October 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[Noella]

Hi Mark, Wildgoose, and Jeff,

-2



Yes! Two more pounds of excess weight are gone! I have twenty-six more pounds to lose to reach a healthy weight & BMI for my 5’9” height. Once I am in that healthy range I might set anither goal and aim for a BMI of 20 if it seems like the right thing to do.

Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.YES
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
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
Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). YES
Eliminate any added oil. YES
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
Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES
Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).NO

My major challenge: The inflammation in my knee joints has continued.I’m not sure why but it’s nothing to do with the potatoes as I had no potatoes this week as an elimination test. My knees have been improving steadily over the past few months but now they are back to being stiff and painful. I cannot walk briskly; I can barely walk at the store and put as much weight as I could on the shopping cart, which helps. I am willing to do what it takes to get another 26 pounds off my knees! I want relief and to avoid surgery.

My success/observations: Clothes I have been wearing for months don’t fit properly any more and need to be replaced or altered because they are too loose. Clothes I haven’t worn for a long while finally fit me again. Yay! I have a brand new gorgeous red dress that I bought five years ago but it was slightly too small when I bought it, so I didn’t ever wear it because it was a bit tight...it actually still has the price tags on it. every time I look at it hanging in my closet it inspires me and I get so excited to wear it but it never has ever fit properly unil today! It now it fits!!! Now I need a special social event to go to, but we aren’t going out much these days with COVID-19, our minister of health is recommending staying home as much as possible to help.
I have one pair of very stylish and dressy fitted pants that fit me perfectly for an event last Dec. 29th, 2019 and now they completely fall off...it’s so fun!... I put them on repeatedly just to watch them drop to the floor! Poof! Down they fall...Proof! Proof my hips are now smaller than my waist was back ten months ago. This might sound ridiculous but our queen size bed seems more spacious and comfortable, too (we were thinking of getting a king size mattress...now no need! Even the floor boards next to my side of the bed don’t seem creak under my weight when I get up in the middle of the night...haha... Hopping in and out of the bathtub Is easier, too! Haha...These are just a few of the wonderful quality of life improvements I’m noticing and I notice a few more things each month.

Good luck everyone! Eating 50/50 is straightforward and it WORKS. I have discovered that improved health really truly is possible. I just look at my plate and make sure it is half vegetables (non starchy) and half starch (whole grains, rice, legumes, potatoes, sweet potatoes). It is a delicious, satisfying and nutritious way to regain health and vitality. I am learning so much!

Thank you, Mark, for your inspiring words of wisdom and support!

Best regards,
Noella

[GreenFroG]

Hi all,

Weight change: -0.00

Checklist:
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). No

Observations: Went traveling and did not gain any weight, so I am excited. I took food snacks while traveling and then bought my own food when we got there. I fixed it while others ate take-out. It worked pretty well, as we had access to our own kitchen. When we did go out to eat, I ordered a salad and took my own dressing. Overall, I count it a success! I didn't exercise everyday but managed to get in several walks throughout the week. Still have hankerings for some of the snacks that others were eating, but I am learning to say no and to stick to the plan. The work continues.

[rlechols]

Weight 2 weeks ago: 142.0
Weight this week: 141.5
Loss of 0.5 lb

Hi everyone! I missed reporting last week. We were on vacation and I intended to report in even though I didn't have access to a scale, but being out of my usual routine and enjoying our trip combined allowed Friday to slip by without even a thought of checking in! Oops! That is the first Friday weigh in I have missed all year, since I joined the first week of January.

The trip was great. We rented a large RV and drove to Maine so we could self quarantine in a way, and still enjoy the outdoors. I brought our own food and we only ate out a few times, mostly because my omnivore hubby wanted to. He loves eating out. Granted, the fridge/freezer in the RV wasn't big enough to bring everything I wanted, so I had to compromise a bit. I did bring my mini instant pot and my air fryer. I definitely feel like I was more following the Starch Solution than MWL while away, but it was actually a very good experiment/experience for me, to wander into Starch Solution territory and see what results it produced after 8 days. I am half a pound short of 80 pounds total lost and am getting ready to transition to maintenance mode, and that is why this was a great trial run for me. I will discuss below more of how my week went in regards to the 10 point checklist. We returned on Wednesday afternoon, and so yesterday morning (Thursday) I stepped on the scale to see that I weighed EXACTLY what I did when I left (142.0 lbs). And this morning the scale shows another half pound drop. So things went well and this gives me confidence that I will be successful in maintaining when I decide to switch to the Starch Solution in the near future. One thing I have come to realize is that for me, switching from MWL to the Starch Solution is not going to be "permission" to start allowing myself to freely consume things that were previously off limits. There is a reason why some things, even on the Starch Solution, are yellow light foods. So enjoying moderate portions on occasion might be ok, but is not permission to have them every day or in large quantities. Also, being in tune with what items start the Pleasure Trap and cravings with the associated downward spiral, is important.

Here's how I did on the 10pt checklist the past couple of weeks (mostly reporting here on my vacation the past 10 days, as when I'm home I'm pretty close to 100% compliant day to day):

1. Start with soup/salad/fruit - this wasn't easy to do in an RV due to storage space. I mostly started with fruit, which put me over the fruit limit for each day, but I also wasn't bingeing on it either. At home I have a very large salad for lunches, and I continued to do that in the RV most days, so I got my greens and a large variety of raw veggies in. We did stop at the store a couple of times to replenish my supplies so I had what I needed for my salads at least.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method - yes! I brought a lot of zucchini/yellow squash and steamed some every morning in my Instant Pot, and ate some with breakfast and some with dinner to complete my 50/50 plate.
3. Reduce or eliminate salt and sugar - yes
4. Eliminate all animal foods - yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods - There were 2 days that I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as we had lunch away from the RV and had to pack something with us. I can see that when I switch to maintenance mode, these will be a very rare treat, not something I eat every day. I honestly prefer some veggies!
6. Eliminate any added oil - For the first time in probably 21 months, I actually ate some fries. Sweet potato fries. I guess I can't excuse it, just to say it was a special treat while on vacation.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie dense foods - besides the bread from the 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I ate, I also had some popcorn while we watched Netflix 2 nights.
8. Don't drink your calories - yes
9. Eat when hungry and stop when full - yes
10. Don't be sedentary - We were on the road a lot, so my activity level dropped considerably. What I was able to do, was take a walk around the campground (sometimes several loops) each morning before getting on the road and each evening after we arrived at our new campsite. I also did some strength training work without weights, using YouTube videos and just my own routine, like lunges, calf work, and arm circles, etc. I did the best I could with time constraints and space.

Overall, it probably looks like I was highly non compliant from the above, but it really wasn't bad. I ate veggies, a piece of fruit, and oatmeal for breakfast most days, a big salad with some beans for lunches, and dinners were steamed veggies and often a sweet potato or regular potato, or some beans and rice. At restaurants I was able to get quite a few veggies and some salads. I brought my own dressing.

I can't even begin to say how wonderful it is to be able to go on vacation and not go off the rails, not gain weight, and to return home feeling trim and like myself. I'm not sure that has ever really happened to me before finding this lifestyle. I really love it. I look forward to reporting here through October at least. I may even stay in the MWL group until the new year and make the official switch to the Starch Solution in January 2021. My current BMI is about 22.8 (my actual weight is 5 lbs lower than what my scale says) and it would be nice to have an even BMI of 22, so giving it more time may be good. I am only losing about 2 pounds per month at this point, but the weight loss hasn't stopped. So we will see what happens.

Welcome to all the new members! Stick with the program and you will definitely see results without hunger or deprivation. It's the food! It works!

[MelissaM]

This is my first post. I have read the guidelines and I’m ready to start. I have been following the starch solution for quite a while now, over three years. I have lost 120 pounds and have reached a strange equilibrium stage where I am finding it very difficult to lose any more weight. I think becoming stricter and using the MWL guidelines with some sort of accountability check will be helpful. I look forward to learning from you all!

[Creaky]

08/15/20 Start: 267
09/25/20: 258.9
10/02/20 258 -0.9
Total Change: -9

1. Soup before meal: Don't do. I'm satisfied with my meals and prefer to have fruit at end of meal.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals:
3. Desert = Fruit:
4. Little added sugars and added salts:
5. No Animal Products:
6. No higher fat plant foods:
7. No added oil:
8. No Processed Food/Dried Fruit:
9. Don’t drink your calories:
10. Eat when Hungry/Don't stuff myself:
11. 30 minutes exercise/day:

Good week. I had a major project go live this week and it was successful rollout. Very happy with myself.

[Beeshell]

Hello - happy to continue with October group. Not happy to report a gain of 2.6 but I'm not surprised.

I'm not sure why I'm struggling. I AM glad that I haven't given up and am still here. We are going away for the first time since December just for the weekend. We are packing stuff us to eat but suspect there may be some off program meals. Luckily, we are gone Fri-Monday so am really hoping and wanting to re-assess and get back on things. I know I keep saying this. Thank you Mark Jeff and Goose for your patience as I work through things.

I actually am reading the book and really enjoying it. Got it online from the library and probably will buy it! Have a good week and welcome to those who are joining. I so appreciate all that you do for us here, McDougall Team! PS Hope those in Santa Rosa are safe. I now a few people who have had to evacuate so am keeping everyone in my prayers for safety from the fires and the other things that are going on.

[Pdx.gordon]

Friday weigh in: 188.2 lbs

[salbers]

Testing my Tickerfactory:

[Hope410]

Hello All,

Weight change: -1.2 LBS

Points: 2-5, 7-9 all 100%.

Points: 1 and 10 each 75%.

Point: 6 at 95%. Lunch at Chinese buffet one day with all compliant food except for oil.

Eating Jeff's SNAP meals make life so much easier to follow the MWL plan.

Have a great week everyone.

[texaslil]

Happy October and Hooray for cooler temperatures!

I've had a good week and things are going in the right direction.

Last week: 178
This week: 177
gained/lost: -1 lbs
total lost: 19lbs

This week I have a couple of compliance questions.
Are soy curls compliant? I want them to be but I'm thinking they are not, due to the higher fat content and processing.
Any suggestions to keeping leafy greens around all week, typically by W/TH/F mine have all gone soggy, IF I have any left
Can we drink any plant based milks on the MWL plan? or should we completely eliminate?

I struggled this week with going back for seconds, so eating a bit too much.. Also, ate some avocado and had a smoothie. Although, the smoothie was in place of what could have been a pint of vegan ice cream (which my daughter got) so I'm not beating myself up too much.

Otherwise stuck with the plan. I have either been walking or doing yoga each morning, and that continues to feel so good. I'm noticing a difference with the way my clothes fit, although others have not really noticed that I've lost weight.. I think because it's been so gradual.

I have also felt a bit impatient for the weight to come off already! but have also been trying to 'counsel' myself that this is a forever lifestyle so there really is no 'end' goal per se. I spend all my extra time (what little I have) watching YouTube videos about this woe and gathering new recipes. Truly thankful for this community and all of the information sharing.

Happy Weekend to all!

[wakelandcj]

Good afternoon,
I have read through all the orientation materials and would like to be added to this discussion board. Thanks

[texaslil]

Weight 2 weeks ago: 142.0
Weight this week: 141.5
Loss of 0.5 lb

Hi everyone! I missed reporting last week. We were on vacation and I intended to report in even though I didn't have access to a scale, but being out of my usual routine and enjoying our trip combined allowed Friday to slip by without even a thought of checking in! Oops! That is the first Friday weigh in I have missed all year, since I joined the first week of January.
………………...

Welcome to all the new members! Stick with the program and you will definitely see results without hunger or deprivation. It's the food! It works!

I'm not sure if I can 'like' other people's comments but if I could I would give this a You are such an inspiration and congrats on getting so close to meeting your goals!! I would love it if you keep posting with us so that we can hear how things go!

[JeffN]

Are soy curls compliant? I want them to be but I'm thinking they are not, due to the higher fat content and processing.

They are high in fat, around 45%, and on MWL we avoid all high fat foods so not recommended.,.

Any suggestions to keeping leafy greens around all week, typically by W/TH/F mine have all gone soggy

I am sure one of the other moderators can help you but i just want to remind you that we are not a leafy green based program and frozen veggies are not just allowed but recommended too, which maybe a solution.

Can we drink any plant based milks on the MWL plan? or should we completely eliminate?

We recommend you avoid all liquid calories.

I struggled this week with going back for seconds, so eating a bit too much..

Our recommendation is to eat whenever hungry until you are comfortably full. Let hunger be the guide and not portions.

In Health
Jeff

[Dot]

Initial Weight: 150 lbs. Goal: 130-135 lbs.
July - 145 -5
Aug - 142 -3
Sept - 138 -4 lbs.
Oct 2/20 -135 Loss 3 lbs.

I’m very pleased to have reached my first goal! Like Goose explained in her post, I’m going to continue MWL to see where my body reaches its equilibrium. But more importantly, I’m starting to enjoy the food, particularly my veggie soup, and salad dressing.
#3 - On the regular McDougall diet, I had given up the salt shaker completely. But because on MWL, I had to cut down on balsamic reduction, nutritional yeast, tofu mayonnaise and miso-mushroom gravy, I found the food so bland and I started using salt again. But for about a week and a half now, the food is starting to taste better and I only used a sprinkle of salt twice this week. Liberal use of garlic and onion powder, herbs and spices help.
#9 - I’m eating more sequentially. Small soup, large salad, then my 50/50 plate but on a smaller plate. I can’t seem to leave food on my plate, ( and parents think their kids don’t listen to them ;<). I think I only stuffed myself once at the beginning of the week and since then I’m starting to figure out what comfortably full feels like. I’m still a big eater, I must have down at least 10 medium sized potatoes yesterday with equal amounts of non starchy veggies.
#10 - I had an active week with heavy duty gardening. Rowed the other days but didn’t ride my bike as often as I intended to do.
All in all, a good week.
WELCOME TO THE NEW MEMBERS. This is a great program, thanks everyone.
D.

[wildgoose]

Hello, everybody, and welcome to all the new people.

I’ve been reading through the posts. Some celebrations, some struggles. All to be expected. Rejoice when you have a pair of pants that you can slide off without unzipping them! (I still keep one pair of "fat pants," which I try on periodically just to celebrate.) Don’t get discouraged when you fall off plan totally. (I went on and off plan, sometimes for months at a time, for fifteen YEARS! Hoping you all have a much better, and shorter, weight loss experience, but the end result for me was, I finally got where I wanted to be. So Keep Trying.)

Regarding maintenance: Mark was right on point when he talked about the equilibrium between behavior and weight. That’s all there is to it — you maintain a weight consistent with whatever behavior you choose to adopt. What that exact weight is, matched with what behavior, is largely a function of genetics (but can also be influenced somewhat by lifestyle, level of exercise, etc.). My Gander could eat SAD the rest of his life (but he won’t — not while I’m feeding him, ) and not gain weight. It’s how he’s built, genetically. Me, I need to stick to MWL, with a few deviations (I often don’t start my meals with soup/salad, I eat more fruit than the guidelines recommend, I use some oil-free sugar-free low-sodium condiments, some of which I make myself). But my plate is still 50/50, I don’t eat flour products or highly processed food, I mostly stay away from higher fat plant foods, I don’t drink my calories, and I don’t eat dry starches (popcorn, rice cakes, dry cereal, etc.) that are calorie dense.

Now some people do fine on the regular Starch Solution plan for maintenance. It’s a wonderful, health-promoting plan. What you need to do to determine if that works for you is do the experiment. When you reach your goal weight, adjust your diet slightly in the direction of the regular plan and see what happens OVER TIME. I stress the "over time" part because you may see a bit of a gain due to, say, an increase in sodium, and panic. Give any changes a month or two to settle in, then evaluate. This is for the rest of your life, so you have plenty of time to tweak. You may even decide to adjust your goal weight up or down, based on the information that your experiments provide you.

To me it was toxic to try to think what life would be like "off the diet." Remember those 15 years I talked about — going on and off and on and off.... I finally got it through my featherbrained skull that there is no "off the diet." There’s a simple, enjoyable way of eating that works. I’m fine with no added salt. (NOTE TO EVERYBODY: a sprinkle on the surface of your food is allowed. My blood pressure responds better when I don’t add any, so that’s what I choose to do, but you may add salt to the surface of food if it’s not a problem for you.) I’m happy with fruit instead of sugar. Yes, I still miss bread. The Gander toasts bread, a lot, and sometimes I just have to walk away. But I believe in an adage often quoted on these boards: "Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels." And staying out of the Pleasure Trap is a lot easier than getting out of the Pleasure Trap.

I also believe in keeping a clean environment. That bread of the Gander's is in a high cupboard that I don’t go into. He doesn’t bring anything else into the nest that is tempting for me. We did a LOT of negotiating and communicating on this, and it was worth every occasional disagreement to get the environment as clean as possible. Willpower is a limited commodity. The more tempting CRAP (calorie rich and processed) food that’s under your beak and easily accessible, the more willpower it requires to resist it. And it’s not a matter of if you will cave in, it’s a matter of when. Make the good food easy to get and the CRAP food much harder to get, and you’ll be more successful.

I looked at my journal from last year, and I had started maintenance by this day a year ago. I had reached my goal weight. I ended up losing a few more pounds until I hit equilibrium, but I can honestly say that I’ve been on maintenance for a year now. I need a lot more time before I truly become a success story, but I’m here to tell you, it can be done!

Goose