September 2021 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[Health 1st]

Hello Mark + everyone else,

Just a quick post to say I won't be participating this week. Was hoping to write more to explain but don't have time now, so will do so ASAP.

Hoping everyone is well!

P.S. Hadn't signed in for 8 days, yet had to login twice + rearrange the non + acceptable foods. Said I attempted too many logins.

[Mark Cooper]

The window for reporting this week's weigh-in and behavioral results has officially closed.

The remainder of my replies and the weekly summary will follow.

[Mark Cooper]

cmcavazos2 - Nice loss and fabulous work "tightening up" with the recommended behaviors, Christine! I'm always impressed with your calm, measured approach to your efforts. Carry on!

Gimmelean - A checklist replete with YESes and a loss of 1.4 lbs! "Rest not from duty, but find rest in it," indeed. Your observations from the week demonstrate that even when things "start out terribly," they can be turned around with attention and effort. They also serve as an important reminder of the powerful influence from sudden, dramatic changes in our food environment, and the focus required in dealing with (and sometimes rebounding from) those changes. Absolutely worth it to put in the work!

texaslil - WOW! There you go, Laila! It does feel rewarding to really commit oneself, right? Your new routine seems to be effectively functioning to enable and support your changes in behavior.

I like the way I feel much better when I get up in the morning, I don't feel lethargic and I'm not dragging like I was before.

Those sound like important gains. Onward to next week!

Noella - An excellent return to fully adherent meals; it seems like you have managed your travels AND the transition back to "normal" quite well! That tomato basil soup you've been enjoying is quite appetizing. Looser-fitting clothes and a shrinking waistline are great non-scale victories worth celebrating; of course, being able to walk without debilitating pain and engage fully in play with your grandchildren are, perhaps, even more significant triumphs. Thank you so much for your kind words, and yes, I am feeling quite well.

Health 1st - Thank you for letting us know; I hope you are doing well, and wish you the best.

[Mark Cooper]

Please note - I replied to each participant individually in the two posts linked below, provided that their reports followed the guidelines for weigh-ins.

Mark's Replies for September 10 - Part 1
Mark's Replies for September 10 - Part 2

By my count, 7 participants reported for our second September 2021 MWL weigh-in! If I neglected to include anyone, or you notice an error in the tally, please let me know (via PM so we can keep the thread as tidy as possible, or in a post here if you cannot PM).

Here are the results for the second Friday in September:

Week ending 9/10/2021: 7 participants reported a total change of -6.80 pounds
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Rebecka22 +0.40
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Total gains: +0.40
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NO CHANGE / MAINTAIN/ STARTING OUT
Noella 0.00
VegSeekingFit 0.00
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Cmcavazos2 -0.40
Gimmelean -1.40
PotatoHead1980 -2.40
Texaslil -3.00
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Total losses: -7.20
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Cumulative group loss for September 2021 to date: 17.20 pounds
Average loss for week ending September 10: 0.97 pounds
Cumulative group loss for January 2021: 117.20 pounds
Cumulative group loss for February 2021: 39.40 pounds
Cumulative group loss for March 2021: 73.20 pounds
Cumulative group loss for April 2021: 48.30 pounds
Cumulative group loss for May 2021: 35.90 pounds
Cumulative group loss for June 2021: 34.10 pounds
Cumulative group loss for July 2021: 64.95 pounds
Cumulative group loss for August 2021: 49.30 pounds
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Next Weigh-In is on Friday, September 17, 2021.

Great work, everyone; I applaud your continuing efforts! Two check-ins down, two more to go. Let's keep building this awesome September momentum!

In case you missed it, Mary McDougall shared a fantastic informational article this week - Making the Change to a Healthy Lifestyle Work. Although it isn't specifically in regard to MWL, the considerations, challenges, and strategies discussed seem relevant to me. Most especially, the penultimate paragraph:

The fastest way to make the McDougall Program fail (just as all the other diets you’ve tried), is to give insufficient attention to buying good foods and then to preparing delicious meals from them. When the refrigerator and the cupboards are bare, or worse yet, still filled with the old high-fat items that brought you to your alarming state of obesity and poor health, you’re going to have a hard time fixing meals that please and ease.

For some additional reading, below are links to an absolute favorite series of articles from Jeff:

The Myth of Moderation Pt 1: Do All Foods Really Fit?
The Myth of Moderation Pt 2: The Impact of “Just A Little Oil!”
The Myth of Moderation Pt 3: Is Your Diet Exceptional?

Have an amazing week! Take care & be well!

[ComfyDiet]

Hello! I have completed orientation and would love to join the group. I am committing to this WOE starting tomorrow and I am so excited to have another chance at a healthy life. See you all on Friday!

[Mark Cooper]

Hello! I have completed orientation and would love to join the group. I am committing to this WOE starting tomorrow and I am so excited to have another chance at a healthy life. See you all on Friday!

Hello and welcome to the group! This is a great time to start practicing the recommended pattern of behavior. See you on Friday!

[RoseLilly]

Weight change +/- in 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:

1 I generally have a drink while I’m waiting for my food to cook
2 Peas, sweet corn or mash make up my starchy part
3 Still having a little bit of added sugar on porridge for flavour but not much
4 About 90% eliminated, an occasional dot of powdered milk in tea but I am trying to convert to black
5 Yes don’t eat them in general
6 Mainly gone but not entirely. Have had a couple of commercial muesli bars
7 It’s a tricky one as I really can’t find anything I like. Am eating a whole grain oat cereal biscuit currently but am looking to change to a rice/quinoa mix shortly
8 Have never really been big on juices etc so this is not a problem for me
9 I am learning that I don’t need to constantly feel full
10 Yes I’ve got this one

So my last week I experimented removing wheat from my diet. My weight just wasn’t budging despite eating under my calorie allowance most days. I have been allowing 1100 as I am female, 61, 5ft and weigh 111lb. For 3 weeks my weight stuck at 111.
After a week of going wheat free I have achieved a 3lb weight loss despite my calorie intake and exercise being very similar.
I have a week away coming up but aim to be as compliant as possible.
I will weigh on the Wednesday after I get back to gauge how things have gone.
I aim not to gain even if I don’t lose

[Mark Cooper]

RoseLilly - To clarify a few things: Calorie counting is not a facet of MWL; in fact, we explicitly recommend against counting calories because it is generally counterproductive, and it's nearly impossible to do accurately or effectively. Jeff has several posts that discuss this, most notably: How to Successfully Count Calories! Some of my own thoughts on the topic can be found here and here. Jeff wrote a great post succinctly covering this a few weeks ago.

We do not recommend the counting of calories at all. Instead of checking the calories, we recommend checking your adherence to the behaviors. We recommend following the principles of the MWL program, which is a requirement to join this group and weighing in once a week. Weight loss is an outcome of following the recommended behaviors (the 10 points of MWL).

The key is not the loss or the gain each week, but to see where you can improve on adherence to the behaviors. We don't chase calories or lbs, we modify our behavior to be more adherent. Time and adherence are the most important issues.

If you need, you may want to re-review the orientation and our guidelines.

I would say the best place to focus your energy and efforts is toward making your daily behaviors more congruent with the recommendations from the MWL 10-Point Checklist. A great way to support your efforts is to make sure that you have abundant, adherent foods on hand, ready to go, and easy to access. Concentrate on eating the recommended foods that you most enjoy, in the recommended fashion whenever you feel hungry, until you are comfortably full; results will follow with TIME and ADHERENCE.

Our reporting day for the group is Friday, so our next check-in and self assessments will be on September 17.

[Health 1st]

Hello Mark,

Thank you for your well wishes!

For as long as I remember, any time I've lost weight in the past 30+ years (from Weight Watchers + Jenny Craig to McDougalling, etc.), the weighing in has always been a problem for me.  Years ago, if I lost a lot, I tended to reward myself with, you guessed it: an off-plan "treat".  If I didn't lose, or just a tiny bit, I'd figure, "I might as well have x, y, z.".

But, I am very, very happy to say that I did not feel this way at all in my recent weight loss journey with MWL!   I think a lot of it is because of the checklist, the support from you + others, + I was ready to put my "Health 1st".

However, the last few weeks posting to the MWL Group, as hard as I tried, the #'s on the scale were becoming too important to me.  Admittedly, I believe my weighing daily did me no favors.  And the "funny" thing is that, except for the sweaty/hardly ate anything week, I was super shocked to lose so much each week.  I never thought it would continue for so long!

So there's that whole weight thing, and then the other big thing is that my already very busy life has just ramped up all the more.  I'm consistently not getting to bed until 3am or later, + surviving on little sleep.

During the Labor Day weekend I started analyzing all of this, including that each week I was doing less + less of #1 from the checklist + frankly realistically don't see myself improving a lot on that one right now with my crazy schedule + still dealing with some physical limitations from the pain + discomfort.

So then I thought, maybe I need to take a break from the MWL Group, but still try to keep up MWL on my own except for "worrying" about #1.  Also, I was hoping to finally treat my family to McDougall compliant cornbread, fat-free black bean brownies, + fat-free apple cider "doughnuts".  When I'd actually find time to make these is anyone's guess, but I figured if I made them, I could have a serving + not be off-plan if I'm not MWL.

But I have so enjoyed being a part of the Group!  Knowing there are others out there doing this with me, us checking in, + you wisely commenting is such a blessing!  Unfortunately, with everything going on, I did derail.  At 1st it was "just" a vegan BOCA burger + some Lay's Potato Chips on Labor Day + then I got right back on MWL.  So, I was very excited about the strides/behavioral improvements!!! 

But about half a week later, with everything going on (+ me still weighing daily--duh! ), I got off plan + now am in the weeds...tall weeds.  I am up in weight, + most importantly, I have already seen my health digress.  So I'm thinking maybe I should try the MWL Group again, only weigh every Friday morning, + try my hardest to not let whatever the # is phase me.

But what if I'm not doing #1 with any consistency?  What if I do have a McDougall (but not MWL) approved piece of cornbread, brownie, or even a sandwich on no salt added Ezekiel bread?  In my mind, I should keep getting better + better on each of the 10 of the checklist, but this would be back tracking once in awhile.  ...maybe this is me focusing on perfection rather than direction...?

Please give me your honest thoughts. I don't want you to feel obligated to say it's okay for me to be in the MWL Group, + I do believe with my recent successes that I can pull it off on my own--+ check in with my journal/post there. 

I just want to clarify:  I do not have any immediate plans to eat anything non MWL + I'm going to strive to do MWL, but maybe as we get closer to the Holidays--1 bean/banana (no oil, dairy, eggs, or sugar) brownie for Thanksgiving.

If it's okay for me to stay on, can I post a weight this Friday or would it just be a zero?

Thank you for all your time + wisdom!  I'm sorry I didn't write days earlier, as I had planned.  Looking forward to your response.

[Mark Cooper]

Health 1st - Everyone stumbles sometimes, and one purpose of this group is to aid participants in "picking themselves back up."

I just want to clarify: I do not have any immediate plans to eat anything non MWL + I'm going to strive to do MWL

This is what is important; we don't expect perfection, just that everyone tries to do their best. We recognize that these are hard changes to make, especially within the context of the broader food/cultural/societal dynamic. I think this post will help to answer all your questions, and offer some food for thought. Please feel free to report & weigh-in on Friday, if you feel that participating in the group serves your goals.

So I'm thinking maybe I should try the MWL Group again, only weigh every Friday morning, + try my hardest to not let whatever the # is phase me.

I certainly would encourage you to do this, for all the reasons Jeff discusses in To Weigh or Not to Weigh.

[Health 1st]

Health 1st - Everyone stumbles sometimes, and one purpose of this group is to aid participants in "picking themselves back up."

I just want to clarify: I do not have any immediate plans to eat anything non MWL + I'm going to strive to do MWL

This is what is important; we don't expect perfection, just that everyone tries to do their best. We recognize that these are hard changes to make, especially within the context of the broader food/cultural/societal dynamic. I think this post will help to answer all your questions, and offer some food for thought. Please feel free to report & weigh-in on Friday, if you feel that participating in the group serves your goals.

So I'm thinking maybe I should try the MWL Group again, only weigh every Friday morning, + try my hardest to not let whatever the # is phase me.

I certainly would encourage you to do this, for all the reasons Jeff discusses in To Weigh or Not to Weigh.

Thanks so much, Mark!

Yes, I am ready to recommit + will post tomorrow. I just read the link from Jeff about weighing. I've read it in the past, but it's always a great read! I will definitely only weigh once a week--lol--I had enough of that daily weighing!

Looking forward to reading the 1st link tonight.

I know my weight tomorrow will be demoralizing, but my main concern truly is putting my health 1st, + I know it'll go down. I'm also hoping I can be an example of what not to do so that others maybe can learn from my experiences rather than them doing the damage to their health.

"See" you tomorrow; and thank you, again!

[Rebecka22]

148.2 Weight change +/- in lbs: - 0.8 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: This week’s major success was not giving in. I was honestly very close multiple times but I remembered and followed your advice of eat compliant foods first and try to let it pass and it did. It came back but I kept not giving in. This start to the school year has been exhausting, this is not like any other teaching in my 16 years and there’s constantly more to deal with, but staying healthy is important for me, for my family and for my students and this group helps, so thank you.
Rebecka

[ComfyDiet]

Weight change +/- in lbs: 0, first week. I weighed in at 242.0 which is about 4 pounds down from where I started on Monday.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. No, I need to be better about this
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’m trying to do this but I find it more appealing usually to have one non starchy vegetable meal, then have a mostly starch meal. Cooked one of JeffN’s Fast Food meals (Mexican Fiesta) and I think it meets this ratio pretty well.
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. Working on this. Eliminating salt is proving to be very challenging but I have reduced my usage.
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 had air pooped popcorn this week. I’m having trouble finding something to have a crunchy or cracker like consistency.
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). No, I was still pretty sedentary.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
I didn’t stick to the 10 guidelines as well as I thought I had, but today is my official start day since I’m posting here, so maybe it can be a fresh start.

I’m used to eating SAD and dining out at least once a day, everyday. Preparing meals at home is a huge change for me and I’m proud that I’ve done it already for a few days. I bought Jeff Novick’s Fast Food video and the recipes are so easy, even a non-cook like myself could prepare them. So I feel ready to conquer the next week!

[Belana]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -7 lbs.

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

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
I've not been able to post for the last few weeks because I didn't have a scale, but now I do. I've been on track, but this time around, I do take a break from dieting with little treats.
Tonight I'm taking a break, but I'll be back on track tomorrow or the day after at the latest.
My treats and breaks don't seem to be impeding my weight-loss.
I feel like I've got this diet pretty well suited to my personal weight-loss goals.

[Mark Cooper]

Rebecka22 I salute your dedication and perseverance during what definitely seems like a really challenging time! I can hardly imagine all the difficult and complicated situations you are dealing with as a teacher. Great work putting the MWL principles into practice. You are so right that doing what we can to support our health is important for us and those for whom we care. Round of applause for you!

ComfyDiet - Huzzah! You are off to a good start! I'm sure this has been a big adjustment in your pattern of behavior, changing from typical American fare and frequent meals out. Jeff's Fast Food recipes are a great support; they all conform to the 50/50 guideline, as does the SNAP template. Keep doing your best to adhere to the recommended behaviors, with an aim toward doing a little better each day and with each meal. Crisp, crunchy fruits and vegetables, like celery, carrots and apples are one way of adding some "crunch" to your meals. Onward!

Belana - Nice to see all those Ys! 7 pounds is a substantial loss over the course of the last month. I'm glad those occasional deviations don't seem to have been leading you completely astray, as they can so often be a gateway to the Pleasure Trap. Keep doing your best to stick with the plan and take care!