The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - March 2023 Group

[Mark Cooper]

Is there a good place where I can post my daily food pictures so that they could be reviewed for adjustments or even a place where I can keep a Food Journal that can be reviewed. I'm not trying to get to my egos weight. I'm just wanting to be healthy and functional. I currently feel like a self sabotage energy vampire.

I'm 5'2, 45 years old, 133 pounds. Good health, no medical concerns, no medication.

The My Daily Menus & Journals section of the discussion board seems like the ideal place to post a food journal and / or food pictures.

[BambiS]

3-31


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Most days


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 desert
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, not an issue here

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). Most days

Victories, comments, concerns, questions good week, nothing eventful.

Felt good with my choices this week. It was a pretty good week. I think I need more walking time. At work, I split it into my breaks. At home after being away, I need to spend time with husband, who’s health isn’t that great.Once retirement is here, I’m going to have more me time.

[Rebecka22]

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

It was a good week. I definitely found myself wanting more off plan things, but I was okay telling myself no as well. Trying to focus on how I feel when I eat healthy food and let that lead me.

[Ejg]

I wanted this week to be one where I would be able to answer "yes" for everything. I got real close, but not quite

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Mostly yes, with one or two exceptions
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetabl2es and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert. One meal where I didn't do this but otherwise yes (had to go to a catered lunch for work and all they had was BBQ and other highly non compliant food, so I ate all the fruit they had available.....no starch though)
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, I had to go to Houston for work and got very sick and ate a bunch of sugar-laden cough drops. I knew I'd have to answer "no" for this question but honestly just wanted relief.
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, when I went to Houston I got some pre-made bags of salad (which I never buy at home because I'm cheap but when my employer gives me a per diem, totally different story), which I wasn't aware came with little bags of pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries, which I ate
6. Eliminate any added oil. I think this has to be a no, I ordered a salad when I went out to eat and I think they added dressing directly to the salad. I didn't specify that I wanted dressing at all (I usually don't use any) and they didn't ask, but when it finally came I think they added to the salad.
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, I ate the little bags of dried cranberries that came with pre-made salad
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, I got sick and laid around a bunch (which I'm still doing)

Despite a few minor slip ups described above I was extremely happy with how things went during my trip.
One of the meals was catered with BBQ ribs and enough other food to feed a small army, but luckily there was a big bowl of fruit too so I ate all the apples and pears. At the fancy restaurant we went to, I asked them if they could microwave a plain potato for me (I thought it was pretty reasonable and could easily be done) but was told no, which I found highly weird so just ate the salad (that I'm pretty sure had oil-based dressing on it). Other than the above, I was enormously pleased that I didn't go wildly off track during the trip, which would have been very easy to do, especially when hungry at airports. Still sick, hoping that clears quickly. Have a good week

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Time & Adherence Peeps, ❤️

Can’t believe we are almost through March. We have crazy weather expectations in IL… it’s about 66 degrees now with storms and tornadoes expected (some are already threatening downstate)… But then SNOW projected tomorrow and then many warm days with 60+ degree high next week…

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
No, I am looking to maintain.

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 YES (but not 100%).

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. Reduced, not eliminated.

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, no starving and no stuffing.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Mostly no, but I have hope here to get back to routine. Slowly and gently starting back to the brisk walking outside and a few calisthenics.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

A few comments ---

Mark --- Thanks so much for all that you do!! Appreciate you!

Bambi ---Sounds like you are really looking forward to your retirement --- that is awesome!!!

Rebecka --- I am with you 100% on trying to focus on how what I eat makes me feel and stick to it!!!

Marilyn --- Sending you hugs --- so sorry about your beloved horse. I love how your big part of your why is to be more active --- me too!!!

Gimmelean ---Bulbs are remarkably awesome and resilient!!! Love the flowers that come!!! A couple of years ago I did garlic bulbs in fall and that was pretty amazing too!!! Also, LOVING the Stokes too for their color --- it is incredible!!!

Holly – I hope you are feeling 100% better and have been able to get back to your Pickleball!!!

Beth --- Just a huge HI!!! Thinking a surprise party may be hard to plan for, yeah??? I hope you had an amazing birthday!!! Great to “shake it off” and move forward… You sound like you are doing amazing!!!

Eric --- Your TX trip sounds like many that I used to take to Kansas City (they love their BBQ)… Crazy they wouldn’t give you a plain baked potato, but 100% understand as I have been in places like that too… I would have been with you (in the fruit!!)… Take care!

Noella --- I hope you are feeling a ton better!

This has been my most challenging week since starting to follow these behaviors (almost 2 years ago) --- super sad to have lost my beautiful, sweet kitty (who acted like a puppy!) --- she adopted me about 14 years ago (and stuck to me like glue)…

Sharing what helped me from an adherence perspective in case it may help anyone.

* Really dumbed down my meals --- thought that they were already simple but made best friends with my microwave and rice cooker which are I think the only cooking methods I used this week. Lots of potatoes, rice, frozen hashbrowns, frozen corn, oatmeal. Ate almost all the Jeff Burgers in my freezer. Easy fruits like banana, apple, frozen blueberries and veggies like carrots, grape tomatoes, Romaine lettuce. Had Dr. McD Rightfoods (NOT perfect foods…. Can’t remember whether he gave this description personally?)… Anyway, Split Pea and Black Bean soups with partial seasoning pack (about half) ---- were pretty darn perfect for me for over rice or a potato (with veg / fruit on side) for a meal a day during this time.

* Focused on self-care (think I recently posted here on my “list”) --- Best thing for me that I found was --- get out to walk in the sun --- bird watching, flowers, swings, etc. Even did some work in the yard --- therapeutic. Next best thing, I moved almost everything from both my personal and work to do lists to the following week --- most things are not that urgent or important. Maybe I will regret this next week, but I doubt it.

I hope that everyone has an incredible week … moving on to April.

Best,
Stephanie

[Greens]

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 with the exception of one meal provided for me by a friend.
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 with the exception of one meal given to me by a friend. (Same meal as above.)
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). 6/7

Mostly a solid week. Made a stuffed pepper soup that I really liked. Love making soup in the Instant Pot that need so little babysitting. Onward to a great April.

Marilyn

[Gimmelean]

Post for week ending 3/31/23

Hello everyone.

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes. This is a firmly ingrained habit that is easy and pleasant to do.

2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals.
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. I drink tea and coffee with no added sugar ( or artificial sweeteners), do not cook with salt, or add it at the table. I had a restaurant meal with work and paying the price because of the salt.

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.
No- having a hard time. I really let go with cookies and tortilla chips this week.

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. Ate junk food at the expense of adherent food instead. Not a good reason for a yes here.

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes. Every day!

Victories,Comments,Concerns,Questions: After reading studies and linked threads, I realize that I’m just about at the two year mark for having lost and maintained most of the weight loss. Maintenance is absolutely more of the same if not more effort than losing weight and adopting lifelong healthy habits and I find myself slipping a bit. Maintaining awareness is key to accountability -is key to keeping the weight off -is key to feeling good. These are my measures of success. Not just the scale. I’m glad be a member of this community and to have this group as my anchor and feedback loop. Striving for 10 yeses this coming week starting now.
A good week and new month to everyone.

[Hjklost55]

April 1, 2023

Good Morning. Can’t believe April is here, but happy to be moving on with spring. Hopefully the weather will agree soon!!

1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly, but found I seemed to stray a little with this week.

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.
NO, need everyone’s help here. I am a volume eater. I don’t have a SHUT OFF SWITH!! UGH!!! I hate that. I don’t realize how full I am until I am stuffed!! Not at breakfast or lunch, but usually dinner! Then go to bed miserable.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
YES, feeling better this week, and got back into my pickleball routine. So glad to have that as an options, because our weather has been so wet it would be hard to get outside, which is where I would rather be.

Victories, Comments, Concerns, Questions: I also found myself wanting more off plan things. I managed to talk myself out of them,
but realize the temptations are still there. I always feel better after I have said NO and the time has passed, but it still pops up.

Again, with #9 above, looking for others who have struggled with “stuffing”. What are your tricks and tips?


Hope everyone has a GREAT week, and welcome to April!

Take Care,
Holly

[Mark Cooper]

The window for reporting this week's behavioral results has officially closed.

My replies and the weekly summary will follow.

[Noella]

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). A bit more this week; still not 100%

Yes to all MWL guidelines, except #10.

Comment and Victory: I went to my orthopaedic surgeon (knee surgeon) for a review of my knee X-rays this week, and he is amazed that I am symptom-free. He has replaced the knees in people with X-rays similar to mine, so he was expecting me to be in extreme pain. Some people have much less damage to their knees yet have severe symptoms of pain, and the only solution is knee replacement. He said I'm definitely an over-achiever in the diet and lifestyle department, and I'm reaping the benefits. He said most of his arthritis patients could not lose weight and keep it off; most are not able to make changes to their diet and lifestyle. He said I'm an overachiever in a most complimentary way. My knees are bone-on-bone, but I can still manage day-to-day activities pain-free such as nordic skiing, swimming, cycling, kayaking and hiking. He recommended not running (no marathons in my future!) but said walking, cycling and aquatics are great. He also recommended getting an athletic trainer willing to guide a person with arthritic knees to strengthen further the leg muscles that support my knees. I'm so excited to continue on the MWL path and hope to remain symptom-free for as long as I can... I could postpone knee replacement surgery for many years. I'm inspired to make more changes to continue to improve my lifestyle choices even more.

[Mark Cooper]

I went to the orthopaedic surgeon (knee surgeon) this week and he is amazed that I am symptom-free. He has replaced the knees in people with similar X-rays. He said I'm definitely an over-achiever in the diet and lifestyle department. He said most of his arthritis patients cant lose weight and keep it off, not are most willing to try to make changes to their diet. He said this in a complimentary way My knees are bone on bone but I can still manage to do many activities pain-free. I'm so excited to continue on the MWL path and hope to remain symptom free for as long as I can.

What encouraging and supportive feedback from the surgeon! I'm sure that felt great to hear. Congratulations!

[Mark Cooper]

BambiS - Definitely seems like a good week! That's almost always the case when we are feeling good about our choices and behaviors, right? I can imagine that finding the time to stay physically active, within the constraints from all your other responsibilities, must feel challenging. Keep doing the best you can. Wishing the very best for you and your husband!

Rebecka22 - Woo-hoo! Great effort closing out March! Your focus on how you feel when eating the recommended foods seems like a useful perspective. Do you have any intuition into whether the pull toward off plan things is spurred by a particular trigger or situation? Kudos to you for holding true to your intended pattern of behavior!

Ejg - So sorry you've been feeling sick, Eric! That never makes anything easier, right? In spite of that, it sounds like your trip went pretty well, and you have a lot to feel happy about. All we can reasonably expect of ourselves is to make our best effort, within the context of a given situation, and manage the constraints of that situation to the best of our ability. That seems to be what you did. Wishing you an easy recovery to full health!

VegSeekingFit - I am so very sorry for your loss, Stephanie; you are in my thoughts. Thank you for being so open and generous in sharing the actions and perspective that helped you remain adherent during a tough week. I think keeping meal prep as simple, basic and easy as possible makes so much sense when our reserves are depleted by the vagaries and trauma of life. I really appreciate and relate to what you observed about many things not being so urgent or important that they should supplant self-care, and the unlikelihood of regretting holding things in their proper regard. Like you, I find a walk in the sun to be a pretty powerful salve. Wishing you all the best with the crazy weather, and an uneventful path to those warm pleasant days in the forecast!

Greens - Solid progress, Marilyn! Stuffed pepper soup sounds quite interesting. That no "babysitting" quality of the Instant Pot really makes it an essential part of my daily routine, too. Cheers for a great April!

Gimmelean - Wow! Two years already! Congratulations! Totally agree with your observations about the chain of awareness accountability behavior health outcomes feeling good. A great measure for success. Do you have any insight into what spurred reaching toward cookies and chips this week? Any particular environmental or situational trigger? This challenging time can and will recede. Take aim at any underlying causes driving incongruent actions, and do what seems feasible to set yourself up for what you want to happen. Onward!

Hjklost55 - Really great efforts, Holly! When you found yourself feeling the temptation for non adherent foods, what was the context for that? Were there changes or triggers in the environment? Something different in your routine? Were you feeling drawn to specific foods, or was the impulse just toward a general desire for indulgence or a "treat"? A couple of things that make a difference for me, as a definite volume eater: making a conscious effort to really SLOW DOWN when eating, being mindful about chewing each bite, appreciating and savoring the flavors, textures and sensations. Something else that occurs to me, particularly if the "stuffing" usually happens during the last meal of the day, is to be sure about including an adequate volume of starch in each meal. It might be worth experimenting with slightly upping the volume of starch in the 2 earlier meals, to see if that makes a difference. If you are experiencing any feelings of deprivation, it is worthwhile to quell them with your favorite adherent foods, with a focus on the starches. You'll get things dialed in with time. Welcome to April!

[Mark Cooper]

So long to March and hello to April! Great effort this month folks! I continue to be so impressed with the thoughtfulness, diligence and kindness within this group; I'm happy to be a part of it.

I will post the new thread for April on Monday, April 3; I hope to see you there!

I found this article from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, discussing a recent study, quite encouraging in regard to the consensus for the fundamental principles we practice in this group:

The first-of-its-kind study published in Advances in Nutrition titled: Commonalities among dietary recommendations from 2010-2021 clinical practice guidelines: A meta-epidemiological study from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine compared dietary and nutrition recommendations of 78 clinical practice guidelines published by major government, medical societies and health stakeholder groups. It found that nearly 75% of clinical practice guidelines recommend including or increasing consumption of vegetables, 69% recommend the same for fruit and 58% for whole grains. Additionally, 62% of guidelines recommended decreasing or limiting alcohol, and 56% reducing salt or sodium.

Have a great week, everyone! Take care and be well!