jkcook — Farewell to that Thanksgiving gain! Nice when that disappears. Hope you’re planning a good counterattack for the next time that sushi and vegan burrito sneak up on you.
cmcavazos — Getting back on track and staying that way is a great accomplishment, especially during the holidays when that can be such a challenge. Fewer cravings will be a big help with staying on track.
Remember that pasta is fine on MWL, if it’s whole grain. I find pasta is easy to overeat on, so I’m always careful to load up on the non-starchy vegetables to go along with it whenever I eat it. This is a change from what was written in the Maximum Weight Loss book. Jeff has discussed it on a few occasions…
JeffN wrote:Pasta is one of the exceptions to the “avoid flour products” guidelines and that is why it is not listed and the guideline says “higher calorie density foods”. Unlike other flour products, that are fairly dry and calorie dense, when pasta is cooked, it absorbs quite a bit of water into its structure, lowering the calorie density to about the same as Brown rice. The only potential issue with it is that flour products have been ground up so some people may find that pasta is not as satiating as another intact whole grain of the same calorie density. If you find this to be true, just make sure you always make it primavera style (with vegetables) and using the 50/50 is a good guideline. Ironically, in the actual satiety study, it was one of the higher foods for satiety along with the potato and oatmeal.
JeffN wrote:The 2 main changes are we don’t recommend tortilla’s, air-popped popcorn or puffed grains due to their higher calorie density and we do allow for whole grain pasta due to its lower calorie density.
Hope410 — You make a good point when you say that evening eating can be the result of not eating or drinking enough during the day. Particularly when it comes to starches. If you skimp on starches all day, you can find yourself munching almost nonstop between dinner and bedtime. Good job avoiding the cracker/chip aisle. That stuff leaps off the shelf and into your cart before you know it!
Rita<3 — You got some good advice from
jan_npr about what to eat with oats. Traditionally, people combine oats and fruit for breakfast. But others really like savory oats, mixed with vegetables and herbs/spices. If gluten-free oats work better for you, by all means have them. And if you want to expand your breakfast options to potatoes, rice, buckwheat, quinoa or other starches, those are all possibilities. I’ve been known to have dinner foods for a late breakfast and oatmeal for dinner! There are no rules that say breakfast food has to be “breakfasty.”
jan_npr — I’m happy to fill in for Mark, and I know we’re all eager to have him back on board. You make a good point when you talk about having salted nuts and oily popcorn around. As you know, you need to get that stuff out of the house. Make it easy to do the right thing, much harder to do anything else. This is the key to lowering stress, especially this time of year. I’ve had the 10-pound holiday gain, and worse! No way do any of us want that this year.
Wfpb2020 — Well done for posting, even when you’ve had a rough month. Keep Dr. Doug Lisle’s “tortoise” approach in mind. A tortoise moves slowly but may get there first in the end, as we all know from the fable. But according to Dr. Lisle, tortoises are also very nearsighted. They see only right what’s in front of their noses. Don’t look forward or back too far. Don’t think about past mistakes (other than to learn from them and go on) or future goals. Keep focused on the
process: day by day, meal by meal, choice by choice. The books you mentioned are great motivators. You might also find it helpful to go back and look at the list of
Resources that Mark has posted at the beginning of last month’s thread. There are some very useful video links in there.
GreenFroG — Staying the same weight over Thanksgiving is indeed a victory! Seeing/smelling rich food can be a trigger all right, but I like your idea of when hungry, eat a potato!
chef16 — A pound down is a pound down, deserving or not. So take it and run with it! I’ve found that anything that keeps my hands occupied keeps me from eating. Right now, I’ve gotten 484 granny squares out from my craft storage closet, and I’m making them into a huge blanket for one of the Goslings. Very hard to eat in the midst of that.
texaslil — Annual cookie baking day sounds like a real challenge. All I can advise is keep the focus on the joy of spending time with your mom and kiddos, and away from the cookies. As soon as they’re cool, package them up for gifting and keep them off the open plates/racks where you’ll be tempted to nibble. We just had massive fruitcake baking day here. It’s a family tradition that goes back 5 generations, and I’m not getting out of it any time soon. So I know how you feel. Good luck!
Growing a Pear — Nice to see those numbers moving in the right direction! Great that your husband is on board and participating with you. My Gander is about 90% too, and it really helps. Good luck in negotiating banishing that last troublesome food. If he isn’t happy about eliminating it completely, maybe you can try just moving it out of sight (waaaaay out of sight
)? Not eating out makes a huge difference. We rarely ate out before, but even we are noticing the change when we eat home-cooked food all the time.
gimmelean — I like that you’re still enjoying the process, even though it’s been a hard week. Preparation is key. Getting food prepped and easily accessible will help you overcome a lot of temptation to grab any tempting food you may come across. Not eating an elephant at all is a much better concept than the version of the story I’ve heard, which is to eat the elephant one bite at a time!
It’s hard to wrap your head around the concept of yourself at a lower weight. I’ve been the same low weight for over a year now, and there are times when I still don’t think of myself as thin. Last summer, the Gander’s doctor was commenting on how much easier his upcoming abdominal surgery was going to be because he was so thin (he really is genetically thin — BMI of ~18.5 if he’s fully clothed!). The doctor looked at the two of us, together, and said something like it’s people our size who make doctors’ jobs easier. OUR size? As in, he’s thinking that the Gander and I are equally thin? Amazing. My mind just doesn’t think of us as anywhere near the same in terms of leanness.
Marla — You
should feel pretty good about the week! You carefully planned a celebration meal, had it, enjoyed it, and didn’t let it derail you. It’s a very important win. So many times we let one meal throw us off track for weeks or months, and you very consciously didn’t. Well done! Keeping a journal can be really helpful in staying on track, too. I know that personally, I’m not as likely to eat something I shouldn’t if I have to write it down
.
Kelly140 — Nice loss! Good adherence to the checklist, even with some lack of preparation. In addition to focusing on exercise (always a plus!), I’m sure you’ll be working on getting that food prep back on track, too.
CUgorji22 — Welcome back! It’s a good place to land when your brain and body tell you it’s time. I’m going to put you at a zero loss for the purposes of reporting this week, and give you a big thumbs up for achieving almost a 3-pound loss last month while not participating! You obviously didn’t stray too far from the guidelines, and it shows. You’ve analyzed everything you’re doing and what you need to do — you’re ready to jump right back in.
lmggallagher — Mark will be very interested to read your report when he gets back. I’ll make sure to flag it for him. Your exercise has to be very specifically tailored to work around your fibromyalgia, and it sounds like you’re doing an outstanding job of planning. Diet is a big part of it, too, as you have figured out. I have pain issues as well, which are exacerbated by eating certain foods, and it makes a big difference when I’m staying away from the problem-causing items 100%. I have the Egoscue book, after reading many recommendations for it from other forum participants. I haven’t really explored it, but I probably should! Sorry that the avocados found their way into your house — that’s a common problem in today’s world when we’re relying so heavily on online ordering and delivery for our groceries.
Goose
My brain & body knew it was time...I think accountability reeeeally helps me.
Weigh-in, 12/04/2020 = 148.8lbs 
Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. 
