Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

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

Moderators: JeffN, f1jim, carolve, Heather McDougall

Re: Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

Postby amandamechele » Mon Apr 24, 2017 1:50 pm

judytoronto58 wrote:I've decided to fully commit to the MWL program. I have not really done MWL up until now, just been following the basic guidelines as best I can. Now I'm going to just do this.

This is what I'm going to do:
Exercise: 30-45 minute walk at least 5 days per week
Breakfast: oatmeal with cinnamon, one fruit, hibiscus tea
Lunch and Dinner: whole food starch (potatoes or brown rice or quinoa or millet), beans or legumes or chickpeas, vegetables (raw and/or cooked) - the starch and beans would be ~50% of my plate, and the vegetables would be the other 50%
If hungry between meals, make up a small portion of what I've had for lunch or dinner.
Evening snack: One fruit and herbal tea

I'm making up a checklist sheet, and will do a daily check of everything I've listed. I'll include a column for comments. I'm hoping it will also be a great learning tool. On days I am less successful, it would be helpful to see what was going on for me either that day or in the days before that day.

I want to lose at least 120 lbs. At this point I've lost 50 lbs, but a few months ago I was at a 65 lb weight loss - the weight has been accumulating and I am mortified, to say the least. I was falling off the wagon, having take out food that was swimming in oil, eating slices of buttered toast at night, eating sandwiches, etc. I've remained 100% plant-based, but as Dr. McDougall has described, I have been living as a fat vegan. It's shameful. I recognize that oil is a gateway drug for me. Once I have it I am hearing the call of foods that are high in fat, salt, and sugar.

It's time to accept that I have to commit to this. Enough is enough.


Yay Judith! Best wishes to you. Let me know if I can help in any way. Feel free to join us in the Weigh-In thread too, even if you don't want to weigh in.
You can do this!

Amy
User avatar
amandamechele
 
Posts: 1523
Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:13 pm

Re: Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

Postby -mermaid- » Mon Jun 19, 2017 6:45 pm

I'm in. It's taken a couple of years for me to be ready to commit to MWL. An enjoyable period of eating a fair amount of tahini, peanut butter, whole grain bread, and whole grain pasta. Now I am turning the page. :D
-mermaid-
 

Re: Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

Postby Miss_Mac » Fri Jul 28, 2017 12:39 am

Hey guys,

I really want to get the ball rolling with my maximum weight loss, I'm at a loose end. I want to lose around 60lb.

question 1, How much fruit can you have a day to lose the weight? I currently eat a lot of bananas, I love them!! I snack on them in the day (maybe 2 or 3), and I'll have 2 or three for breakfast! (1 if i have oatmeal, 3 if i make a water/banana/100gram oat blended smoothie)

Also question 2, how many of your three meals a day should be starch based for maximum results? At the moment I'm not making use of my exercise bike... (I'm going to make more of a conscious effect to exercise until it becomes natural)

I've been doing the diet for three days and I have PUT ON WEIGHT :cry:

Breakfast will be smoothie or oat
lunch will be something potato based/ i'm going to try sticking with sweet, because ive had white this week and just gained!
dinner will be sweet p with salad/or beans and rice combo

Thank you all!!!! :-)
User avatar
Miss_Mac
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:58 pm

Re: Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

Postby VeggieSue » Fri Jul 28, 2017 3:37 am

Miss_Mac wrote:I really want to get the ball rolling with my maximum weight loss, I'm at a loose end. I want to lose around 60lb.


Have you read the Maximum Weight Loss book, or the guidelines at the top of this thread?

question 1, How much fruit can you have a day to lose the weight?


On the MWLP, only 2 fruits a day are allowed.


Also question 2, how many of your three meals a day should be starch based for maximum results?


ALL of them! This is a starch based food program!



I've been doing the diet for three days and I have PUT ON WEIGHT :cry:


In the beginning, a few people DO gain, usually those who had been on severely restricted (calorie-wise) diets, or on some form of a low-carb food plan. You may gain because the liver is replenishing its glycogen stores, or your body is absorbing much needed water from your food, or because of the high fiber content of your food there is more bulk in your intestinal tract. Or you're plain old eating too many calories if you're eating humongous amounts of fruit, as you said you do. Read the guidelines and follow the food plan as written and you'll see results soon.


Breakfast will be smoothie or oat


Smoothies are NOT allowed on any version of the McDougall food plan. Eat your food, not drink it.

Read up on what the McDougall Maximum Weight Loss program (The topic of this particular forum) entails, or the McDougall Program in general (See the drop down menu in the green bar at the top of the page labeled Education and hit Free Program, or go to the far right of the same bar and watch the videos in the Quick Start menu). Once you know and follow the rules, you'll see the scale start to go the way you want it to.
User avatar
VeggieSue
 
Posts: 3505
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 3:34 pm
Location: gritty urban NJ

Re: Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

Postby frozenveg » Sun Aug 06, 2017 9:11 am

Hi, Miss Mac, I just responded to your post in the Newbie section,and saw this one as well. Veggie Sue has given you a TON of good info, and I just wanted to reiterate her points:

On MWL, the fruit limit is 2 - 3 per day. And this is just my personal opinion, but I find that bananas are probably the heaviest of fruits, so I'd really limit those to 2 a day. Something watery, like melons, you could probably go to 3 or 4 servings. (But--as many have probably already told you--stop the smoothies!)

All your meals should be starch-based! I consider that if I don't have starch when I eat, it was a snack! :lol:

Stop weighing yourself every day! It is quite possible that you may gain weight if you are eating according to the program, as your body is getting more fiber than it was used to, for a week or more. Once a week is plenty to do any official weighing--and if it freaks you out, weigh yourself even less often. For weighing, follow a very strict protocol: at the same time, in the same clothes (or none), and so on. Write it down, so you can keep track, and celebrate even the tiniest of changes. Sometimes .2 lbs is all you get, and sometimes it's 4 lbs. If you persist, and you are compliant with the program, you will succeed!

Exercise will come, but really and truly--it's the food that makes all the difference!

Miss_Mac wrote:Hey guys,

I really want to get the ball rolling with my maximum weight loss, I'm at a loose end. I want to lose around 60lb.

question 1, How much fruit can you have a day to lose the weight? I currently eat a lot of bananas, I love them!! I snack on them in the day (maybe 2 or 3), and I'll have 2 or three for breakfast! (1 if i have oatmeal, 3 if i make a water/banana/100gram oat blended smoothie)

Also question 2, how many of your three meals a day should be starch based for maximum results? At the moment I'm not making use of my exercise bike... (I'm going to make more of a conscious effect to exercise until it becomes natural)

I've been doing the diet for three days and I have PUT ON WEIGHT :cry:

Breakfast will be smoothie or oat
lunch will be something potato based/ i'm going to try sticking with sweet, because ive had white this week and just gained!
dinner will be sweet p with salad/or beans and rice combo

Thank you all!!!! :-)
5'3", 74 YO. Started Jan. 11, 2010
Starting weight: 222.6
Current weight: 148.2.0


Success Story:
https://www.drmcdougall.com/articles/st ... -rockwell/
User avatar
frozenveg
 
Posts: 3194
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:39 pm
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

Postby cpanta17 » Wed Sep 13, 2017 8:43 am

Hello,

Where can I find the Maximum Weight Loss book?

Thanks,

Chloe
cpanta17
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Sep 13, 2017 5:50 am

Re: Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

Postby VeggieSue » Thu Sep 14, 2017 4:42 am

cpanta17 wrote:Where can I find the Maximum Weight Loss book?


Amazon.com (new, used, and Kindle versions), Barnes and Nobel.com (new, used, Nook), most used book selling sites, and right here on the McDougall web site store:
https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/shop ... ight-loss/
User avatar
VeggieSue
 
Posts: 3505
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2006 3:34 pm
Location: gritty urban NJ

Re: Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

Postby frozenveg » Thu Sep 14, 2017 6:52 am

It's also available right here on the website: https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/shopping/books/
5'3", 74 YO. Started Jan. 11, 2010
Starting weight: 222.6
Current weight: 148.2.0


Success Story:
https://www.drmcdougall.com/articles/st ... -rockwell/
User avatar
frozenveg
 
Posts: 3194
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2010 1:39 pm
Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

Postby JeffN » Tue Sep 26, 2017 5:51 am

There have been changes to the MWL program since the original book was published. It was updated 10 years later in the 2005 newsletter and we’ve now condensed it to the 10 pt check list.

Here is a link to the January 2005 McDougall newsletter where Dr McDougall discusses the Maximum Weight Loss (MWL) program. This newsletter was published about 10-11 years after the original MWL book and after holding actual MWL programs at the McDougall center.

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl ... ushing.htm

In it, he discusses 12 "Refinements for Maximum Weight Loss" that "Are the Measures Taken to Emphasize Weight Loss" and describes each tip, listing the Program Protocol and Practical Tips for Home Compliance for each one. They are virtually in agreement with my principles of calorie density.

1) Thrive on Unrefined Starch
2) Avoid Refined Foods and Flours
3) Eat Green and Yellow Vegetables
4) Eat more raw foods
5) Avoid All High-Fat Plant Foods
6) Avoid Sugar
7) Minimize Fruits
8 ) Eat Slowly and Frequently
9) Keep Your Meals Simple (Monotonous)
10) Lower Salt Intake
11) Its Okay to Be Hungry
12) Exercise

The 2 main changes are we don’t recommend tortilla’s, air-popped popcorn or puffed grains anymore for MWL due to their higher calorie density and we do allow for whole grain pastas due to their lower calorie density.

Sometimes we run into people who are volume eaters. In regard to this issue, Dr McDougall discussed, "How to Help the Volume Eater" in the November 2005 McDougall newsletter

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl ... 100vol.htm

I recommend anyone struggling with their weight to read the above two newsletters.

The recommendations of Dr McDougall and myself come from not only a thorough review and understanding of the scientific literature on these issues, but also from decades of clinical experience working with clients in a closed residential setting.

However, in the last few years, people have come up with their own personal ways to improve the MWL program ("hacks"), usually based on their own short term experience or a “N of 1.” Most often, they do not have the understanding of the literature or the longterm clinical experience we do. In addition, we are not interested in promoting "hacks" to the MWL to produce short term results that will be unsustainable for most people. As Dr McDougall always says at the program, we are not here for instant results, we are here to get you to like the food and teach you a sustainable program. We could easily serve you an all (or mostly) vegetable diet and you would have better initial short-term results but it will be unsustainable. As Dr Lisle says, be the tortoise, not the hare.

It is important to realize that any "hacks" to the MWL that are not in the above newsletters, or that do not come directly from Dr McDougall or myself, are not part of the MWL program, nor do we recommend them.

As Dr McDougall said in a recent newsletter...

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2017nl/jul/simple.htm

"many popular healthcare "gurus" have had no formal education in the potentially life-threatening matters of your health. Almost as troubling are the credentialed healthcare/diet advisors who provide advice based solely on reading other people's research articles. The relevance of their guidance must be placed in the context that many of them haven't touched a patient since their primary dietetic or medical training."

People will often say, I was doing the MWL program but it wasn't working till I also did "X," to which they are often unaware that "X" Is already a part of the MWL program. On the other hand, people will often say they are following the MWL program and doing "Y" but they are unaware that "Y" is not part of the MWL program nor recommended.

Before making any "hacks" to the MWL program, we recommend you give the MWL program with the refinements mentioned above a fair and honest chance. If you are having difficulty, then join the weekly weigh-in group and/or contact us directly.

Here are a few of the "hacks" people make that are not recommended. None of these are new. All have been around for a long time and seem to get recycled every few years

- A predominately raw food diet
- Eating only raw foods till 4 PM
- Intermittent fasting
- Restricted feeding window
- Extended fasts to lose weight
- Smoothies
- Juicing
- Basing their diet on non-starchy vegetables
- Eating only foods low in the GI/GL
- Not including starch at each meal.
- Delaying the starch component of a meal.
- Eating only fruit for breakfast
- Eating only non-starchy vegetables for breakfast
- Excessive or extreme exercise
- Food Combining
- Meal Replacements
- Supplements
- SOS free diet

In regard to added salt and added sugar, we recommend buying and preparing food without either and if any are to be used, to add them at the table on the surface of the food. If either one is troublesome and create uncontrollable cravings for you, then leave them out.

While anecdotal stories are interesting, and you can always find them for almost any intervention, that is not why we are here or what our programs are based on. If we go by anecdotal evidence, we open a huge door that we don't really want to because then why not believe anyone with any anecdotical stories and testimonials regardless if they are doing any of the "hacks" listed above or if they are doing Paleo, Atkins, Weight Watchers, etc.

We are here because we are an evidence & science based program.

In Health
Jeff
User avatar
JeffN
 
Posts: 9412
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 5:56 am

Re: Maximum Weight Loss Guidelines

Postby JeffN » Mon Feb 19, 2018 11:42 am

A 10-POINT CHECKLIST FOR MAXIMUM WEIGHT LOSS (MWL)

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

2) Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for desert.

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.

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

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

6) Eliminate any added oil.

7) Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e. bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.

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

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

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
User avatar
JeffN
 
Posts: 9412
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 5:56 am

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

Postby JOJO1947 » Fri May 26, 2023 11:39 am

So what is the latest guideline for fruit servings on MWL. It used to be 1-2. Is there any fruit restriction now? Thanks. JoAnn
JOJO1947
 
Posts: 329
Joined: Thu Sep 19, 2013 8:54 am

Previous

Return to Maximum Weight Loss Program

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests



Welcome!

Sign up to receive our regular articles, recipes, and news about upcoming events.