The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

For those wanting to learn about and follow the McDougall Maximum Weight Loss Program. You can also join our monthly weigh-ins.

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The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby Mark Cooper » Tue May 30, 2023 3:58 am

JUNE 2023 RESOURCES
This section will be updated throughout the month with links to useful resources, as they are added to the thread.

Orientation Information for Time & Adherence:
The Behavioral Path to MWL Success

MWL 10-Point Checklist
MWL Program Guidelines
Calorie Density: How To Eat More, Weigh Less and Live Longer
MWL Recipes
Some of Jeff Novick's Quick and Easy Recipes
Jeff's Simple Recipes on Facebook
SNAP Meal Template
1- 28 oz Can No Salt Added Tomatoes (or broth for those who don't like tomatoes)
1- 14 oz Can No Salt Added Beans (which is about 1.5 - 2 cups)
1- 16 oz Bag Frozen Mixed Veggies (any type)
**optional - 1/2 cup Frozen Greens
1.5 to 2 cups of a *Cooked* Starch
~1 tbsp. Salt Free, Dried Seasoning/Spice

The Road to Success: Creating Healthy Habits
The Pleasure Trap: Dr. Doug Lisle at TedxFremont
How to Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind with Dr. Doug Lisle
Dr. Doug Lisle on The Ego Trap
Dr. Doug Lisle: The Story of Willpower – What it Is & How it Works
Dr. Lisle's Three Top Tips for Dietary Success
Jeff Novick, RD - Nutrition & Health FAQ: Answers To The Most Asked Questions
A Review of the Rules & Guidelines for Reading Labels
Passive Overconsumption: The Unintended Intake of Excess Calories
Can You Really Eat As Much As You Want?
Why We Hit Plateaus and What We Can Do About Them
Top 10 Reasons for Lack of Success
Dining Out and Travel Food
Exercise, Health & You: How Much Is Enough?
Optimum BMI? / Optimal BMI - redux
Building Self-Efficacy
You Are Not Broken
wildgoose - How I determined my "goal weight"
Finding The Sweet Spot: Balancing Calorie Density, Nutrient Density & Satiety
Calorie Density & Satiety In Action
Amy's Giant List of Links to Dr. Lisle's Lectures
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June is nearly here!

Postby Mark Cooper » Tue May 30, 2023 4:02 am

Continuing the discussion from the previous thread, any thoughts on self-regulation, stress management, and methods for coping in a way that supports one's health and well-being?

My go-to tools are breathing exercises, stretching, taking a walk outside, and/or reading a book. :)
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby BambiS » Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:02 pm

6-2


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


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.
Reduced

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.
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). Most days

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

Okay week, I did have some potato, macaroni salad not McDougall.

I’m trying to slow down eating, I still think I’m over eating and don’t get satiety yet. Hunger clues Etc. What I was eating worked for a while, I’ve been stuck for months.

I do know when I’m tired I tend to want to eat.
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby trueunity » Fri Jun 02, 2023 4:33 am

5/26 - 6/1

A 10-Point Checklist for Maximum Weight Loss

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, I think that I over eat, with the 50/50 plate.
I believe that the plates I make are 50/50, maybe I just put to much food on my 50/50 plate and that's why I'm not losing weight.
I have tried less volume but then I end up hungry.
I have have tried more volume and I end up to full.
I can't seem to find the happy medium with my meals.

Maybe, I'm eating to many times a day??

Is it possible that 3 meals and a couple of snacks is just to much food for me at my current energy level?

With my current job, which I'm on my feet for 8 hours a day and my 60 to 90 minutes of working out each day, I don't have any more energy to put into movement to get the scale to move downward.

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....I have had the equivalent of 1 tsp sugar this week

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

Absolutely Always

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

No...this week I have had tofu and a little soy milk. Tofu equals 1 block over the course of the week, soy milk unsweetened was 4 tbsp.

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

I do drink coffee (black) which has minimal calories.

Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.

Yes....I believe that I'm doing this, but at the same time maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Maybe what I think is hungry really isn't.

9. 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).

Absolutely Yes. 60 to 90 minutes a day and 10,000+ steps a day at work


Weight this week:

SW: 134
CW: 138
GW: 115


Self reflection:

I so badly want to get this excess weight off, but I don't want to starve myself to get there, but I'm not seeing any other way. Nothing I seem to do is working. I'm flustered and overwhelmed and don't understand what I'm doing wrong.

I read all the books, watch all the podcast, read the articles but still stuck. There's no way that my current weight is my bodies happy spot, because I keep going up and down, I'm 45 and only 5'2. There has to be something that I'm missing. "Help"!!
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby Rebecka22 » Fri Jun 02, 2023 7:38 am

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 solid week. Has some unexpected days with plumbing issues and no access to my kitchen, but I was able to stay on track. There were definitely temptations, but I was in a solid enough groove to make the right choices. As far as how I cope with stress (especially when my go to used to be food) exercise is my first choice and if I really want food I try to do something with fruit or make a good compliant meal I like. I hope everyone has a great week!
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby Hjklost55 » Fri Jun 02, 2023 11:30 am

June 2, 2023

Good Morning Group.

Hope all is well and having a healthy MWL week.

1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
YES, cold soup is the best this time of year…. :-D

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 doing better with this. Now that I actually put it all on one plate, instead of just two different bowls. Never knew how much I really had when I was doing that.

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 added sugar or salt this week!

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
YES, easy easy to not choose these foods.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
YES, keep it out of the house, keeps it out of my mouth. ;-)

6. Eliminate any added oil.
YES, no added oil. Haven’t used any oil for a very long time now.

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, again, keep it out of the house, keeps it out of my mouth.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
YES, managed this with 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, well, I think so. Haha. I don’t remember eating till I was stuffed this week. And actually left some food on my plate, put it in the fridge and ate it later. So….. that’s a SCORE FOR ME!!!

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
No, Have to be honest. didn’t get 7/7 this week. Maybe 5/7. But better than 0/7. :lol:

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: overall had a GREAT week. Feeling good, and scales were down this week. So that’s a plus too. Had one day when I was in town longer than expected. Got really hungry. Went to the drive up window at Wendy’s. Got a baked potato. I asked the guy at the window what their “seasonal fruit cup” was. He said, “apples, but we are out of apples”. lol ran into a grocery store and got a watermelon bowl and ate that with my potato. Was very good. Near crisis averted! :lol: :lol: I most generally have a baggie of steamed potatoes in my car, but as mentioned was out longer than anticipated, so lesson learned!!! I continue to KEEP IT SIMPLE…. Soup, potatoes, and veggies. Variety gets me in trouble.

My thoughts on self regulation, stress management, and methods of coping….. I discovered in my Beach Body membership that there are a BUNCH of meditation clips available. I have been using those to relax, to fall back asleep in the middle of the night, and to practice mindfulness. There is also a specific “weight loss“ meditation that I have found helpful with in visioning where you want to go. Being thankful of your accomplishments. Be a “weight master” instead of a “weight struggler.” I feel like I am finally getting the hang of meditation and quieting my mind. Have a ways to go after all the years of “mind clutter”, but small progress. And CONSISTENT OVER TIME!!!

And LOVE this forum and group. You ALL inspire me to keep going!!! June 1, was my MWL 7-month anniversary. I took the 12-day McD class back in November of 2021, but didn’t have a lot of success in loosing weight until someone (you know who you are VegSeeking) convinced me to give the MWL and forums a try. Haven’t looked back!!

Take care, and hope everyone has a great week. Enjoy summer.
Holly
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby VegSeekingFit » Sat Jun 03, 2023 8:50 am

Hi Time & Adherence peeps, :)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! It is almost 90 in Chicagoland – seems we missed the mid-seventies again, but they may be here next week. I have a couple of flats of petunias and marigolds to plant later!

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

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. Have still been making same easy meals and ❤️ them!

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 – not starving or stuffing.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Mostly. 6 /7 --- still walking and playing pickleball. Started weekly pb lessons – this coming week will start a league as well. Really loving the social aspect of the sport in addition to getting back to a racquet (paddle) sport!

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Some strategies that I use for stress management are listening to music (can also sign and/or dance!), journaling, walking outside, 4-4-4 breathing.

I recently participated in a workshop on journaling and have been doing this almost daily (and finding it effective). Discovered that there are many ways to journal – have included gratitude, daily recap, daily planning, answering different writing prompts (specific situations, creative, or general / just for fun) throughout the week. If you are interested, you can google “prompts for journaling” and find a multitude of ideas. Here are a few prompts that may help with McD’ing (among other things):

* How can I reframe my mindset to view failure as a part of the learning process / opportunity for growth?
* Do I have any limiting beliefs or self-talk that may be holding me back?
* If so, how can I challenge / overcome them?
* What are ways I can seek feedback / constructive criticism to continue growing and improving?
* How can I strive for progress rather than perfection?
* What are some ways I can be proactive rather than reactive to challenges?

Self-care is a fun area to work on!!! I keep a list of things to do that make me feel terrific. I make sure to do several of these things throughout the week. One thing that I recently added is swinging at the park – I have been doing this each time I pass a park (walking and if nobody else on the swings). There is no downside to this!! For me, laughing is required! :lol:

Mark – Thanks so much for your support each week!!!

Gimmelean – Happy belated birthday! Cool that we are Gemini “twins”!

Rebecka – Awesome that you got through plumbing issues / no access to kitchen… Reading that made me cringe.

Holly – You go girl!!! Awesome 7 months of time & adherence!!

Appreciate all of the sharing and camaraderie in this group! Wishing everyone a fabulous weekend. :D

Cheers,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby Gimmelean » Sat Jun 03, 2023 9:33 am

Post for week ending 6/2/23

Greetings everyone. It’s June! I hope everyone (in the US) is looking forward to summer.

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes.
It’s too easy to grab fruit because it’s there and ready and sweet. By the time I have fruit for dessert and for snacks I realize I’m eating too much of it. I’m focusing on including more raw vegetables and salads as a precursor to meals and will most likely go back to hot soups in colder weather.

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.
Yes

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

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.   Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes.

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

Victories,Comments,Concerns, Questions:
I feel like I was being plagued by a MONSTER the last few months but relieved to say that I’ve managed to conquer the cravings that set me off track. This week I brought some small steamed potatoes with some chunks of sweet potato along with my raw veggies to snack on at work. I don’t sit down for lunch and prefer to graze when I get hungry. I had no desire to raid candy dishes and lots of energy to go to the gym after work and will continue to make this part of my routine . I ate a small bowl of oats and barley with cinnamon and blueberries when I was hungry at night especially after a workout. Piling high a very small bowl helps with portioning. Still batch cooking intact whole grains once a week. Hunger has gone away. Cravings so far are gone. The drive to eat non compliant foods minimized. I feel so much better; lighter and energetic without the guilt and remorse that comes with feeling out of control. As a bonus, the scale shows it too. It really is about building a chain of habits by practicing them over time. Fingers crossed.

I tend to gravitate towards Insight Timer for breathing, stretching, yoga, & meditation. The app is free and the concept of serving the community makes it even better.
Walking outside daily is a must. When people want to meet with me at lunch I always ask if they have their sneakers and make it a walking meeting. One person asked this week if I ever eat!
And VSF, I never pass the playground without jumping on the swing!
Thanks for your inspiration and good wishes!

I love this forum too.
Have a great week ahead everyone.
Keep at it and don’t let go.
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby Lizzy_F » Sat Jun 03, 2023 10:19 am

Hello fellow travelers! Here goes for the past week:

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). No – peanut butter

6. Eliminate any added oil. No – 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. 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. I feel I am progressing in this area. I feel like I am developing more conscious awareness. This week I had eating episode which was not related at all to hunger/fullness (peanut butter mentioned above). I would call this an “emotional eating” episode and no surprise – the peanut butter did nothing to change the situation or my emotions about it. The victory here is that 1) I can see it now and 2) the peanut butter did not lead to hours/days/weeks/etc. of “F-it” eating like it would have done in early 2022.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). I’m claiming victory here! PT is going well. I feel like I am receiving great guidance from my PT and figuring out when I can do more on this knee, and when I need to back off a bit. So, I have been able to be active to some degree every single day! Yesterday was about 2.5 miles walking outside, and also all my PT stretches and some time on the elliptical. And then I was on my feet several hours walking around at a local festival type event last night. And my knee feels good today – YAY! I keep getting recommendations for swimming and pool walking. I also love the sun so I got a summer membership to a local outdoor pool which opens this weekend. I also found a gym that has a nice indoor pool that I was able to join at no out-of-pocket cost through Silver Sneakers. So now I want to figure out how to best fit this activity into my days. I see the doc again next week to discuss gel shots.

Victories: Peanut butter not leading to additional off plan eating, or some other “awfulizing.” I feel like I see that for what it was and have moved on. Exercise / PT victory.


Comments: The peanut butter emotional eating episode occurred on the day I got the results from my DXA scan which were not good. This was especially frightening for me because one of my grandmothers suffered deeply with osteoporosis – she was wheelchair bound for several years in a lot of pain – her spine basically crumbled. I have had a few days now to process this development, and to decide on a go-forward strategy. I cannot change the past (and my diet/lifestyle decisions that contributed to developing this problem), but I CAN impact my future through every decision I make right now. I have a consult with Dr. Lim next week, and will be sending Jeff an e-mail shortly. I hope to discuss the actual test results with Dr. Lim and get his thoughts on how to best move forward. I will reach out to Jeff to see if a consult makes sense – to see if any dietary adjustments might make sense for me. i.e. Dr. McDougall’s writing on the topic mentioned limiting higher protein foods such as beans – I just want to understand what all of that means in practical application. I have also started reading Jeff’s writing here on the forum about osteoporosis. So, reading everything available from the McDougall Program on the topic is something I am already working on (but am not finished with yet). I have a follow up visit scheduled with my local doctor which is a couple weeks out from now. She is of course already recommending Vit D3 and Calcium supplements, and told me I need to be on medication which she will try to push on me oops I mean recommend to me when I see her. I will only be deciding about any of that after consulting with Team McDougall about it. Did peanut butter help? No. Was it a positive “food as medicine” decision for osteoporosis? No. Did it make me emotionally feel better? Well, I suppose I “checked out” over it for about 5 minutes. Not enough of an emotional escape to be worth it – that’s for sure! This is massive growth from my past behavior around food. Onward…

Self-care / de-stressing: I really need to spend more time thinking intentionally about this. It is so easy for me to have my days "get away from me" and just never create the space for intentional self-care.


Concerns: My biggest concerns right now are not food related, other than discovering whether any minor adjustments to my current diet would be recommended. But I am BEYOND GRATEFUL that I have learned to live the MWL guidelines, even imperfectly. I am in a great groove with an overall healthy diet. I am in a great groove with knowing what foods I love that love me back. I am in a great groove with planning and food prep routines. There have been several bumps in my road this year with my body, but I don’t have to fall into pitiful eating over it, and I have the comfort of knowing that I am giving my body excellent fuel most of the time RIGHT NOW.


Questions: Anyone else dealing with osteoporosis? All helpful tips and success stories are welcome! Thank you in advance. I value this group so much. And I am just so glad I went through the 12-day program when I did. Getting older is not for sissies that is for sure - especially after a life of the Standard American Diet and a sh*t ton of alcohol on top. (I celebrated 15 years in recovery on May 22)
Beth

"Long-term sustainable change is what we are really after." ~Jeff Novick
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby Ejg » Sat Jun 03, 2023 10:59 am

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. I started every lunch and dinner with soup and the times this week when I ate oatmeal for breakfast, chopped up apples into it. So yes, I think
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 split my plate 50-50 with either steamed cauliflower or broccoli (lunch and dinner), fruit wasn't so much a dessert for breakfast, more of a source of sugar so my oatmeal didn't taste too much like wet cardboard. So I'll give this one a qualified yes, if that's allowed (?)
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

I got into a good groove this week, the weight keeps coming off pretty steadily, so I'll keep doing what I'm doing, which seems to be working. As much as I like to think that I can will something to happen (like weight loss or general health), wishing it were so doesn't amount to anything. Apparently, weight loss is a byproduct of a set of behaviors (who'da thunkit?).
I'll focus on keeping it simple and maintaining the behaviors. Happy June. Its already hot in Pittsburgh.
Though it feels malevolent, resistance operates with the indifference of rain and transits the heavens by the same laws as the stars. When we marshal our forces to combat resistance, we must remember this.
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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby Greens » Sat Jun 03, 2023 11:15 am

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). No, had one glass of wine with friends.
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, the beach has been beautiful and the dogs love it too.


Thank you Mark for posing the question of what we do when feeling overwhelmed. I’m a take a deep breath and put my head down and keep on moving forward when I am my best self. When I’m not I procrastinate and continue feeling bad and stuck. For me, it always starts first with breathe maybe because it is an action although a really small one.

Thank you all for posting here, so helpful!

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Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - June 2023 Group

Postby Noella » Sat Jun 03, 2023 1:02 pm

1. :-D Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2. :-D Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual :-D volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert.
3. :-D Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
4. :-D Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. :-D Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6. :-D Eliminate any added oil.
7. :-D 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. :-D Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. :-D Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10. :-D Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

De-stress idea: I like to declutter, tidy, detail clean our house (and also our garage, cars, and garden). I find this to be meditative, prayerful even, and purposeful. This gives my body steady daily exercise and the result is the wonderful feeling of being in a five star hotel at home. I sometimes have everything quiet and just think as I keep active other times I listen to podcasts or music as I clean. L
Last edited by Noella on Sat Jun 03, 2023 1:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Reporting for this week's Assessments is now CLOSED

Postby Mark Cooper » Sat Jun 03, 2023 1:03 pm

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

My replies and the weekly summary will follow.
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Mark's Replies for June 2

Postby Mark Cooper » Sat Jun 03, 2023 1:45 pm

BambiS - Great ideas! I think slowing down and taking the time to really chew one's food and savor a meal can be quite helpful for connecting with our physical sensations of hunger and satiety. As always, when feeling stuck the best advice is that offered by Jeff in this article. Aside from wanting to eat when you feel tired (which I think may be something with which many here can identify), what other activities might you do? What sorts of things do you typically do when you feel the need to self-regulate or feel comfort? Keep doing your best; the more closely you adhere to the recommended pattern of behavior over time, the more you will support renewed progress. :)

trueunity - I noticed you started keeping a journal; I think that is a great practice! How have you been feeling about journaling? When you observe that you think you "overeat with the 50/50 plate," what specifically is happening? Do you mean that you are eating past the point of being comfortably full? Or rather, that at present you aren't yet seeing the feedback from the scale that you would like? The best way to support ongoing progress, in my opinion, is to take focus away from the scale and apply it toward adhering as strictly as possible to the recommended pattern of behavior moving forward through time. Coming at things from the other direction, it might be helpful to review the factors that contribute to passive overconsumption. Jeff's article on Finding The Sweet Spot: Balancing Calorie Density, Nutrient Density & Satiety might also offer useful perspective. I'm not sure whether you saw my reply from last week, but if you are willing, I would be quite interested in your reflections on how you manage stress or cope with feeling overwhelmed, as well as whether anything springs to mind if you were to consider an experiment that might help support your progress and maintain your motivation. Our attempts to practice this pattern of behavior in the modern world as it exists can feel really frustrating, but you have accomplished some impressive things. With time, practice, experimentation, and adjustment you will get this sorted!

Rebecka22 - Great work and useful tools for stress management! Some form of movement or exercise is often my first choice, as well. It seems like your planning and preparation got some stress-testing this week, and passed with flying colors. I'm happy you feel like you're in a solid groove, that is a great place to be! :D

Hjklost55 - Score! That does seem like a GREAT week, Holly! :nod: Really excellent job managing the unexpectedly lengthy outing and overcoming some obstacles on that path, too; thank you for sharing that. Meditation sounds like it is a tool that is really working for you, and I think you are right that consistency over time is a key component in that. Congratulations on your 7-month MWL anniversary, and on all the progress you have made. Enjoy summer and keep at it!

VegSeekingFit - Wow! Your stress management toolbox is fantastic, Stephanie! I especially love your practice of keeping a list of things to do that make you feel terrific; what a wonderful idea. :thumbsup: The journaling prompts you included seem like they could be very helpful; thank you so much for sharing them! Have an amazing week!

Gimmelean - Woo-hoo! Monster vanquished! Nice work leveraging a selection of foods you really enjoy (and your always excellent prep work) to make your way over the hurdle.
Gimmelean wrote:It really is about building a chain of habits by practicing them over time.
Absolutely right. I hadn't heard of Insight Time previously - I'll have to check it out. Those walking lunch meetings seem like an excellent practice, too. Have a great week!

Lizzy_F - Wonderful victories! I totally agree that you are in a great groove in so many ways. :nod: I can imagine how alarming it must have felt to receive the results of your DEXA test. It seems like, with a few days to process and consider, you've been able to develop a sensible strategy for moving forward. Let us know how that situation develops (to whatever degree you are comfortable :) ). Facing all that while avoiding a spiral of "awfulizing" is a big achievement, right? If you haven't already seen it, this thread from Jeff includes a lot of useful information: Calcium, Vitamin D, DEXA, BMD, Osteoporosis & You. I completely agree with you that it is important to be intentional about self-care and tools for self-regulation, and to invest the time necessary. It can be all too easy to get caught up in "important things" and neglect our emotional health and well-being. My utmost congratulations on 15+ years in recovery. Ever onward!

Ejg - A really good groove, Eric!
Ejg wrote:Apparently, weight loss is a byproduct of a set of behaviors
Yup! :lol: Try to stay cool, keep it simple, and keep doing what you know works! :thumbsup:

Greens - Kudos for your efforts, Marilyn! Taking a deep breath is something I often find myself doing in response to stress, too. :nod: It makes sense to me that some sort of inciting or anchoring ACTION (even a small one, as you observed) can be really valuable for helping us move forward as our "best self." It seems to me, too, that the more we repeat that action and the subsequent positive chain of events, the more those appropriate behaviors become habituated. Stay with it!

Noella - YAY! All smilies this week! I find it inspiring that you use decluttering and cleaning as an effective tool for managing stress. I'm going to experiment with adding that practice to my own toolkit. I especially love what you wrote about the result being "the wonderful feeling of being in a five star hotel at home." Fabulous! I love listening to podcasts, as well; I frequently have a podcast playing while I do my food prep. Cheers!
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In Closing,

Postby Mark Cooper » Sat Jun 03, 2023 1:55 pm

Thank you SO MUCH to all participants for making this such a GREAT START for June! I'm excited to see what this summer has to bring in the way of growth, learning, and achievement.

There were so many amazing tools, ideas and suggestions for stress management and self-regulation, I thought it would be useful to have them all in one place, so you'll find them below.

Rebecka22 wrote:As far as how I cope with stress (especially when my go to used to be food) exercise is my first choice and if I really want food I try to do something with fruit or make a good compliant meal I like.


Hjklost55 wrote:My thoughts on self regulation, stress management, and methods of coping….. I discovered in my Beach Body membership that there are a BUNCH of meditation clips available. I have been using those to relax, to fall back asleep in the middle of the night, and to practice mindfulness. There is also a specific “weight loss“ meditation that I have found helpful with in visioning where you want to go. Being thankful of your accomplishments. Be a “weight master” instead of a “weight struggler.” I feel like I am finally getting the hang of meditation and quieting my mind. Have a ways to go after all the years of “mind clutter”, but small progress. And CONSISTENT OVER TIME!!!


VegSeekingFit wrote:Some strategies that I use for stress management are listening to music (can also sign and/or dance!), journaling, walking outside, 4-4-4 breathing.

I recently participated in a workshop on journaling and have been doing this almost daily (and finding it effective). Discovered that there are many ways to journal – have included gratitude, daily recap, daily planning, answering different writing prompts (specific situations, creative, or general / just for fun) throughout the week. If you are interested, you can google “prompts for journaling” and find a multitude of ideas. Here are a few prompts that may help with McD’ing (among other things):

* How can I reframe my mindset to view failure as a part of the learning process / opportunity for growth?
* Do I have any limiting beliefs or self-talk that may be holding me back?
* If so, how can I challenge / overcome them?
* What are ways I can seek feedback / constructive criticism to continue growing and improving?
* How can I strive for progress rather than perfection?
* What are some ways I can be proactive rather than reactive to challenges?

Self-care is a fun area to work on!!! I keep a list of things to do that make me feel terrific. I make sure to do several of these things throughout the week. One thing that I recently added is swinging at the park – I have been doing this each time I pass a park (walking and if nobody else on the swings). There is no downside to this!! For me, laughing is required! :lol:


Gimmelean wrote:I tend to gravitate towards Insight Timer for breathing, stretching, yoga, & meditation. The app is free and the concept of serving the community makes it even better.
Walking outside daily is a must. When people want to meet with me at lunch I always ask if they have their sneakers and make it a walking meeting. One person asked this week if I ever eat!
And VSF, I never pass the playground without jumping on the swing!


Greens wrote:I’m a take a deep breath and put my head down and keep on moving forward when I am my best self. When I’m not I procrastinate and continue feeling bad and stuck. For me, it always starts first with breathe maybe because it is an action although a really small one.


Noella wrote:De-stress idea: I like to declutter, tidy, detail clean our house (and also our garage, cars, and garden). I find this to be meditative, prayerful even, and purposeful. This gives my body steady daily exercise and the result is the wonderful feeling of being in a five star hotel at home. I sometimes have everything quiet and just think as I keep active other times I listen to podcasts or music as I clean.


So many great ideas!

Thanks again, everybody! Have an amazing week to come, take care & be well! :D
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