My reporting below is from my fully recommitted start date of 12/20/21:
Weight change +/- in lbs: 0 (Due to new recommitment and fresh start)
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.----No. Definitely need improvement.
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.----Did pretty good. Again, room for improvement.
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, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).----Yes, except for 4 or 5 small store-bought Christmas cookies.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).----Yes.
6. Eliminate any added oil.----Yes, except for above mentioned cookies.
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.----Was ill prepared Thursday + succumbed to what was easily on hand:
3 slices of NSA Ezekiel bread, raisins, + the above mentioned cookies.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).----Yes, did not have any.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.----Yes, except for Thursday afternoon/early evening when I didn't have enough MWL food on hand. I got too hungry + then had the above (#7) after holding out for MWL food + just not being able to have any.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).----Did worse on this point this week, though I'm still dealing with ramifications from the health crisis earlier this month, especially after several nights of little sleep.
Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
To help me do better with Point #1, yesterday I bought baby carrots, seedless cucumbers, + lots of cherry tomatoes.
I have some more thoughts to share that I just can't pan out right now. If time allows, maybe by Sunday evening I can "edit" this post by adding those thoughts before Mark comes back.
A huge thank you to Mark, Goose, Jeff, + all my fellow MWL Participants. Your words are not just words, but cut to the heart + mind. Whether it's wise advice, gentle "prodding", or sharing your plans, victories or failures, all are so helpful; thank you!! Of course I am indebted to Dr., Mary, + Heather McDougall + their Team! Hoping you all are having a really nice Holiday Season despite loses of loved ones, finances, etc.. Please take care!!
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, + a wonderful day to you, whatever you may celebrate!
This past Monday, December 20, 2021, I fully recommitted to MWL. The weeks leading up to this I was definitely trying to get back to + implement the Principles, but I still had 1 foot on the other side of the MWL fence, + at times it was an entire leg or more. While I have not been perfect at MWL since 12/20, I am really committed + trying, + just as importantly for me, I am learning to be okay with the times I fail at the MWL Principles; because, as many of you know, I have a long history of falling of the wagon after even months of near perfection on MWL.