Re: The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - February 2023 Group
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2023 11:32 am
1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Hit and miss with this one. Yes, most often raw vegetables, sometimes fruit.
2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. 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. I avoid sugar and minimize salt. I use mostly fresh produce or NSA added products and sprinkle salt lightly at the table.
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.
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, at first I missed the unsweetened soy milk in tea and on oatmeal, but I’m getting used to it now.
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’ve really been paying attention to this one this week and I do think I’m eating a little less as a result and I feel better.
10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes! Very proud of this one. Getting 7 days in a row of exercise has been a challenge for me in the past but being in this group has helped me to make sure I get this one in each day. Exercise this week has been: walking, strength-training, yoga, and jogging on a mini-trampoline.
Victories, Comments, Questions, Challenges: I appreciate the accountability of the group. It has really helped to dial up my daily awareness of and commitment to each of the guidelines. I'm feeling better, my food cravings have calmed down, and my appetite seems to be working appropriately again. I’ve been thinking about adherence fatigue this week. I don’t really have any good solutions at this point. When I started following MWL last summer I was full of determination to stay on course for the long term and not give up in a few months, but that’s exactly what I ended up doing. I don’t have confidence anymore that I can determine how I will feel and what I will do in two, three, or six months. For now I’m just focusing on each day as it comes, trying to remember every day to renew that commitment to follow this way of healthy eating and lifestyle. I enjoy reading everyone else's reports in this group, it's so helpful to know that others are on this journey with me, especially helpful to see those of you who have successfully kept to this way of eating for months at a time, even years. You all are an inspiration!
2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. 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. I avoid sugar and minimize salt. I use mostly fresh produce or NSA added products and sprinkle salt lightly at the table.
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.
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, at first I missed the unsweetened soy milk in tea and on oatmeal, but I’m getting used to it now.
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’ve really been paying attention to this one this week and I do think I’m eating a little less as a result and I feel better.
10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes! Very proud of this one. Getting 7 days in a row of exercise has been a challenge for me in the past but being in this group has helped me to make sure I get this one in each day. Exercise this week has been: walking, strength-training, yoga, and jogging on a mini-trampoline.
Victories, Comments, Questions, Challenges: I appreciate the accountability of the group. It has really helped to dial up my daily awareness of and commitment to each of the guidelines. I'm feeling better, my food cravings have calmed down, and my appetite seems to be working appropriately again. I’ve been thinking about adherence fatigue this week. I don’t really have any good solutions at this point. When I started following MWL last summer I was full of determination to stay on course for the long term and not give up in a few months, but that’s exactly what I ended up doing. I don’t have confidence anymore that I can determine how I will feel and what I will do in two, three, or six months. For now I’m just focusing on each day as it comes, trying to remember every day to renew that commitment to follow this way of healthy eating and lifestyle. I enjoy reading everyone else's reports in this group, it's so helpful to know that others are on this journey with me, especially helpful to see those of you who have successfully kept to this way of eating for months at a time, even years. You all are an inspiration!