The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - January 2023 Group

[frowsyowl]

I made it, sort-of!


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes/No--struggled with this until yesterday; I packed everything in my lunch and paired fruit with snacks and salad with my lunch--mix-n-match style. And for breakfast just piled the extra fruit on top of my oats and ate them first (like I've read here) didn't stir them in.

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--not perfect, but good work. I had frozen broccoli on hand and had bought a tub of salad before I decided to return to MWL. I'm learning/experimenting with getting the right amount of starch; I was thinking of the soup I had made as starchy, but it really wasn't. Did better when I added bulgur or potato to it--1 to 1-1/2 cups approx.

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. Nope--many candies at work, and I had a soup cup that had too much sodium (forgot to use only half the seasonings when I made it). Rest of food was reasonable.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). No--candy had dairy.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). No--Small amount of soymilk in my lunch soup for the week, I added nuts to my compromise oatmeal in the evening (see journal for gorey details)....and one (I think) attack of peanut butter. I did avoid coffee with creamer this week and dumped out the last of my soymilk...Two dinners had tofu in, because I had already planned that for the week before I started.

6. Eliminate any added oil. No--candy, peanut butter.

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--added raisins to my evening oatmeal, succumbed to bread.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes. I drank tea...and water. Black coffee this morning.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Yes/No--at times I was getting very well attuned to when I needed to eat and how much. At other times, too stuffed of the right foods, or cramming in bad foods. (candy at work, bread at home).

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes--Super proud of this one. I have a hard time getting this going usually, but had signed up for a local challenge to do 1 mile outside every-day in January. I didn't do every day, but I've done most days. I'm getting 20-30 minutes right now and hope to hit 30 more consistently this week.

Victories, etc: So, 3 solid Yes, two Yes-ish. I am really looking to learn to make this work. I will further clean things up and prepare better for this coming week. groceries tomorrow a.m. I think my work environment will be better going forward, we don't have vending machines, and don't often have people bringing things...just on the weeks that I'm starting my 'diet'.

I will continue to increase the starch at meals as needed, plan more finger foods for work and try to find the things that I really enjoy eating so that I can get them on 'repeat'. There are other things I need to work on, like sleep...but I'm too tired at the moment!

Happy and successful weekends to everyone!

Jennifer

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi to the Group,

Hope that everyone’s week is going great and looking forward to reading all of the weekly assessments. Appreciate everyone sharing experiences – and especially Mark sharing feedback and resources. I enjoyed watching some of the JeffN videos posted last week and will check out the remainder this week.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
No; still maintaining. Fully aware that I may pivot back to this for lunch and dinner due to less activity over the winter – even when meeting minimal requirements for #10. TBD!

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. Enjoyed the same foods that I have loved throughout. The best “new” thing that I found this week was discovering that I love “warm” salad for lunch. This is a bowl of chopped Romaine or Iceberg with a chopped up large tomato and some onion. I either pour a mug of soup over it or warm smashed beans with corn (and salsa). 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.

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 –no starving or stuffing. Did have another “eat a ton day” on Wednesday – but ate recommended foods / fashion --- not impacting weight (and not worrying about it, just noting!).

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 outside. Also, I received my “pseudo” Lemon Twist (though it is purple) --- which has been fun to check out inside – skipping without a jump rope. Also, reviewing gym options --- facing a bit of analysis paralysis --- but have some “mini-goals” for the week which I expect will progress this. I may find a gym that is a better fit for me --- which would perhaps help my attitude about that option a bit. Current gym I belong to is a bit farther than I’d like to travel and it is also a bit intimidating with folks more “dressed up” and trainers looking for customers (I prefer casual and leave me alone unless I ask you…). More to come!

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

All are comments!

Holly, Thanks for kind comments last week. Agree 100% that it is so EASY to stop a habit (like exercise) when you start skipping it. You are my inspiration with your Pickleball habit!!! Awesome that you can regularly participate in activity that you love!

Mark, Thanks for your insight last week! Like how you framed one challenge that I am having. Also, appreciate that “removing friction” was key to your own success. I didn’t list that – but think that I try to do so (to the extent possible!)…

Noella, Also relate to your comment from the “10 common mistakes” --- “Their words may be positive or negative, but they carry a lot of power either way.” --- In all honesty, I have tried to be a bit more empathetic in communication with others as I have understood this in my own journey. Not sure folks realize the impact that they can have on others.

Jennifer, Hope you had a great first week!!!! Further to Mark’s comment, I love the thought / guideline to eat recommended foods when hungry – don’t starve or stuff. Awesome --- no need to ever be hungry!!!

A big wave “HELLO” to everyone else!!

Wishing all a wonderful weekend and upcoming week!!!

Best,
Stephanie 

[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. 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

Another good week. There was definitely some stress and some thoughts about stress eating, but a cleaner environment helped me to not give in to those thoughts. I think my very specific goal that feels achievable is helping me stay the course as well. I really appreciate all the feedback always. This is such a nice and thoughtful group of people and I hope everyone has a great week.

[Gimmelean]

Post for week ending 1/13/23

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- again. Wasn’t even remotely interested in the doughnuts at work but caved and had a bagel and mini scones from that tray. Took them home and ate them. I had my food with me, and was not at all hungry. Just very stressed and ate my way through it. I thought I was a self professed expert on reducing stress in positive ways and still doing those things. This week I am going to concentrate on eating only the recommended foods on the checklist. Most of the other points are, for the most part, natural now for me and in retrospect, I’m amazed. It didn’t happen overnight. This point continues to be a challenge and don’t think I can ever go on autopilot here.

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 exercised at least 30 minutes every single day. I’m returning to a functional weight training routine at least twice per week and feel great about that. When I tell myself I can do a little every day, it becomes much more.


Victories,Comments,Questions,Challenges: I do much better when I’m working from home but it’s not a choice. Mark, as you say, I really have to knuckle through this and it will become manageable. Have a good week everyone!

[Ejg]

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. meals other than breakfast, yes I did pretty good with this one. For breakfast I got away from my boiled potatoes/chopped up peppers and instead have been eating heaping bowls of oatmeal with fruit chopped up
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. breakfasts, not really. besides breakfast I did pretty well with this. I usually eat an entire head of either steamed broccoli or cauliflower a day
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. Feel like a few times this week I found myself thinking "that was too much," particularly after oatmeal breakfasts.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes


week over week change, 0; cumulative change, -6. The extra few pounds added over the holidays still haven't left but at least I didn't add any new ones. One thing I could change would be to go back to my breakfast of potatoes/peppers.
I used to be a devoted eater of brown rice but since I've been doing the MWL thing I've eaten nothing but potatoes for starch. For whatever reason I made a big pot of brown rice this week, but going back to potatoes, which seemed to work well for me, could be something else to change. Have a good week

[Lizzy_F]

Hello fellow Time & Adherence travelers!! It's been a week of LEARNING here. What works, what doesn't. I am more convinced than ever that just staying the course in the MWL narrower McDougall lane is the best thing for me.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes for meals, BUT – see issues related to “snacking” which did not follow this guideline.

2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. Yes for regular meals BUT, but see issues related to “snacking” which did not follow this guideline.

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.

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 – soy milk used in a recipe. It was delicious this recipe, BUT – it contained some non-MWL compliant ingredients. So it will be a special occasion only thing (if at all).

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 – flour and nutritional yeast were part of that recipe mentioned above. Also, for some ridiculous reason, I had some stinkin’ thinkin’ about “snack foods” and ended up eating some rice cakes (BUT THEY ARE SALT FREE! Says my inner child…)and some WASA crackers. I am going to treat that as an experiment, and report the results after no eating these types of foods for about 8 months. NOW I totally understand why these types of foods never ever worked as an aid to weight loss back in the old days of Weight Watchers, etc. THERE IS NO SATIATION AT ALL WITH THESE FOODS! Thank you Jeff for your lectures and writing which really drive this point home. Seeing is believing, and I guess I’m grateful to have experienced this lack of satiation first hand, after such a long time of eating MWL. So – I now realize I don’t miss these foods, and I understand fully why they never worked!

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes (except for the soy milk that was part of a recipe noted above)

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Interesting about those high calorie density dried out foods (rice cakes, crackers). I ate and ate and ate, and never felt anything. I didn’t feel “stuffed” at all – just empty, even though many calories were consumed. More evidence of why I was fat when I ate all that stuff (and of course, many many additional issues contributed to the fat, but I just found this “experiment” very illuminating!)

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES!!!!!!! I walked 2 miles 5/7 days, 1 mile 1 day, and 3 miles one day this week. GREEN DOTS ON THE CALENDAR!!

Victories: While my eating was not as MWL as usual this week, I learned things about myself and what foods are best for me this week that are valuable. If knowledge is power, than I am more powerful in my program as a result of my choices this week, and evaluating those choices in the MWL framework.


Comments: I am so grateful for this group and for the MWL checklist which is such an awesome framework for working on my behaviors!


Concerns: My goal for the coming week is to have a really solid MWL week without any diversions or experiments – planned or unplanned.


Questions: What are some of the key things you have learned about yourself and your optimal foods / behaviors as a result of utilizing the 10-point check list to assess things? I know that is a really broad question but I love learning more and more from everyone here!

[Greens]

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 desert. 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

Thank you all for letting me a part of this group and for posting! The accountability is so helping me with my consistency and focus on behaviors. I am loving the results. This week my make ahead soups were hot and sour (without tofu) and Moroccan red lentil. I loved reading how to modify a recipe to MWL. Subbing vinegar for soy yogurt in the masala is intriguing. Having starches made ahead, lots of frozen veggies, packing a thermos and compliant foods when I know I won’t be home for hours has really helped. In horsemanship they talk about in training, making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult. The emphasis is on making the right thing easy, having only compliant foods at home and bringing them with me when I’m out for extended time, being a better gate keeper of what comes into my home when buying things for others here. I am still using a notebook to record my food and tick off the list of MWL guidelines. That was really rambly but you get the picture. More energy and getting closer to my goal weight range. I feel that I’m in a successful training program. Adherence and consistency, what a concept. Not perfect but progressing.

Marilyn

[Hjklost55]

Good Morning MLW group. Hope everyone had a good week.


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES, still enjoying my soup. Not sure how that will work come summer, but will figure it out. Maybe have to have cold soup.
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. NO, still feel like I’m eating WAY TOO MUCH!!! And since the scales are moving……. UGH
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). NO, didn’t get my 5 days of pickleball in. Had a delivery that had to be signed for one day. If I don’t go first thing in the morning, I find too many excuses to not go…. Need to try to incorporate some strength training in my routine.

Victories,Comments,Questions,Challenges: I feel like I struggled a little this week mentally. Keep thinking about things I use to eat and don’t anymore. But I also recognized the fact that I can’t do that “just a little bit” without triggering a full fledge binge. So I hung in there. Still a little frustrated that the scales aren’t moving down. I try to only weigh once a month, but I caved and got on the scales this week. The number was slightly elevated. Not much, but enough to be discouraging. (Maybe a result from last weeks slip up with my one meal that had all the CRAP in it) I think I’m doing pretty good overall on the 10 PT checklist with the exception of the volume of food I consume. Some days I just can’t seem to find that satiety!! I know we aren’t suppose to focus on that, but it is hard sometimes!!

Just got to keep focused and move forward!

Take Care,
Holly

[Noella]

Hi 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, 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 calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes
9. Follow these principles, eat whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself, and don't stuff yourself
Yes
10. Avoid being sedentary; do at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes, still doing very light finger and arm exercising (focusing on keeping my shoulder, elbow, and fingers strong and flexible) and gentle walking.

Today I have been thinking about goal setting- not just hollow resolutions but a process to think through the challenges and have a plan when life gets tough, as it sometimes does :
I like writing and find it helpful for considering goals and the best possible outcomes at depth as well as specific/ effective ways to reach my goals. Understanding my goals and thinking about and writing about some of the obstacles that might get in the way of me reaching a goal often energizes me and leads me to a more effective plan.

1. I begin my writing activity by identifying a realistic goal I want to achieve.
2. Next, I mentally imagine one positive, best-case scenario outcome of achieving this goal
3. next, think of one obstacle that stands in the way of my success.
This reflection sets me up for the final step:
4. Make a clear plan for getting around that obstacle.


I don’t want to make the common mistake when setting a goal of indulging myself in fictional fantasies about how great life will be after accomplishing it—without considering what’s currently holding me back. Mentally contrasting my hoped-for outcome with an obstacle that stands in my path is helpful because this prepares me (more self-efficacy!!) to plan for when and how I’ll take action whenever that obstacle happens.

[Mark Cooper]

The window for reporting this week's behavioral results has officially closed.

My replies and the weekly summary will follow.

[Mark Cooper]

BambiS - Hang in there! Concentrate on implementing all the recommended behaviors, with a particular focus toward eating the recommended foods, whenever hungry, in the recommended fashion.

The following week I am going to be sure to pack a large potato and veggies for lunch.

Exactly! Having easy access to adequate amounts of minimally processed starches, non starchy vegetables, and fruits is key.

frowsyowl - Great progress with your exercise habit, Jennifer!

I will further clean things up and prepare better for this coming week.

I would expect this will help quite a bit.

I will continue to increase the starch at meals as needed, plan more finger foods for work and try to find the things that I really enjoy eating so that I can get them on 'repeat'.

Sounds like a great plan to me! Make it so!

VegSeekingFit - Looks like things are going well for you, Stephanie! Wishing you good luck as you search for a gym or fitness center that fits your needs and feels like a comfortable environment. Carry on!

Rebecka22 - Another GREAT week!

There was definitely some stress and some thoughts about stress eating, but a cleaner environment helped me to not give in to those thoughts.

It is really remarkable how much the "backdrop" of our environment can influence, enable, and/or support a given behavior, right?

I think my very specific goal that feels achievable is helping me stay the course as well.

That makes a lot of sense to me; following through and successfully achieving that goal is a great way to build self-efficacy, too.

Gimmelean -

Most of the other points are, for the most part, natural now for me and in retrospect, I’m amazed.

Awesome achievement!

It didn’t happen overnight.

This feels like an important reflection.

This week I am going to concentrate on eating only the recommended foods on the checklist. . . . I really have to knuckle through this and it will become manageable.

Sometimes it feels pretty tough to break through that barrier, right? As Jeff has said,

The fundamental basic principle of the MWL Program and the principles of calorie density is "whenever hungry, eat until comfortably full of the recommended foods." Because of this, there is no reason for anyone to feel hungry when following our guidelines. The recommended foods are minimally processed starches, fruits and vegetables. The most satiety, short term and long term comes from minimally processed starches and to keep the calorie density low, have them with some non-starchy vegetables. Remember, we do not have to figure out if it is true hunger, appetite, craving, etc. However, to be successful, you have to prepare for success and make sure you have availability of minimally processed starches throughout the day.

At the 10-Day program, the snack room is full of veggies (cherry tomatoes, baby carrots), fruits (apples, oranges) and starches (regular hummus, roasted red pepper hummus, potatoes, Split pea soup, Black bean soup, and Lentil Couscous soup). People choose from both the starches and fruits/vegetables. Choosing just vegetables or fruit will not be enough for most people to feel satiated. If you experience cravings for unhealthy foods, you can beat these cravings by choosing healthy foods to eat and knowing that these cravings will eventually pass and stop. However, you can not beat your biology (hunger) and your biology/hunger will eventually win.

Onward!

Ejg - Pretty solid week, Eric; sometimes, holding steady can feel like its own sort of victory, don't you think? Looking over your self-evaluation with the checklist, things look pretty good. If you feel like fine-tuning, directing some focus toward 50/50 and/or preload at all meals might be a place to consider. Experimenting with bringing back the potatoes could be useful, too; some starches seem to be a better fit for some people, but your experience may vary with this. Most of all, just keep attending to the recommendations, and give yourself time to continue your progress.

Lizzy_F - LEARNING is important, and interpreting that learning, applying it, and carrying the knowledge forward is how we ultimately progress and grow, right? Sometimes it feels like subjectively "convincing ourselves" of things we already know, but had been abstractions.

I am going to treat that as an experiment, and report the results after no eating these types of foods for about 8 months. NOW I totally understand why these types of foods never ever worked as an aid to weight loss back in the old days of Weight Watchers, etc. THERE IS NO SATIATION AT ALL WITH THESE FOODS! Thank you Jeff for your lectures and writing which really drive this point home. Seeing is believing, and I guess I’m grateful to have experienced this lack of satiation first hand, after such a long time of eating MWL. So – I now realize I don’t miss these foods, and I understand fully why they never worked!

Interesting about those high calorie density dried out foods (rice cakes, crackers). I ate and ate and ate, and never felt anything. I didn’t feel “stuffed” at all – just empty, even though many calories were consumed.

Thank you for sharing this. It seems like an important realization, and I imagine it will strike a chord with many participants. Now you have embodied knowledge that the fundamental principles Jeff outlines really are accurate and appropriate to your lived reality. GREEN DOTS marching on!

Greens - Woo-hoo! 10/10, Marilyn! Your soups sound delicious to me.

Having starches made ahead, lots of frozen veggies, packing a thermos and compliant foods when I know I won’t be home for hours has really helped. In horsemanship they talk about in training, making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult. The emphasis is on making the right thing easy, having only compliant foods at home and bringing them with me when I’m out for extended time, being a better gate keeper of what comes into my home when buying things for others here. I am still using a notebook to record my food and tick off the list of MWL guidelines.

You have a GREAT set of tools in place to support your efforts! I could not agree more strongly with your observation about "making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult." Progress > perfection. Keep it up!

Hjklost55 - Only looking at your checklist self-assessment, it seems like a pretty solid week; there are A LOT of YESes on display! I do think it is important to acknowledge your feelings of mental struggles this week. I think it is natural to feel some frustration and disappointment when the measure from the scale isn't seeming to reinforce our efforts, particularly when we feel ourselves to be adhering strictly to the guidelines. The thing to keep in mind is that many different factors, some of which our outside our control, can influence a given scale reading, and often the scale is somewhat of a lagging indicator of progress. Ultimately, our goal isn't about any single time we step on the scale, but rather building, practicing and maintaining a pattern of behavior that results in healthy, sustainable weight loss, because our weight is an outcome contingent on the prevailing pattern of behavior we maintain over time.

Keep thinking about things I use to eat and don’t anymore.

Do you feel like this is happening for any particular reason? Have there been any significant changes to your environment or routine?

it is hard sometimes!!

You are absolutely right. It can feel REALLY hard at times, especially when so many facets of our broader society and culture seem to work in opposition to what we're trying to achieve. That doesn't help to make anything easy. Something that helps me is to connect with my goals, values and desires: What do I really want? What am I trying to achieve? Why is that important? Don't forget to give yourself grace and treat yourself compassionately.

Noella - Awesome week and outstanding adherence!

I like writing and find it helpful for reaching my goals. Understanding my goals clearly, and thinking about and writing about some of the obstacles that might get in the way of me reaching this, often energizes me and leads me to a more effective plan. I begin my writing activity by identifying a realistic goal I want to achieve. Next, I mentally imagine one positive outcome of achieving this goal and, next, one obstacle that stands in the way of my success. This reflection sets me up for the final step: making a clear plan for getting around that obstacle. I don’t want to make the common mistake when setting a goal is to indulge in fantasies about how great life will be after accomplishing it—without considering what’s currently holding me back. Mentally contrasting my hoped-for outcome with an obstacle that stands in my path is helpful because this prepares me ( more self-efficacy!!)to make a plan for when and how I’ll take action whenever that obstacle happens.

What an amazing observation! What you describe really resonates with my experience. Thank you so much for sharing this!

[Mark Cooper]

Here we are, 14 days into 2023 already! For me, time feels like it is zooming past. I'm not sure why I have that feeling, but I doing my best not be accidentally left in the past!

Here are three great threads from Jeff that I've been reviewing this week:

Calorie Density & Satiety In Action - This whole thread is absolutely worth reading, in my opinion.

A Satiety Index of Common Foods

However, the problem with these index's is the same problem there is when we look at any one aspect of food. Finding foods that are the most filling is important, but we also want to find the foods that are the most filling, and the lowest in calorie density and the highest in nutrient density. So, while this information has value, it needs to be used along with the other issues I mentioned.

For instance, while protein, when tested as an isolated nutrient, shows a slightly higher satiety level than carbohydrate, we don't eat food as isolated nutrients. When we look at similar foods, with equal protein (or carb or fat) content, the food that is bulkier, with a higher water and fiber content, will be the most filling. So, single isolated components do not work in the real world with real foods.

So, when we put it all together, we see a food like beans, due to their high fiber, water and protein content are filling. However, most people can only eat so many beans a day. In addition, the boiled potato, at 1% protein, was far more filling than any other food tested. So, protein is not the only factor as the sheer bulk of the potato won out over the protein of the beans by far and was almost 2x as filling! So, the low protein potato beat out the high protein beans (and all other high protein foods tested) due to its other factors. Even the lower protein oatmeal and W/W pasta was ranked over most all other higher protein foods due to their high water, high fiber and bulk of the oatmeal and the pasta.

This is why the way Doug Lisle, Dr McDougall and myself teach it is a better way to look at it as we take into consideration all three issues, calorie density, satiety and nutrient density.

So, the principles as outlined in the Maximum Weight Loss Program are excellent and incorporate the best of everything.

Cut The CRAP! Highly processed foods dominate US grocers

Happy reading and best wishes for a week filled with joy, learning, and success! Take care and be well.

[BambiS]

1-20



1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Some 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 desert
No


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.
Doing better

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

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.
Did have a muffin

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). Some days

Victories, comments, concerns, questions good week, nothing eventful.

I had another week of vacation time. Got a lot of movement doing housework and a few walks.
Still trying to get eating back on track. I’m looking forward to better weather and farmer’s markets.

[sirdle]

Thanks Mark,

Those are excellent resources.

I especially enjoyed "Calorie Density & Satiety In Action". Definitely worth reading.

Cheers,
sirdle

[frowsyowl]

Hello!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Not all the time, but markedly improved. I tried raw veg, and don't know if they're my 'thing'. Made a vegetable soup on Wednesday, and enjoyed having that for a change yesterday. Still working this out--how much, which item...Fruit is the easiest.

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. Most days did well on this, either mixed in with the dish or adding frozen vegetables on the side; fruit at breakfast.

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--I used conventional sauce this week and still more condiments than i ought.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). One ounce of cheese, one tsp of butter on a 'binge' day.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Flax in oatmeal daily; nuts on 'binge' days.

6. Eliminate any added oil. Perfect except for the binge...and the conventional pasta sauce

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. Again, the binge day. Ezikiel pitas that I hadn't tossed before.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). I'm off caffeine and have lost interest in tea--not that they were calorific. But had water only the last few days.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Had two unusual days off (MLK and snow day) and both times descended into binging/cramming. The worst being PB/ezekiel; nuts added to things, piece of cheese: all things around my house. Turned sweet potatoes and Jeff's burgers into compulsive snack foods too! Interestingly, I did not binge at night, but the middle of the day. These were really discouraging, but I have continued to start back up the next day with being on-plan. I have done well at work this week. Still working out how much/little to eat at meals.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). I did less days than last week, but each session was longer--about 1.5 to 2 miles instead of 1m.

Victories, etc: Total of four solid yes this week; my average with the binging was about 7 'yes' day to day. Rounding, I'm down -1 this week and -2 since last.