August 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[Mark Cooper]

calharv - Welcome, Cal! No further steps needed, other than to go ahead and get started implementing the behaviors recommended in the MWL 10-Point Checklist. Our next weigh-in & reporting day is Friday, August 14.

ceeceeb - Hello, Carol! Welcome to the group, I'm delighted you found it, as well! The principles of MWL are an excellent way to get that weight loss going.

[JeffN]

VivianS August 12
On the SNAP MEAL recipe, is that supposed to be 14 oz. frozen green leafy veggies (collards, mustard greens) ? 4 oz. which is listed is just half a cup.
The brown rice at 1 or 1.25 cups COOKED doesn't look like 50% compared to all the non- starchy vegetables in the meal. Should that be 1 to 1.25 UNCOOKED rice, which would be about 4 or 5 servings like the mixed vegetables.
I am trying the SNAP MEAL as stated. My vision may not be perfect, but I think the 4 is supposed to be 14 oz., which is the size package I buy. If it is a typographical error, you can fix it easily. If it is not, I can add more greens and rice. I can eat it and be healthy and happy. Thank you for the idea. I like things that are easy and healthy.

The SNAP Recipe and the FAST FOOD Recipes (which evolved from the original SNAP recipe) are just templates. As is the 50/50 and the MWL guidelines. That means there is room for lee-way based on your personal preferences.

It is also important to note that many packages sizes got smaller over the last few years by a few ounces, so the company can charge you the same (or more), while giving you less. That's is fine. It doesn't matter if the tomatoes are 28 oz or 25 or 24. It doesn't matter if the frozen veggies are 16 oz, or 15 or 14. Same with the beans. The can can be 14, 15 or 14.5, and it still works.

Here is the template...

- One 28 oz can or package of no salt added diced tomatoes (or broth for those who don't like tomatoes)
- One 14 oz can no salted added beans (which is about 1.5 - 2 cups)
- 1 16 oz package of frozen vegetables
- 1.5 to 2 cups of a *cooked* starch.
- ~1 tbsp salt free, dried seasoning/spice.

**optional - 1/2 cup frozen greens.

The recipe is low in calorie density (around 300 calories per pound) and one can adjust it up or done as desired by adding more starch or not.

Depending on the mixed vegetables and the exact amounts you make, there is 1.5-2 cups of beans (starch) pus there is ~2 cups starch. In addition, several of the mixed vegetables may have starches in them (peas, corn, beans, potato etc) which could contribute another 1/4 to 1/2 cup or more.. One could easily add more starch if they felt they wanted more satiety.

The main goal of the program was to show how to make a meal that can be made in 10-15 minutes, with foods available at the local grocery store, without the need for any fact gadgets, appliances or utensils, that can be made for under $5 per day per person, be nutritionally adequate, satiating and low to medium in calorie density so one can eat all they wanted.

In Health
Jeff

[VivianS]

VivianS August 13, 2020
Thank you, Jeff Novick, for your reply about the SNAP template. Easy cooking using the basic starches and vegetables is very helpful. I boiled some corn to add with my first attempt . I then added the water from the corn to that SNAP mixture to use as soup and went back to the 50/50 plate (bowl) to reach satiety.
As my mother said, "Good cooks use what they have." Variety and satiety are the results. Keeping the cooking simple helps. During this Covid 19 pandemic, I must use what my husband brings home from the grocery store. With store hours being cut back, I am finding that my husband is willing to accept some foods he would never eat before like brown rice. He found some "Cajun Rice" which is just plain long grain brown rice. Some other shoppers must have left it because they thought it would be SPICY.
I am thankful for the frozen mixed vegetables and greens which I eat every day. Compared to raising a garden and putting those vegetables in the freezer myself, buying frozen foods is wonderful!. Having fresh foods all year is amazing, too. We live in a great country. Thank you, Jeff Novick, for helping us get back to roots, fruits, grains and basic nutrients in beans and simple foods
Sincerely,
VivianS.

[Mark Cooper]

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's weigh-in and seeing everyone's reports! Friday is this group's weigh-in day, and participants have until noon pacific time (19:00 UTC) on Saturday to post a report of their result for the week. Reports posted outside that window of time won't be included in the summary that I compile for Saturday evening. This group is all about changing patterns of behavior, so it seems reasonable to me to expect those who choose to participate in the weekly weigh-in to honor that time frame for reporting. In addition to reporting your weight change in pounds, more importantly, please be sure to evaluate your behaviors within the context of the MWL 10-Point Checklist, if you please. I will respond to everyone's reports in a cumulative post on Friday evening and Saturday evening, and the summary for the week will be posted Saturday night.

For more information on why participants are recommended to weigh themselves once a week while in the weight loss phase, check out this excellent and thorough article from Jeff - To Weigh or Not to Weigh

My very best to all, and I'll see you tomorrow!

[LesleyMills]

6th week weigh in, was 178lbs now 175lbs -3lbs loss.
So I adjust my vegetable to potato (heavy starch) ratio which seems to have made a difference. I'm finding I don't get to eat a meal after the soup as I'm full and so have been adding chickpeas or white beans or other pulse to my soups but I used to snack on cold baked potatoes in the fridge between meals when I was hungry. This week I've stopped snacking on the baked potatoes which has made me wander about the kitchen wanting to snack on something. I've resisted the urge and not having any non program readily edible food in the house has helped. I could have made myself some pasta or a batch of biscuits or similar but I can hold off long enough for the urge to be overridden by my brain kicking back in and reminding me forcefully how much I want to lose the weight.

My big worry is that when I stop this weight loss phase I'm going to go crazy and put weight on but that's a problem for another day and I just need to focus on the weight loss at present.

I also went through the rules again and wondered if my fruit intake was a bit heavy so I've checked and I'm now eating some berries with porridge in the morning and then either an apple or a satsuma orange in the evening. Last week I was eating a piece of fruit after lunch and dinner.

One thing that also might have changed things is that I had my bloods checked a couple of weeks back and my doctor told me this past week that my thyroid medication needed reducing as my thyroid seems to be working better than it was. I can't say that this is necessarily due to my new the diet as I've started taking iodine in the form of kelp tablets having read up that this might be the cause of a few of my issues.

Sadly I've also given up on salads as they're giving me terrible diarrhoea which is as a consequence of having had my gall bladder removed some years back. I can do the odd bit of raw veggies but not in big amounts. Also finding mushrooms are becoming a no no unless is small amounts as I have the same problem. Such a shame as I love grilled tomatoes and mushrooms.

Well that's it from me. All the best everyone, onwards and downwards!!

[PonysPlants]

Down 1.2 lbs this week. Very happy with that, and to not see another 0.8lb 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. YES. This is just how I eat now. So easy and I love it.
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). Easy. Vegan for life
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. Had one tortilla wrap because my grocery delivery was delayed and I was so hungry.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Still having a little oat milk in my tea. Feel a bit bad that I haven’t been trying to reduce this.
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. It’s been so crazy hot here this week that I haven’t done very much. Weather finally broke today so I’ll be back on it.

Thanks so much Mark for the tip about frozen fruit. Have been munching away on frozen bananas here to stop me from melting. Great idea!

[Abe]

Weight Change: -1.4 lbs.

• Follow 50/50 plate volume.
  I continue to be aware of my non-100% compliance in this area. I feel like one person is rationally explaining this to you now, and another is eating all of that extra starch. All of my compliant meals at home are SNAP meals. I like the SNAP meals a lot. I feel like I know how to cook now. Thank you!

I guess I bought a new scale for no reason. This new scale, a completely different brand, is doing the same weird stuff as the last one. It must be me! No weight loss for a week or two and then down -1.4 pounds all at once. No change in how I ate this week. I ate 55 pounds of potatoes, plus some sweet potatoes or oat groats on occasion for my starch this week. Does that sound like a lot? I am not eating more than comfortably full, it just takes a lot for me to get there.

[josietheschnauzer]

Up, 1 pound.
1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. AT A COUPLE OF LUNCHES, I HAD VEGETABLE SUSHI-NO SEPARATE SOUP OR SALAD.

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. I THINK I AM DOING THIS PLUS WHEN I DON'T HAVE THE VEGETABLE SUSHI OUT, I HAVE SERVINGS OF KALE AT LUNCH AND DINNER. BUILDING UP THAT NITRIC ACID!!

2) Choose fruit for desert. ON TWO DAYS I HAD THREE PIECES OF FRUIT INSTEAD OF TWO.

3) Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them. NO ADDED SUGAR OR SALT. I LOVE MRS. DASH!

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). NOT AN ISSUE. NO ANIMALS! NO SEA CREATURES!

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). MY CHINESE RESTAURANT GAVE ME A GRATIS VEGETABLE SUSHI WITH AVOCADO.

6) Eliminate any added oil. NO 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. NONE OF THESE FOODS.

8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). NONE OF THESE BEVERAGES

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. I DIDN'T STUFF MYSELF THIS WEEK.

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

I am very thankful for the MWL and our weekly weigh ins. It is helping me focus on what is important in these crazy times. I will find it interesting to see how my weight settles during the next six months. It is my plan and goal to have MWL as a way of life just as WFPB has become. I have also broken down and started buying smaller clothes. My goal for August is to START some type of weight training. I just have to do it. I don't want to lose any more muscle mass because of my age . There are simple things to do at home, I just have to START!

[Cathy Ann]

-2

Current Weight 229
August Start weight 233
July Start weight 245

August loss -4
July loss -12

10-point plan
1. Start each meal.... Mostly
2. 50/50 Plate...& fruit for dessert. Yes
3. Reduce added sugar and salt. Yes
4. Eliminate all animal foods. Yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant food. Yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes
7. Eliminate all high calorie-dense food including Flour. Yes
8. Don't drink your calories. Yes
9. Follow principles, Eat when hungry.... Yes
10. Avoid being sedentary...Did some exercise, I now have a painful flare up of left hip arthritis. I plan on continuing with the pool next week.

Painful week for me this week. I do have a smile on my face, because I did not binge eat through my pain. I just did some gentle hip stretching with some lunges, and have suffered with pain all week. At this stage I will just keep my joint movement and stretching in the POOL. Next week I need to work being more organised in the kitchen, one night i didn't have anything organised, I had a soup and some oats. I'm excited about my pain free future. Have a fantastic week everyone!

[squealcat]

August 1 weight: 203.1
August 7: 202.1
August 14: 199.6
August total: 3.5 pounds

This week's loss: 2.5 pounds

MWL points I did well on: #2, #4, #5, #6, #8, #9, #10

MWL points that need improvement:
#1 (start with soup/salad) I did pretty well with this but not perfect. I was aware of this behavior the entire week and made changes to follow it so I am pretty happy about #1 and will continue doing what I am doing about that one.
#3( sugar/salt) I was going to concentrate on this one but alas, I did not. I will tackle this another time. I am not a heavy salter anyway but would be good to improve. Added sugar is not a problem.
#7 (eliminate high calorie dense food) Another one that I am happy with but was not 100%. I stayed away from bread (huge for me!) but had a few crackers and granola. I plan to eliminate those this week.

Thoughts: I kept aware of what I was doing this week. I had one day when I went off a bit but corrected. Another time I was tempted but ate one more potato and BOOM ! that temptation went away ! We ate out last night at a restaurant and I had vegetable soup followed by whole wheat pasta with plain sauce. Although who knows what was in the sauce, I kept it plain and was happy with my choice. It was a half serving so not a crazy amount. I was satisfied. I like to enjoy myself when I go out and need to find food I like and not feel like I am suffering. If this is my way of life I need to find my way to live it. I worked at pre-loading my meals with soup or salad and even had beet greens before breakfast one day (and didn't die !). I will continue to do this and learn how to improve on it.

My sprouting is coming along well! So fun to see those seeds come to life before my eyes ! Sprouts on my oatmeal, sprouts on my salad, sprouts in my soup, sprouts in my mouth ! I will harvest lentil sprouts today and can't wait to munch on them.....but only when hungry

Have a good week everyone !

squealcat (Marilyn)

[Dennis h]

Last week 220 lbs
This week 216 lbs

-4 lbs this week

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
CHECK
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.
CHECK
2) Choose fruit for desert.
CHECK
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.
CHECK
4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
CHECK
5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
CHECK
6) Eliminate any added oil.
CHECK
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.
CHECK
8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
CHECK
9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
CHECK
10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
CHECK

AMAZING WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU BEHAVE YOURSELF AND FOLLOW THE PLAN !
Thank you all for your support
dennis h

[wstokes]

-1.4 lbs
My adherence to the 10 MWL Guidelines was not perfect, but most of the lapses were moderate. Maybe that helps.

Also, this weight loss report is BEFORE any workout today.

My goal is to be down another 5-10 lbs from here. The weekly reports and daily weight checks have been very helpful in keeping me on track.

[Waterfit]

Yay! I finally lost 2.1 lbs. I have been on a plateau for 6 weeks and have not been this low in almost 2 years. The first 20 lbs took me a year or more and the last 5 have taken me 6 months of up and down a few lbs. I was almost going to give up and then I decided to give it at least 90 days. It's only been 64 day so I am very pleased. I haven't been perfect due to that sets me up to binge but I have been about 85%. I may have 3-4 pieces of fruit on occasion instead of veggies and have only been exercises 3-4 days a week but other than that I am following the suggestions.

Starting weight:121.5
Last week: 115.5
Current weight: 113.4
Loss this week: -2.1 lbs

[CindyD]

Female, age 51, 5'8"
Starting weight July 6, 2020: 211.7

August 7, 2020: 192.3
August 14, 2020: 188.0
Result: -4.3
Since July 6: -23.7

Doing great with the guidelines. I realize this week's result will not be typical but it is nice!
I continue to spend time every day watching plant-based doctors and plant-positive videos which confirm my commitment and goals, including some of the psychological/ emotional topics from Dr. Lisle and Dr. Jen Howk.
http://www.jenhowk.com/articles/
https://esteemdynamics.com/
I highly recommend Chef AJ's many interviews with both!

I discovered two things this week: 1. I love lentils, and 2. I'm not supposed to have more than one cup of beans or lentils per day (I believe this is a Dr. McDougall recommendation). Dangit! So one or two days I may have overdone the lentils but now I know better.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
After Mark asked if there was a reason for the ground flax last week, I have stopped using it. Thank you, Mark! It will still be there after I stop the MWLP.

Once again thank you so much to Mark and everyone for your kindness and dedication to these forums.
p.s. Mark, I think I read that you are an artist. Do you have a website?

[Wfpb2020]

Start date 7/1/20

July loss - 9.4 lbs
8/14/20 - 1.8 lbs
Total Loss: - 11.2 lbs

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes
2) Follow the 50/50 plate method; Choose fruit for desert. Yes
3) Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. Yes
4) Eliminate all animal foods 4/7 had some half and half in my one coffee per day
5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. 4/7 still having trouble with nuts
6) Eliminate any added oil. Yes
7) Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products, puffed cereals, popcorn and dried fruit. 6/7 had some crackers
8 ) Don’t drink your calories. Yes
9) Eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve/stuff yourself. Yes
10) Aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. 6/7 hours of yard work for most of the week