My Dirty Little Secret

[MTeehan]

Ok, it's time to reveal my 'dirty little secret' in the hopes that it will help some of you guys who get a bit frustrated with the scale. In total I've lost 185 pounds following the McDougall Plan and MWL. My DLS is that I get weighed every day, most days, 3 or 4 times. I'm obsessed with it!!! I get weighed first thing in morning and if I have a BM I can tell exactly what I'll weigh right after it. Depends on volume but usually .6 pounds less. I chart my weight with a program I found online. WeightCommander. It tells you a LOT about your trends and I basically use it now to maintain by following MWL if my 'trend' is Gaining Weight and MP if losing or maintaining. The guy who wrote the program is obviously a low-carber so disregard ALL his advice and I've disabled his annoying little 'tips' like 'chooses cauliflower over potatoes', The online version is free and he asks for $10.00 for the one you can install. Anyway, the reason for this post???? Oh, Yeah! In the last 867 days I've had 451 loss days, 327 GAIN days and 89 'stayed the same days'. So, there were 416 days where I didn't lose anything. (48% of the time I didn't lose anything!!! In the last 40 weeks I've had 31 LOSS weeks and 9 GAIN weeks. (55.6 pounds lost in those 40 weeks) My point: Don't obsess over the progress when it gets slow. If you can't help, try to look at the bigger (smaller you!) picture. The MWL program works and I follow you guys almost daily and I see how you (especially the ones who are still here, rain or shine) are where I was and I KNOW you are going to succeed. That's not polite Internet hyperbole, that's a fact I've deduced from my experience of being there and seeing your frustrations as the very same ones I had. The easiest way is to STOP worrying about numbers and just become a life time, card carrying McDougaller and forget about it. The hard way, MY way, I turned my obsseive personality into a positive by demanding of myself: If I'm going to let these numbers run my life then I'd better know those numbers and what they really mean VERY well. Do to the OVERALL numbers what you do to the weekly numbers. Anylyze them to death. I hope this has helped and I hope I haven't driven you crazy if it didn't. Let's see, now I'll go and worry all day if I've ticked any of you off.... SHEESH!!!!!!!
OF COURSE I forgot to add: Whille 55.6 pounds doesn't seem like at lot in 40 weeks I've been 'maintainging for the past 12. ALL of the 55.6 were in the first 28 of those 40 weeks.

[VeganMom]

The easiest way is to STOP worrying about numbers and just become a life time, card carrying McDougaller and forget about it.

Amen!

[TominTN]

Congratulations on your loss! That's a great story. Thank you for sharing it.

[Katydid]

Wow! Thanks for posting this. I thought I was the only weight tracking obsessive around here. Through bitter experience I found that if I don't track my weight, I don't maintain it. I've throw scales away and then I go out and buy another only to find my weight has gone up 20 pounds. But so long as I weigh myself every morning after voiding I feel as if I've made a new daily commitment. It means I'm taking this seriously. Silly I know, but there you are. BTW, I used to use Excel to track my weight but have switch to an ipod app called WeightBot. Like you, I try to be objective about the numbers. I can be down two pounds and then up 1 then next day. As a scientist, I like the idea that I'm running my own experiment. 56 pounds in forty week sound about right to me. It took me 4 years to lose 155 pounds.

[MTeehan]

Anyway thank you for the tips. I have read a lot of what you have written, Nettie, Bob and a couple of others too. It is just so frustrating to fight and not lose over and over again.[/quote]

Hi Debbie! You are OVER 21% completed in your weight loss goal! Almost a quarter of the way there! If I could bet, I seriously would bet that you are gong to get there. I really hope this doesn't sound like hype because it's not. I discoved McD back in the late 80's and I didn't REALLY see it until December of 2008. At that point I just said 'screw it, I'll just BELIEVE it and DO it and see what happens. That seems a lot harder than it is. If Dr. McDougall's philosphy didn't work he wouldn't stii be around. Atkins came and went and came and went AGAIN, Sears pops up with a NEW diet every year or so, The Eades??? Who knows where they are? Wishing you CONTINUED success!
Mike

[Love the Lorax]

FWIW... I'm the same way. If I do not weigh myself every day or so, then I don't see the changes until .. lo and behold.... the scales are UP, UP, UP. I'm more likely to start nibbling, then feasting on SAD foods. It is exactly like Katydid described - somehow when I weigh myself it is like an agreement with myself to lose weight. I've seen the scales go up and down, but overall a slow decrease.

[Daffodil]

What I have to do is re-read all the books again to get my mind made up to follow the plan exactly. I don't know why i am weak willed the way I am and will eat some foods that i know will cause me to not lose weight, i eat them because they are there!
You would think by now I would quit abusing myself that way, because anytime I do this, it's a form of self-abuse. Since it impedes my progress and I go nowhere.
I should use Fitday more diligently, that also shows the graphs and it's free along with no annoying low-carber tips.
Weighing myself daily though, not sure I want to. It gets frustrating when it goes up a pound, down a pound, up a pound, down a half, up, down, up, down.

My quest is to get back to serious Mcdougalling. Nothing with a face or with a mom, and no oil. Wish me luck.

[MTeehan]

56 pounds in forty week sound about right to me. It took me 4 years to lose 155 pounds.

WOW! I just wish those who are down at present could see that this is a process and that each set back is ABSOLUTELY a learning process. It really and truly pains me when I read posts where people just beat the crap out of themselves for not losing a tiny amount of weight over a short period of time. I think a lot of it comes from people like Jillian Michaels hanging her head in shame and disgust when one of her students 'only' lost 5 pounds in a week. I watched the reunion Biggest Loser show and I think there was maybe one person who hadn't gained at least some of their weight back. I listened as one after another these poor media victims 'modeled' their new slightly less obese bodies on national TV.
Anyway, CONGRATS on your sustained success! Today is gonna be a great day for me. The scale showed I stayed the same so I get to stay on regular plan: Probably Burritos and 'fried' rice, banana 'ice cream
and some good whole wheat bread for lunch with a very hearty stew. If the scale is up a bit tomorrow my 'trend' will probably show 'maintaining' and I'll still be on 'regular plan'. Lucky me, eh?

[MTeehan]

Mike[/quote]
Dont mean to sound, well, whiny, but I have lost 5 flipping pounds and those were lost back in august. So 21% (dont know how you got that number but) is nothing in the big picture of it for me:)) So I lost 21% 6 months ago and here I sit:)

Thanks for your vote of confidence, wish I had it too.[/quote]

Hi debbie,
I got the numbers from your ticker, based on your goal. So, Just by doing slight better (4%) you'll reach your goal in 18 months. AND you will have engrained the program so well that McD will become second nature. With weight loss I think it's 'easy goes easy comes'. Just yesterday someone actually asked if he could pay me to write down EXACTLY what he should each for a week, He plans to do it for a year and then go back to eating 'thick juicy steaks'. I do believe I came pretty close to having a stroke!

[Kime]

I weigh myself 4-5 times a day, too. I wonder why I like to weigh myself before and after a BM? It is sort of interesting. I also like to weigh myself when I go to bed and when I get up, because there is usually a 2-3 lb difference and then after my morning BM but before I have breakfast, which is almost always my low for the day. For some reason I think all this weighing helps me keep on track!

[Concerned]

Hi,

I am also having trouble losing weight. People recommend starting each meal with a huge salad. Also, adding cooked veg to the starchy part of your meal. I'm hoping that will help and that I"ll be able to do that consistently.

Maybe the successful McDougallers can give additional advice.

Good luck!

[MTeehan]

Hi,

I am also having trouble losing weight. People recommend starting each meal with a huge salad. Also, adding cooked veg to the starchy part of your meal. I'm hoping that will help and that I"ll be able to do that consistently.

Maybe the successful McDougallers can give additional advice.

Good luck!

Hi Concerned!
YES! Those two things will definetly help! Dr. John warns over and over again to make sure you don't over do it on the veggies because, while you WILL lose fatser, you'll be left unsatisfied. I actually bought a plate that has a 3 way division. It took me over twenty years to learn that half veg and half starch (moderate approach) is the best way to achieve long term succuess. Wishing you much Aloha and success,
Mike

[Potatohead]

Those of you having trouble losing, you might want to try eliminating some foods, when my weight loss stalled, it was because I was eating to many beans and grains...for some reason those foods wouldn't let me lose..I found the more simple my food choices, the faster I would lose...I pretty much stuck to potatoes, veggies and fruit.
Everyone is different, but I thought I would pass this info along...don't get discouraged...

[MaryW]

I jump on my scale all the time too! I find it interesting to see what my weight is at different times of day. Thanks for the link to the weight commander site. I think I might start using it. And thanks for posting such positive supportive messages! It's nice to know that the program works for people like me who have large amounts of weight to lose. It's also nice to know that you can maintain weight on this plan.