This is my first official weigh in, as I just joined this group this week. I don't have a comparison from last Friday, but my most recent weigh-in before today was Jan 6. So my weight loss for this week represents a nearly two week total, and thus is a little inflated.
Weight Change -5.8lbs. (as a frame of reference, still have at least 100+ lbs to get to an ideal weight)
MWL Checklist where I succeeded...
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.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
6. Eliminate any added oil.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don’t starve yourself and don’t stuff yourself.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
MWL Checklist need greater attention...
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. - Definitely needs some work here. Bought a lot of lettuce and salad vegetables, but just haven't had time to prep them.
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. - I've reduced my sugar consumption, but haven't eliminated it. I've kept my salt consumption to moderate levels, but have not eliminated it.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). - I've done a great job reducing higher fat plant food, but I can't say eliminate.
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. - I think I had a whole wheat bagel or two for a hurried breakfast, but certainly have reduced consumption in this category.
8. Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). - Hard for me to eliminate. I've been drinking ice tea for lunch, mixing the unsweetened tea with the sweetened version.
I've done better than expected this year on the exercise front, which I think has likely helped me even though admittedly I'm not perfect in the dietary areas. I've tried a new approach this year, and it's been helping me a lot to keep nn track (admittedly, unseasonably warmer weather in Ohio in January has helped as well). I've always had a weekly fitness routine, which involves a mix of light jogging, fitness classes, cycling etc, although most of the time I fall short of meeting what i had planned to do. But this year, I've implemented the following rules that I've created for myself...
1) It's OK if I have to modify/cancel my planned activities, but I still need to get a "workout" in every day.
2) A "workout" just has to be a minimum of walking 1 mile. It can certainly be more, if I'm up to it, but it have to go at least 1 mile to count as a workout for that day. (I don't count walking the dog or say shopping, even though I know all activity is good and better than sitting at home - those normally have too much stop/go for me to consider a workout)
3) To count as a "workout", even when doing the minimum, I have to go through the effort of putting my exercise clothes and a good pair of shoes on.
Yesterday was a great example of how this approach helped. I signed up for an exercise class at the gym, but got tied up at work, had to deal with a broken refrigerator, etc, so I realized it wasn't going to happen today. Normally, that might have been followed by some unproductive eating behavior, but I wanted to at least keep my exercise streak going and at least get my mile in for the day. But once I actually started my walk, I started feeling pretty good. Since I had my shoes and exercise gear on, I decided to pick the pace up a bit and turned my 1 mile walk into a 3 mile slow jog/walk, which is actually a pretty good workout for me. Re-inforced by making positive fitness decision helped me make positive food choices for dinner as well (something I typically might not have done last year).
I think the point is, even though I had to adjust my plans, I had a much better outcome than if I would've just bagged my exercise plans all together. I feel like I'm in good enough shape that I can walk a mile without too much stress/concern any time, regardless of the weather, time of day, how busy I am at work. If I end up doing more, great, but if that's all I do, I feel positive at least I've done something that I can build upon for tomorrow.
Hope this helps!
Chuck
Mark Cooper wrote:A reminder / request for tomorrow's weigh-in - if participants would be willing to post weigh-in reports in the format below, I think it will help to provide useful information, allow us to better learn from one another's experiences, and foster group interaction. Feel free to copy and paste the template, if you like.
Weight change +/- in lbs
Points from the MWL Checklist where I succeeded this week
Points from the MWL Checklist that need greater attention
General impressions & observations / resources to share / sources of excitement / requests for input & support
by LynnStarr » Fri Jan 17, 2020 6:54 am 
