The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - July 2022 Group

[carwex]

1. Start each meal with a soup or salad. YES Since its hot now here, making fewer soups and eating more salads
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. YES no avocado in the salad
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES
7. Eliminate all higher calorie dense foods. NO, had a piece of toast this week- on the BRAT diet
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 Staying out of the pool but walking even though the weather is HOT.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Hello to everyone. I am so grateful that this group exists and is doing so well. You are a great source of support for maintaining the MWL over the long term. Not to be taken lightly or for granted. It’s a challenge, no matter what others might think, even those close to me, even myself sometimes!

Last week I had a stomach upset and could not report. It took a few days to pass. But good news is that I kept to the plan. I lost quite a bit of weight in those 3 days but will slowly regain it in time.
A few weeks ago I had a bookclub lunch which is always fraught. Often there is something to eat there and I always bring something that is ok. However, If I’m hungry there is a risk of eating non compliant dishes, so I had a half meal 1 ½ hours before (small potato and salad). I ate at the bookclub what was compliant. Afterwards in the afternoon I was hungry again so had another small meal. I felt it was a good way to get through this problematic event.
Beth asked a few weeks ago about spicing up bean dishes. For me there is 1) hot spice – I add coarsely ground dried chilli pepper or a whole fresh hot peeper to the stew. 2) For flavor I add spices like oregano and cumin.
3) If I want it to taste great, I chop greens: cilantro, parsley, mint, dill. And add to the pot in the last few minutes of cooking. The fresh greens give a whole other dimension.
Our move progresses; everything has been sent or disposed of and now we are living in our nearly empty apartment until we vacate. I’m still able to make my food in a severely altered kitchen but it’s sort of like camping.
Carol

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Team Time and Adherence!

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes. Mostly salad / raw veggies - sometime fruit. Loving blueberries this week. Also, loving baby cucumbers and broccoli.

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.
I continue to make the same recipes in general.
I did eat pasta more this week than I normally would - 50/50 with roasted veggies.
Ate a ton of potatoes - baked, roasted, microwaved, grilled on the George Foreman.
I still love the 50/50 Mexican type of plate with potatoes, beans, corn on one side and romaine, tomatoes, red onions, peppers on the other with a bit of salsa and taco sauce. Delicious!


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. I used salt a few times on potatoes and once about 1.5 TB BBQ sauce.

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).
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. I didn't stuff or starve.
I keep recommended foods READILY available to snack on (as needed). I pair up a starch with a fruit / veggie. I did snack a few times this week / hungry!


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 briskly
Many days took two walks. The morning is generally a bit cooler --- and different things to see!! Also, like to take a break at lunch as well. This schedule will likely change when the weather / daylight is different in the late fall, but is great for now!


Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Again, not stressing on any particular checkpoint seems to be a much "happier path" for me...

I feel like this "positive self-talk" concept has been the most challenging thing for me to fully grasp on this journey AND I think it is so critical to being able to continue on...

Hope that everyone has a wonderful week!!! Who may eat the most potatoes???

Best,
Stephanie

[Lizzy_F]

Maximum Health Promoting 10-Point Checklist
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.

Yes – for all lunches and dinners. I do not worry about pre-loading breakfast, which if I eat breakfast, is always oats + 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.

Yes! No misses this week. (breakfast excepted as noted in #1)

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! No salt added during cooking – only at the table. Some condiments containing salt/sugar in small quantities. Homemade ketchup most of the time. (I use a lot of ketchup, so am working to use less of the store bought kind that has a lot of sodium)

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

Yes! None ever – this one is easy at this stage of the game.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).

Yes! No higher fat plant foods at all this week.

6. Eliminate any added oil.

Yes! No restaurant meals this week, no packaged foods with added oils, no oils from my hands.

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.

This week, none of the higher calorie density foods that I sometimes have. MARK – I tried your lentils instead of gravy on my mashed taters, and they are simple and delicious! Thank you for sharing the specifics of how you make them!

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.

I still need to work on “stopping when full.” I felt stuffed after a few dinners this week. I’ve said this before but haven’t followed through – I want to focus in the coming week on taking smaller portions at lunch and especially dinner, waiting 15 – 20 minutes, then deciding if I am really hungry for more. That is what Tiffany has suggested but I feel like I have just completely forgotten about this suggestion once I am filling my plate at meal time.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

Much improved this week! I have lowered my expectations a little bit. I love to walk outside as I have stated previously, so right now I am just focused on doing that on as many days as I can. I think I hit walks of 1 – 2 miles at least 5 days last week. This can be better, but progress no perfection. The good news is that my energy feels really good, and my joints are feeling so much better than they did a few months ago. Yesterday I felt like a was “power walking” and I know I finished my walk route in less time than usual.


Victories: Not even a “little” more calorie dense food such as Ezekiel bread or corn tortillas or flour to thicken gravy! It feels so good to really stick to simple food that is low on the calorie density charts. Power walking! Continued weight loss. My average weekly loss is slowing down a little, but that makes sense as I get closer to the “normal” BMI range, which is now less than 5 pounds away! Average loss over the last 4 weeks is 1.8 pounds per week.

Comments: I’m giving myself a huge gold star for this week! And part of my self-acceptance is acknowledging that I don’t have to be absolutely perfect to have done a great job with this plan!

Concerns: I am a little concerned that focusing as much as I am on the MWL 10-point check list comes with pluses and minuses. There are clear pluses that come with heightened awareness on healthy practices that will ensure my success on this plan. (strategies to keep calorie density low, awareness of exercise patterns, etc.). The downside for me, with my unhealthy dieting history, is TOO much focus on perfection and turning this journey into another legalistic diet instead of a lifestyle of healthy choices to be enjoyed. One of the true joys I have experienced since attending the 12-day program is a far less stressful approach to food and fueling myself. I don’t want to get so legalistic about the 10-point check list that I dampen this sense of joy and freedom that I haven’t experienced around food…… probably since being a small child. Just something I’m thinking about. I hope I’m expressing this thought process in an understandable way.

Questions: If anyone has experienced similar concerns as outlined above, I would appreciate your comments and how you worked through it. Thank you in advance – I love the support of this group and how helpful everyone has been!

[Noella]

Hi Mark, Wildgoose, Jeff and Team MWL Participants,

I had another successful week following the MWL guidelines. I'm really enjoying the fresh fruits like cherries and nectarines!
1. Start each meal with soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals.
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 stop 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 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).

Mark: I am sorry to hear that you have been experiencing intense pain with a recent flare-up of CRPS/RSD pain and that you haven't been able to manage a 15 minute walk. I hope this is resolved very soon with lots of extra rest, care and attention. You are in my thoughts.

I hope everyone has a great week!
Best regards,
Noella

“What I am about to tell you is so utterly simple and true that it may deceive you: Health feels better than sickness. You will be happier at your ideal weight than you are overweight. You will be proud of yourself. You’ll have confidence. You’ll feel so many good things that right now you cannot imagine, and I cannot describe. But the net effect is that you’ll like yourself a lot more. You’ll look in the mirror and actually like what you see; you may even love what you see. You will have honored the person within yourself who longs to be healthy, beautiful, and free of all those burdens that being overweight brings. Life will not be perfect, but it will be better.”
― excerpt from The McDougall Program for Maximum Weight Loss

[/quote][/quote]

[Gimmelean]

Post for week ending 7/22/22

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).
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- shredded wheat with raisins and almond milk. Had one birthday cupcake.

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,Questions,Challenges:

Mark, I hope you are feeling better soon.
************
This coming week I plan to pay very strict attention to the MWL checklist because I find myself drifting in 2 ways.
1) I went to a birthday celebration at a local Chinese restaurant and they served me steamed vegetables with lettuce cups and no oil exactly as I requested. I felt really good and enjoyed the evening. I even took my cupcake home. However, I ate it the next day. It was okay. I could have done better without it. In the past I would have eaten everything in sight with the intention of starting out new the next day.
2)I will close the kitchen after dinner and retire that bowl of cereal with dried fruit.
In retrospect, I continue to practice more good habits and yeses than no’s. I’m very glad ( and relieved) to be here to learn, be supportive, be supported, and renew.
Have a good week!

[CUgorji22]

Happy Saturday, everyone!  

*Guidelines:
Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. No
For one meal, my family changed seating. My soup was on the table but when I switched chairs it wasn't in front of me...I started eating before I ate my soup, realized it, stopped eating then ate my soup. Another time, I left my soup in the microwave. UGH! This Guideline requires my full attention. It is still not a habit that comes easy for me. I am most compliant when I put my starter on the table before all the plates get loaded up. 
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
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
Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes
Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Yes
Eliminate any added oil. Yes
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
Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes
Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don’t starve yourself and don’t stuff yourself. Yes
Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). No
I did not exercise when I was traveling & in TX for my Grandma's funeral. My schedule was too fast paced; my main focus was compliant eating. 

*Summary:
Overall, I feel good about my week...all things considered. I traveled with food & none of it was thrown away by TSA...YAY!!! I took with me 2 medium containers of cooked collard greens, 5 baked potatoes, 5 small bowls of *frozen* black bean soup (this is the only way I can get soup past TSA), 4 peaches, 2 plums, 1 small cup of black olives, 1 ziploc bag of cherries. 3 snack packs of petite carrots. I was able to eat on the plane + when we arrived in TX. My family bought lunch when we landed but I didn't have to! Being prepared in this way was such a great feeling for me! The ONLY challenge I had was my husband & kids eating all my goodies. Lol! 

My plans with my food didn't quite go the way I was hoping the day of my Grandma's funeral. I was hoping to take food with me to our family dinner (after the service) but some events that day ran longer than others so I ended up going to the family dinner with no food. I thought I would have time to grab what I needed from my mini-fridge & quickly use the microwave BEFORE heading to the family dinner. At our family dinner, BBQ + lots of desserts were served; I refrained and ate nothing. Consequently, my 1st meal that day was around 6pm. I was too nervous to eat breakfast before the funeral. That wasn't good...but I'm also glad I walked into the family dinner with the resolve to stay compliant.

A HUGE victory for me...my cousins & I went to House of Pies to hang out one evening. I ordered 1 cup of strawberries (my starter) + 1 plain, baked potato + plate of spinach and mushrooms on the side. YAY!! None of my cousins finished their overloaded plates (even though they also ordered pie slices), meanwhile I enjoyed my food and ate all of it! I only had a few strange looks when my food arrived at the table...lol!   

I didn't exercise on my travel days or while I was in TX; I paused my Personal Training. There was one day I could have but didn't...I was so exhausted. The day after our return home I resumed my Personal Training and have exercised every day since. 

*Reflection:
I thought my challenge in TX (with extended family) would be non-compliant eating, instead my challenge was eating enough in a day. I was prepared with food but not prepared for how to incorporate my food with my fast paced schedule, between cities and locations. Learning how to travel with food & remain compliant is a work in progress.


Have a great weekend, Mark! Always grateful for your feedback!!

-Chesca

[Mark Cooper]

BambiS - Congratulations on a good week and resisting temptation! It is pretty normal to see the rate at which one is losing weight become more moderate as time goes by; keep in mind, you're 50 lbs lighter than where you started. I wouldn't think decaf coffee would have much of an effect on weight loss, but you could certainly experiment with omitting it and see what happens, if you like.

Coffee & Tea
While there maybe Individual reasons to avoid these, they are not an issue for the MWL program. There is no recommendation to avoid them as part of the MWL program. We serve both decaf and regular tea at the program and have no qualms if someone walks to Starbucks and gets a cup of coffee.

Rebecka22 -

It wasn’t easy, but I did it!

Woo-hoo! What a difference a week, and a more curated environment can make in our results, right? Kudos to you for celebrating the birthday with watermelon, rather than something non adherent. Have a safe drive next week, and best of luck to you!

carwex - I really appreciate your observation that this is about sustaining a pattern of behavior over the long term, Carol; it is definitely a challenge at times, but it can be done, and we are stronger together! Nice work navigating your book club so successfully. Hopefully you "camping kitchen" isn't too inconvenient. Wishing you the best.

VegSeekingFit - An amazing week, Stephanie! Excellent efforts! I agree with you about the "positive self-talk / avoiding recrimination," both that it can be a critically valuable skill AND that it is a pretty challenging concept for many of us to embrace. Keep at it!

Lizzy_F - Really fantastic progress, Beth! I second your "huge gold star!" I'm glad you enjoyed the lentil topping for the mashed potatoes. I think it is REALLY important to apply self-compassion in our ongoing efforts. We needn't aim for perfection. Focus on doing the best you can, within a given set of circumstances; if your behaviors fall short of the pattern you are seeking to achieve, turn your focus on to your environment, your habits and your routine, making changes to further your success. Don't view yourself reproachfully, you just did an "experiment" and you can adjust your efforts as needed, right?

Noella - That is another great week for you! Thank you for your compassion and kind words. I've worked my way up to three 15 minute walks each day, so that is some progress, right?

Gimmelean -

In retrospect, I continue to practice more good habits and yeses than no’s. I’m very glad ( and relieved) to be here to learn, be supportive, be supported, and renew.

I'm always impressed by the way you treat yourself with kindness in the face of small deviations, and simply resolve to make sensible changes, as needed and when appropriate.

In the past I would have eaten everything in sight with the intention of starting out new the next day.

I think this is an important, positive change in behavior, worth appreciating and noting.

CUgorji22 - Congratulations on those big victories, Chesca! That sounds like a pretty successful travel experience to me!

I thought my challenge in TX (with extended family) would be non-compliant eating, instead my challenge was eating enough in a day. I was prepared with food but not prepared for how to incorporate my food with my fast paced schedule, between cities and locations. Learning how to travel with food & remain compliant is a work in progress.

This is why direct experience is such an important piece of the puzzle; sometimes we don't know where a challenge is going to come from, until we're in the face of it. As we experience varied situations, learn from them, and adapt our behaviors and strategies, we become more resilient and our success gets even more durable. Keep learning!

[Mark Cooper]

Another exciting, impressive week, everybody! We have just one more check-in left for July!

This week, I thought it was appropriate to return to an old favorite that we haven't revisited here for a while; I think it should fit nicely with the current point of this journey for many of you.

Why We Hit Plateaus and What We Can Do About Them

Sometimes, there is also another issue that comes into play in these situations, which I have seen often...

.. as someone loses weight and gets closer to their recommended weight, the weight loss becomes more difficult because the "margin of error" in the "energy balance" equation becomes much more narrow.

(I will be using certain averages and rules of thumb here to make a point. They are not perfect but they will highlight the issue)

For instance, if someone is around 300 lbs, their Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is burning about 3000 calories a day, even if they just lay in bed all day. Let's also add in about 500 calorie per day of just a basic low level of activity over the day.

Most any attempt to eat healthier will result in a lowered calorie density, lower caloric intake, and weight loss. So, lets say, they are consuming around 1800 on their best day and 2300 on their worst day. While that is a 500 calorie difference, either one would still result in weight loss. Even if they were not very compliant and adherent and had a few more indulgences than ideal, and took in 2500 to 2700 calories, they would still lose weight as they are burning about 3500 calories per day with little to no activity so .it would be hard not to.

As you can see, they have the capacity for a large margin of error in their calories and food intake and could still lose weight. So, even though it is not what is recommended, if it is what they are "hearing," they could actually be eating all the wanted whenever they wanted and still be losing weight.

They are loving it.

But, time has passed and they now weigh 200 and so their RMR is about 2000 calories a day, not counting any activity. They are still not very active so lets give figure around 350 calories per day (as there is much less of them, they burn less at the same activity level), so they are burning about 2350 calories per day.

If they are consuming the same foods, on the days in which they consume 1800 calories, they would still lose weight though it would result in some much slower weight loss. However, on the other days that they are consuming close to 2300, they may not lose any weight and on their days on indulgences, at 2500 to 2700, they wouldn't lose anything and would even see some weight gain.

Suddenly the weight loss slows down and even stops. They dont get it. They are confused, scared and troubled. They start hearing all kinds of myths and tales about why they are not losing weight some actually saying it is them. They ruined their metabolism over the years through a lifetime of yo yo dieting, their in starvation response, they need to kick start their metabolism again, they dont work out enough, and many other damaging statements.

They used to be able to eat any of the healthy food they wanted and even get away with junk foods and some not so healthy food and maybe not even exercise, because their RMR alone was 3000 calories. But now it is 2000. They lost 1000 calories in the equation.

The reality is, what they are experiencing is a very normal part of the process. They have reached a metabolic equilibrium in their energy balance. As some say, a plateau. This is normal, & to be expected during the weight loss process and is something that has a solution.

So, they would now have to make adjustments to the calorie density of the diet to lower the overall calorie density of their intake and to also look at whether they are really understanding the concepts of MWL and Calorie Density correctly. In addition, it may be time to consider a moderate amount of some formal activity/exercise as part of their life.

This would be the same principle if someone successfully went from 200 to 155 and now was having a harder time trying to get below 150.

The margin of error has become very narrow know and it is important to really understand the principles and to be much more compliant and adherent to them.

This is why the last 5-10 lbs are always the most difficult.

There is literally, no more wiggle room

Of course, this is where sometimes people go elsewhere, thinking the program has failed, and as explained in the earlier thread, they may find some new tricks or gimmicks to use, that, in the end, will work only if they end up in helping them to eat less calories. There is no magic.

They could have also just done a very honest and thorough appraisal of the guidelines and principles of the MWL program and calorie density and their understanding and adherence to them.

Then, make the recommended adjustments as needed.

Remember, the program always works because it is based on sound science.

Best wishes to all! Take care and be well!

[Lizzy_F]

Hi team T & A! (TIME and ADHERENCE to anyone with a wandering mind!!! )

Mark - I didn't realize you have been experiencing pain and challenge lately. I am so sorry to hear that and I hope this passes quickly for you! Thank you SO much for your guideance and words of wisdom and advice. As you can see, I have such a hard time separating the functional from the emotional. And it's the emotional that gets me in trouble every time! Self-compassion has always been hard for me. I just have to keep working at it, and it is extremely helpful and valuable to have reminders here. Sometimes I can't see the forest when I'm standing in the middle of it! The information you shared from Jeff about weight loss slowing/stalling is very timely for me as well, so thank you!! I will focus in the coming week on just making a few adjustments to see how it goes. I need to remember that as long as I am eating compliant food, nothing *horrible* is going to happen! Not "failure" or disaster, not falling in the ditch at the side of this road, nothing like that. I just need to monitor and adjust calorie density as appropriate as I continue to lose weight. That will be a trial and error process. I will not always get the results I wish for - and that is OK. I will get there if I keep working an honest program, keep eating the right foods, and keep adjusting as appropriate!

Goose - thank you for your key point summary on the Pleasure Trap. That is a great summary of the points that are so relevant to me too. I also appreciate your suggestions on negotiating the environment, since I do have to operate in a mixed food situation. All parts of IL are definitely not created equal when it comes to Trader Joes access! I'm in the Chicago metro area (far southwest fringe of it) and the nearest TJ's is so near, and yet so far - probably 45 minutes but over treacherous highway! I need to get one of those pull string choppers.

Stephanie - I love that video!!!! What pull string chopper did you get? Do you like it? Is it easy to clean? I love the sound of your Mexican plate! I also love what you said about not stressing too much on any particular point. That is the balance I am seeking.

Carol - thank you for the tips for flavoring and spicing my beans! Sounds like you did awesome navigating the bookclub event. Good luck with all things as you continue towards your move.

Chesca - I'm so sorry to hear you lost your Grandma. It sounds like you did an awesome job navigating travel and also the overall situation.

Congratulations to all the other team T&A members! I am learning so much from all of you and I'm really grateful!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Everyone!!!

Hey Beth --- Sorry, don't mean to SPAM the MWL thread, but here is what I found on the "salsa experiment"...

And, just OMG... I will say briefly that I always wanted to abbreviate the name of the group ... but ... HMMM... (not good... )

I bought the pull-chopper that WildGoose recommended in MWL thread last week (see her post on prior page --- it has a link to Amazon product and IMO it is a good product).... I am pretty much NOT a "get all of the appliances " person... BUT... This is pretty awesome. Easy to use and easy to clean and small!!! So, SCORE --- big thanks to WG!!! Other thing that I would say is that it is FUN to use!!! Here is my first salsa --- just 2 kumato, 1 large Roma, maybe 1/3 red onion, 1 large jalapeno (used about 1/3 of the seed for heat)... that's it ... and it is really good!!!



This was a better salsa than the commercial product that I posted!!! You can add spices / herbs that you like too... I was pretty happy with just the jalapeno seeds... And, YES --- I am going to make WG pasta template and some other stuff with small veggies... Truly a FUN contraption (thank you, WG!!!).

On this perfection thing... HMM... I think I posted earlier that I have this. But, on some checkpoints, perhaps not so much... I took some time to assimilate #1 and #2... I also didn't grade myself harshly on these. There really isn't a "calibration" type of mechanism to compare folks answers "apples to apples" and that is great... success may be in the eye of the beholder.

If you look back at my threads, I have incessantly struggled with 2 foods --- one a #5 fail and the other a #7 fail. And, I have beat myself up about this (and even found different ways to do so...) ... and tried to take Mark Cooper's "no self-recrimination" feedback (as well as changing mindset feedback... ) ... and have (I think) FINALLY understood / corrected this... So, just don't think that I am "YAY, I can be pretty chill about the checklist as a whole"... It has been really HARD to get there... (Thank you, Mark Cooper for never hitting me over the head with my own bad foods... I know I was SICK of myself writing the same stuff!!! So... ??? But, I never experienced anything but HELP and SUPPORT on this thread... so, I think anyone looking to follow MWL is totally DEFINITELY in the right place here...)...

Thank you to everyone in this community for support!!! Much appreciated!!!

Best,
Stephanie

[Lizzy_F]

Hey Stephanie! Thanks for showing your salsa pic!!! I went back and found the chopper thingy link (Thank you Goose and I'm sorry I missed the link the first time! I also copied and printed your pasta chopped salad recipe!). I just ordered one so I should be in the salsa business this weekend. Heading off to add more roma tomatoes to my grocery order. What is a plumato?

And, just OMG... I will say briefly that I always wanted to abbreviate the name of the group ... but ... HMMM... (not good... )

Together we are dangerous!

[BambiS]

7-29

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes, enjoying fresh vegetables and salads.


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, or larger salads


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


Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Thank you for your responses regarding decaf coffee. I didn’t have any this week, but do enjoy it occasionally.
Overall it was a good week. I am definitely enjoying fresh farmers market food.

[Rebecka22]

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. 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
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

I had a pretty good week. I am traveling and the 8 hour drive went well. I brought fruit, cut up veggies and potato slices. Dinner at my sisters had oil. I wasn’t planning to eat it, but I just didn’t feel like I could make something else when she had clearly gone to so much trouble. I did not then eat the desserts though so that was good. I hope you are feeling better Mark, thanks for all the advice and encouragement every week! I hope everyone has a great week.

[Lizzy_F]

Team Time & Adherence Behavioral report 7-29-22:

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

Breakfasts no – either none or oats & fruit. Lunches no – had cold lunches this week consisting of pasta salad or potato salad (tried to make these 50/50) with fruit for dessert. Dinners were yes - soup, veg, then starch. I will be back to my normal routine next week, so will be better able to start lunch with soup, salad or fruit. Salad / raw veg is very problematic for me right now due to the braces. I just have to work around that with way more cooked veg until the braces come off, which is still over 1.5 years out.

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 think I did pretty well here for lunches and dinners.

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 added sugars other than ketchup, and minimal added salt – a few condiments, and none during cooking and only from the shaker at the table.

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

No problem!

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).

1 TBS of tahini in the dressing for the potato salad – that TBS was divided across 5 or 6 servings.

6. Eliminate any added oil.

No added oils!

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 higher calorie density foods this week! (other than tahini noted above)

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).

Did not drink my calories 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.

I tried to be more mindful about the issue of over eating my hunger signals this week. I’m truly a volume eater so this is really a struggle. There was one dinner where I intentionally took a smaller portion of my main plate with the idea of going back for more later if I was still hungry. Interestingly enough, the portion I took ended up being enough. So that tells me I am probably over eating my hunger at least some of the time. This is emerging as one of the more important areas of focus for me, I think. But I definitely want to be cautious about moving to far in the opposite direction – going hungry would end in a bad way, I think. So, I will proceed with caution keeping my food simple and trying to increase mindfulness around this topic. I will be really glad to be back to normal next week with hot cooked veg, soup and starches for lunch and dinner every day.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

I feel like I did better this week! I went for intentional walks at least 5 days, and my average steps per day continues to climb – my last fitbit report showed an average over 13,000 steps per day.

Victories: Got through this week of being “on call” for jury duty, and the uncertainty of that (I love my structure and knowing my schedule!) without diverting off of my food plan!!! Potatoes / starch really is the miracle food! Weighed in at a new low weight this morning of 170.8. Getting SO CLOSE to 169 which is the top end of “healthy” BMI for my height. I’m not sure yet what my “goal” weight is – I think I’m going to just keep following these principles to the best of my ability and allow my body to tell me when we get there. I’m hopeful it will be well below 169 and closer to a 22 or 20 BMI or something along those lines. We’ll see. I’m coping with a lot of fear of failure, which comes from years upon years of “dieting.”

Comments: I feel like this week was a success even though it was not “perfect.” That in and of itself is a victory!

Concerns: No major ones.


Questions: All feedback is welcome and appreciated as always!

[carwex]

Hello to my time and adherence group of MWL:
1. Start each meal with a soup or salad. Since its hot, making cold soups and eating more salads
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. YES
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES
7. Eliminate all higher calorie dense foods. NO, had a few pieces of bread during a nerve attack
8. Don’t drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. YES still doing half meals when feeling hungry between meals.
10. Avoid being sedentary. YES Staying out of the pool but walking.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Today I calculated that since joining MWL at the beginning of Covid (about 2 ½ years ago I have lost 25 pounds. Since our recent attention away from weight loss and more to time and adherence, I was unaware that I had actually lost so much.
This was a good week. But lots of last- minute nervousness and that led to a bread attack which ended fast and I went back to the MWL.
Stephanie or was it Goose:: OMG I can hardly wait to get to Sydney and run to Target to get a pull chopper and pick up a few more for gifts. I love gadgets.
Hunger. I have been thinking a lot about it lately. I have always been a hungry person and I thought that was my problem. Even when I learned that there were different kinds of hunger--physical emotional psychological and spiritual—to me they all felt the same. When I look back on myself as a child who ate and ate, I believe that I needed a large volume of food. The problem was not the volume or as they say “lack of portion control” but the caloric density of the food in my (toxic) environment. I still need a lot of food, but since I am eating nutritious food that my body needs I don’t have to worry about volume. Fat and sugar are practically eliminated. I am limited to 4 basic food groups, fruits.vegetables, grains and legumes. I try to follow the proportions set by the MWL way of eating.
Beth: When I look at the way this program is structured I do not get lost in the details. I look at the main ideas which now make so much sense. Jeff N. especially warns us not to get lost in the minutia but see the big picture which has led me to freedom.
On Wednesday this week we fly and there are about 5 days when I will have no kitchen. I can only do my best to work within our guidelines. Knowing that the group is behind me for support helps a lot. Carol