July 2021 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[Rebecka22]

154 Weight change +/- in lbs: +0.8 pounds
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

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: While the scale was disappointing, I know it is about the behaviors as you always say, so I will keep pushing forward. This week wasn’t easy, but I stayed the course. I have birthdays all weekend followed by a week at the lake and then another birthday, but I have been planning and these weeks of being on track have me going into these challenging environments in a good space. I will miss next week’s weigh in but I’ll be back after that hopefully to report on my success.

[Artista]

Weight change +/- in lbs:  +1 lb.

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

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I worked really hard at following all of the guidelines this week and I even felt like I was losing weight. It was disappointing this morning to find out that I had actually gained a pound. I am technically in the normal BMI range so maybe I am just not able to lose more weight, maybe this is the weight I need to accept. A bit discouraged.

Thanks, Mark, for all your great moderating of the group.

[OOnaOwl]

Weight change +/- in lbs:

Current weight 118.8
This week's weight change: up .4 pounds

So I was on vacation last week & away from MWL compliant food sources. I gained back 2 pounds, but I've been back since Monday night and already lost 1.5 of those. This leaves me at a gain of .4 pounds since my last June MWL weigh in. Hope that makes sense!



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

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
So I was unable to follow MWL or even Starch Solution while away. My checklist for while I was away would be all NO answers but since Monday's return would be mostly YES or MOSTLY answers. I began again as soon as I returned & have stayed positive and goal focused. I am excited to have more success this month! I am sleeping better & enjoying making creative starch based salads.

[GreenFroG]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -1.0 lb

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 dessert.
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).

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Thanks for the encouragement last week Mark, and I hope you had a great time at the beach with the family! I tried to do a quick check-in every day with the 10 point checklist as you suggested and it helped me to settle back into a better groove. Hoping to keep it up as I try to work more exercise into my routine in addition to walking. I started back at the gym taking a few exercise classes. I noticed that my appetite is stronger but as long as I follow the guidelines, and stay away from the after dinner snacking, I seemed to be able to stay on track this week. I ran into a couple people at the gym that I have not seen for over a year and they noticed how much weight I have lost, so that was a victory for me. Sometimes I forget to look back at my progress, so it was encouraging. Hoping to keep the groove this next week!

[Mark Cooper]

Gabby7 - Hi! Welcome to the group!

PonysPlants - Congratulations on all your progress; not such a "pie in the sky" dream, after all, Naomi! Keep up the "Star McDougalling." Onward!

squealcat - Wow! Big drop this week, Marilyn; that time invested in having prepared, adherent food ready to go clearly worked in your favor, right? Wishing you continuing relief from the leg pain.

deweyswakms - 10/10 and down 1.8 lbs! Way to go with "cutting the CRAP", Marsha!

George Ohwell - Glad your first day went well! Beans are included among the recommended foods, but are certainly not required to be eaten (and Dr. McDougall recommends limiting beans to ~1 Cup/day on average, generally). This post should answer your fruit-related questions, here is a great post regarding the most effective way to assemble snacks, and this is a general discussion of the perspective in which to view these sorts of concerns and decisions.

bunsofaluminum - It's good you were able to dispose of those non adherent items without feeling out of control, Heidi. Would making a list of adherent groceries you intend to buy ahead of time, and then really committing to stick to it be something that might help avoid coming home with troublesome stuff? Just as a frame of reference for everyone on how calorie rich items can shift the balance, the calorie density of the bread is likely ~1100 calories /lb, and the higher fat plant foods serve to effectively decrease the overall satiety per calorie, so one can see why it can be easy to overconsume those foods. Kudos for setting your sights on a 10/10 week to come!

Rebecka22 - It is natural to feel that disappointment when the scale doesn't reflect our excellent efforts, but I think you are doing great! Our imprecise, weight-based measure will always be driven by the prevailing pattern of behavior, given sufficient time. You posted solid weight loss the past three weeks, and your adherence is on track, so just keep staying that course (especially when it isn't easy). Hooray for you putting in the time, planning and preparation to face potentially challenging environments from a position of empowerment. Have fun!

Artista - By adhering to ALL the recommended behaviors, you are doing exactly the right thing, Nancy! I can imagine how disappointing it felt when today's scale reading was incongruent with those diligent efforts. Try to keep in mind that scale-measured weight on any single day is, at best, an imprecise and imperfect stand-in for the outcome we really seek to attain: fat loss (and, of course, well being). It has been my experience that it can often take longer than we would expect for progress to be reflected on the scale. In other words, it is very possible that important, positive developments are happening that have not yet been captured in the chosen measurement. Give yourself time, keep up the consistent adherence, and the outcomes will follow (although not always on our schedule).

OOnaOwl - Sounds like you've made a solid start returning to the recommended behaviors in the immediate aftermath of your vacation! Aim for saying YES to the 10 points and I'm sure you'll see further progress ahead.

GreenFroG - Down a pound! Looks like a good groove, indeed; I'm glad the quick, daily check-in was helpful. It's always fun when acquaintances offer those unsolicited "reminders" of our progress, right? We had a really fun (and adherent ) beach getaway - thank you for asking! Enjoy the exercise classes and guard that groove!

[Shooter]

Hi. So happy to be a part of this group. Thanks in advance for your support.

[Shooter]

Had some difficulty trying to get logged in, but then had some great help. I've read Maximum Weight Loss and The Starch Solution. Will weigh in tomorrow and figure out how to do my postings. Thanks. All advice/input is appreciated.

[Mark Cooper]

Had some difficulty trying to get logged in, but then had some great help. I've read Maximum Weight Loss and The Starch Solution. Will weigh in tomorrow and figure out how to do my postings. Thanks. All advice/input is appreciated.

Hi. So happy to be a part of this group. Thanks in advance for your support.

Hi! Happy you found us. Be sure to review the Orientation information for the group - it covers everything you need to know.

[texaslil]

Weight change +/- in lbs:

-2lbs
165.8

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, ONE MEAL WITH A LITTLE TOFU
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'VE BEEN GOING TO HOT YOGA AND LOVING IT.. EVEN IN THE HEAT OF THE SUMMER!

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Hi Everyone, Happy July to all! We are solidly into summer, my favorite season of all. I've been enjoying the variety of fruits and veggies, some of my favs being cherries, nectarines and delicious homegrown tomatoes! I'm also thrilled with my weigh loss this week, 2 lbs, such a relief after the longest ever plateau, ~7 months. I think eliminating the avocado has been a beneficial element of the success as well as not eating past 9-9:30. Could it also be seasonal? The majority of my weight loss last year happened in the summer as well. At any rate, I have also increased the number of meals I have with potatoes which might be helpful as well. Last week I was looking for a 'go-to' dinner and I think I found it! mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, so filling and delicious. Question on nutritional yeast (which I love in my mashed potatoes), is it allowable?

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the summer!

Thank you for the support and for this group, I look forward to reading over everyone's comments each week.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi everyone!! Happy Friday!!!

Weight Change - Loss .6 lbs.
Current weight - 147.2 lbs.
Last Week weight - 147.8 lbs.


1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES - 21/23

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 - 22/23

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. :) I have reduced, not eliminated. I will eliminate if this becomes an issue.

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, 7/7 days

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, 7/7

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Thank you, Mark for the warm welcome. It feels great to be back with this group and I am feeling on track!! I am focusing on 1) and 2) and feel like I have been pretty successful this week with preloading and using 50/50 plating method. I will be continuing on with that focus and also on keeping consistent with exercise. Move it or lose it...

I appreciate reading everyone's posts on this thread. Rooting for all of the participants!!!!

Hope that everyone in US has a wonderful 4th of July weekend!! For the folks in the rest of the world, Happy Weekend!!

Best,
Stephanie

[Health 1st]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -6

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: The 1st day was great, but by the 2nd, I had something small that was a higher fat WFPB item that I don't even remember now...probably a few dry roasted peanuts. Anyway, try as I might, that started eating away (no pun intended) on my mind. I have batteled an all or nothing mentality for far too long and really want and need to get out of it because instead of being great with my eating 99-100% of the time, I end up being great 5-15%. So unfortunately I dealt with that this week. Yes, I lost 6 pounds, but I actually lost more, gained some and lost again to settle on 6 pounds in 6 days. But what my main concern is is putting health 1st and that includes my mind. If/when a dish has a couple peanuts or little avocado, I don't want it throwing me off. I appreciate, in advance, your bearing with me on my rocky journey of eating. I'm kind of seeing this week as a "soft start" or an easing into the full-blown program. I still did a LOT better than I have for months...so small victories did at least occur.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Still haven't mastered this one.
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. Did pretty good with the 50/50 plate or bowl. Had fruit for snacks...fresh peaches are very yummy right now!
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. Didn't add any sugar or salt and am reappreciating the wonderful inherent flavors of plain, natural foods! But did still co some some processed foods that have sweeteners and salt.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Still had some dairy.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Had something WFPB the 2nd day but don't even remember what it was and yet it led to my derailment.
6. Eliminate any added oil. No added oils while cooking but had items a few times that had 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. Did have a very healthy sandwich made on Ezekiel Bread for 1 lunch. Had 1 bag of non-compliant (oil/butter) popcorn.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). No problem here...finally a full victory!
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Actually succeeded on this one, too, just have to consistently have better food choices for ALL times I put food in my mouth.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Walked 30 minutes+ for 6 days. Hope to get more brisk as body feels better--aches + pains.

[cmcavazos2]

Weight change +/- in lbs: No change in weight - 0 loss/0 gain

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
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. NO
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:
Victories - - .8# loss for June 11 and maintained my same weight through 7/2.
Concerns - I have not been able to post over the past several weeks. Previously I would enter my user name and my password would automatically appear. Over the past several Fridays, I tried to log in and my password did not appear. I could not remember my password and was not able to find a way to reset it. -- I got frustrated and thought that maybe the forum was down, was upgrading, or was having technical issues. Then I thought that maybe I had been blocked or removed for some reason. --- So today, I re-registered from cmcavazos to cmcavazos2 with my work email to get back in the forum. So I'm back thankfully since I know that weekly posting is a key element in my MWL program.
Questions - None this week

I'll be checking in next Friday -- hopefully with a loss.

Christine (cmcavazos - cmcavazos2)

[Gabby7]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -2lbs

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Mostly (just added this group yesterday)
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 to Everything but the air popped popcorn and corn tortillas, I had been eating them up until joining yesterday had popcorn 3 days and corn tortillas 1 day
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 either through workout or had two days off but had to do lots of manual labor (lifting heavy machines) and walking for work

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Excited to see how this goes without the corn tortillas and popcorn. I have done MWL on my own a while ago and lost 35lbs. Gained about 8 back and looking to lose the rest of the weight now (about 25-30lbs). I believe tortillas and popcorn could have derailed me in the past.

[George Ohwell]

George Ohwell - Glad your first day went well! Beans are included among the recommended foods, but are certainly not required to be eaten (and Dr. McDougall recommends limiting beans to ~1 Cup/day on average, generally). This post should answer your fruit-related questions, here is a great post regarding the most effective way to assemble snacks, and this is a general discussion of the perspective in which to view these sorts of concerns and decisions.

wow, this is so helpful. I'm so appreciative to have this moderated forum and the feedback from you, Mark. I sometimes eat fruit instead of starch, especially this time of year when it is so abundant. I will review these discussions you linked and see if my behavior needs modification.

thanks again.

[carwex]

Starting weight: 141.5
Last week’s weight: 129.8
Current weight: 128.5
Loss/gain this week: - 1.3 pounds

1. Start each meal with a soup or salad. yes
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method, ½ starch and ½ vegetables. yes
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and salts. yes
4. Eliminate all animal foods. yes
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods. Use a bit of miso or fermented bean curd as seasoning/a little almond milk in porridge and
tea. yes
6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie dense foods. yes
8. Don’t drink your calories. yes
9. Follow these principles whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Yes.
10. Avoid being sedentary. Did a lot of walking this week

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: We are in a lockdown of sorts in Sydney so no swimming or fitness, but a lot of walking and some zoom yoga.
I have been quite on target this week as far as adherence to the principles. I do use some non-adherent substances like miso or sambal paste but in small quantities as seasonings.
Otherwise, I am using less salt and only at table and trying to substitute with lots of spices. Also trying to not overload the plate. Eating family style where all the food is on the table is too enticing for me- more opportunity to take seconds so I try to bring the already filled plates to the table. No going back for seconds.

I have scanned through from the beginning of my participation on the MWL and noticed a very slow but steady progression downward. I am happy to report that while my initial goal from a year ago was 130 - now I weigh under that and am feeling really well. I love this food plan and everything on it.
Certainly, continuing to report here, reading the others’ posts and the lovely feedback from Mark has helped enormously. Together we can.