Hi Team Time & Adherence,
1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes. I mainly ate salad this week as a preload (for B, L, D), but also used fruit or soup a couple of times each. Various raw veggies are stored in refrigerator for easy grabbing. Also, have a broad selection of fresh and frozen fruits. 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.
*I have eaten a bunch of different breakfasts this week - from potato waffle, to split pea soup, to beans and nuked yukon golds with a bit of salsa. I always start with a salad and add a bowl of fresh melon. Delicious!
* I have eaten a simple "Lazy Girl Lunch" a few days this week. Start with a plate of Romaine leaves and other raw veggies then fruit and roasted potato slices.
* For dinner, have enjoyed a few times Red Lentil Chili 50/50 with lettuce with a fruit starter. Sometimes other veggies also and / or potato slices.
**** I have followed the recent dialogue on fruit and I have read all of the various background threads to keep this guideline in perspective. Understand that Dr. McD restricts fruit to 2/day for MWL. I have not prioritized reducing my fruit at this point (not eating "copious amounts" or binge-ing), but will keep this in mind as a future opportunity. Should I be "unsmiley" for this point on the checklist?? (But I kept it smiley for now, since I feel like I am "within the spirit" of the guidelines (while still exceeding this threshold, but not looking to "cheat"?)
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 haven't eliminated, but reduced. I do use some garlic salt on potatoes at times. I don't generally use sugar, but did have 1.5 T BBQ sauce with some potato slices once this week which was a nice "treat".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).
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.
I continue to be mindful to eat when hungry (before becoming super hungry).
This week, I snacked a couple of times on a few slices of roasted potato. Next week, I will 50/50 the potato.
The potato has been a nice crutch to help me to crawl out of the 5/7 ditch.
10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes.
* 5/7 days walked outside about 45-75 min each day (did take 2 rest days, 1 was a rain out where I paced inside)
* Just missed my step goal by about 400 total steps - BOO to me - should have monitored this better!! Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
* Please see comment on #2 re: fruit....
* Feeling better each day on ability to adhere to #5/7
* Still worry about coping mechanisms for future Pleasure Trap encounters. Will work hard to try not to be discouraged and to nip it in the bud as quickly as possible (before it becomes ingrained).
* My personal impact of a "justa" (to borrow from Wildgoose) - my "justa" handful of peanuts or pretzels (or both
) bad habit that sneaked in... By cleaning this up about 5 weeks ago, have lost 7 lbs. in that time (when I had been in "behavioral equilibrium")...
* HMM... so not worth it to me -- and I will try to remind myself of this before consuming any non-recommended items
Elsa -- I love your questions to self!!! I may borrow your approach for formulating some questions for when I may be considering any non-recommended food item....
Thanks for posting again that lasagna recipe -- and glad it worked out well for your group!!!
Bambi -- Congratulations on your awesome results!!! Woo-hoo!!!
Rebecka -- I can so relate to your comment about being able to have more resolve with an "end date". Trying to wrap my head around not having an end date for compliance ... or I know where that will end up for me... Keep going!!
Carol -- You are a MWL hero for keeping on as you are going through the moving stress!!! Think how much easier it will be when you are "re-settled"!!!
I like your "seafood diet" description....
George -- Congrats on your excellent progress!!!
Gimmelean --I totally agree with you on "with this structure I know exactly what I need to change which helps eliminate guilt tripping because guilt is counter productive." I have a really hard time with that part of it. It sounds like you have some great coping structures. Wishing you well in moving forward this week!!
Thank you to everyone for this community!!! We are small but mighty!!!
Extra thank you to Mark, Jeff, Wildgoose for all of the support.
Hope that everyone has a wonderful week!!! Best wishes to all as we work to build behaviors to support lifelong weight maintenance. Don't forget to eat your starch and get some sunshine!!
Cheers,
Stephanie