Moderators: JeffN, f1jim, carolve, Heather McDougall
Exactly! Having easy access to adequate amounts of minimally processed starches, non starchy vegetables, and fruits is key.BambiS wrote:The following week I am going to be sure to pack a large potato and veggies for lunch.
I would expect this will help quite a bit.frowsyowl wrote:I will further clean things up and prepare better for this coming week.
Sounds like a great plan to me! Make it so!frowsyowl wrote:I will continue to increase the starch at meals as needed, plan more finger foods for work and try to find the things that I really enjoy eating so that I can get them on 'repeat'.
It is really remarkable how much the "backdrop" of our environment can influence, enable, and/or support a given behavior, right?Rebecka22 wrote:There was definitely some stress and some thoughts about stress eating, but a cleaner environment helped me to not give in to those thoughts.
That makes a lot of sense to me; following through and successfully achieving that goal is a great way to build self-efficacy, too.Rebecka22 wrote:I think my very specific goal that feels achievable is helping me stay the course as well.
Awesome achievement!Gimmelean wrote:Most of the other points are, for the most part, natural now for me and in retrospect, I’m amazed.
This feels like an important reflection.Gimmelean wrote:It didn’t happen overnight.
Sometimes it feels pretty tough to break through that barrier, right? As Jeff has said,Gimmelean wrote:This week I am going to concentrate on eating only the recommended foods on the checklist. . . . I really have to knuckle through this and it will become manageable.
Onward!JeffN wrote:The fundamental basic principle of the MWL Program and the principles of calorie density is "whenever hungry, eat until comfortably full of the recommended foods." Because of this, there is no reason for anyone to feel hungry when following our guidelines. The recommended foods are minimally processed starches, fruits and vegetables. The most satiety, short term and long term comes from minimally processed starches and to keep the calorie density low, have them with some non-starchy vegetables. Remember, we do not have to figure out if it is true hunger, appetite, craving, etc. However, to be successful, you have to prepare for success and make sure you have availability of minimally processed starches throughout the day.
At the 10-Day program, the snack room is full of veggies (cherry tomatoes, baby carrots), fruits (apples, oranges) and starches (regular hummus, roasted red pepper hummus, potatoes, Split pea soup, Black bean soup, and Lentil Couscous soup). People choose from both the starches and fruits/vegetables. Choosing just vegetables or fruit will not be enough for most people to feel satiated. If you experience cravings for unhealthy foods, you can beat these cravings by choosing healthy foods to eat and knowing that these cravings will eventually pass and stop. However, you can not beat your biology (hunger) and your biology/hunger will eventually win.
Lizzy_F wrote:I am going to treat that as an experiment, and report the results after no eating these types of foods for about 8 months. NOW I totally understand why these types of foods never ever worked as an aid to weight loss back in the old days of Weight Watchers, etc. THERE IS NO SATIATION AT ALL WITH THESE FOODS! Thank you Jeff for your lectures and writing which really drive this point home. Seeing is believing, and I guess I’m grateful to have experienced this lack of satiation first hand, after such a long time of eating MWL. So – I now realize I don’t miss these foods, and I understand fully why they never worked!
Thank you for sharing this. It seems like an important realization, and I imagine it will strike a chord with many participants. Now you have embodied knowledge that the fundamental principles Jeff outlines really are accurate and appropriate to your lived reality. GREEN DOTS marching on!Lizzy_F wrote: Interesting about those high calorie density dried out foods (rice cakes, crackers). I ate and ate and ate, and never felt anything. I didn’t feel “stuffed” at all – just empty, even though many calories were consumed.
You have a GREAT set of tools in place to support your efforts! I could not agree more strongly with your observation about "making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult." Progress > perfection. Keep it up!Greens wrote:Having starches made ahead, lots of frozen veggies, packing a thermos and compliant foods when I know I won’t be home for hours has really helped. In horsemanship they talk about in training, making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult. The emphasis is on making the right thing easy, having only compliant foods at home and bringing them with me when I’m out for extended time, being a better gate keeper of what comes into my home when buying things for others here. I am still using a notebook to record my food and tick off the list of MWL guidelines.
Do you feel like this is happening for any particular reason? Have there been any significant changes to your environment or routine?Hjklost55 wrote:Keep thinking about things I use to eat and don’t anymore.
You are absolutely right. It can feel REALLY hard at times, especially when so many facets of our broader society and culture seem to work in opposition to what we're trying to achieve. That doesn't help to make anything easy. Something that helps me is to connect with my goals, values and desires: What do I really want? What am I trying to achieve? Why is that important? Don't forget to give yourself grace and treat yourself compassionately.Hjklost55 wrote:it is hard sometimes!!
What an amazing observation! What you describe really resonates with my experience. Thank you so much for sharing this!Noella wrote:I like writing and find it helpful for reaching my goals. Understanding my goals clearly, and thinking about and writing about some of the obstacles that might get in the way of me reaching this, often energizes me and leads me to a more effective plan. I begin my writing activity by identifying a realistic goal I want to achieve. Next, I mentally imagine one positive outcome of achieving this goal and, next, one obstacle that stands in the way of my success. This reflection sets me up for the final step: making a clear plan for getting around that obstacle. I don’t want to make the common mistake when setting a goal is to indulge in fantasies about how great life will be after accomplishing it—without considering what’s currently holding me back. Mentally contrasting my hoped-for outcome with an obstacle that stands in my path is helpful because this prepares me ( more self-efficacy!!)to make a plan for when and how I’ll take action whenever that obstacle happens.
JeffN wrote:However, the problem with these index's is the same problem there is when we look at any one aspect of food. Finding foods that are the most filling is important, but we also want to find the foods that are the most filling, and the lowest in calorie density and the highest in nutrient density. So, while this information has value, it needs to be used along with the other issues I mentioned.
For instance, while protein, when tested as an isolated nutrient, shows a slightly higher satiety level than carbohydrate, we don't eat food as isolated nutrients. When we look at similar foods, with equal protein (or carb or fat) content, the food that is bulkier, with a higher water and fiber content, will be the most filling. So, single isolated components do not work in the real world with real foods.
So, when we put it all together, we see a food like beans, due to their high fiber, water and protein content are filling. However, most people can only eat so many beans a day. In addition, the boiled potato, at 1% protein, was far more filling than any other food tested. So, protein is not the only factor as the sheer bulk of the potato won out over the protein of the beans by far and was almost 2x as filling! So, the low protein potato beat out the high protein beans (and all other high protein foods tested) due to its other factors. Even the lower protein oatmeal and W/W pasta was ranked over most all other higher protein foods due to their high water, high fiber and bulk of the oatmeal and the pasta.
This is why the way Doug Lisle, Dr McDougall and myself teach it is a better way to look at it as we take into consideration all three issues, calorie density, satiety and nutrient density.
So, the principles as outlined in the Maximum Weight Loss Program are excellent and incorporate the best of everything.
Return to Maximum Weight Loss Program
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests