Hi Team Time & Adherence,
It is almost Groundhog Day!!! Who is hoping that an early spring is predicted?? Personally, so looking for a respite from the cold !!!
1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
I did preload 20/21 meals.
* I pre-load with finger food salad for B and D. I pre-load with Jeff Longevity soup for L. (Yes, all week!!!)
* My miss here is going to be a theme with each of my misses for this week's report.
* Reason for Non-compliance - Emotional - angry (which is quite rare for me)
* I generally have preloads available to grab. I got distracted for Tuesday dinner - on phone with friend who was also angry (work situation).
* This was a rare situation that I don't expect to recur with any frequency - so moving on with target of 100%. 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.
20/21 were 50/50.
* Key for me is planning, shopping, preparation to make starch, veggies, fruit easy to grab and incorporate into any meal.
* Have roasted and zapped many potatoes, made oven fries, made a few pots of brown rice.
* I made a few pots of soup / chili / beans this week - Split Pea Soup (a couple of times - is my favorite!), Mexi Soup (from this website)
* See #1 for reason for non-compliance, etc.
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, of course. 5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6/7 Days Compliant....
* If I am tempted by these food items, I will eat: finger food salad, frozen fruit, and either soup or rice or potatoes from refrigerator. These are all ready to grab and I usually pre-plate dinner.
* On two nights, I used part of my starch as "snacky" food. For one night, I had a small bowl of rice with a quick spray of Bragg's (which I bought several months ago but never opened) and the other I had oven fries with a bit of garlic salt.
* See #1 for non-compliance reason.
* I am feeling pretty good about this one (FINALLY) - as it no longer is a habit and I am not feeling cravings. 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.
Compliant 6/7 days
See #5 above. Comments are same. 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.
I think I am ok here - yes.
10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes, 7/7 days.
* Walked outside 5 days !!! I am amazed that I have acclimated to some chilly temps...
* Met goal of averaging 8K steps / week (still Pacing with a Purpose...)
* Have continued focusing on indoor exercise (when outside is infeasible), stepping at least 8K average / day, making friends with stationary bike. Joined Wednesday's remote Zumba class.Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Comments:
This has been a better week for me where I seem to have found my "adherence muscle" -- perhaps I just need to try to flex it a bit harder...
I am happy to say that so many of the 10 points in MWL have become habits for me. These don't require much psychological stamina to continue on with the habit and they have helped me to both lose a clip of weight and also to keep that "lost weight" off. This informs my future self .... that I continue to follow this to manage my weight.... not to color outside lines... or other habits will be built (and I know where that ends up)!!!
On the other hand, I have been fighting the dry, salty, calorie dense (#5 / #7) that resides in my house. I think that I have flipped a mental switch and STOPPED the habit that I started of post-dinner or instead of dinner non-compliant snacking. I was not perfect this week... but progress and I don't really have specific food cravings that makes me think that a corner has been turned in this back-sliding.
I struggle with feeling disappointed in myself when I don't achieve 100% adherence --- and that is not helpful for me to actually achieve 100% adherence. So, I am glad to be practicing imperfectly .... because I do intend to continue to follow MWL 10 Pt. checklist going forward and if mistakes happen --- just dust off and keep going.
"If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one." -- Dolly Parton
Hope that everyone enjoys the weekend and a great week ahead!!! Thank you so much to Mark, Jeff, Wildgoose, and each and every participant for making this a community!!!
Best,
Stephanie