it has been really important to challenge my understanding of how I have historically approached weight loss, the role of my thoughts on my behaviours, how I socially interact with the people in my life, and many other of my preconceived notions of how things work.*
In conjunction with following Dr. McDougall’s dietary recommendations, I have been learning through trial and error, experimentation and reflection, as also advised by the experts here at the McDougall program. It has been a slow process, taking many years just to get to where I am today. But I can't complain, I'm very happy to be where I am.

Something important, that has taken much time to understand even after reading it or hearing it many times, is that if we are making the same mistake over and over again AND it bothers us or it’s something we wish to fix, then getting into the details of the situation is absolutely necessary in order to figure out how to fix it.
Something that Kirsty said in her post this week had me remember a quote from a book that I read recently:

Precision may leave the tragedy intact,but it chases away the ghouls and the demons.

Now I wouldn’t call being overweight or obese a tragedy; even if it can feel that way to the more tender souls amongst us (hopefully not just me...lol). Additionally, understanding everything that we now do about what we ate historically (as a species) and why we consistently reach for certain types of food doesn’t magically fix the problem.

But understanding this challenge we are facing makes it more bearable.

Understanding how weight loss actually works makes bearing this burden manageable. It stops feeling so unfair or being a source of shame, guilt and resentment. It manifests more correctly, as a problem to be solved, much like any other...a problem to be solved by getting crystal clear, as Dr. Lisle has said.

I think many of us identify with what you are saying, Kirsty, with varying degrees of emotional intensity. There are no hopeless and broken physiological mutants or anomalies here!

Best wishes to everyone this week as you work towards more precisely knowing what some of your own personal barriers to success are, and then developing strategies to remove them.
Amy XO

*That’s all...that’s all you need to do to lose weight...LOL...just question everything you know.

Here are the results for the fourth week in March:

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, March 30th, 2018

Total group loss reported in 2018: 149.9 pounds

March 2018 Weight Loss Group :: Monthly Weigh-In Results
Total group loss in January 2018: 54.7 pounds
Total group loss in February 2018: 49.3 pounds
Total group loss in March 2018: 45.9 pounds

Week ending 03/23/2018: 12 participants reported a total loss of 14.4 pounds
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Jobet - 0.2
Sundog - 0.5
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Total gains: 0.7
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Suey51 - 0.6
Landog - 1.5
Moonlight - 1.0
Victw - 4.2
Kirstykay - 2.0
Galooop - 0.8
BeHealthy - 2.0
Svenja - 3.0
Starchyme - 0.0
amandamechele - 0.0
---------------------------------------------
Total losses: 15.1
---------------------------------------------

Total group loss in March 2018: 45.9 pounds
Week ending 03/23/2018: 12 participants reported a total loss of 14.4 pounds
Week ending 03/16/2018: 14 participants reported a total loss of 7.0 pounds
Week ending 03/09/2018: 11 participants reported a total loss of 13.4 pounds
Week ending 03/02/2018: 12 participants reported a total loss of 11.1 pounds

Starchyme wrote:Hi, I'm joining the March Weigh In Thread 3 weeks late, but I still have time to get started. I weighed in at home this morning and see I need to release just a few more pounds to get to my goal, having aleady released 40 lbs though the years of McDougallingl. So, I'll log in as 6 pounds to go from today.

Wonderful to have you! How exciting to be so close to your goal. I hope we can help provide a little extra support and accountability over the next few months while you work to reach it.

Many thanks for the warm welcome, Amandamechele.

Sundog wrote:Weight up 0.5 weight 230.3

Happy Saturday everyone,
I did not want to post because this is the second week of a weight gain but I decided that it’s part of the journey and I must face the reality that my weight will fluctuate. I did have a compliant week. The one issue I’m having is back pain. I know that I’m having inflammation in my body as for the last 4 days I’ve been dealing with what ever is wrong with my back. It’s just so frustrating as I know that getting this weight off will help my back, knees, hips etc so a period of no weight loss is time lost from getting healthier. All I can do is continue to be compliant and try and move as much as possible.
I finally got approved for the laser ablation of the varicose vein in my right lower leg! On April 5th I’m having the procedure done!
So going forward I’m going to keep a positive attitude and do the very best I can of what I can control and this is what I choose to put in my mouth.
Happy for everyone who saw positive results with your weight loss!
For those of us who had a gain this week it’s just a step up on the way down, a lesson learned, a moment to reflect and make positive changes for the week ahead!
Best, Sundog

Thank you for posting Sundog, even when it felt uncomfortable to do so. It is just a part of the journey and is most probably just water weight.
Try not to think of this period of time as time lost, but as a period of no real weight gain. There will be fits and starts to your losses as metabolic inputs and outputs fluctuate. Sometimes in your favour and sometimes against. But have no doubt, that over time the principles of calorie density do work. We just don't know what exact period of time because it's complex, so patience is helpful.
Yahoo! Your surgery date is coming up quickly. Will you be out of commission for long? May I ask what exactly is laser ablation?
I'm glad you have this little extra motivator to help you through this week. Healthy food choices will definitely help you recover well.

XO
Amy

Starchyme wrote:Many thanks for the warm welcome, Amandamechele.

My pleasure! Are you on the west coast too, or just up late?

Edited to add: I guess you could be in a completely different time zone too! LOL

Hello to everyone here....

I have been here before, I followed the MWL and lost the weight, then over the past year have followed the regular McDougall way of eating but began to include some foods like pretzels (etc) and have not been as diligent about keeping my plant based starch HIGH...

I am a vegan (which makes it easy) and a Type 1 insulin dependent diabetic since childhood (which can make high starch an issue) soooooo...... with persistence in mind, I am back to this group, I can be helpful... yeah!

I posted my weight and ticker below, from Friday so I'll have a week to go even though I don't get counted in this week. I'm here because I've been a McDougaller for quite some years now (however imperfect at it) so I can be helpful to others, as well as I need the help of accountability to lose this unwanted weight.

Trish wrote:Hello to everyone here....

I have been here before, I followed the MWL and lost the weight, then over the past year have followed the regular McDougall way of eating but began to include some foods like pretzels (etc) and have not been as diligent about keeping my plant based starch HIGH...

I am a vegan (which makes it easy) and a Type 1 insulin dependent diabetic since childhood (which can make high starch an issue) soooooo...... with persistence in mind, I am back to this group, I can be helpful... yeah!

I posted my weight and ticker below, from Friday so I'll have a week to go even though I don't get counted in this week. I'm here because I've been a McDougaller for quite some years now (however imperfect at it) so I can be helpful to others, as well as I need the help of accountability to lose this unwanted weight.

Welcome Trish!

We are a whole group of perfectly imperfect people and McDougallers, you'll fit right in...LOL.
My son is also a T1 diabetic, and eats this way too (when at home anyways). As a typical teen his BG levels are all over the place as he navigates his independence with food and managing his condition. I'd love to hear more of your observations, knowing that they are just personal reflection and not medical advice (I figure I had better say that. ) Only if you wish to share, of course.

For anyone interested here is the link to Dr McDougall's Hot Topics: Diabetes. It has articles discussing both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes (admittedly there is much more on Type 2 because it is much more prevalent and amenable to dietary therapy).
Here's a personal anecdote about my son; He lowers his daily required insulin by about 20% when he is very adherent to eating this way...and he eats a lot!!

Best wishes this week and I hope we can help provide just enough accountability to get you through the beginning transition back to consistent MWL.

Amy

Trish wrote:Hello to everyone here....

Hi Trish!
Glad to see you here...

Hello everyone and welcome Trish!

A 0.2 gain for me this week. Tomorrow marks a month of staying within my weight maintenance range so I'm happy with that Was lucky enough to eat out at restaurants 3 times this week. 2 of the meals weren't McD compliant; one was vegetarian and one was vegan with oil. I made the decisions consciously, weighing up the pros and cons. While I enjoyed the overall experience in each case, I would have preferred McD food. The rest of the week was very close to full McD compliance so I'm pleased to end up almost where I started.

I tried not to weigh myself everyday after watching the McD webinar with Doug Lisle last week. I managed to weigh myself on only 6 instead of 7 days so I'm counting that as progress

Motivation-wise I am reminding myself of all the positive benefits of this way of eating, and this week has been all about the outer aspects. I bought some new clothes, taken some large clothes to the charity shop, enjoyed wearing a pair of heels (which I haven't worn for ages due to knee pain/fear of knee pain returning) and am going to start a short 'body-building' program with the trainer at my local gym

A 1.6 pound loss for McBailey this week. He's pretty happy with it; well he's coming round to being happy after he'd got over the disappointment of 'gaining' 1.4 pounds since Wednesday when I persuaded him to get on the scales! Oops! I'll try not to do that again.

Best wishes to everyone, Sue (AKA Recovering Scale Monkey )

0 loss. But didn't gain so that's a plus.

It's been a long March, but we've made it!
I hope you all will have a great spring! (or autumn, for you southerners )

I'm happy that it's baseball season!



I am down one pound for the week.

See you next month!

Thanks,
-dog

Gained 0.2 LBS

Even though I've been on an up-down-up-down plateau, it doesn't bother me, because I still feel like I'm moving in the right direction. LOL! hope that makes sense somehow...

I still struggle with eating compliance, but I'm getting better, little by little.

I've kept up with my exercise program (walking and gym weight machines) to the point where now I crave it. So, I feel stronger and more confident from that.

Thank you to everyone for posting in this group, especially AMY!

Chris

Well I'm up 2 lbs from last week.
But it's still misleading because I've been sick the past two weeks and was down 4.2 lbs the previous week.

I also watched the McDougall/Dr. Lisle scale monkey video. I tried to weigh myself less this week and just focus on the veggies. I did weigh myself two days ago and was bummed that I was up. The self talk was interesting....

So this morning the self talk was also interesting - why not stop for the bagel with cream cheese. But I've chilled out and if you look at the two week trend I'm still down 2.2 lbs.

I'm going to focus on the 1 month trends.

I'm also keeping my eye on the eating out trend. I picked up soup on Tuesday night - it wasn't a bad choice just high in sodium. I also joined a work lunch yesterday. I made decent choices but forgot that my stir fry would be too oily. And I really wanted to skip bringing lunch today and go out with the crowd. But I made a nice salad for lunch. Hmm the eating out thing...it's not just a social thing... entertainment also???

Vic

Hello Everyone,

I'm down 0.8 this week.

After hearing the "scale monkey" video this past week by Dr. Lisle, I think I'm going to try his method, weighing today, tomorrow, and Sunday for an average. Then I'll weigh again the end of April. I'm not really a scale monkey, yet, but see I could easily become one. I lived without a scale for many, many years but since changing to this WOE, I bought a scale and find myself jumping on it more than is needed. Just as I typed that, it occurred to me that I'm not sure how my experiment will work for this thread, since it's a weekly weigh-in thread. Can I still participate if I weigh only once each month?

Down a pound this week, struggling a bit with streamlining and consistency.. now is a new week!