Hello fellow travelers!!! Here is my report for the week ending 9-2-22:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Breafast, when eaten, was “all in one.” Lunch & Dinner always started with soup or cooked veg. (no salad – braces)
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 – I find myself saying to myself “that is not a weight loss food” when I see nuts/nut butters, seeds and avocados in my pantry. (husband eats these) I don’t even feel tempted these days, and I enjoy that!!
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 – had a few servings this past week of Mary’s Golden Gravy. (rice flour)
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 – I felt a bit “stuffed” a couple of times. I really need to keep working on this one. I don’t have to clean my plate. I can take smaller portions, and have more if I’m still hungry. It’s amazing how childhood patterns follow us always! I grew up in a house where there was never as much as everyone wanted on the table – you better get it fast, eat fast, and clean your plate because there are starving children in China! (thank goodness for the Chinese children that they were eating rice back then, and not eating what we were eating LOL!) How long will it take for me to figure out I am not living there anymore??
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
No - I continue to have frustrating setbacks in this area. It seems I get in a little (short lived) groove, and then a sore knee or whatever will surface – and then I have to rest it. The latest is that I feel like I have a painful bruise on the bottom of my left heel??? That is a new one. It feels like I think it would feel if I stepped down really hard on a sharp rock or something – but I certainly don’t recall anything like that happening. So…resting that now. Sigh.
Victories: I feel really good about my routines around food. My meal plans are super simple, but I love this simple food and I am OK with that. I expect to incorporate more variety at some point, but for now I am just laser focused on my goals (weight loss and continued reduction, hopefully, to inflammation in my body) and simple meals of veg, potatoes (or oats for breakfast) and fruit are getting me there. Weight is now down over 50 pounds total, and over 30 pounds since doing the 12-day program in May.
Comments: Mark and Goose and team T&A – I appreciate you all so much. The more I weave the MWL guidelines into my life as habits, the better I do with my goals. I feel like my behaviors are finally, FINALLY, aligning with my goals. I was all out of sync for years and years. It feels so good to finally be getting my goals, my behaviors, my thinking, my body all on the same page! MWL Team Time & Adherence is a critical component for me, so THANK YOU!!!!
Concerns: I am hoping that I will continue to experience inflammation related improvements in my body mechanics as I continue on this journey. It has only been just under 4 months of strict adherence, so I am hoping for more improvement – mainly so I can keep walking consistently and having fewer setbacks that require rest.
Questions: For others who have had challenges with body mechanics (i.e. arthritic joints, artificial joints, back problems, etc.) what has your journey been like as far as improvements in pain, ability to consistently exercise, etc.? I need to hear some experience strength and hope in this department!!
Other comments:
BambiS - Happy Birthday! I am also 64! May our best years be ahead!
Welcome Marilyn! Cabbage is my favorite cooked vegetable - your oats sound delicious!
Carol - I love your reflection about your "reckoning." For me anyway, the Pleasure Trap is cunning, baffling and powerful, and it doesn't present itself in my life by standing in the middle of the road and screaming "come on in!" It lures me in quietly with seemingly small and seemingly insignificant steps, that ultimately lead me right back into the jaws of the trap. It sounds like maybe it is that way for you too. I love how you recognized what was happening, and took the necessary steps to course correct before the jaws had you. I love what you said about having faith that things will work out with your house search. I'm sure it must be a frustrating process and you are such a strong example to me of how to navigate challenging circumstances without succumbing to old coping mechanisms. Sending you a virtual hug!!
Stephanie - I love your menu and I want to come live at your house!!!
I get so much hope from your posts - that maybe I too can achieve a slender weight and maintain it happily by just following this program! Thank you for all that you share and for your positive spirit!
Rebecka22 - The Pleasure Trap is no joke! I feel you on the challenges for sure.
Louie3084 - I can't imagine the challenge of trying to get this program figured out while juggling 3 young kids and a job! My hat is off to you for your progress and committment!
Gimmelean - I love what you said about preparation being the key to success. That is working for me right now too, and I need to never forget how important preparation is to my success.
Big shout out to everyone else - may we all have a week we can feel great about!!!!