The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - May 2022 Group

[VegSeekingFit]

VegSeekingFit - Fantastic, Stephanie! You are getting this lifestyle really "dialed in."

Ridiculous though it may seem, I think my long-winded post about this last week helped me keep clean!

That doesn't seem at all ridiculous to me. I think writing down our thought process can be very valuable for concretizing our train of thought and bring things into focus; I think it is a great way to really scrutinize our overall practice and approach to challenges. Have a great week!

Hi All,

Apologies, Mark - I did a bad job articulating my comment above ... Was more "tongue in cheek" - as I found a lot of value in this exercise and will keep with this approach!!! For a re-do , I would restate as... Amazingly enough (and so simple), I found it really helpful to analyze and write about my issues with Checkpoint #5 last week which enabled me to keep clean!

Thank you, Rebecka22 for sharing on how you are able to approach this event!!! Super helpful!!!

Carwex -- I hope you feel better and better everyday. So sorry to hear that you have had to deal with this and wishing you the best.

Thank you, Mark for all of the materials that you shared. I am really deep-diving into the "High Quality Food" thread and find a great deal of value in all that Jeff has shared there. I have been (slowly but surely) reviewing all of Jeff's 9K + posts to this board - which has helped greatly to "ground" me in understanding of the Program and understanding of what may not warrant worrying about. I especially take seriously certain cautions about approaches (that aren't in the Program) that may be detrimental to long term success. For instance, to me ---- I am trying to embed the 10 Point MWL Checklist...that I plan to just keep following. I would find "Intermittent Fasting" onerous... I am glad that this isn't part of the Program (or the 6X green leafies)...

Totally off-topic -- if anyone else is a bird aficionado, would highly recommend the Merlin app which you can use to identify birds and also to play bird calls. Have done the playing bird calls on my deck to see if I can entice any to fly by...

Hope everyone has a great week!!!

Stephanie

[Mark Cooper]

this year I kept a cooler in the car with my salad, pasta and veggies and planned to walk back up to the car while others were eating their festival food. I’m trying to make the tradition a little more about the run and family time as my youngest grows up. I also made and brought food for the barbecue after at my aunts house. I think the biggest help has been just planning in my head how it would go and sticking to it.

Thanks so much for sharing that; I always find it very interesting to know what strategies people are using for these sorts of situations, and what is or has worked. Seems like a great plan, and I quite agree with you about the value inherent in the simple act of planning, thinking through scenarios, &c. I hope you have a really great time!

Apologies, Mark - I did a bad job articulating my comment above ... Was more "tongue in cheek" - as I found a lot of value in this exercise and will keep with this approach!!! For a re-do , I would restate as... Amazingly enough (and so simple), I found it really helpful to analyze and write about my issues with Checkpoint #5 last week which enabled me to keep clean!

No apologies necessary, Stephanie. I just wanted to use the opportunity to add my affirmation to your notions about the practice. That "High Quality Food" thread is really an amazing read, right?

[Noella]

...This post collects a variety of links from Jeff's many discussions relating to leafy greens, which may be of interest...

Thank you for sharing this link to Jeff Novick's thread, Mark! Yes, it is a very interesting and worthwhile read. Wonderful information

Noella

[louie3084]

Hi Mark,

Sorry I have not been back on here in a few weeks. My children had a nasty flu and one of them ended up in hospital, so it's been a stressful passed couple of weeks, but all ok now.

I need to replace the high calorie foods with fruit and oats at the end of the day. This is something to work on in May for me. Getting rid of the peanut butter, honey, oat clusters is probably all I need to do. But to do that I need to increase my carbs (still a bit carb phobic!).

Sounds so simple... I just need to do it.

Thanks for reading.

[CindyD]

Hi Mark and everyone,
I've read the updated orientation information and I would like to rejoin after, hmm, maybe a year away? I've stayed 100% vegan but this dragging pandemic, moving, and assorted issues have led to some poor food decisions and about 18 pounds gained from the 70 I lost. I am ready to turn that trend around. The Lara bars and pretzels are gone from my apartment!

I have not tracked this week so I will join next week if that is fine? Thank you!

[Mark Cooper]

louie3084 - I'm so sorry that your kids have been ill, especially so sick as to need hospitalization; that couldn't have been an easy time. Happy to hear they are all OK now! "Getting rid" of those foods you want to eliminate, literally, is probably the surest way to avoid them - an environment arranged to support one's goals is a powerful tool. One possible way to bypass that "carb phobia", which I highly recommend, is to move from thinking about and describing actual foods, especially the recommended foods, in terms of a macronutrient label. All plant foods feature a variety of nutrients, macro and micro, in varying concentrations and combinations. Even the simple potato, which is often viewed so stereotypically, delivers ~1% calories from fats and ~6% calories from protein, not to mention B vitamins, Vitamin C, Calcium, Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorus, Potassium, Selenium, Sodium, Zinc, &c. Regular cooked oatmeal offers ~14% of calories from fats, ~12% from proteins, and ~74% from carbohydrates. We eat foods, not macros, right? Focus on eating the recommended foods, minimally processed starches, fruits and vegetables, in the recommended fashion, align your routine and environment to that goal, and everything else will sort itself out.

CindyD - Hi! Great to see you posting! Now is an excellent time to focus your efforts and behavior in a health-supporting direction, and arranging your environment so as to make that as easy as possible is, in my opinion, among the best steps with which to begin that venture. I wish you a wonderful and successful "restart", and I'll look forward to your self-assessment next week.

[Rebecka22]

1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES This continued to be a habit.
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 I am committed to this one so it’s easier for me.
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 I am good here.

I was successful with my travel planning and I politely declined my husband’s offer for takeout on Mother’s Day. I was tempted to eat treats a few times, but I stuck to my plans. I think having prepared so much mentally was very important but also thinking through the details of how and when I would eat my own food was important. I believe my planning led to my ability to also not indulge in typical Mother’s Day treats because I felt like I already made it through the weekend so why mess up my streak when I got home. I hope everyone has a great week

[BambiS]

5-13

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

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, not an issue here

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Yes, no problems

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, no problem

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, got out for a couple walks and rode my cubii

Victories, comments, concerns, questions
I survived a Mother’s Day gathering. I brought my air fryer potatoes and had fresh fruit. I lost the slight gain from anti inflammatory med, it definitely caused me to hold water. I have my physical on Saturday, I’ll let you know how it goes!

[Mark Cooper]

Rebecka22 - Really fantastic! You made a thoughtful plan, based on information and experience, examined the details for how you would implement it, considered likely challenges, and successfully followed through! We couldn't ask for more than that! Simply great work. Carry on!

BambiS - Another very nice week! You successfully navigated the challenges attendant to the holiday, and bounced back from that bout of inflammation; that deserves a big ! May your upcoming physical be pleasant, productive and encouraging; I'll be excited to hear about your results.

[carwex]

My report for this week:
1. Start each meal with a soup or salad. Yes
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method, ½ starch and ½ vegetables. Yes
3. Reduce or eliminate added sugars and salts. Yes, eliminated from cooking.
4. Eliminate all animal foods. Yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. No
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes
7. Eliminate all higher calorie dense foods. No. I had one evening when I binged on non-compliant foods.
8. Don’t drink your calories. Yes
9. Follow these principles whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Yes.
10. Avoid being sedentary. Yes have been walking but am determined to get in some swimming

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: My covid experience was quite mild and I returned to normal in less than a week.
Recently I have noticed that about 3 hours after my breakfast of oatmeal and fruit I have a sudden sense of exhaustion. I thought it was fatigue -a leftover from covid but it always hits the same time of day. So I thought that perhaps it has to do with a spike in blood sugar from the breakfast and a subsequent drop in blood sugar. I have never had problems with my blood sugar. I can of course go to the doctors but they will keep me busy running around for tests, (At my age, once you go in you never get out) which most often have shown nothing and by that time whatever ails me has disappeared. So first I will experiment with changing my breakfast a bit and instead of fruit, use vegetables in the oatmeal and see if that makes a difference. Any comments are welcome.
I am resisting telling you that this week I had a binge on foods that are not compliant, like bread, jelly, and -God forgive me- peanut butter. I managed to get right back on track the next day by analyzing what went wrong-mainly I had gotten too involved in the challenges of life and less concerned with my own preservation. I have a morning routine which includes writing, meditation, and food planning. For lack of time I neglected to use this tool for a few days. Bad idea. I need to get my head screwed on straight in the morning lest the day’s activities send me into a tizzy.
And then today I was preparing a dish to bring to my bookclub tomorrow and it included the dreaded peanuts. This was a mistake. I can keep away from peanuts that are out of sight in the cupboard but once taken out and actually handled all bets are off. Reading about Stephanie’s problem with peanuts was very helpful. I also have peanuts in the house for my husband but I’m the one who decides to buy them, not him. He never sits around munching them but appreciates my adding them to a dish. So my decision is that they need to go. We will discuss this over the last few peanuts left in the cupboard.

I learned 2 important points from reading Mark’s comments last week:
1) Try to avoid situations where I have to use willpower.
2) If I’m hungry or just need to eat something, eat compliant foods.

I wish everyone a peaceful and compliant week of tasty and satisfying MWL food.

Carol

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

Hope that everyone is enjoying their week and their food!!! We've had crazy weather in Chicagoland with temperatures moving from the 40's to like 90. Expected to rationalize (60's/ 70's high) in the upcoming week. I am all in for that!!!

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes. I consistently preload B/L/D. Have been enjoying Romaine lettuce, persian (or cocktail) cucumbers, rainbow carrots, tomatoes of all sorts, radishes, bell peppers. Also fresh and frozen fruit. This week I have loved Galia melon and frozen mango and frozen dark / sweet cherries. They seem almost too good to be compliant...

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.
Still following similar routine and batch cooking potatoes, rice, beans.
Made simple meals and kept prepared ingredients easily available.
Loved a "summery" plate of Mexican salad. Put corn, rice, smashed beans (Mary McD recipe) on half the plate and then romaine, tomatoes, red onion on other half of the plate. Added some NSA salsa and TB of taco sauce. Super delicious and filling.

Also loving super simple meal of Romaine, carrot, other raw veggie pre-load with roasted potato slices and fruit 50/50. All ingredients are in the refrigerator to make this a "go"!!!



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, reduced not eliminated. Used a little onion salt on potatoes at times. Also, had 2 TB BBQ sauce once with Jeff Burger / roasted potatoes. That is sugar based on the brand that I picked up at WFM which is low sodium (I tried to find the best product using Jeff label reading guidance). I didn't use sugar on anything else this week (rarely do).

4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
YES, of course.

5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Well, there was one occurrence where I fell short on 5 and 7. The usual suspects for me under similar circumstances. I do aspire to remove these items from my "food for me" list. I am trying to incorporate concepts that Mark Cooper has successfully done with changing mindset here. I do believe that I have slow incremental forward progress, but am not quite there yet.
Learnings:
1) I did eat potato slices roasted first.

2) These didn't really taste that great to me, but not tasting bad either. (good for not Pleasure Trapping me here, where I am not great at climbing out). 3) Still not sure why I am so attracted to dry, salty, calorie dense foods... Boo!
4) Better self-talk and laughed to think about how to avoid next time. (so, this is priceless... laugh!! but TRY to understand and overcome)
5) Next time, I will go for a second of the potato slices instead of caving to dry, salty, calorie dense CRAP.
6) I believe that I can do this. If I did it with peanut butter, I should be able to do it with anything.
7) I would feel much better to report a "clean" checklist. But this is the reality.... So, yeah...

6 Eliminate any added oil.
[b] 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.
See #5.

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 didn't stuff or starve.
Again, I snacked a few times when hungry on roasted potato that I didn't 50/50 or pre-load. I am not prioritizing changing this yet until I am a bit more secure feeling on #5/7. But, yes -- I do intend to eat the recommended foods in the recommended fashion...

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes.
* 7/7 days walked outside. I walked less steps than past 2 weeks due to HEAT. I can't believe we went from 40ish to 90ish in the same week. I am looking forward to next week getting more steps / time walking outside.
* Exceeded my steps goal by 1.1K steps / day (less than prior 2 weeks).
* I still need to prioritize resistance training. I have this on the future list to do.


Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

One non-scale victory that I have recently noticed is thicker hair!!! Yes!!! Woo-hoo to this....

I have a huge amount of gratitude for this group. I can't effectively articulate how much Mark, Jeff, Wildgoose have helped me to find my way. It is the long way for me, but I'll get there!!!

Not only do I learn from every participant's comments, but also I am inspired by all of the success on this Board. It is simply incredible!! So go back to Carol's / Carwex comment a month or two ago... We are all stars in training!! Keep Going!!!

Thank you to all moderators and participants! You are transforming lives! Hoping that everyone has an excellent week!!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Gimmelean]

McDougall Post for week ending 5/13/22

Hello Everyone!

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes.
2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals.
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).
No. Some nuts
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 had some no sugar dry cereal with nondairy milk. First time in two years. It used to feel normal. Now I know it’s a taboo if I want to maintain my weight loss. I keep a supply of cooked barley and steel cut oats in the fridge and plan to eat that instead if I’m hungry after dinner. Eating flour based products tends to be the biggest driver of weight gain for me, so eliminating them by following MWL has made the difference. Has also been a challenge that has gotten easier after a lifetime of bread. There’s a lot to be said about our time and adherence approach. It took time and commitment to change habits I took for granted and often with a lot of frustration.
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. Walked more than 30 minutes most days since it’s so nice outside and everything is coming into bloom, did yoga everyday, weights once and swam twice.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: My neighbor was away for the winter and when she saw me outside this week she smiled and said, “You’re not fat”! I could have interpreted that differently, but English is not her first language. I accepted it as the nicest possible compliment! Still keeping fresh, raw vegetables ready in a see through container in the fridge. This week was rainbow baby carrots, Persian cucumbers, celery, mini sweet peppers, daikon, and jicama. I dip them in homemade oil free , sf, hummus or jarred salsa or just grab them plain. Made a thick lentil soup, a beautiful bulgur salad, a whole wheat penne pasta dish for dinners this week with grapes, mango, or fresh cherries for dessert. Watching the news it’s impossible to ignore that the cost of food has gone up 8.5% YTD and headed higher, but eating this way, even splurging on the finest stuff, is nowhere near the figurative and literal cost of consuming animal products and oils. In health! . . .Here’s to a good week.

[Gabby7]

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
3. 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
5. 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. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
9. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). YES
11. Eliminate any added oil. YES
13. 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
15. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES
17. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
18. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES. Have some limitations due to health but at least did a short walk for 30 mins 5/7 days.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Surprised by how well it went this week. Down 4lbs and got into a good rhythm by prepping all my lunches Sunday to Friday and making if I’m hungry extra snack rice and veggie boxes as well. Worked on keeping it simple and bringing it down to 2-3 ingredient meals, potatoes & zucchini, rice and brussel sprouts, etc. Really helped a lot to keep my meals simple and I always pre chopped my veggies the night before for dinner so I only had to dump into the pan when I got home from work. I also enjoyed reading the post about getting a life. It’s easy to let this dominate our lives and thoughts but I’m trying to focus more on hobbies and other things and letting food be easy and simple. Thanks for sharing that Mark it was a great perspective. Glad to be back on this forum and hope everyone else had a great week of adherence!

[Gimmelean]

Stephanie-Thank you for the Cornell Merlin Bird app idea. I put it on my phone and love it. I have 2 cockatiels and a yellow nape Amazon which qualifies me as a crazy bird person, but love to see the birds outside my kitchen window. We put suet cakes and seed in feeders year round and it’s always interesting and fun to see new ones. My kitty is an avid bird watcher too

[wildgoose]

Recently I have noticed that about 3 hours after my breakfast of oatmeal and fruit I have a sudden sense of exhaustion. I thought it was fatigue -a leftover from covid but it always hits the same time of day. So I thought that perhaps it has to do with a spike in blood sugar from the breakfast and a subsequent drop in blood sugar. I have never had problems with my blood sugar. I can of course go to the doctors but they will keep me busy running around for tests, (At my age, once you go in you never get out) which most often have shown nothing and by that time whatever ails me has disappeared. So first I will experiment with changing my breakfast a bit and instead of fruit, use vegetables in the oatmeal and see if that makes a difference. Any comments are welcome.

Carol, I’m going to assume that the fatigue was happening before your adventures with bread and jelly and peanut butter (which can cause you to feel weird, totally independent of what you had for breakfast).

I know oatmeal can be an issue for some people, as well as fruit. I eat an oatmeal and fruit breakfast, and sometimes it’s fine. Other times, I’m either starving or falling asleep within 2 hours. Like you, I tried vegetables with oats instead of fruit. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Then I kept the fruit but changed the starch (I used buckwheat instead of oats). Of course, I changed one thing at a time, to try to identify the culprit. Still, nothing definitive.

Another strategy I use sometimes is to eat dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner. So my oatmeal is in the evening, and it doesn’t matter if I’m tired two hours later.

What I’ve found is that just a few weeks of making changes, even if it doesn’t solve the problem, is often enough to reset things so that I can go back to my regular breakfast for a while.

None of this may be helpful in your case, but I just wanted to support your idea of experimenting with some changes to see if you can find something that works better for you. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Goose