February 2021 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[Rebecka22]

173.2
Weight change +/- in lbs:  no change

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
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
6. Eliminate any added oil. NO
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 MAYBE
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 had takeout one night which is the only reason I have no’s. I’m not completely sure it had nuts, but I’m guessing. I didn’t eat the avocado though. I do know it had oil and extra salt. I also know exactly why I ended up choosing it. I was helping my husband with his homework and let it get too late on Sunday night before doing the week’s shopping and didn’t want to cook then too. I will work on planning better this week. Otherwise, although the checklist is still far from easy, I stayed the course. I said yes maybe on number 9, because I feel like I might be eating more than I need to be satisfied again. That I’m not completely sure on why as I was doing better with this. In a victory I have continued to eliminate coconut milk from recipes and skipped the cacao powder. Disappointed in the no loss, but I know just stick to the plan and it will come.

[belcimo]

Weight change +/- in lbs:  -2.8

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

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I'm just starting back / only 2 days in and already feeling soooo much better. Definitely need to prep more as I realized my canned soups have oil/salt/duh. Grateful for all the helpful links posted here, especially all the videos. On to journaling!

[HoustonJason]

Sorry if this posted twice. I thought I posted then I left and came back and it wasn't there so here it is again. Luckily I edit in Word then copy/paste...

From Houston Jason
252 pounds on January 1. 2021 Jan. 8 = 244 Jan. 15 = 237 Jan. 22 = 234 Jan. 29 = 231
February 5 = 226

Weight change +/- in lbs: -5 pounds

1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
I've been nibbling on fruit first thing in the morning as I get my breakfast and lunch together. When I have salad I eat that first.
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.
I put cauliflower and carrots in my oatmeal this week. I think that was a key to my weight loss.
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.
I ate some baked tortilla chips with my veggie tacos but I totally understand why it might not be the best thing as I found that I ate too much of them when I indulged in them.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
I drink iced coffee with unsweetened almond milk each morning. I am mindful of how much I put in (not much). I may go to black iced coffee this week.
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’m jumping on the rebounder for 20-30 minutes a day. Sometimes I use 2 lb weights in each hand to jump with.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I received my first “Hey, are you on a diet? because you look great!” compliment this week from a coworker. That was nice! Since January went so well, I fully expected to hit a plateau this week, but when I got on the scale I found I had lost 5 more pounds. This lifestyle works, and checking in with all of you is a huge help for me. Keep it going, everyone, we can do this!

[jkcook]

Weight change +/- in lbs: +1
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit — 90%
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 — 90%
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 — 90%
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) — 90%
6. Eliminate any added oil — 95%
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) — 100%
Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Pretty good week. However, Wednesday, for some reason, I got and ate chips and dip. Mistake

[Wfpb2020]

Weight change + .2 lbs.

1) Start each meal with soup/salad/fruit. 5/7
2) Follow the 50/50 plate. Yes
3) Reduce or eliminate sugars/salts. 5/7
4) Eliminate animal foods 5/7
5) Eliminate higher fat plant foods. 5/7
6) Eliminate oil. 5/7 I use Vegan oil spread sometimes
7) Eliminate higher calorie-dense foods. 5/7
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 a day.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I did not post for all of January because I was non-compliant and didn't want to bring the group down. Struggling with my love of cheese and butter in my own Pleasure Trap. Feels like I have it under control now and forging ahead. Glad to be back in the saddle.

[Hope410]

Happy February, NOT
Another six weeks of winter, 10 inches of new snow, and bitter cold for at least an upcoming week. BRRR!

Weight change: +1.2 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, YES, YES!!

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Victories this week for points 7 and 10. NO bread or popcorn, but best of all at least 30 minutes exercise each day. Plus, a solid yes for every checkpoint. As to the gain this week, the only reason may be that last week's loss may have not been a true weight loss. I was having dental procedures and not able to eat normally due to a painful mouth so I only ate when REALLY hungry. Had mainly oatmeal with mashed banana or blended potato broccoli soup. Maybe I should try that again next week! (lol) Goal for next week is yes for all 10 points again.

Have a great week everyone.

[GreenFroG]

Hi all,

Weight change +/- in lbs: -1.2 lbs

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 good week and was glad to see the scale tip down! My goal last week was to not snack after dinner (unless really hungry). I tried to be very mindful of not eating for the wrong reasons. I took your suggestion Mark and tried to replace my snacking with another activity, which for me, was stretching or exercise. I realized I had moved away from the exercise in the evenings in January and was sliding back into old habits. If I was hungry, I had an apple to fill me up. This will be my goal again this week; trying to get back into a healthy groove.

I still had a thumbs down on #10, as I missed a day of exercise. My nephew was roping in a rodeo in a town nearby, so we went to watch - with social distancing of course. It was fun, and I stayed away from all the food vendors and sweetened beverages. I planned ahead taking my own food for snacks - yeah!

I do have a question about cornstarch to thicken soups -- the McDougall recipe for Vegetable Sweet Potato Chowder called for it, but I was not sure it was MWL compliant. I left it out, but was wondering if it was okay to add or what you use as a substitute. The soup was not very thick without it, but still tasted good.

Hope everyone has a good week and thanks for all your help!

[texaslil]

Weight change +/- in lbs:

+.2
Current weight: 171.4

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, NONE AT ALL THIS WEEK
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. TWO PIECES OF WHOLE WHEAT BREAD & VEGAN EGG ROLL WRAPPERS
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES, NO SMOOTHIES!
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. I DID STRUGGLE WITH THIS AND OVERATE AT SEVERAL MEALS. ALTHOUGH, I AM ONLY EAT TWO MEALS A DAY STARTING AT NOON AND TRYING TO END MY EATING WINDOW BY 8 OR 9PM
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 5/7

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I'm feeling very disillusioned.. this past week I was very strict in following all of the 10 points, w/ the exception of #9.. and I gained weight. I know it was not much, but I was definitely thinking that I would see the scale go down. Given that I don't typically eat breakfast until noon (oatmeal and steamed cabbage this week) and then have dinner around 7, with occasional fruit for dessert, I am very surprised to see the scale go up. I really haven't been able to get past this plateau, even though I know that during the holidays I could have been more adherent, but I have been hovering around the mid-low 170s for about 3 months now. Just feeling a bit disheartened. Any suggestions/tips would be appreciated.

[birdy birdy]

Weight change +/- in lbs: + 0.2

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. 100%
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). 100%
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. 85%
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). 95%
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). 90%

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: My eligibility group came up so I was able to get my first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine this week. I am still a wee bit under the weather from that, so my exercise has suffered slightly. I gave a lot of thought to Mark's comments regarding yes/no, either/or, answers to the questions as opposed to percentage answers. Having a math mind, percentages are more precise for me. If I mess up once during the week of 21 meals, I would rather encourage myself by indicating that I accomplished 95% of the goal rather than just say "no" which can be interpreted that I completely failed in that endeavor. Really, I wonder if it just boils down to whatever works for an individual.

Onward!

[Mark Cooper]

PonysPlants - Hooray! Great work, Naomi! I'm so impressed that you straight away decided to experiment with turning to adherent foods when wanting a "treat." What a gift your husband received with that immediate, visceral feedback from his body; great news that he wants to make a lasting change. I love papaya! Yum!

jan_npr - Hang in there! Are there things you can do to create an environment where it would be difficult not to succeed? The easier it is to reach for adherent foods, and the harder it is to grab the richer fare, the less you have to rely on "willpower." Why does it feel like serving oily, calorie dense foods is necessary to please your guests? Are there any adherent dishes that they might enjoy? Give yourself a pat on the back for doing great with exercise!

Rebecka22 - Kudos to you for continuing to eliminate or substitute for nonadherent ingredients when cooking! You clearly took some time to consider what led to the takeout meal, and it seems like planning to have a stock of adherent food ready to go should resolve that for the future. Continue to stay the course and results are sure to follow!

belcimo - Down 2.8 lbs! I think it is wonderful that you have already noticed improvement in how you feel. Adequate planning and preparation is one of the best ways to support your efforts. Keep striving to turn those remaining 3 "mostly" points into !

HoustonJason - Wow! A 5 pound loss and a lovely compliment, too! I'm sure that felt fabulous! Great progress in applying the recommendations ( for making breakfast 50/50!) Carry on making those sensible adjustments where you see the opportunity to improve.

jkcook - As you said, that looks like a pretty good week! Do you have any intuition into the reason you decided to have the chips and dip? Was anything different on that occasion? Any changes to your routine, situation, or preparation? New stresses or strong emotions? Differences in your environment?

Wfpb2020 - Huzzah for getting back in the saddle! The Pleasure Trap is real and it is powerful, right? I'm happy to hear you are feeling back in control of your behavior and environment; that is always a welcome feeling.

Hope410 - Awesome victories! No calorie dense foods, daily exercise and 10 big YESes! Maintaining your diligent adherence seems like an excellent goal for the week to come; you are doing everything right with respect to the recommended pattern of behavior, so the scale will inevitably reflect that in due time.

GreenFroG - A solid week delivers solid results! Kudos to you for mindfully attending to your after dinner behavior pattern; great thought to incorporate stretching and exercise during that time. Fantastic that your plan for navigating the rodeo was a success. Cornstarch is not recommended for MWL; mashed beans, mashed potatoes, or even mashed cauliflower can serve as a viable thickener for soups and gravies, or if you don't mind a thinner soup, just omit thickening entirely.

texaslil - I think it is natural to feel some disappointment when our diligent efforts aren't reflected by the scale, Laila. Try not to draw too many conclusions from this single weigh-in; the scale can be affected by many factors that are mostly or completely unrelated to how much fat one might be losing, so positive developments can be challenging to detect in the short term. If you are comfortable eating only two meals a day, that is fine, but remember that time-restricted eating isn't recommended for MWL - we are advised to eat whenever we feel hungry, until comfortably full. You are making real progress practicing the recommended behaviors, keep that up and you will see encouraging results by and by. If you feel like you want to do everything possible to support your progress, eliminating those few remaining calorie dense foods would be the next step. Don't lose heart and be patient and compassionate with yourself.

birdy birdy - Congratulations on receiving your initial dose of the Pfizer vaccine; I'm sure experiencing some after effects wasn't very fun, but I would imagine it was a relief to be vaccinated. If you feel that a more binary approach would be demotivating for you, it absolutely makes sense to capture that nuanced view of success in your self-assessment. Another option could be to assess adherence in terms of individual days (or even meals), i.e. 6/7, but if the percentages feel like they are serving your needs and supporting your efforts that works, too. Onward!

[Noella]

Dear Mark, Wildgoose, and Jeff, and all MWL participants,

- .5 pounds Yay! A slight change in the direction I was hoping for!!



1. Yes, I started each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2. Yes, I followed the 50/50 plate method for my meals, filling half my plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert.
3. Yes, I have greatly reduced added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. I’m using more fresh herbs, dried herbs and spices and a sprinkle of lime or lemon juice on my salads and vegetables. I’ve also been experimenting with having zero salt and sugar, occasionally, to acquire a better sense of taste for the unique natural flavours held within each food without changing these with seasonings of any type. I have discovered, and proven to myself, that salads can taste delicious without any added salty/sweet salad dressing mixture to dress it...it just takes a bit of planning to mix the greens and other veggies in ways that are complimentary and the tiniest bit of citrus or other fruit can add a lot to a simple salad of greens. My favourite breakfast for the past week has been frozen organic cherries heated through then stirred into steel cut oat porridge. No salt or sugar required! I do tend to get on food jags so I have been having oatmeal with fruit every morning. I have been making one serving of apple sauce to stir into my oatmeal some mornings by steaming two chopped apples in a tiny bit if water with 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, pinch nutmeg, 1/8 tsp. allspice and pinch cloves: it is quite a lot of spice and it makes our house smell amazingly delicious. If the apples aren’t flavourful enough ( like Ambrosias or Galas) I find a tiny bit of lemon juice brings the flavour of the applesauce up a notch.
4. Yes, I eliminated all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. Yes, I eliminated all higher-fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6. Yes, I eliminated added oil.
7. Yes, I eliminated all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products, puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.
8. Yes, I do not drink calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. Yes, I followed these principles, eating whenever hungry until comfortably full. I didn’t starve or stuff. Comfortably full for me might actually be a bit more food than it really should be to lose weight... I have a healthy appetite and seem to always want to eat to full satisfaction. I’m trying to use the principles of calorie density to allow myself to eat heartily of more volume of lower density foods.
10. Yes, I’m getting at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. It feels great to look forward to getting outside for fresh air and exercise every day. I love getting out on the cross country ski trails and it’s a beautiful sunny day, fresh snowfall last night, so I’m feeling happy that I get to click on my skis and enjoy the warmth of some sunshine this afternoon.
I SO appreciate all of the information and encouragement from EVERYONE. I really enjoy reading about each person’s experiences with MWL. Thanks so much and have a great week following the guidelines.

My best regards to everyone.
Noella

[landog]

Good job, MWL people!
Keep up the good work.

[moonlight]

starting Weight 184
Weight 0 lbs change
Points from the MWL Checklist where I succeeded this week
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.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don’t starve yourself and don’t stuff yourself.
Points from the MWL Checklist that need greater attention
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).
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking)
General impressions & observations / resources to share / sources of excitement / requests for input & support
Hi everyone! I would like to re-join the group for accountability. I took several months off and gained 12 lbs... I started back on Tuesday and have had a good week since. I've already started losing some weight. Such a relief to get back on track! I already feel better! I'm not struggling too much to adhere to the plan. My hardest time is between evening meal and bedtime. I feel really good to be able to say no to animal products and high fat foods, such as nuts. I want to continue to work on calorie-dense foods. My weaknesses are crackers (no fat crackers like Wasa) and cereal (no fat Grape Nuts). I have been drinking a little soymilk in my cereal so when I stop the cereal I will stop the soymilk. I think that will happen this week because I finished off my cereal. I won't buy any more! I also need to become more consistent with daily exercise.

[squealcat]

Weight change +/- in lbs: + 3.2

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.all breakfasts and lunches, maybe 2 dinner
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 for breakfasts, no for the rest
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
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).a couple slices of cheese
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).no
6. Eliminate any added oil.no
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
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.no
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).I did my usual 5 out of 7 days so that is good for me since I walk for an hour each time.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:It seems that I am doing well for a week and not so well for the next. I was tempted and gave in after the first two days this past week. It is always hard to stop and say no to temptation. Exercise is never a problem for me and I wish it were so for the other MWL points. I am tired of this battle. I will listen to Dr Doug Lysle once again in hopes of gaining some insight. I made up my habit tracker for this week and that always helps me. I hope most of this added weight is water weight. It may take a couple weeks to get this off and I will continue to carry on.

-squealcat (Marilyn)

[Artista]

Weight change +/- in lbs: no change

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, except for 1 T. of flaxseed yesterday
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:I just joined a few days ago so that's why I don't have a weight change to report for this week. I'm really hoping I will be able to lose weight but I lose weight super slowly so I decided not to make that my focus and to focus instead on following all of the guidelines. "Time and adherence" is my mantra for this month. It seems to be going well so far. I started including vegetables at breakfast and discovered it isn't as objectionable as I thought it would be. I just need to remember to not put any flaxseeds on my cereal in the morning.