November 2020 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[alishana]

Hi !

I'm up 1,1 lbs.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. -- I don't really do this because I don't eat large portions of food.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. -- I did it exept for 1 meal.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. -- Yes !
4. Eliminate all animal foods. -- Yes !
6. Eliminate any added oil. -- I had some oil at a friend's house and when I ordered diner.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods. -- I had some hummus made with tahini.
8. Don't drink your calories. -- Yes !
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. -- Yes !
10. Avoid being sedentary. -- Yes !

Thank you so much Mark for your response last week ! Always helpfull.

The first part of the week went very good and then I felt blue for some reasons. My old scale wasn't accurate so I bought a new one (it was manual and on kg - 1kg = 2,2lbs - so I coulnd't really see variations). I was heavier than I thought and felt a bit discouraged even if I feel lighter in my body. I ended up having 4 non compliant meals.
For the positive side : I've been more active this week ! I had yoga 2 days and walked the rest of the week. Also, since yesterday I feel better and had compliant food. I went grocery shopping and bought all the veggies and fruits that I wanted.
I think that I need to learn consistancy and learn to don't act on my feelings (ex : "I feel like ordering some food tonight" should be a no no). I'm grateful to live this experience, so much is going on in my relationship with food and I'm greatefull to be able to acknoledge some of my patterns and act on it.

I hope everyone had a good week !

[Abe]

Weight Change: +0.8 lbs.

MWL Points:

1. Start meals with soup or salad.
2. Follow 50/50 plate volume.
3. Eliminate sugar and salt.
4. Eliminate animal based foods.
5. Eliminate higher fat plant foods.
   I ate some soybeans this week in the form of Natto because I wanted to try it. It was much too delicious for me to handle, and caused me to overeat. I will have to throw the rest out.
6. Eliminate oil.
7. Eliminate higher calorie dense foods.
8. Do not drink your calories.
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.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
I am back to the same weight were I have been for the last two months.

I do use low sodium mustard on my potatoes quite often, and the healthy ketchup that tasted terrible and wrong to me when I first started eating this way is now delicious to my new palate. I had to research what "NSA" referred to. I guess it is an acronym that I should be familiar with by now: No Salt Added - for the rest of you who might see this and not know what it means. Thanks for the suggestion, I gave this tomato sauce based dressing a try (without salt and sugar) and I liked it for salad and potatoes.
https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... o-Dressing

I went from eating restaurant food almost every day for lunch, dinner, and sometimes breakfast to having to prepare all of my own meals, like this salad dressing. I need a break. I want to go on a food prep and cooking free vacation! The COVID-19 restrictions have made sticking to this way of eating all of the time easier for me, but I look forward to finding some restaurant MWL compliant options when things go back to normal. In order for this way of eating to be sustainable for me over the long term I need less cooking/food prep. I have gotten to really like the MWL recommended food and exercise, but the cooking is really getting to me after a whole year of it.

[josietheschnauzer]

Weight change: NO CHANGE:

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). AGAIN, ONE SLICE OF AVOCADO WITH GRATIS PIECE OF VEGETABLE SUSHI.
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES AND NO. PLEASE SEE NO. 7.
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. ONE WEEK AGO, I HAD VEGETABLE PIZZA (NO CHEESE BUT FLOUR AND OIL?). LAST FRIDAY WITH THE PIZZA I HAD INDIVIDUAL SERVING PACKAGES OF POTATO CHIPS. I THINK I HAD THREE. NO LESS.
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. SOMETIMES YES, SOMETIMES NO. I AM STILL IN THE STUFF MYSELF PHASE OF GETTING BACK INTO CONTROL. I AM HAVING TROUBLE GETTING FULL. I AM HAVING SOUP AND SALAD AS STARTERS FOR LUNCH AND DINNER.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES, I RUN OR WALK FIVE OR MORE MILES A DAY. I AM VIRTUALLY RUNNING AROUND THE WORLD WITH MY RUNNING GROUP. AT THE SAME TIME I AM VIRTUALLY ON ROUTE 66 ACROSS AMERICA.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I AM NOW USING BABY SPINACH AS MY "LETTUCE". IT FILLS ME UP AND IS EXTRA NUTRITIOUS FOR MY SALAD. IT ALSO SIMPLIFIES MY SHOPPING BECAUSE I CAN USE IT FOR ANYTHING. I HAVE GREENS THREE TIMES A DAY AND NOW HAVE KALE WITH MY OATMEAL. I AM IN THIS FOR THE LONG HAUL. WOULD WILD GOOSE SHARE THE RECIPE SHE USES FOR KETCHUP? I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE IT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT.

[Veganjo]

0/0 lbs


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. - sometimes
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. -- Yes
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. -- Yes
4. Eliminate all animal foods. -- had some brisket
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, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. -- Yes
10. Avoid being sedentary. -- Yes

[jan_npr]

- 2.0 lbs
A 10-POINT CHECKLIST FOR MAXIMUM WEIGHT LOSS (MWL)

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.  Yes to most meals
2) Follow the 50/50 plate method 2) Choose fruit for desert. Yes. My favourite rule
3) Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts.  Yes
4) Eliminate all animal foods 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, puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit. Yes
8 ) Don’t drink your calories 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 very slow sore knee walking but yes

Broke through a long plateau (due to not enough compliance). My husband kindly stepped up to help me (and him) with accountability. This finally puts me at/over the 10 lb loss mark since I started here in May. 7.9 lbs to go to get in healthy BMI range but aiming to do much better than that. Slow slogging but I assume makes for more permanent change.
Thanks for your help as always.

[squealcat]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -2.4 !

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. much better this week ! Did well on all meals except 2
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. missed this point on 4 meals
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. reduced my salt intake this week and almost eliminated it one day as an experiment
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). did well on all but 3 meals
6. Eliminate any added oil. all but 2 meals
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 trouble with this one 2 days
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). never
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.I worked on this one
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). I walked and did some resistance exercises 5 days. When I walk I do so for over an hour so I feel this is good !


Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I feel good about this week. I am learning about myself as time goes on (don't we all?) I continue to have soup or salad before lunch and dinner (fruit before breakfast) . I have also been concentrating on that fullness signal. Sometimes I don't stop when satisfied and just keep on eating. I don't really stuff myself but I think I go beyond satiety.

I am hoping for another loss this next week. I know this won't happen every week but another loss would make me feel like I am really doing this. I listened to Doug Lisle's "Cram Circuit" talk a couple of days ago. Every time I listen to it I gain more information. It was SO good and really applies to me.

-squealcat (Marilyn)

[JeffN]

QUESTION: I think Dr. Ling at the McDougall program said that 21 was an optimal BMI for health and longevity. What do our moderators think of that?

To clarify, there is no exact number. Dr Lim gives a range which he gets from this thread of mine, which is a review of the literature on BMI and health.

Optimum BMI
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=6916

The range we recommend is 18.5 to about 22. However, realize this is a general range. Often, when people see the range, they assume 18.5 is the best, which is not true, and then go crazy trying to get there. Several studies have shown that 22/23 is best. We don't know for sure but it seems fairly clear that the bottom half of the healthy range (18.5 to 22) is probably best for most. I cover these issues in the following threads which I recommend you review.

Optimal BMI - Redux
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=52375

Difference in food choices and BMI
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=46837

Should we all try to get to 22 BMI?
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=30838

Should we all try to get to 22 BMI Pt 2
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=43218

In Health
Jeff

[Rebecka22]

190.8
Weight change +/- in lbs:  -.6
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 except some coconut milk in one dinner
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 except one slice of banana bread last Sunday
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES and I had the willpower to not drink an almond milk mocha that was bought for me. I felt guilty about wasting, but all the posts on here helped me stay on track. I didn’t tell anyone I didn’t drink it though.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. I still think this is where I need the most work. I’m not stuffing myself, but I think I’m eating more than I need.
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: Even though it was still a loss, I was pretty disappointed with the number this week. Especially considering all that I avoided, but one thing I’ve learned from this group is to keep on working and it will pay off. I feel good and healthy and like I’m making progress, so I need focus on that and keep putting in the work.

[PonysPlants]

1 lbs down this week. Still a bit of a battle this week. We’re into lockdown week 2 here in the UK and the boredom and general sadness around the whole situation has got to me. Hard not to want those “comfort” sweets on an evening. Every evening after dinner I’ve been wanting something sweet. Saved a fruit portion for this time of day that helps a bit but slipped on a couple of occasions and has cookies. Boooo! Also had half an avocado.

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. It’s just automatic for me now to decide on a starch and base my meal around that.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts, too. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES Easy. Vegan for life
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados,) NO. Had half an avocado in a kale salad.
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. Had cookies out of sheer emotional eating. Need to watch this and remember they didn’t actually magically make me feel better!!
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. NO. Didn’t manage every day this week but up from the week before. A couple of days I just did 10 but at least it helps build the habit.

Reached my body fat percentage goal this week which was nice. I’ll adjust it down again now but nice to reach a healthy %. Also, I don’t know if I’m the only Brit on here but I am on the cusp of being in the 10 stone weight range which honestly seemed completely out of reach not that long ago. My ideal weight is 10 stone so nice to be within sight of that!

Thank you so much to Mark and the other moderators. I appreciate all of your hard work so much.

Naomi

[CindyD]

SW July 2020, 211.7
Result to-date, -49.0

Last week, Nov 6 162.8
This week, Nov 13 162.7
RESULT -0.1

GUIDELINES

1, 3-8, 10 GOOD

2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals..
Not good. Ate extra starch for sure this week.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.
As above, ate starches for some snacks, probably wasn't hungry.

It was almost like I was testing the edges to see what I could get away with. Of course, not gaining is great! I used some extra snacks to deal with the stress of news, but I am already back on track with a big pot of vegetable soup in the fridge. I also saw a doctor I hadn't seen in a year and his reaction to the smaller me was pretty nice and encouraging.

Mark, I am sorry to hear you are dealing with medical issues. Hope you're managing ok! Thanks for doing this thing for us.

[GreenFroG]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -2.2

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. ate one restaurant meal that was fire roasted veggies on a salad but I am sure it had extra salt
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. restaurant meal above also probably had some oil in it as well
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: Yeah! Last week I was commenting that I seemed to be slowing down on my weight loss since I am getting closer to a regular weight, but this week it seems to have readjusted. You really do just have to trust the process and let the scale work itself out. Mark, you asked what my BMI was, so I did go on the ticker factory and it is 22.7 now. I am not sure at what BMI a person's weight begins to slow down, but I assume that I am getting closer? My goals from last week were to watch my fruit servings to make sure they were not too large, and felt I did well on eyeballing them this week. I also was going to increase my exercise routine, but didn't do as well on this. I got in my brisk walking everyday and added a couple of times of additional exercise, but my consistency wasn't there. I will be working on adding in consistent exercise this week in addition to my walking. I also ate out once this week, and felt that my choice of fire roasted veggies on a salad was pretty good, but it did probably have salt and oil in it. I am hoping it does not put too much of a chink in the weight loss next week.
Thank you moderators for all you do for us!

[Marla]

Weight change +/- in lbs: 0 (first time weighing in here, and I changed my weigh-in day from Monday to Friday, so time since last weigh-in was only 4 days)

Starting weight: 230
Weight this week: 160.4
Goal weight: 120

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Maybe, depending on answer to questions below
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. Maybe, depending on answer to questions below
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, although I think adding soup/salad before dinner is making me feel a little overfull at times. Will work on leaving some of my starch portion uneaten if I start to feel full.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes, exercised every day.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

I am very happy and excited to be here! I very much appreciate the hard work that the moderators of this group put in to help us reach our health goals.

I do have questions about how I should answer checklist items #1 and #2. If it is helpful in answering my questions, you can see visual examples of my daily food in my journal (link in my signature).

Background information to my questions:

My usual breakfast consists of 1-2 cups of vegetables, a cup of oat groats, and a cup of fruit. I eat the vegetables first, then the fruit and oats together. I have tried eating the fruit first, then the vegetables, then the oats, and it didn't make any difference to my satiety or the total amount of food consumed, but it did cause me to enjoy my breakfast less.

My usual lunch consists of a large green salad and a serving of starch, or a large bowl of non-starchy vegetable soup (about a quart) and a serving of starch. The ratio of non-starchy vegetables to starch in the total meal is at least 2:1 (i.e. 3 or more cups non-starchy vegetables to 1.5 cups sweet potato). I am wondering if a large portion of soup/salad, eaten prior to the starch, functions as both the preload, and the vegetable component of the 50/50 plate.

With dinner, I often have steamed vegetables on the side so it is easy to see the 50/50 division, but occasionally dinner is a starch/vegetable stew with a high volume of vegetables (>50%) in it. If there are that many vegetables in the entree, I may not prepare separate steamed vegetables.

My questions:

Question 1: Do cooked green and yellow vegetables qualify as an acceptable food for preloading (checklist item #1), or is it only salads and soups?

Question 2: If a large salad or bowl of soup (containing a substantial amount of non-starchy vegetables) is consumed at the beginning of the meal, can the large salad/soup satisfy both checklist item #1 (start with a salad/soup) and checklist item #2 (50/50 method)?

Question 3: If vegetables and starch are mixed together 50/50, does this satisfy checklist item #2 (50/50 plate)?

[wildgoose]

WOULD WILD GOOSE SHARE THE RECIPE SHE USES FOR KETCHUP?

@josietheschnauzer Sure! It’s a variation on a recipe by Cathy Fisher, modified because I am a very lazy bird when it comes to cooking. I posted it back in March; link is here.

Goose

[wildgoose]

Background information to my questions:

My usual breakfast consists of 1-2 cups of vegetables, a cup of oat groats, and a cup of fruit. I eat the vegetables first, then the fruit and oats together. I have tried eating the fruit first, then the vegetables, then the oats, and it didn't make any difference to my satiety or the total amount of food consumed, but it did cause me to enjoy my breakfast less.

My usual lunch consists of a large green salad and a serving of starch , or a large bowl of non-starchy vegetable soup (about a quart) and a serving of starch. The ratio of non-starchy vegetables to starch in the total meal is at least 2:1 (i.e. 3 or more cups non-starchy vegetables to 1.5 cups sweet potato). I am wondering a large portion of soup/salad, eaten prior to the starch, functions as both the preload, and the vegetable component of the 50/50 plate.

With dinner, I often have steamed vegetables on the side so it is easy to see the 50/50 division, but occasionally dinner is a starch/vegetable stew with a high volume of vegetables (>50%) in it. If there are that many vegetables in the entree, I may not prepare separate steamed vegetables.

My questions:

Question 1: Do cooked green and yellow vegetables qualify as an acceptable food for preloading (checklist item #1), or is it only salads and soups?

Question 2: If a large salad or bowl of soup (containing a substantial amount of non-starchy vegetables) is consumed at the beginning of the meal, can the large salad/soup satisfy both checklist item #1 (start with a salad/soup) and checklist item #2 (50/50 method)?


Question 3: If vegetables and starch are mixed together 50/50, does this satisfy checklist item #2 (50/50 plate)?

@Marla Your questions are very similar to ones I had to work out for my own pattern of eating.

#3 is easy. A resounding YES. I always mix veggies and starch. If the proportions are 50/50, that’s perfect. No problem.

#1 and #2 can only be answered when you think about the reasons for preloading: first, to start to fill up on very low calorie density food; and second, to lower the overall calorie density of the meal by being sure to include significant quantities of lower calorie density food (particularly before you eat — and get full on — higher calorie density starches). Soup, filled with non-starchy vegetables and water, is high in volume, very low in calorie density. Salad is composed of the vegetables that are the lowest in calorie density — leafy greens. So those two are the ideal preload candidates.

Fruit was put on that list because it is relatively low in calorie density, and because it provides a good option for breakfast.

People have used various combinations of the preload idea, with varying degrees of success. Here’s where the differences in individuals come in, and where an individual’s goals and nearness to reaching those goals might be important. For example, a person who has a lot of weight to lose might not be as conscientious about preloading and find out that he/she can still lose weight (albeit perhaps more slowly than if the preloading guideline had been followed more faithfully). Fast-forward six months, where the person is within 10 pounds of goal weight, and that individual might seriously consider revisiting the preload idea as weight loss slows or stops.

What I did was eat a lot of soup in the winter months and a lot of raw veggies in the summer. I’m not a salad fan, and this worked for me. I also did the combination for breakfast, similar to what you describe, and it worked. I was able to keep the overall calorie density of my meals low by having lunches like yours, but I was careful to keep the percentage of non-starchy vegetables high. HOWEVER, if my weight loss had stalled, or if I had found myself loading up on the starches to the exclusion of green/yellow vegetables, I would have been more diligent about preloading.

Preloading, or meal sequencing, is a technique that helps weight loss. It’s why we encourage it. But the principles of calorie density remain the same, and what you’re trying to do is lower your calorie density while being able to eat to satiety. If you can do that with a different style of preloading and still achieve your goals, that’s good. If you find that you’re no longer losing weight, you may decide you need to look at guideline #1 as written.

Goose

[Rita<3]

Weight change +/- in lbs: 175-171.5!!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Y
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.Y Choose fruit for dessert.Y
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.Y
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).Y
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).Y
6. Eliminate any added oil.Y
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.Y
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).Y
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.Y Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.Y
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 3xs (4)this week, doing yoga in 5 minutes!

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
So grateful for VeggieSue & Mark for your loving kindness & advice!!
It really helped me get on the right track!!

Please forgive my wholly unnecessary baby whiner rant.
I’m sending love, patience, & good energy to everyone succeeding & struggling this week!
You’ve been motivators for me. Thank you for your patience.
I thank you again!!