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I've lost 4.5 lbs so far, in 2 weeks following the MWL program. Most of that in the first few days. I haven't been perfect but I've been pretty darn good. Had some bread yesterday with homemade gooseberry jam - hey, a girl's got needs, and homemade jam is one of them!

Still a work in progress but I'm feeling pretty good about the quality of the food I'm eating. The really interesting part of the last 2 weeks has been weighing how much food I eat to feel satisfied. Turns out I eat about 5 lbs of food each day, at about 20 ounces each at 3 meals and 2 10 ounce snacks. I find this to be very exciting and interesting. I've learned that I don't have a bottomless stomach, that I do have a fairly stable need for 5 lbs of food a day. I'm encouraged by this - that I'm not out of control when it comes to food, that I do have natural limits! Hooray! This is information I can work with. Since I desire 5 lbs of food/day, I can focus on keeping the calorie density (CD) of those 5 lbs to approximately 300-400 cals/lb and I'll be taking in 1500-2000 cals/day. What I don't know yet is how many calories/day is best for me to get to my ideal weight, losing at a rate of 1 lb/week. I'll be happy with a nice slow pace of one pound/week.

So my next set of experiments will be to track the CD of my food and try to keep it within the 300-400 cals/lb for each meal. I think the MWL aims for something in that region too, but since I'm not perfect, I intend to track it myself.

Ooh, I almost forgot. Other big news is that by eating to my full satisfaction (the 5 lbs per day), my sugar cravings have dwindled significantly. I'm so excited about that. With sugar cravings under control I feel like I can reach my goals! That's the first time I've believed that in a long, long, time!

http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6032

Check Jeff Novick's post on this thread, about halfway down the page. He lists the caloric density of various food categories that we eat on this program.

Hi,
It is fascinating, isn't it?

Here's another link about the calorie density approach posted by someone here http://recumbutt.wordpress.com/2011/04/ ... iedensity/

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I love the 5 pound a day plan. I think you should stay away from counting calories but hey thats just me. Glad you are here

Thanks to all of you for the pointers and encouragement. As for counting calories, I won't count calories per se, but I will weigh my food (in lbs, ounces) for a while as I develop some recipes that I like that are in the 300-400 cals/lb range.

I noticed your question in the SMcD's forum. I'm not one, so I can't used that forum but I still wanted to chime in.

I eat B Rd Mill Extra Thick Oats too--my favorite oats at the moment:-)

I only use about one-third cup of oats, abt 1T flaxmeal, sometimes a couple T miller's bran and less than a cup of frozen blueberries. That is a hugely filling bowl for me. I like "plain jane" things with only a few ingredients.

I had trouble with nighttime eating (overeating) once upon a time and a book that helped me greatly was Overcoming Overeating by Munter and Hirschmann. There's a website by the same name. It is a different book with ideas I had never thought of before. Not a diet book and not just about nighttime eating.

I wish you all the best!

Thank you Scooterpie, I'll check out that website on overeating. Bob's Red Mill oats are delicious aren't they? Thank you for the exact measurements of what you eat.