The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - January 2023 Group

[Rebecka22]

1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. NO
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. 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. NO
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
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. NO
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). NO
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. NO
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

We went out of town for my daughter’s birthday last weekend and I definitely had a whole lot of no’s. I didn’t pack enough food to at least keep one and two like I normally do. One success was that I got right back on track Monday and thankfully it hasn’t been too hard. Having the clean environment at home helped. In the past if I was going to have a no at the end of the week anyway I would keep choosing junk, but it was different this time. Hopefully that means it’s going to be easier this year to stay the course. Have a great week everyone!

[Hjklost55]

Week Ending January 20, 2023
Hello MWL…. Hope everyone had a good week.

1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES, changed from soup to salad for my preload. Seems to be working out well.
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 Am specifically getting all my food ready/plated before I sit down. That seems to be helping me with my volume eating. Even though I have a huge plate of food. Haha
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. SOMETIMES, still working on this concept. Still overeat occasionally
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: Overall I feel like I had a good week. I have been limiting my fruit this week to see if that will help my scales move a little. Time will tell, because I only weigh on the first of a month. I still crave something sweet after a meal, but trying to work through it.

Thanks to everyone for your positive feedback and support.
Holly

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi to all fellow T&A peeps,

Wow – can’t believe how quickly January is flying by! Hope that everyone is having a great start to the year and building healthy, happy habits!!! Feeling terrific about the checklist this week --- we can all do this --- glad we have each other’s company on the journey!!!! Keep on!

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly no; still maintaining. I did do this a few times though – loving raw veggies.

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. Besides the same things, ate a bunch of whole grain red rice with beans, corn, and various veggies. Loving the rice bowl with veggies concept (may be my go-to lunch)!!

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. Just a lot of eating recommended foods.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
YES! Woo-hoo ! 7/7 days.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Victory – Just, YAY – joined a friendly community gym last weekend - which will keep me on point with #10 through the cold dark winter! Have started a habit of going to the gym every morning – I put my clothes out the night before and just brush my teeth, comb hair, change clothes --- and head out the door. Relieved to feel confident about exercising through the winter. Feels INCREDIBLE to get back to AM exercise from an energy level and mood perspective. Before it got dark and cold, I used to love going for a walk first thing (and have missed that!). Perfect also to get out of the house while everyone else is still sleeping.

Loving this quote from a basketball hero...
"I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan

Wishing you all the best of weekends and an amazing upcoming week! Keep going!! You all inspire me!!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Gimmelean]

Post for week ending 1/20/23

Greetings 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-4 great adherent days but by Wednesday, I gave in. Those 4 days felt great; energetic and light. I ask myself why I eat baked goods when I feel so much better staying away from them. I also know that in order to maintain my weight loss, that I must stay away from them every day of the week and not let go. This week, I’m going to continue to focus on sticking to adherent foods especially in this category which continues to be a challenge.

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:
This week I batch cooked wheat berries, oat groats, quinoa, and barley on Sunday. I made a pot of black bean soup from dry beans. I steamed fresh broccoli, cauliflower, small potatoes, and sweet potatoes as well so that I could have good food ready for work nights with no effort. I had mixed salad greens ready and raw cut up vegetables. Every work day, I now take cut up fruit and berries. For some reason that whole apple travelled back and forth for 3 days, but when it was sliced and cored with a mini blood orange and blackberries or grapes in a container it was so much more enjoyable. I also brought a small container every day to work with a beautiful assortment of raw vegetables; mini tomatoes and carrots of all colors, snow peas, snap peas, mini cucumbers, sweet peppers, celery.

Making it special makes a difference. Buying from lower cost produce stores makes it very affordable too. Isn’t it great that grocery store inflation doesn’t have such an impact when eating this way?

Make it a great week everyone!










- [ ]

[Lizzy_F]

Good day fellow Time & Adherence travelers! I can't believe we are already in the back half of January. Time is already flying by this year!

Mark, I so appreciate your weekly reading suggestions. This material is so helpful to review - I always get something new out of it, and/or am reminded of the vital priciples that make this program work successfully. I continue to work not only on understand the principles, and deeply accepting the principles as just part of how I live and eat now. My inner child is not always happy about that, LOL!

Here goes with this weeks report. Grab a potato!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. No – I skipped my dinner pre-load soup a couple of times this week. It’s cooked and ready to go – so no excuses not to do it.

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. No – I ate away from home a couple times this week and I was really shocked at how salty the food out there really is! I’m sure there was also hidden oil and probably some hidden sugar too. I feel OK about it from the standpoint that I made the best choices I could under the circumstances, and thankfully I don’t have to eat away from home very often.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes. At least I don’t think there were any animals in my meals away from home!

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

6. Eliminate any added oil. Probably some hidden oil in my away meals. No intentional added oil though.

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. This is an interesting reflection. Over the last month or two, the variety of food I’m eating has been increasing. I believe one of the important keys to success for my weight loss stage of this journey was keeping my meals super simple, and very repetitive. Oats + fruit for breakfast when breakfast was eaten, veg + potatoes + veg for lunch, soup + veg + potatoes for dinner. Fruit for dessert if desired, but not always. That formula resulted in steady weight loss until I reached what became my goal weight range. Lately I’ve been making more recipes and changing this up a lot. I’ve had a couple of adventures off the McDougall Highway (that will never end well!) and also a few adventures outside of the MWL median strip onto the broader Starch Solution highway (those result in absolute overeating for me). While I have not intentionally stuffed or starved or anything like that, I think I have been eating more overall, and that seems most likely due to the increased variety in my meal plans.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 6/7, which I’m claiming as a victory! The dot calendar really works for me to just keep exercise at the forefront of my mind each day.

Victories: I feel like I’m developing more awareness around different foods and how they affect me in a couple of important ways. What foods satisfy me v. what foods have little to no satiation effect for me? What foods make me feel good physically & mentally v. what foods put me physically and/or mentally in a bad place? I used to have a real love/hate relationship with food. I didn’t know how to find a love relationship with food that is healthy for me, and I had a hate relationship with the foods that made me feel “high” briefly, and then crash physically and emotionally. Yet I returned to that hate relationship over and over and over. I want to continue to grow in this area – continue to improve my relationship with my food and grow in my understanding of what I am experiencing.


Comments: I have been teetering around at the top end of my goal weight range for the most part lately. I would rather be teetering around at the bottom end of that range. So my focus for next week is going to be on simplifying my meal plan and seeing how things go with a little less variety. I love the simple basic foods, so experimenting with this strategy is no hardship! I don’t anticipate any “away” meals next week so that part will be easy - back to my usual. I don’t know if I will do a full-on Mary’s Mini, but something a little closer to that end of the McDougall spectrum of meal plans.


Concerns: I had a moment this week where I felt a little resentful of all the planning and prepping, and just wished I could order takeout or pull through a drive through. I really do have planning and prepping down to a science - I think this was just a jealous moment about how EASY it is to eat poorly, and how it will always be more work to eat well, even though I know how to make that as easy as possible. Another reason why I want to go back to the simplest MWL meal plan ever so I can just reset my brain. I think this is just some self-induced decision fatigue. I WILL NOT GIVE UP OR TRY TO TAKE A DAY OFF. Not worth it!


Questions: Does anyone else ever feel the need to just take a step back to a Mary's Mini (or something close) approach? I'm looking forward to a week of simplicity to see how it feels after some time of more variety.

[Ejg]

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. have been doing this but not for breakfasts. so, sort of, I guess
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 usually eat a head per day of steamed broccoli or cauliflower but tend to add directly to my salad, instead of my plate. so yes, I think? Excessive fruit has been a big challenge for me this week.
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. probably not, cherries and mangos are on sale recently and I've been eating a lot of that far past satiety
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). yes every day except 1

I've decided to back off the scale for a while and instead try to focus on the behavior. I think I probably focused a little too much on the number the scale was giving me and not enough on adhering to the guidelines, and maintaining that behavior over time. onward. have a good week.

[Greens]

Hello Team Time and Aherence!

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. Although I have been mixing it in more this week. I think it might be more satisfying for me when I eat my nonstarchies first before my starch

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 Although I hear their siren call when i go past the bakery.

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 have continued to enjoy ticking that off my list daily! We even had a couple days to go outside for a long walk. But I don’t mind spinning on rainy days. I like the additional energy it gives me throughout the day.

Successes: This week felt like a nice groove. I had lots of meals in my snap containers, almost like convenience foods. I’ve been packing a thermos and snacks for days I know I will be out for longer periods.

Challenges: Next week I have a couple “social” events coming up. Going out with friends produces more anxiety than I wish it did. That used to be so much more fun in the past than it is now. I still enjoy the friends but the one doesn’t understand why I’m no oil. She invited us over and I asked if I could just bring my own and she suggested we all go to a restaurant instead then…well that is no better. She ate closer to how we eat when she was first recovering from breast cancer but now eats sad again. I’ve gained weight and felt worse in the past year when I’ve tried to “fit in.” In a perfect world I would have friends nearby that eat like we do. Until then I will have a “potato in my purse” and repeat the mantra “I don’t know, this seems to be working for me right now.”

Marilyn

[Noella]

Hi Everyone,

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes, primarily salads at every meal, including breakfast.
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 am trying to keep my number of fruit servings to only two or three a day. I definitely enjoy having fruit for dessert.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
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; I prefer less processed whole grains now; brown rice over white, steel cut over rolled, etc.
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, I am doing finger and arm exercising while in a cast for a few more weeks. Spring has sprung early here with mild winter temperatures. So, I'm doing a minimum of an hour of activity and stretching via spring cleaning each day, washing walls, windows, etc. detail vacuuming of baseboards etc. (one-handed, haha) for my exercise. I am also putting on music and dancing and making up my stretch and aerobic routines to go with it.



I still love this quote, so here it is again!

“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 if 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]

[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 - Glad you have been able to enjoy some vacation time at home; it sounds like that has been both productive and relaxing! I am definitely looking forward to warmer weather, too.

Still trying to get eating back on track.

At present, what would you say are your most significant challenges in this regard? What tools are working well, or feel most helpful right now? Anything you might change or adjust in the days ahead to give yourself support?

frowsyowl - Hang in there, Jennifer! I can certainly imagine how struggling with eating behaviors on those unusual days, and perhaps feeling somewhat out of control (at least that is how it always felt for me), could provoke a sense of discouragement. At the same time, these sorts of incidents can also occasionally offer useful information. What do you feel was the prevailing force that made these days seem so challenging? Was it simply the sudden change in routine? More time spent in close proximity to tempting, calorie-rich foods? Some new stressor or other change in context? Thinking through that information could point toward the most viable tools to apply in a future situation that seems comparable. Are there any actions you might take or changes you are able to make to support your efforts?

I have continued to start back up the next day with being on-plan. I have done well at work this week.

Good for you! Those are both significant achievements.

Rebecka22 - I really appreciate your considered analysis with this self-assessment!

One success was that I got right back on track Monday and thankfully it hasn’t been too hard.

That is definitely a victory, and a blessing, too, right?

In the past if I was going to have a no at the end of the week anyway I would keep choosing junk, but it was different this time.

That seems like important progress. Keep doing the best you can!

Hjklost55 - Looks like a very good week to me, Holly!

Even though I have a huge plate of food. Haha

Unfamiliar people are SHOCKED by the volume of food I eat. It has become a bit of a running joke in my family. My vessel of choice is actually a stainless steel mixing bowl. Speaking for myself, I rarely have fruit for dessert, but I nearly always include some fruits in my preload salad. Within the context of the fundamental principles, let hunger and physical comfort be your guides. Carry on!

VegSeekingFit - Feeling terrific about the process is pretty TERRIFIC, Stephanie! I'm so glad you found an exercise venue that is working for you.

Have started a habit of going to the gym every morning – I put my clothes out the night before and just brush my teeth, comb hair, change clothes --- and head out the door.

Absolutely awesome practice to employ! I completely agree with you about the incredible feelings associated to starting the day with exercise. Love the quote! Have an amazing week!

Gimmelean - Kudos to you for your exemplary efforts! What you wrote really shows the value of planning, preparation and practice. I'm reposting your description, as it is filled with so many great points and examples:

This week I batch cooked wheat berries, oat groats, quinoa, and barley on Sunday. I made a pot of black bean soup from dry beans. I steamed fresh broccoli, cauliflower, small potatoes, and sweet potatoes as well so that I could have good food ready for work nights with no effort. I had mixed salad greens ready and raw cut up vegetables. Every work day, I now take cut up fruit and berries. For some reason that whole apple travelled back and forth for 3 days, but when it was sliced and cored with a mini blood orange and blackberries or grapes in a container it was so much more enjoyable. I also brought a small container every day to work with a beautiful assortment of raw vegetables; mini tomatoes and carrots of all colors, snow peas, snap peas, mini cucumbers, sweet peppers, celery.

Making it special makes a difference. Buying from lower cost produce stores makes it very affordable too. Isn’t it great that grocery store inflation doesn’t have such an impact when eating this way?

I echo your closing sentiment - let's all do our best to make it a GREAT week!

Lizzy_F - Being mindful about, and building toward a healthy relationship with food and eating behaviors seems like something with real, lasting value! To me, this would seem to be of a piece with becoming aware of, recognizing, and acknowledging the principles that shape the life we want to live. Here are a couple of relevant threads from Jeff relating to the observations, concerns and questions relating to variety, simplicity, ease and repetition:
The Road to Success: Creating Healthy Habits
Better to eat many different foods or a limited variety?

Both are excellent threads with really useful content, and lots of personal observations and ancedotes from various individual's experiences. Speaking for myself, as I've mentioned in the past, I tend to eat a pretty broad variety of foods throughout the day, but they also tend to be the SAME FOODS each day: lettuce, celery, cucumbers, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, collard greens, apples, strawberries, sweet potatoes, and diced tomatoes. I've streamlined my prep and cooking process to be as easy and simple as I can make it (for me). Importantly, what easy and simple means is pretty specific to me and my personal situation, and I think through practice everyone eventually finds out the best tools and methods that work best to make things easy FOR THEM. It just takes time (more time than we might expect or wish!) Onward!

Ejg - Seems like another fairly solid week, Eric! I think focusing your attention specifically on adhering to the recommended pattern of behavior, and letting that framework take the driver's seat can be extremely beneficial and makes a lot of sense. I love cherries and mangoes! I also find them (and bananas) to be REALLY easy to overeat (for me). Something that works well for me, when I want to include those fruits, is to eat them as part of my salad, rather than on their own as a dessert or snack. Keep at it!

Greens - A very nice groove, Marilyn, and great progress! As you observe, social engagements and interactions can sometimes bring a fair amount of stress, along with the fun, enjoyment and community. It can feel challenging and burdensome to navigate other people's feelings, thoughts and opinions about our behavior, and they are often all too apt to share them, right? Until the perfect world you describe arrives (wouldn't that be fantastic), your mantra AND the potato in your purse will serve you well. Wishing you all the best as you make your way through the days ahead!

Noella - Excellent adherence! I'm so glad you are able to function so well while continuing to recover and heal. I'm sure it will be a happy occasion when the cast comes off, and your thoughtful, therapeutic exercise regimen should help make it even happier. One-handed spring cleaning is quite an impressive achievement!

[Mark Cooper]

Wow! Congratulations, everybody! Just one more check-in left for January, and then we'll be on to the second month of 2023! I can hardly believe how fast this year has started off.

An interesting study to read about this week; some of you may already be familiar with this, but it still feels relevant to me.

The BROAD study: A randomised controlled trial using a whole food plant-based diet in the community for obesity, ischaemic heart disease or diabetes(link is to Jeff's discussion post).

A few points that seem particularly notable from Jeff's discussion: These dietary recommendations look a lot like MWL, don't they?

Here is the recommended food list

Looks a little like the MWL

Significantly,

"This randomised controlled trial compared a 12-week WFPB dietary programme to normal care alone. The intervention led to significant and sustained BMI and weight reduction at all measurement points compared with the control group. To the best of our knowledge, there are no randomised controlled trials that have achieved a greater average weight loss over a 6- or 12-month period, without mandating regular exercise or restricting total caloric intake. The key difference between this trial and other approaches to weight loss was that participants were informed to eat the WFPB diet ad libitum and to focus efforts on diet, rather than increasing exercise. The mechanism for this is likely the reduction in the energy density of the food consumed (lower fat, higher water and fibre).

Something else that I think is important to recognize, is that the intervention wasn't just conveying the list of food recommendations.

The intervention group attended 2-h evening sessions twice-weekly for 12 weeks. We ran sessions at a local polytechnic, incorporating a chef-guided cooking tutorial and presentation by doctors, with a discussion. Special events included screening the documentary 'Forks Over Knives' and an accompanying film endorsing the WFPB diet; discussion sessions; restaurant meals; quiz night; potlucks; and graduation ceremony.

I think this sort of ongoing education, support, assessment and community-building is an important piece of the puzzle for lasting success.

Best to all! Take care and be well!

[Noella]

Wow! Congratulations, everybody! Just one more check-in left for January, and then we'll be on to the second month of 2023! I can hardly believe how fast this year has started off.

An interesting study to read about this week; some of you may already be familiar with this, but it still feels relevant to me.

The BROAD study: A randomised controlled trial using a whole food plant-based diet in the community for obesity, ischaemic heart disease or diabetes(link is to Jeff's discussion post).

A few points that seem particularly notable from Jeff's discussion: These dietary recommendations look a lot like MWL, don't they?

Here is the recommended food list

Looks a little like the MWL

Significantly,

"This randomised controlled trial compared a 12-week WFPB dietary programme to normal care alone. The intervention led to significant and sustained BMI and weight reduction at all measurement points compared with the control group. To the best of our knowledge, there are no randomised controlled trials that have achieved a greater average weight loss over a 6- or 12-month period, without mandating regular exercise or restricting total caloric intake. The key difference between this trial and other approaches to weight loss was that participants were informed to eat the WFPB diet ad libitum and to focus efforts on diet, rather than increasing exercise. The mechanism for this is likely the reduction in the energy density of the food consumed (lower fat, higher water and fibre).

Something else I think is important to recognize is that the intervention wasn't just conveying the list of food recommendations.

The intervention group attended 2-h evening sessions twice weekly for 12 weeks. We ran sessions at a local polytechnic, incorporating a chef-guided cooking tutorial and presentation by doctors, with a discussion. Special events included screening the documentary 'Forks Over Knives' and an accompanying film endorsing the WFPB diet; discussion sessions; restaurant meals; quiz night; potlucks; and graduation ceremony.

I think this sort of ongoing education, support, assessment and community-building is an important piece of the puzzle for lasting success.

Best to all! Take care and be well!

This study does sound like MWL!

Thanks for all of this information, Mark. Education is key. The more I learn, the easier it is to choose healthy diet, exercise and lifestyle options. These guidelines are 'evidence-based"; we are guaranteed improved health! Thanks to you, Jeff, and Wildgoose for the ongoing education!

Best regards,
Noella

[JoeFromMichigan]

Beth, hi! I'm so sorry for such a delayed reply - I just noticed your message now. About the Wednesday Zoom group, yes, I've atteneded when I can. I'm still working on my schedule so I can participate in that group regularly, and really get involved with this wonderful forum group as well. The schedule changes are happening, thankfully, but not quickly enough for me LOL. All in good time! I do travel to the Chicago area fairly regularly for business, and have appreciated other areas of Illinois I've visited. Take care, Lizzy - and again, I'm sorry for taking so long to reply.

[BambiS]

1-26


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.

Last week you asked what I might change and what’s helping.
I don’t know how to reply to the conversation in the site, so I will here.

I have found being prepared helpful, also better weather for walking. Of course, I could ride my cubii on bad weather days. I need to keep my health in mind always to keep me on track.

My husband does not eat like I do and has tabu stuff in the house. He honestly needs to eat like I do, he’s a liver transplant patient, and his anti rejection meds hurting his kidneys. He has sarcoidosis, inflammatory disease and is on prednisone too. He is holding water. That’s one hurdle. We did talk and he agreed that he felt better when he ate plant based. I explained that water he’s holding will go away fast eating plant based. I will have more plant based options for us in the house, and get the bad stuff out.

My mom moved in town last year and always has sweets at her house. I have struggled a lot since she moved back. Sweets are my downfall. She saw my post on McDougall success stories recently, so did a lot of my other FB friends. She is 84 and has an interest in plant based. I explained you can’t do it halfway, eat sweets too. She is diabetic, high cholesterol and BP.

To keep myself on track if tempted is to think of the damage those foods can cause. Both of my parents are living, but have health issues. I love being off prescription medications. Stick to the 10 rules so I’m not hungry.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

Can’t believe that it is that time of the week again to assess our behaviors!!! Time flies when you’re having fun… Personally, still feeling positive and encouraged by practicing the checklist. Notable for me this week as my outcome is not necessarily consistent with my adherence --- so, making subtle adjustment starting today.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Sometimes. I have been pre-loading with raw veggies for breakfast this week – 7/7. Pivoting to all three meals starting today. My weight that had been at top of maintenance range for a few weeks is now 2 lbs. north. This is the first time that I’ve needed to manage it down since somewhere around July. So, I will take this in the spirit of an experiment --- and start here with implementing consistent pre-load and see how that goes. If I had to hypothesize reason for gain, would guess that my appetite has gone up due to implementing more intensity in exercise (and I have outeaten my exercise!) or there is some fluid anomaly going on… I am grateful for the structure around this group --- including weekly weighing and behavioral assessment, to have “caught” this early (FIRST TIME EVER IN MY LIFE!!!)… and honestly, not looking at the scale number with any emotion at all. Progress!

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 have consistently eaten oatmeal with frozen blueberries and a banana every day for breakfast. I love lunch the most where I just throw compliant food on a plate (like JeffN Healthy Placemat) based on what is available --- potato, rice, beans, corn, always lettuce, tomato, onion, roasted veggies, sometimes salsa. Each one is unique! Dinner is 50/50 but not consistent in what it is--- can range from soup plus fruit plus veg to potato plus apple plus carrots to whatever! Pretty happy with this pattern (at least for now).

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 - eating recommended foods when hungry. No starving or stuffing. Perhaps my volume has increased though – not 100% sure or concerned.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
YES – still loving the gym (and keeping the habit)! 7/7 days. I have added on some days intervals (mainly on treadmill – speed or incline) and daily stretching after. Intervals are totally not high intensity (and will not be for the foreseeable future)!!! Just making friends with the concept.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
From last week’s comments on food volume (Mark and Holly), wanted to share that I have heard the gamut on the size of my lunch (in particular) from my son who has been home for a while (interning downtown). He is in awe of the volume and has said anything from “that’s a bountiful lunch” to “no way in H*ll that you can eat that”… (yes, I did…).

I always enjoy reading Mark’s shared material and comments to fellow participants. There is lots to learn!!! Also, love to hear what each of you have to say for the week. Appreciate all of the sharing in this group. We are stronger together --- and I bet we have more fun too!!!

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead!!!

Best,
Stephanie