Weight change +/- in lbs: -3.4
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. N
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.Y & N
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 & N
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. 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). Y
Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
I missed posting last week, because I was out of town.
Nevertheless, I'm on track.
Because this diet is so bland, I crave sweetness and salt.
I use tamari or soy sauce and table salt as needed. It doesn't seem to interfere or impede my weight loss. It also helps in fewer trips to the bathroom; which is a major problem on this diet! Especially, on road trips!!
I'm trying to minimize fruit.
The only time I use fruit is in the morning or for my big dinner salad. Using fruit in this manner seems to work best for me.
When I order vegan food at restaurants, invariably, the meal comes with tofu. Although, it's a highly processed food and not recommended, I eat it anyway. Otherwise, I don't get full enough from those kinds of restaurant meals.
I have found most vegan choices at restaurants quite sparse. At home, I'm able to achieve satiety easily. No so with vegan restaurant meals!
I'm hitting the road again next week. This trip means I'll face a challenging relocation for quite a few months. This is the type of situation that always seems to derail ALL my efforts.
This time around, I've established a good momentum. Hopefully, it's enough.
Wish me luck!