Hi to Everyone On the Behavioural Path To MWL Success,
I hope everyone will have a really POWERFUL week of self-care and dedicated and effective lifestyle choices!
1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Absolutely - every meal! 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.
Absolutely - every meal! 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.
Absolutely - every meal! 4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
This week, I had a tiny taste( not enough to count) of something animal-based that I used to love and discovered it tasted greasy, salty and nothing else. I couldn't believe how unappetizing it was. Three years ago, I would have gobbled it up...then I had a big serving of chard with a drizzle of balsamic, and it was delicious. I won't be going back to my old ways of eating dairy, meat, egg, fish and seafood. I am quite shocked at how much my sense of taste has changed to enjoy vegetables, grains and legumes so much more than I would of guessed is possible. I love the amazing flavours in both raw and cooked vegetables, and the possible vegetable dishes are endless! 5 Eliminate all higher-fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Absolutely - at every meal! 6 Eliminate any added oil.
Absolutely -at every meal! 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).
Absolutely - every meal! 8 Don’t drink your calories especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Absolutely - every meal! 9 Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Absolutely - every meal! I'm amazed that I can do this now. This was a real challenge for me when I started.
10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Absolutely still trying to get motivated. This week I changed my exercise room quite a bit. I decluttered, cleaned and rearranged to achieve a very calm and clear environment. I brought all of my exercise equipment together and arranged things in a way that I'm hoping will help motivate me to use them more. I replaced a few items with this update and bought a few key pieces: artwork, cork blocks, mat, cotton blanket for a yoga prop, weights, leggings. I also added a peace plant, and an essential oil diffuser and a charging station for my MacBook. I also bought a pair of lightweight hiking shoes with a rugged Vibram sole but very light weight compared to my high alpine climbing/hikers. Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Holly – I have had weeks like that, too! You can do a 180 degree shift and get back on track! Yes!!!
Stephanie I like the quote you posted for Holly from Martin Luther King… “If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” Congratulations on two years of McDougalling! It's amazing to successfully lose weight and keep it off while eating delicious food.
I heard you gradually become an average of the five people you spend the most time with. I think this must also pertain to the five main people you read and follow online! Well, I spend a lot of time here reading Mark, Jeff, Wildgoose, Dr. McDougal and Star McDougallers reports too. I think I am gradually and steadily becoming the average of their cheery advice and recommendations to overcome the challenges associated with getting to a healthy weight and lifestyle.
If I'm not happy with any part of my life or lifestyle, doing this weekly 'Team Time and Adherence' summary report here encourages me to take a closer look at not just my meals and exercise but also my writing, my conversations, news sources, reading topics, and my social circle. I do get a bit more honest with myself about my eating behaviours and my social environment when I do these weekly check-ins: how many people do I get influenced by that are truly positive, life-affirming individuals who want nothing more than to see me reach my fullest potential?
Hope that everyone enjoys a successful week! We are stronger together! Noella