November 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[kirstykay]

Weight Change: -1.7

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES. I made a vegetable soup at the beginning of the week, and used this at lunch and dinner. Mornings were fruit. It wasn't hard, just took some planning.
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. YES. I made this easy by steaming frozen veggies to have at each meal.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados,) YES. I just didn't buy these. Saying no once at the grocery store is much easier than at each meal.
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. Again, kept them out of the house.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES. Stayed away from Starbucks this week! Huge victory!
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 was not as inclined to overeat this week. I feel like my brain was calmer and clearer and my eating was more mindful.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. YES

Thank you so much Mark and Wildgoose and everyone who encouraged me last week. It made a huge difference. I got some great advice and was really able to turn things around this week. I went from feeling discouraged and hopeless to feeling empowered. I remembered that I was the one making the decisions and because the decisions are mine, I have all the power. I also tried not to even think about my weight and really focus on the process. It was a complete mindset shift, and the pleasure trap food just didn't have the same control over me for some reason.

My favorite day this week was my birthday. I think it might have been the very first birthday EVER that didn't center around food! Like ever in my entire life! And I had the most wonderful day. My husband took the day off work and we went on a beautiful hike in the mountains. We took cold potatoes on the hike and packed a salad with chickpeas and some fruit for our lunch. We put Chili in the crockpot before we left and had a delicious meal by the fire when we got home. My husband made some chocolate banana nice cream for dessert. I didn't miss not having cake. I didn't wish we could have gone out to dinner. I got lots of calls, texts, cards, and my kids even sent me flowers! It was a delightful day and I felt very loved and celebrated without it being at all about food! It felt like a complete shift in my way of thinking and I am very encouraged.

[Kappagator_96]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -0.9 lbs

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. No, not hungry enough at breakfast.
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. No, had coffee creamer a few times.
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). No, Had small amounts of nuts in sauce.
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). No, coffee creamer
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). 3/7 days

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Had a good week, all in all. My waist to hip ratio has improved since the last time I measured; Hoping I can get it in healthy range in the next few months, as well as reducing BMI. BMI is at the higher end of healthy range now, which is a victory.

Goals: 7/7 days for exercise next week. Work on coffee creamer, but that is a roadblock for me. I have given up coffee completely in the past (due to my love of creamer), but I really miss the energy burst from the caffeine and hate to drink it black. Maybe experiment with tea this week as a good compromise.

Thank you so much for your insight and accountability!

[cmcavazos]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -.8#

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
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.-- No. Had added sugar as ingredient in one dish.
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
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. -- Ate whole wheat bread with sandwich in one meal - and saltines in one meal.
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 ate a larger quantity of food this week. I traded out brown rice for potatoes which were more filling.
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 felt like I wasn't making much progress regarding my weight loss. I remembered hearing that Dr. McDougall told Chef AJ to eat more potatoes. -- So I did that, also!

Victories --
I opted out of a staff get-together this week and just dropped off my food contribution and greeted everyone. I felt like there would be too much temptation so I didn't stay to eat. Everything worked out well.
My sugar cravings have reduced.

Wishing everyone a healthy and safe Thanksgiving...

[josietheschnauzer]

Weight Loss: 1 pound
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, BUT, HAVING MORE THAN 2 PIECES OF FRUIT ON SOME DAYS. MY EXCUSE IS THAT I BOUGHT SMALL APPLES....
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, MAYBE NO AT ONE MEAL
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES, MAYBE NO AT ONE MEAL
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. NOT REALLY, STILL STUFFING MYSELF.....
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES. RUNNING OR WALKING AT LEAST ONE HOUR A DAY.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: FIGHTING THE WINTER, PRE-HOLIDAY, "WHATEVER" EMOTIONAL NEED TO EAT SUGAR. WORKING ON IT. ATE A SPECIAL MEAL AT A RESTAURANT...STILL THINK IT HAD OIL OR SOME NUTS IN IT..."VEGAN RISOTTO"--SEE MY ANSWER AT 5 AND 6. MY GOAL IS TO GET TO MWL VICTORY IN DECEMBER, THEN JANUARY, THEN FEBRUARY WITHOUT A MAJOR SET BACK. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT.

[texaslil]

Weight change +/- in lbs:
lbs lost -1.6
Current weight: 169.8

Happy to report I lost some weight this week, even though I wasn't 100% compliant.

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
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). ALWAYS!
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). ATE A VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF AVOCADO, TOFU AND TEMPEH
6. Eliminate any added oil. HAD AN IMPOSSIBLE BURGER.......
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. ATE SOME SHREDDED WHEAT
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES, AND NO SMOOTHIE!
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. MOSTLY
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).6/7

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: AS YOU CAN SEE I WAS MOSTLY COMPLIANT BUT DID EAT OFF PLAN. THE ONE THING THAT I HAVE NOTICED THAT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE IS PRELOADING WITH THE GREEN SALAD. I HAVE BEEN DILIGENT ABOUT EATING MY GREENS AHEAD OF ALL MEALS. FOR BREAKFAST I EAT COOKED GREENS AND MUSHROOMS SAUTED IN WATER BEFORE I EAT MY OATMEAL AND FRUIT. FOR DINNER I EAT A LARGE BOWL OF SALAD BEFORE MY MEAL, THEN EAT THE 50% STARCH. IT HAS REALLY MADE A DIFFERENCE IN THE AMOUNT I OF FOOD I EAT AT EACH MEAL. I HAVE ALSO BEEN DRINKING HERBAL TEA IN THE MORNING ALONG WITH WATER AND TYPICALLY DON'T EAT BREAKFAST UNTIL 10:30-11, THIS CUTS DOWN ON THE AMOUNT OF FOOD I EAT THROUGHOUT THE DAY. I WILL HAVE A SMALL SALAD OR SMALL AMOUNT OF LEFTOVERS IN THE LATE AFTERNOON IF I AM FEELING HUNGARY, OTHERWISE I WAIT TILL DINNER AND EAT MY LRG SALAD EARLY WHILE I COOK DINNER.

AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR ANY AND ALL FEEDBACK! I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT ALL OF THE COMPLIANT RECIPIES I HAVE FOUND AND AM LOOKING FORWARD TO ALL THE COOKING I GET TO DO THIS COMING WEEK (I TOOK THE WEEK OFF FROM WORK!)! HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

[alishana]

This week, I've lost 0.8lbs !

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. -- I'm not really doing this because I don't eat big portions.
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 except for one meal.
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). -- I had avocado a couple of times this week when I've ordered sushi.
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. -- I've had homemade cookies with only banana, oats and cinnamon in it. I know now that it's too high in calorie density. I've had them a few times this week.
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). -- I've walked.

Thank you so much Mark for your response last week. Your dedication to this group is really a blessing. I really appreciate it. Thank you !

It's been a good week. I still need to work on my meal plan organization to make sure that I don't need to order food when I come back home late after work. And also to have compliant snacks available.
Also I feel light and see changes on my body. It feels very nice !

[Zoey]

+/- 0

Here I am taking up space again with no changes to report. I guess I should move to maintenance boards, but I just plain don't want to. I really want these last six pounds gone, and reading everyone's victories and challenges helps keep me grounded. And I don't want to get into that deprivation mentality for those six pounds, so I'll just stay here for now.

All checkpoints good except... my challenge this week came in the form of pumpkin bread from a dear neighbor. I've gotten myself out of the pleasure trap when it comes to store-bought goodies. But when it comes to something baked with love, that's a different story. Which is also why the upcoming month will be tricky to navigate.
So that was a big fail on checkpoints #6 and #7. Oil and flour and calorie-dense for sure.

I can say that the delicious bread didn't trigger any binges or any sugar cravings beyond what I ate, so that makes me hopeful. Everything about this way of eating has become super easy and enjoyable for me, and that's where I want to stay, even if it takes me another six months to see my goal number on that scale.

Thanks to everyone for such a supportive environment and dialogue!

[Gimmelean]

Greetings Everyone.
Weight 11/13/20. 125.6
Weight 11/20/20. 126 +.4 Weight change +/- in lbs: 

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
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
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).yes

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:at the beginning of this week, I ate cookies, bread dipped in olive oil, and nuts. It showed immediately on the scale, but worse, it had a huge impact on my energy level.it’s also easy to say I’m doomed to be heavier and be tempted to give up. I asked myself what I was thinking when I ate that stuff when in fact, I wasn’t thinking at all! Just reacting. This is the time of year I always find it hard to eat less. After gaining about 2-3 pounds per year over the last several years and always between November and March and struggling the rest of the yearI found myself 12 pounds heavier. I lost those 12 pounds plus an extra one since June 2020 on MWL when I couldn’t budge an ounce on any other program. This is absolutely the only way of eating for me for life. The healthy foods, way of living with exercise, the structure of the guidelines and 10 point checklist work with your support and encouragement. I’ve thought that I’m an expert at weight loss. After all I’ve done it hundreds of times it seems. I’ve learned so much about myself and about what really works in these five months. Even my husband agreed that I can’t eat just one of anything not on these lists when he’s always said before, just stop eating. This week I put yes for every point in the list because as soon as I was compliant, off came the temporary weight from my temporary lapse and I’m feeling great again and have no need to overeat. Eating the right foods, and exercising regularly no matter what has a huge impact on my entire outlook. Even work productivity. My goal this year is to get through the winter ( especially during the pandemic)maintaining my weight or even losing a bit.
Happy Healthy Safe Thanksgiving to everyone and I’m thankful to you for all the work you do here and for your insight.

[chef16]

11/13/2020 235#
11/20/ 2020 235#

Weight change: 0 #

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 95%
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. 95%
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. 100%
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood) 100%.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). 85%
6. Eliminate any added oil. 100%
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. 95%
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).100%
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. 100%
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 95%

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Didn't loose ,but I didn't gain either. I will take that ! It has been a very trying week all around . I am hoping that next week is better.

[Growing a Pear]

Weight change +/- in lbs: +0.1

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert.
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.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6. Eliminate any added oil.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

I haven't been exercising enough--still working to make that a habit now that we're largely indoors--but for 6/7 days I did well on the other 9 items. Then yesterday I fell off the rails and earned myself a in #9 and #7. (I won't detail the how in case it sets off cravings for others. Let's just say the 125-day streak of avoiding a certain non-McDougall "substance"--I won't call it food--ended.)

I tried to head off the crash beforehand because I knew I was in trouble. Overate on other prepared foods but couldn't seem to fill the well. Next time, if there is one, I think I'll try a large plate of mashed potatoes and bean gravy. It wouldn't have fulfilled the 50:50 principle, but I think that would have done the trick without risking further Pleasure Trap activation.

Anyway, onwards. Can't do anything about yesterday other than to learn from it.

[JaBee]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -1.1

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 5/7
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, 7/7
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, 7/7
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes, 7/7
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Yes, 7/7
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes, 7/7
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. 5/7
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes, 7/7
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself
. Yes, 5/7
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes, 4/7

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Continue to struggle with #7 but improving

[Wfpb2020]

Weight change - 1.4 lbs.

1) Start each meal with soup/salad/fruit. Yes
2) Follow the 50/50 plate. Yes
3) Reduce or eliminate sugars/salts. 6/7
4) Eliminate animal foods 4/7 struggling with animal products
5) Eliminate higher fat plant foods. 5/7 still have a craving for nuts
6) Eliminate oil. Yes
7) Eliminate higher calorie-dense foods. 6/7
8 ) Don’t drink your calories. Yes
9) Eating when hungry and stop when full. Yes
10) 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. Yes. usually 60 minutes or more

Slipped one day with a sugary dessert. (#3 & #7). Lately, struggling with animal products.(#4) I was not vegan or vegetarian before starting this even though I was 100% convinced this is the best way to eat and had tried in the past. I only lasted a few days. So the fact I am still working on it for almost 5 months is a win-win for me.

I still need to cook meat for my husband. He is trying to eat the whole food plant based but only about 40% of the time. It would be lot easier if there was no meat in the house.

[GreenFroG]

Hi all,

Weight change +/- in lbs: +0.8

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
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.
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.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6. Eliminate any added oil.
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.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Had a root canal on my tooth Thursday, so I missed a couple of days of exercise. Otherwise, I was able to keep to the routine, just switching out soup for the salads and eating softer foods. I am pretty sure I know why my weight went up, though, as I am retaining water. My treat to myself was to splurge and have some garbanzo beans sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt - my pleasure trap. I justified to myself that if I was going to be bad, this was my craving. Salt is allowed on the program, I know, but it is not so good for me. So Thursday and Friday, I had salt sprinkled on garbanzo beans as a treat once, then twice, then a couple more times. My weight went up. Ok - my tooth is feeling better and so now I need to refocus. I will be reading everyone's posts and the moderators replies this weekend to regain focus before Thanksgiving.

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving, in whatever form that is for each of you. I am thankful for this group and the McDougall program!

[lmggallagher]

SW 241.9
GW 150

Last Weigh in: 214.0
This Week: 213.0


Lost: 1.0 pounds


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



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


2) Choose fruit for dessert.


3) Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts.


4) Eliminate all animal foods.


5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods.


6) Eliminate any added oil.


Finished off a wee bit of salad dressing - then moved to no-oil salsa as my salad dressing.

7) Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products.


8 ) Don’t drink your calories.


9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.


10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

Fibro is over the moon this week - moved as much as I could but no exercise per se.


Much better week but very intense fibromyalgia in this instance I didn't eat enough skipped lunched because I had to much fatigue to bother. Today I am better and going to make it a starch cook day - I need to have massive amounts of potatoes and yams to go to - for reasons unknown they help with my sleep (which is presently only 4 hours a night) and this insomnia is typically hand in glove with the high fibro flares - typically for me.

BUT WAIT - there is good news too. I love to read our weekly comments here when people also report non weight loss achievements. This is mine this week. I got a big box yesterday it's full of my new winter cords. I will empty that box and fill it up with the drawer and a shelf of pants that are now huge on me. then off to the donations box!

Covid is high here and our State is going back into a very restrictive level - we even have a first time curfew in place! Of course we won't be having the 6 households of people that usually join our family for Thanksgiving. I'm sure we all have very altered plans this year to ensure we are safe not sorry. I look at the silver linings -I know in this group we are all trying diligently to improve our health and missing one Thanksgiving of temptations a plenty will be a bit of a plus for us perhaps!

Best wishes to all and Thanksgiving will tempt us again next year for sure - Michelle

[Noella]

Hi Mark, Wildgoose and Jeff,

Weight change this week: -2 pounds
Weight Change since starting this MWL weighin group in April1, 2020: -35 pounds
Weight change since starting to eat starch veggies and fruit based on McDougall’s book: HeAlthiest Diet December 29th, 2019:-77 pounds



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
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
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 I appreciate the fact that MWL encourages eating whenever hungry!! It means I never ever feel deprived or shortchanged. I get to eat heartily...whenever I feel hungry! This week Japanese sweet potatoes have been my afternoon treat. I think they taste like dessert. I sometimes add vanilla and cinnamon. They don’t need any toppings at all. These sweet potatoes are sweet, creamy and delicious!
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes, I try...

Non-scale victories: My measurements are smaller and clothes that fit during the summer are noticeably loose or baggy. My legs are so much slimmer and I am back to wearing size 8 pants. It’s great to have ankles again!

Thank you for your help! It is SO appreciated! Being a part of this group really makes a difference. I thank you all for participating and sharing your MWL journey through these weekly weigh-ins and discussions.

Warm regards,
Noella