Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Share your daily McDougall menus and/or keep a journal describing your personal progress.

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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby Trinity » Thu Aug 04, 2022 10:04 am

Hey Stephanie! Love your journal, you’ve been doing such a great job! Just wondering what you were reading these days. Also, have you read Atomic Habits? It’s so interesting and a lot of stuff he says can be applied to this WOE (though his healthy eating/weight loss examples are the typical dumb stuff like counting calories and using smaller plates, etc.) whether MWL or SS.
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8/5 MWL Group - Weekly Food / Exercise

Postby VegSeekingFit » Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:30 pm

Hi Trinity, :)
Great that you loved "Atomic Habits"!!! I started it --- only got as far as the foreword (which I loved)... then was too slow and it got kicked back to the library. I have on hold and look forward to actually getting into the "meat" of it! :D Right now, I am reading "Calm the F*ck Down", "Apples Never Fall", "Vegetable Literacy", "Cul-de-Sac"... hoping to finish at least one over the weekend!!!

Hi Journal,
Here is this morning's breakfast: Finger food salad, frozen mango / cherries / strawberries (seems too good to be compliant), Split pea soup (very much more like stew and an overflowing mug).. :)

Image

So, some numbers... Steps - I am at 4.7K more average steps / day YTD 2022 than for discrete 2021. :-D Weight - at 111 today as compared to 110 last week and 112 for the 3 weeks before. I mucked up any ability to do comparisons between this week and last week impact of increasing a small bit of starch (due to my #5/7 event on Monday night). That is fine - I am not sweating anything in this regard - will move on to evaluate better next week... :)

Totally taking advantage of Summer hours today. Has been a long work week, but overall very positive. Went live with a big project effective 7/1... so the big deal this week was that all of that stuff "hit" its first financial close through the various IT systems, calcs, etc... Workday 1-4 were fairly busy troubleshooting, but issues are wrangled in, stakeholders are happy, processes are working. I will say that this has definitely provided an opportunity for me to really evaluate how well MWL is working for managing my anxiety (because a high stress work week).... so, have to say --- very, very well!!! No blips, pretty cool as a cucumber... Very high motivation to continue on (even if this was my only benefit, but it's not!)...

For fun, if you have 2.5 minutes --- check out Dr. Oz - Wizard of Lies mash-up... :lol: Very well done by Meidas Touch IMO... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihRX-hXQjgo


Below is Behavioral assessment that I will post to the Time & Adherence Group.

Hi Team Time and Adherence! Happy August!!! :)

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
:) Yes. Still mostly salad / raw veggies - sometimes fruit. Loving Tuscan melon, frozen mangoes and cherries this week. Also, loving various tomatoes, Romaine lettuce, and carrots... :lol: This has gotten really simple for me since I just pile it up on a plate. I actually enjoy the preload at this point... where it used to be a sometimes struggle.

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.
My favorite meal this week was Sloppy Red Lentils (made with double veggies; almost like a "gravy") over Romaine.
Also ate a lot of potatoes, split pea soup, and whole wheat pasta (found a great fusilli!)...
Added raw or roasted veggies and fruit to the meal. Made some tiny chopped veggies via the new pull-chopper...


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. Reduced (not in cooking or product; at table only). I used salt a few times on potatoes and had some BBQ sauce (sugar) one day.

4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
YES, of course. :D

5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
:| I had a miss here this Monday night (also impacts #7). I did eat recommended foods first (fruit + potato). I have to say that this is probably the first time that I have "walked the walk" for NOT beating myself up. (So, THANK YOU, Mark Cooper for continuing to stress the importance of this --- very helpful!) The circumstance where I ate this --- my willpower was in short supply and I was tired, but needed to stay up for a work checkpoint. Good news is that I have NOT had any thoughts / desires to double / triple / quadruple down on this slip. Just got right back to eating the recommended foods. So, even though not a happy face / YES answer --- I take this as progress.

6 Eliminate any added oil.
:nod: 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.
:| See #5

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 didn't stuff or starve.
I keep recommended foods READILY available to snack on (as needed).


10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes. :)
* 7/7 days walked briskly
The weather has been beautiful this week!!!


Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Hope that everyone has a wonderful week!!!!

Best,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby Ruff » Sun Aug 07, 2022 1:48 pm

Another Atomic habits fan here. I got it from the library first, but then decided it was a keeper and brought my own copy. Its the best habits book I have ever read. I use various "when I 'xxxxx', I will yyyy'" type as in "when I boil the kettle I will tidy as much as I can in the kitchen", or when I sit down with my morning cup of tea I will do the accounts. I do think I need to read it again though. I am a huge habits rather than goals person.

And I love the photographs.....its down to Rick's instructions I know, but it is making the journals so much fun. And I love seeing other peoples food :D
Katie

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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby VegSeekingFit » Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:36 pm

Hi,

Thank you, Katie! I may also just buy this book... I only hesitate because I have so many on To Be Read list that either sitting on Kindle or in my face... :-D

So, my biggest question... if anyone knows the answer... Does MWL make you need less sleep??? I am totally annoying my husband by being up early (perhaps I could be quieter... but I am not thinking I am loud (but have feedback that I am LOUD....)... Today, up at 4:30 AM... (YUCK!!) ... No worries, just curious... I am not a 4:30AM person on any level... 6:00AM sounds much more civilized... :lol:

Image This was ridiculously great breakfast!!! Sloppier Red lentils... (recipe from this website --- modified to exclude sugar & soy sauce, double veggies.... added a huge jalapeno with seeds ... thumbs up to that)...

Keep going everyone!!

Cheers,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby Lizzy_F » Thu Aug 11, 2022 7:55 am

Hi Stephanie!! I love how you worded that - saying you didn't double or tripple or quadruple down on that #7 slip. I'm going to remember that because I have gone down that ugly rabbit hole SO many millions of times! ("well, I had XXX, so might as well have YYY and ZZZ and, and and....) The words of wisdom from you and Mark and Jeff and so many others here on the forum are just invaluable!

I too am LOVING your food pics!! My meals don't look very pretty but I should start taking and posting pics none the less.

Could you share your sloppy lentil recipe? I am drooling over your pea soup/stew pics. I haven't made split pea soup in such a long time (since before I got your recipe!) but my freezer stash is gone now, so it's really time to get out the crock pot. Maybe tonight! :mrgreen:

Hope you are having an awesome day!!
Beth

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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby Trinity » Thu Aug 11, 2022 7:03 pm

Stephanie—you are rocking it. I only successfully did MWL for about a month in the summer of 2020. Keep up the awesomeness!!!
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8/12 MWL Group - Weekly Food / Exercise

Postby VegSeekingFit » Fri Aug 12, 2022 3:19 pm

Hi Beth and Hi Trinity!!! Where is the LOVE LOVE LOVE emoji??? :cool: Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments!!!

Hi Journal,

Happy Friday!!!! I almost actually went into work today .... (which I haven't been in person since March 2020)... Some folks were taking pictures and doing a group Bring Your Dog to Work day... :-D Don't know whose dog I could borrow!!! (probably not a good idea....) Next week is yoga, wine and ice cream at the waterfall (seriously --- and I am not considering it)...

Planning a day trip with my son next week before he goes back to school. We do this every year... It was a choice between butterflies and roller coasters. He picked the butterflies.... :) I was trying to get him to do both, but no dice...

Going to experiment with thinly sliced potatoes after this post. I honestly have the picture in my head and it is going to distract me until I actually try them!

Weight is down 1 lb. from last week (but was up 1 lb. last week -- probably due to the 5/7 incident...) :mrgreen:

Weather is looking amazing for the next week --- finally in the 70's and we have all of the windows open / no air on. Beautiful!

Below is Behavioral assessment that I will post to the Time & Adherence Group.

Hi Team Time and Adherence! :)

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
:) Yes. Still mostly salad / raw veggies - sometimes fruit. Bought a cut up cantaloupe to save some time - I like to have some melon every day. For the salad, mostly this is just piling raw veggies on a plate. I really hardly ever eat it in a bowl with dressing.

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.
Image
This was yesterday's breakfast. Delicious - potatoes and smashed pinto beans with marzetti tomatoes and purple cauliflower (that I am still unbelievably loving...)
Rest of meals are mainly potatoes, sloppy lentils, rice, whole wheat pasta, split pea soup. Lots of carrots and romaine and bell peppers.


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. Reduced (not in cooking or product; at table only).

4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
YES, of course. :D

5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
:) Yes.

6 Eliminate any added oil.
:nod: 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.
:-D 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. No starving or stuffing.
I keep recommended foods in refrigerator ready to snack on (as needed). I didn't do much off-meal snacking this week.


10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes. :)
* 7/7 days walked briskly
I am still loving the walking - the weather is amazing --- except one morning where it was both rainy and windy and I spent a lot of energy fighting to keep my umbrella for going inside out.


Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Mark, Hope that you are continuing to feel better!!! You asked me in last week's thread about what I may try to do differently in similar situation in future (when I caved on 5/7)... Great question. I think that I should have exercised instead of eaten - probably no need to eat --- I was just trying to stay up. Alternatively, totally could have had more potatoes and fruit... I do expect that this was an isolated type of situation (but, yep it could happen again...) Appreciate your support! Also, looking forward to "efficacious August"!!! :D

BambiYay, congrats on meeting your goal early!!! :)

Rebecka Hi! With your comment on sugar not making you feel good... I realized the same thing last week with the fat food... Was thinking this was good news to stop!!! Have a great week! :-D

Carol I bet you are glad that you have this enormous move behind you! It sounds exhausting. :shock: Wishing you the best as you get settled in and back to the MWL routines!!! I am envious of your restaurant experience. Awesome!!!

Gina Hi, yay that you joined! :) I agree with you 100% on this group being top-notch for accountability and support!

JaBee I find the same thing as you --- that it is so much easier if food is prepped ... Hope you have a great week!!! (I think Mark's lentil recipe is in the July MWL thread in his responses...)

Hope that everyone has an amazing week! Loving this quote: "I gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which I must stop and look fear in the face." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Best,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby Lizzy_F » Sat Aug 13, 2022 9:07 am

Hi Stephanie! I'm loving your food pics! Our food looks so healthy, doesn't it? Tastes good too!

Thank you for your continued support. I am definitely interested in any links, tips, etc. that helped you with the mental side of this journey! You are rocking it!
Beth

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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby bunsofaluminum » Sat Aug 13, 2022 10:34 am

Loving your pictures! everything looks yummy.

as for needing less sleep, yes I'd say so. My energy levels increased a lot when I got on the McDougall Plan and I seem to need a little over 6 hours these days. It's lovely when I get seven or so hours, but it's few and far between. I'm alert and cheerful with my 6 hours and 13 minutes a night ;)
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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby VegSeekingFit » Sun Aug 14, 2022 7:37 pm

Hi Beth, Hi Heidi!!! :cool: :-D :)

Beth, Let's chat... I think I was more mentioning that I know how you feel / empathize and that I struggle with these challenges periodically... Heck, think it took me 15 months to stop beating myself up even though Mark Cooper mentions it to at least one person per week... Best advice I have --- what helps me... deflect the negative emotion with a positive one ---- like laugh, smile, do something you love... (after taking several deep breaths)... :-D Sing a silly song LOUD..., go outside and enjoy the weather, chat it out with a friend, whatever may help you...

Journal,
So, I think that I could potentially overpost pictures... :lol: Anyway, just a few for today...

Image
These fries were incredible - mixture of Yukon gold & red potatoes. I got a little carried away with them and basically devoured a whole cookie sheet full... I was not stuffing though...

Image
This is today's shopping haul from International Market.

Image
Last one -- batch prepping some fruit and veggies. Making some Jeff burgers... More fries... :eek:

Enjoy the week!!!
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby Lizzy_F » Mon Aug 15, 2022 11:47 am

Hi Stephanie and happy Monday! I LOVE all your food pics so I hope you keep posting lots! What version of “ burgers” do you like? I haven’t tried any recently, but didn’t love my past attempts.

I wonder if there is a way to set up an official poll on this forum (other than just putting a question out there). Here is a poll I have in mind:

How long do leftovers last?

1). I follow the FDA recommendations. :)
2). One week and that’s it! :D
3). If there is nothing green and fuzzy on it, then it’s still good. :mrgreen:

What do your personal guidelines look like?
Beth

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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby VegSeekingFit » Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:30 pm

Lizzy_F wrote:Hi Stephanie and happy Monday! I LOVE all your food pics so I hope you keep posting lots! What version of “ burgers” do you like? I haven’t tried any recently, but didn’t love my past attempts.

I wonder if there is a way to set up an official poll on this forum (other than just putting a question out there). Here is a poll I have in mind:

How long do leftovers last?

1). I follow the FDA recommendations. :)
2). One week and that’s it! :D
3). If there is nothing green and fuzzy on it, then it’s still good. :mrgreen:

What do your personal guidelines look like?


Hey Beth, :)

I will be happy to share my personal guidelines --- which I have NO (meaning ZERO ZERO ZERO) expertise in... just what I do with the management of food.

So, I have always had a healthy respect for avoiding some type of food poisoning... Pretty risk aversive here... Even before McD... I am like the refrigerator monitor (for all!!!)... I have been lectured a few times from folks in the grocery industry that the date on certain products is "sell by" NOT "eat by"... but I go by "sell by"... And ... warn people (in my house) that they should consume it or it is out on that date (will be pitched) ... sometimes not a popular stance... :-D

I don't keep any cut produce or recipes in refrigerator for more than 7 days. If something --- looks, tastes, seems funny or off... not going to be consumed. I am super boring and make small pots of stuff that I just eat consecutively until it is gone... So, not in refrigerator for long... Have a super small freezer and am not so great being a freezer monitor... So, keep frozen veggies, fruit, potatoes, corn... and Jeff Burgers... Go through them on a regular pace...

Not sure if this helps??? I do think that you could do a poll somehow (if you would want)... Or maybe if you are curious you could pose the question to MWL group...

Best,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby VegSeekingFit » Wed Aug 17, 2022 9:53 pm

Hi!! :)

So, I am totally trying to stay up later so that I get up later.... :D I do not aspire to be annoying to folks... I have a ridiculous amount of energy in the early morning and I just get up --- because I want to... :-D Learning to tip-toe in my socks... :lol: I am using the time to plan --- which is helpful / productive,.. No work email / logon until later --- after I walk / shower... :D

Had a totally awesome day today with my son today doing BUTTERFLIES!! :) Going to try to figure out how to move my phone pics to share a couple...

Anyway, the huge volume of potatoes that I ate earlier this week seems to: 1) have normalized and 2) not replicated with repeats... Also, seemingly I can eat them with impunity... (to be proven... ) :-D

Sharing some food pics... Super easy stuff...

Image Today's breakfast... Tomato, cuke, onion salad... with some fruit... Then, resurrected the potato waffle with some Mary McD slow cooked black beans ... and a bit of corn with small sugar (BBQ)... super delicious!!!

Image This is a plate like "just throw anything compliant on it..." and was really easy and delicious!!!

OK... will stop for today with incessant pictures...

Cheers to all!!
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby Trinity » Thu Aug 18, 2022 6:52 pm

Mmmm your food looks so good! I love square plates too though don’t have any. I am definitely having more energy in the morning these days but do you get sleepy in the late morning or early afternoon? Or do you feel pretty energetic throughout the day too?

I’ve got to catch up on your journal now, I think I’ve missed a lot!
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Re: Stephanie's Journal - One Bite at a Time...

Postby VegSeekingFit » Thu Aug 18, 2022 8:38 pm

Trinity wrote:Mmmm your food looks so good! I love square plates too though don’t have any. I am definitely having more energy in the morning these days but do you get sleepy in the late morning or early afternoon? Or do you feel pretty energetic throughout the day too?

I’ve got to catch up on your journal now, I think I’ve missed a lot!


Hi!!

100% would be ok with a brief SIESTA in the early afternoon... My energy is ridiculous in the morning... and does go on all day... Not knocking it!!! :D :-D :) I feel like I am HEMPED up on vegetables... :lol:

Cheers,
Stephanie
"Just put one foot in front of the other and don't worry about the length of the path.
Once you get on that path, and the longer you stay on it, there eventually will come a time when you will not turn back." - Martina Navratilova
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