April 2021 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[trishe]

1st day so nothing to report. Getting some food ready for the next couple of days

[bunsofaluminum]

Weight change +/- in lbs: 222 -2.5lbs

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.
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. YESish
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: Yessss! the scale dropped 2.5 lbs which is amazing. I'm planning on looking back on my journal, because I remember a few years ago reporting how excited I was that my weight had gone down to 246 and stayed there. So...yeah.

I had six or seven dried peach halves one afternoon for a snack. That's the "YESish" on that guideline

Refined sugars, then. We have starlight mints in the house and the last few days I've been munching on them pretty much non-stop. I mean, an occasional one to freshen my breath? Maybe. One after another all afternoon? I don't think so. I think it's the next item gone. Speaking of, since dropping coffee on March 19, I've had maybe five episodes of heart arrhythmia. Zero yesterday. And that date, March 19, was a little over two weeks into firm commitment to the MWL...similar to when I first started in 2009 and two weeks in, my body flat out rejected coffee. It's like your adrenal glands get so healthy, that the jolt of caffeine is harsh and utterly unwanted. Unneeded for sure. In '09 it was the jitters. In '21 it was my heart going haywire. Either way, I quit in '09 and I have now quit again for good in '21. Just like dairy, which my body responds to negatively within moments, or oil for which my body indicates its displeasure within days, coffee that gives me heart palpitations within a few minutes is now considered a non-entity for me.

When my hubby had his heart attack, the technician doing the heart ultrasound was a Starchivore and he talked to him about...well, essentially about Esselstyn's cure for heart disease, right? And my hubby later told me he'd try it, except he's been watching me and seeing that I'm not losing weight. This was in January when I WASN'T following closely and WASN'T losing weight. I want to ask him today what he thinks, now that I'm following closely and have lost is it 14 pounds? FOURTEEN!?!??!! WOO HOO!

[vicmor104]

Hi, I'm new here and happy to find the weigh-in starting today. I've been plant based for 5+ years, originally loosing 50#, but slowly regaining most of it after an illness. I've read all the guidelines and agree to follow them. Today, 4/2, I'm weighing in at 173.8 with an fat percentage of 33.8. I'm very motivated to get this weight off and regain my health. I began the day with vegetable soup and 3 small potatoes. I will continue to review all the guidelines daily to keep them fresh in my mind.

[PotatoHead1980]

I've been with this group for a month now and am going to continue here in April. Thanks for running things, Mark! You do such a great job and I'm looking forward to another great month.

Weight change +/- in lbs: -2.6

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. No
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). Missed my daily walk a few times this week. I need to make that a priority.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
For the entire month of March I've been eating Jeff's SNAP meals exclusively for lunch and dinner at home. I don't always eat breakfast, but when I do it's been old fashioned oats with berries from frozen. For a snack I've had a piece of fruit or two. And for the first time in my five years of McDougalling, I have gone salt and sugar free as an experiment. I think this has really helped curb over-eating and cravings for off-plan food, so I plan to continue that going forward. When I started this MWL plan a month ago, I figured that I would feel deprived, but that I just needed so suck it up and do it to lose my Covid weight. But it turns out I am loving the food and can see myself eating this way indefinitely.

[Rebecka22]

164.2 Weight change +/- in lbs: -3.8 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
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’m pretty proud of myself for getting right back on track this week. There were definitely moments where I wanted to reach for things due to stress, like an almond milk mocha, but I didn’t. We are abruptly transitioning back into the classroom with very little information about what that will look like and even if kids will come. I am working on using exercise and healthy choices to get me through. I really appreciate all the information last week on eating out.

[wildgoose]

@bunsofaluminum Good job, Heidi! You’re proving why the checklist works. It keeps you on track and focused. I know if I really monitor my behavior, stay very adherent to the checklist, and don’t let a bunch of "justas" (just a few rice cakes, just a handful of nuts....) sneak in, I can get the results I want. You have 14 fewer pounds to show for your efforts, and I bet your hubby will take notice.

The caffeine reaction is definitely your body telling you something, too. You’re wise to stay away from it. Likewise those mints. Any time you find yourself repeatedly eating something sugary or salty, it’s probably worth considering banishing that something.

Speaking of which....

@PonysPlants Well done on keeping the Easter candy out of the house. Ban those (chocolate) bunnies! That was always a huge weakness of mine. And yes, I was one of those who went to the 50% off sale the day after Easter and stocked up for a week-long binge. No more!

I’m trying to suggest an Easter egg hunt for the grand-Goslings using plastic eggs with small amounts of money inside rather than candy. The older grand-Gosling is definitely interested (though he wants to know, of course, how much money! )

Goose

[anne57]

...

[squealcat]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -2.3 pounds My highest weight last year was 205.6 and today 185.2 pounds so 20.4 pounds lost since last October.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. not always at 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
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. had one slice of my husbands homemade bread, dry
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).walked 5 days for a total of 14 miles this week

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:Another good week for me. I was afraid (because of only a 0.4 pound loss last week ) that I was going to just have very small losses from now on. This week instilled a more strong feeling that this will really work for me. I am aware that every week will not be a great loss or even a loss at all but those doubts still creep into my mind. I am very close to being in the overweight category instead of obese. Maybe next week.

I look forward to Easter Sunday when 3 of my kids and their families will come over to visit. We always keep the food simple but my husband's purchase of a small ham makes me a little uneasy. In the past, I thought nothing of having a little ham . I remember that little taste making me snitch more and more as the days passed. I want nothing of that behavior this year (or ever ). I look forward to reporting to you next week that my Sunday was "ham- less" . Really, I am enjoying all the food that I have been eating and there is no reason to change it up. I will be in my own house with my own food so I should be safe. We can send leftovers home with the kids and my husband will freeze what he wants. All we will have besides is raw veggies and mixed fruit. We all just want to visit anyway.

I continue to be thankful for this group. It took me quite a while to figure out how to make this part of my life and I continue to tweak it as I go along. I want to encourage others not to quit when discouraged or side-tracked. You can find a way to make this work in your life.....just keep looking around and trying .

-squealcat (Marilyn)

[texaslil]

Weight change +/- in lbs:
-1.2
169.2

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). 6/7 WE HAD TEMPEH ONE NIGHT IN A REUBEN SANDWICH ON PUMPERNICKEL
6. Eliminate any added oil. 6/7 THE REUBEN SANDWICH HAD VEGAN MAYO
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. 6/7 PUMPERNICKLE BREAD
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. DOING MUCH BETTER WITH THIS ONE, BUT I DEFINITLY HAVE TO BE CAREFUL WITH THIS
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 7/7 DOING WELL WITH THIS ONE AND ENJOYING WALKING/JOGGING/HOT YOGA!

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: FEELING GOOD ABOUT THE PROGRESS. I WILL TRY TO TIGHTEN UP A BIT THIS WEEK AND FULLY ELIMINATE THE HIGHER FAT FOODS. OTHERWISE I'M ENJOYING THE LEVEL OF ACTIVITY I'M AT WITH ADDING IN YOGA AND A LITTLE BIT OF JOGGING IN THE MORNINGS. I WILL BE HOSTING A GET TOGETHER ON EASTER, SO I'M PLANNING NOW FOR HOW I WILL STICK TO THE 10 POINTS ABOVE IT'S ALWAYS A CHALLENGE TO MAINTAIN AT SOCIAL GATHERINGS BUT PLANNING AHEAD WILL HELP! HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT WEEK AND HAPPY EASTER!

[krebolledo]

Hello,

I have reviewed all the orientation materials and agree to follow the checklist and outline. I will post to weigh-in tomorrow.

Katharine

[HoustonJason]

From Houston Jason
April 2 = 209

Total = - 43 pounds

Weight change +/- in lbs: - 1 pound

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit No, most of the time.
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. No, most of the time
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. No I ate some baked tortilla chips
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
I still have a little unsweetened almond milk in my coffee and oatmeal.
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 jumped on the rebounder 6 out of 7 days. I also do quite a bit of dancing in my elementary music classes.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:  Here we are in April! 3 months in and I've lost 43 poubds on this wonderful program. I really appreciate your encouragement! I could do better on a few of these checklist items, but overall I'm successful in the day to day "grind"! This week I spiral cut sweet potatoes and cooked them in an air fryer. So good!

Original Weight = 252 on January 1, 2021 Jan. 8 = 244 Jan. 15 = 237 Jan. 22 = 234 Jan. 29 = 231 February 5 = 226 Feb. 12 = 225 Feb. 19 = 221 Feb. 26 = 219 March 5 = 218
March 12 = 212  March 19 = 210 March 26 = 210 April 2 = 209

[SatyaPrem]

I have read all of the orientation material and watched the video. I'm ready to begin - so count me in!

[SatyaPrem]

Weigh in: 224.4

Beginning weight. Today is day one. Grateful for the SNAP!

[GreenFroG]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -0.6 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: I am glad to report all thumbs-up this week. Worked on making adjustments to my checklist and focusing on the little things; trying not to have any "exceptions" as I get closer to my goal weight. I lost the half-pound I gained last week and stayed away from the things that caught me the week before. I passed on the fresh squeezed OJ, watched my fruit intake, and passed on the balsamic glaze my husband likes. He is eating so much healthier, and if that means having fancy balsamic glaze in the house, I am ok with it -- I just have to say no as I use it too much. My goal this week is to stay focused on the checklist through Easter and not get side-of tracked with the holiday mentality of celebrating with food. I must enjoy the family and the fun, just not all the food.
wildgoose - putting money in plastic easter eggs is a great way to have fun! Kids love coins and enjoy counting them all up. Hint -- keep the amounts small!

Have a great week everyone!

[Rachael]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -2.6
Last week: 150.6
This week: 148

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:I had a very solid week and I feel fantastic. A victory I had yesterday was not even entertaining one of the donuts that someone had brought into work.I will admit that I opened the box and peeked inside but I closed it immediately! Now that I'm reflecting on it, I will try to not even open the box next time. At the end of the day, the individual who brought them in, was asking if anyone would like to take home the rest. I'm proud of myself for not volunteering to take them home for my kids. In the past I've brought treats home for my kids and even though I had the best intentions of not eating any of them, I would sometimes take a bite and then be off. Not this time!

I am going to try to remain very vigilant this Sunday due to Easter. For the kids' baskets, I only bought candy items that I don't really care about. I made the conscious decision not to buy any candy that I like. Keeping my environment clean is literally so important for my success.

Something that's been on my mind lately are my Peloton workouts. I haven't been doing them the past week and a half or so and I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or not, but I've found adhering to MWL to be much easier. This is something I'm going to try and monitor a bit more. The Peloton workouts are pretty intense even though I only do them for 20 minutes. For my daily 30 minutes of exercise each day, I walk the dog each morning. I was doing the Peloton workouts on top of that just because. I think I'm going to lay off the Peloton again this week and see how it goes.

I appreciate you all and I'm very grateful to be a member of this group!