August 2021 McDougall MWL Weigh-In Group

[veggiemelt]

Weight change +/- in lbs: Zero - I'm transitioning from SS, where I've stopped losing weight for the time being. I'm trying to get my MWL act on track. Maybe this is a quarantine problem, but I'm finding change overwhelming!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. No - but I'm working on that!
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. I'm getting better at this! It is a little harder than I expected.
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. Done! ✔️
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Done! ✔️
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Almost! I had 2 ounces of avocado and 6 ounces tofu this week.
6. Eliminate any added oil. Done!✔️
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. All eliminated except bread once and a pizza crust once.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Done! ✔️
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. I don't stuff, but I have a hard time recognizing satiation. It's like "not yet, not yet, not yet, Whoa I'm done!"I had problems with compulsive overeating before SS, so I've come a long way. But after almost 50 pounds weight lost, I need to cut back some more, and that is taking some self-talk.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).Not quite.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Sheesh, I thought I was doing better until I wrote it all out. This has been eye opening!

[Gimmelean]

Weight change +/- in lbs: -2.4
7/30/2021. 126.0
8/06/2021. 123.6

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

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. Increasing exercise has helped.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions. I love the summer because I temporarily lose my ravenous appetite, eat lighter and smaller quantities, and the resulting weight loss that comes with. I’ll take it. The challenges for me are ALWAYS December through May to maintain my weight or lose and it ALWAYS takes an emotional toll on me during those months when I feel out of control. Thank you McDougallers for sane inspiration, motivation, education, structure, and the guidance of this forum for when the going gets rough. Enjoying the rest of summer and hope you do the same!

[cmcavazos2]

Weight change +/- in lbs: + .4# 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. NO
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. 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. 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.
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: I'm back on track. I stayed away from any type of sugar or bread all week.
Comments: We had a staff potluck celebration yesterday -- I did well in my food choices, but I'm sure that some had extra salt and oil. I hope that I'll be able to show a loss for next week. It should be a fairly routine week where I have complete control over the food/ingredients that are on my plate.
Questions: None

[onajourney]

[color=#0000FF]I started the MWL plan on 8/2.
8/2 188.0
8/6 187.6[color=#00BFFF][color=#0000FF][/color]
Weight change +/- in lbs: -.4 lbs for 5 days[/color][/color]

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. 80%. I'm not completely sure how this is supposed to work. I've been having a piece of fruit before breakfast and then more with breakfast. I'm sometimes having a soup or salad before my lunch and dinner, but if I have a "main dish" salad for one of those meals, or a large serving of broccoli along with potatoes, can I count those things as both a "starter" and part of the 50/50 plate?

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. 93%

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.[color=#0000FF][/color] 100%. I've had a little maple syrup, and some tamari sauce, but my understanding is that these are compliant.[/color]

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). 100%.I've been animal-product free since February 2020.[/color][/color]

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). 90%. A little bit of nutritional yeast.

6. Eliminate any added oil. [color=#0000FF]96%. The only oil I had was a brush used on the grill to cook veggie burgers.[/color]

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. 93%. A bit of flour used in bean burgers.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). 93%. Got called into work today after 5 hours sleep. Had a soy latte.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. 100%. Really paid attention to this.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 50%. OK, this is where I really need to step things up (haha). I need to get in a regular exercise habit.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I'm still getting this all figured out. Some victories: I threw out the little bit of almond milk "ice cream" that was in my freezer and the half-bar of dark chocolate. Made beans and hummus without tahini and put extras in the freezer. Got offered goodies at work and DIDN'T EAT ANY.

Sorry, I'm not used to posting. I tried to change the colors 3 times and was only partially successful. I'm too tired to fix it again.

[PonysPlants]

Loss of 1.4lbs this week. Back on track!

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
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,) 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. NO Had 2 slice of toast.
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. NO Didn’t manage every day this week.

Pretty good week. Had some toast yesterday because I had to take my cat to an emergency vet appointment and just needed something to grab and go. Also, that’s why I’m a day late reporting! All good, will just keep going forwards. The vast majority of the steps now are just habit and I don’t even have to think about them very much now, it’s a good feeling!

Many thanks to all the lovely moderators with an extra special shout-out to Mark.

Onwards to next week!

Naomi

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Team MWL!! Happy Saturday!!

Weight Change - +.4 GAIN (BOO to you scale monster...)
Current weight - 139.0 lbs.
Last Week weight - 138.6 lbs.

** Note - I had a meal out with friends on Saturday. Think I did ok with it by picking "real" foods that were not likely to invoke the Pleasure Trap (for me). Regardless, these are food items that I should avoid until reaching normal weight (and beyond unless I want to put lbs. back on...). Ordered a "Berry and Nut" salad which was: plate of greens with cucumber, tomato, cabbage, carrots, strawberry, walnuts, cranberries (dried), walnuts, avocado (about 1/4), 4 triangles pita bread (refined). Did not do dressing (asked for balsamic vinegar, but received vinaigrette). Did not eat the non-compliant popcorn that they put in middle of table before serving meal. Got right back on track.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Mostly - 17/21. Have been looking to expand to soups as well and tried a gazpacho for preload which turned out well.

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. Mostly - 18/21. A couple of the misses were for snacks where I just needed a little something and didn't make the effort to 50/50. However, this is becoming a habit. Will be continuing to focus here!

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). * See note*** Walnuts, avocado

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. * See note*** One small (refined flour) pita bread, dried cranberries

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
Completed goal of 70K steps / week + found a strength training program at my level - Denise Austin - Fit after 50.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

I struggle with being unemotional about the scale. Whether good or bad, happy or sad... it seems to be a judge that sentences me to inadequacy. Trying to reframe in my mind that I am practicing good eating for life and not to get thrown by one weigh in... easier said than done.

I am feeling "locked-in" for breakfast (salad, fruit, potato waffle made in George Foreman grill)... I make it on auto-pilot and am very happy with this meal!!

My yoga pants are getting loose !!

Hope that everyone has a great week!!! I feel so gratified to read everyone's experiences and learn from all who participates on this thread... so, YAY to you all!! Thank you!!!

Best,
Stephanie

[carwex]

Starting weight: 141.5
Last week’s weight: 127.8
Current weight: 125.6
Loss/gain this week: - 2.2 pound

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. a little almond milk in porridge and tea. Tofu in miso soup
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. yes in spite o lockdown with no pools open and gyms

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I have not been reporting for the last 3 weeks. Life was too dynamic even under lockdown. However, I am happy to say that I am following the MWL quite strictly. The strange thing is that it is not hard for me to adhere. I have no cravings, even if I get a bit hungry outside of mealtimes I seem to be able to wait for mealtime to eat. It feels like an inner surrender and I am grateful for as long as it lasts

[Zoey]

Weight change +/- in lbs: Another - 0.2 Surprise surprise.

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:
Haha, same thing from me every darn week. But I continue to plod along.

[texaslil]

+ .2
169.8

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 mostly although we did have some dark chocolate
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, Had some Avocado
6. Eliminate any added oil. No, not entirely as we ate out on several occasions
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). NOOOOO, enjoyed a few drinks during my birthday week
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, this was a hugely active week with tons of hiking, kayaking and swimming

Victories, comments, concerns, questions: I don't have too much time to write as I'm off to pick up my son from the airport. I will just say that I had an amazing birthday week in the PNW, it was drop dead gorgeous and lent itself to lots of activity. we were walking everywhere and enjoying this natural way of moving, plus all of the additional exercise mentioned above. I didn't stray tooo far off the 10 points but there were definitely moments.. Back to reality and a return to the MWL routine, which I'm actually looking forward to.

All the best!
Laila

[Mark165]

Start weight: 231
8/7/2021: 228
Weight change +/- in lbs: -3lbs

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes, except not at breakfast Bought fruit just now.
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, except no 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. 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. Ate a handful of almonds.
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. Just did housework and shopping. I need to add deliberate exercise.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Victories: Happy to be back to serious McDougalling and to see success.
Comments: Adding in some fruit. I've been relying on potatoes, beans, whole grains, and non-starchy veggies so far.
Questions: None today.

[Noella]

Dear Mark and Everyone Participating for August 2021
Weight Change: No Change +/- 0 lbs.
This Week: 153.9 lbs.
Last week 153.9 bs.
Goal 140 lbs.

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. Exercise daily. YES

Although my weight didn’t change this week, I do feel slightly slimmer and a teeny bit more fit. I’m happy!
Victory: My knees have been sharp-pain-free for about a month, now. On July 5th, we were on vacation and as I walked to the beach each step hurt with a sharp pain. After a swim, my husband and I lounged under our beach umbrella taking in the amazing views. A young, handsome man and a very thin and very old woman approached us. They immediately introduced themselves and asked if we wanted a miracle today. Strange, right? My husband sort of ignored them, but I was intrigued. Nothing like this had ever happened to us before. When I showed a bit of interest, the young man explained a bit more saying that this is his full time job: meeting people and praying for healing. Without hesitation, I said yes, I would like help for my daughter because she is expecting a baby but has Graves’ Disease and needs to take a prescription medication that could harm her baby. He said a prayer for our daughter, Michelle, to be healed and her baby to be safe. He asked us our names and mentioned that he would continue to pray for us, The entire conversation with this mysterious couple was about two minutes, tops, and then they were on their way. We never saw them on the beach again. When we left the beach that afternoon, I noticed that my knees didn’t hurt with each step, but I didn’t say anything to my husband about the improvement; it seemed too coincidental. Also, I had only asked for a healing prayer for my daughter, and I hadn't even thought to ask for a prayer for myself. When we got back to the house, where we were housesitting, I noticed I could climb the steep stairs with ease. Again I said nothing. But the next day, when it didn’t hurt to walk I mentioned it to my husband. A week ago we went hiking in the high alpine and my knees didn’t hurt with sharp pain once! So as it’s been a month since that visit on the beach and my knees are pain free…still stiff, inflexible and weak at times, but without the pain I can now get more daily exercise. A week after we returned from our beach vacation my daughter called me to say that her doctor did some bloodwork and as she doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of hyper thyroid at present, he has taken her off all medication for the final trimester of her pregnancy. Yay!

I know that following this diet and losing close to ninety pounds has been key to my knees feeling better. Reading, learning, praying and meditation led me here with you all and receiving the support of this forum has been an amazingly positive experience for me.
Noella

[Mark Cooper]

The window for reporting this week's weigh-in and behavioral results has officially closed.

The remainder of my replies and the weekly summary will follow.

[Noella]

…I am feeling "locked-in" for breakfast (salad, fruit, potato waffle made in George Foreman grill)... I make it on auto-pilot and am very happy with this meal!!

My yoga pants are getting loose !!

Hope that everyone has a great week!!! I feel so gratified to read everyone's experiences and learn from all who participates on this thread... so, YAY to you all!! Thank you!!!

Best,
Stephanie

Hi Stephanie,
Sounds like you are doing great! I would love to know how you make potato waffles.
Noella

[Mark Cooper]

veggiemelt - It appears you've definitely made progress transitioning to the recommended pattern of behavior; now just keep working to eliminate the remaining calorie rich and higher fat foods. Sitting down and making a self-assessment with each point from the MWL 10-Point Checklist can be very revealing, right? It definitely helps to focus our efforts on the areas where meaningful improvement can make a difference. The more adherent foods you have prepared, ready and easy to access, the easier you'll make it to fulfill the recommended behaviors. Keep at it!

Gimmelean - 10/10 and 2.4 lbs gone! I think the seasonally influenced challenges you describe will feel familiar for many participants, and I'm glad this group has offered some structure to guide your efforts. Enjoy these remaining weeks of summer!

cmcavazos2 - Sounds like a great week, Christine; barring any troublesome ingredients at the potluck. Keep your focus on the recommended behaviors and those results will come. A routine week where you are fully in control of your environment should be ideal for adherence.

onajourney - Nice progress! Regarding the preload recommendation, it seems to me if the overall volume of non starchy vegetables and/or fruits in a given meal is equivalent in visual volume to the starches AND the volume you would include for a starter, it would satisfy the recommendation. Applying maple syrup, or tamari, (or other forms of added sugar/salt) modestly, as a condiment, at the table is acceptable within the MWL guidelines.

In regard to added salt and added sugar, we recommend buying and preparing food without either and if any are to be used, to add them at the table on the surface of the food. If either one is troublesome and create uncontrollable cravings for you, then leave them out.

Jeff has a great burger recipe, no oil or flour needed. Kudos to you for ditching the ice cream and chocolate, and saying "no thanks" to those "goodies." You will get everything figured out, just keep your attention on the recommendations, and aim for steady progress toward adherence.

PonysPlants - Woo-hoo! Back on track, indeed! I hope your cat is doing OK now, Naomi. Isn't the feeling of having those positive behaviors truly habituated amazing? Definitely a good feeling. Ever onward!

VegSeekingFit - Cheers for those loose-fitting yoga pants, Stephanie! Having breakfast "locked-in" makes for an easy, smooth start to the day; now it's just a matter of translating that pattern to the other meals, right?

Trying to reframe in my mind that I am practicing good eating for life and not to get thrown by one weigh in.

You are SO right that this is easier said than done, but from my perspective it is exactly the right way to proceed. The behaviors drive the ultimate outcomes, so that is where our focus should lie. Carry on!

carwex - Welcome back, Carol; it's exciting to see your post! I imagine the sense of ease in adherence that you describe feels very welcome, indeed. Kudos to you for finding ways to stay on track (and ACTIVE!) even during lockdown.

Zoey - Reliable progress, just like clockwork! Better the same modest advances from week to week than treading water or sliding backwards, right? Keep on "plodding"!

texaslil - Happy Birthday, Laila! It seems like you did pretty well while travelling and celebrating; did it feel a little easier this time, than the last? Back to reality, back to a solid routine, and fully returning to the recommended pattern of behavior is definitely worth looking forward to!

Mark165 - Hi! Be sure to check your PMs (at the top of the page, in the User Control Panel).

Noella - Exemplary adherence! Congratulations on a month of freedom from that sharp pain; I know what a relief that must be for you. Wishing you continued ease of movement, and all the best to your daughter, too.

[Mark Cooper]

Please note - I replied to each participant individually in the two lengthy posts linked below, provided that their reports followed the guidelines for weigh-ins.

Mark's Replies for August 6 - Part 1
Mark's Replies for August 6 - Part 2

By my count, 15 participants reported for our first August 2021 MWL weigh-in! If I neglected to include anyone, or you notice an error in the tally, please let me know (via PM so we can keep the thread as tidy as possible, or in a post here if you cannot PM).

Here are the results for the first Friday in August:

Week ending 8/6/2021: 15 participants reported a total change of -12.50 pounds
--------------------------------------------------
Cmcavazos2 +0.40
VegSeekingFit +0.40
Texaslil +0.20
--------------------------------------------------
Total gains: +1.00
--------------------------------------------------
NO CHANGE / MAINTAIN/ STARTING OUT
GreenFroG 0.00
Noella 0.00
Veggiemelt 0.00
--------------------------------------------------
Rebecka22 -0.20
Zoey -0.20
Onajourney -0.40
Angelea -0.90
PonysPlants -1.40
Gabby7 -2.00
Carwex -2.20
Gimmelean -2.40
Health 1st -3.80
--------------------------------------------------
Total losses: -13.50
--------------------------------------------------
Cumulative group loss for August 2021 to date: 12.50 pounds
Average loss for week ending August 6: 0.83 pounds
Cumulative group loss for January 2021: 117.20 pounds
Cumulative group loss for February 2021: 39.40 pounds
Cumulative group loss for March 2021: 73.20 pounds
Cumulative group loss for April 2021: 48.30 pounds
Cumulative group loss for May 2021: 35.90 pounds
Cumulative group loss for June 2021: 34.10 pounds
Cumulative group loss for July 2021: 64.95 pounds
--------------------------------------------------

Next Weigh-In is on Friday, August 13, 2021.

Huzzah! August is off to a roaring start! Let's all aim to make this month a success.

Something that I think can often escape notice, particularly in discussions I see on Facebook / YouTube, is the way the calorie density & satiety / calorie of individual foods contributes to and, in aggregate, comprises the overall calorie density of one's diet. This has important implications given that people typically tend to eat roughly the same weight / volume of food each day. This is why the recommendations to eliminate foods that are calorie dense and / or low in satiety per calorie are so direct; consistently raising the overall calorie density of one's diet (by including rich foods) inevitably has an effect over time. Through the thoughtful application of the fundamental principles of MWL, we can adjust the overall calorie density of the meals we consume to a level that results in durable, sustainable weight loss without going hungry. To my mind, the clearest explanation of this concept is Jeff's presentation, Calorie Density: How To Eat More, Weigh Less and Live Longer. His article, Finding The Sweet Spot: Balancing Calorie Density, Nutrient Density & Satiety, also thoroughly explores the topic in a way that is easy to understand. So, if either of those is new to you, then you know your assignment for this week! And a review certainly doesn't hurt the rest of us, either.

Have a great week, take care, and be well!