Happy Saturday!
I'm
really hoping to get back to making entries at least 1-2 times during the week, but it's just been hard to do lately. So for now, here is my entry from the August MWL Weigh-in Forum:
by Health 1st » Sat Aug 21, 2021 12:33 pm
Weight change +/- in lbs: -4.7 (270.10 to 265.40)
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.----Unfortunately, no. Again, I anticipate doing better with #1 once pain has subsided more + can do more shopping + prep.
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, 50/50 for almost 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.----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).----Had 1 serving of Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel seasoning (has seeds and salt) 2 different days.
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.----I'll explain below why, but I had a total of 3 slices of whole wheat, no salt or oil added bread, half a box of wheat crackers from Whole Foods (only wheat + salt, but waaay too much salt!), + half a package of corn cakes (corn, sesame seeds, + salt). Otherwise good.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).----Yes, did not have.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.----Pretty much. There were a couple times where I ended up eating too much because I had become too hungry and that is not good. Further comments below.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).----Yay! I actually was able to walk 4 days give or take 500 feet. I was in discomfort/pain, but it certainly felt good to move--probably more mentally than physically. I had to walk slowly. Hoping I can do more and more in the coming weeks.
Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
----Welcome back, Mark; so glad you had such an enjoyable trip...it sounded wonderful!!
----wildgoose, thank you for filling in + writing all you did. I apologize for not having responded in a timely manner + hope to do so soon.
----I really appreciate having the reporting window be as long as it is. I started Friday morning + 1st finished now.
----Why I had the bread + crackers. I was going to shop Friday, but ended up not getting to shop until later Sunday evening. Sunday afternoon, an opportunity arose for us to drop everything + get out in the late afternoon for a concert in a park over an hour away. We decided to go, but what to eat on the go + no food prepped? With lack of time, still dealing with pain, + lack of groceries, I grabbed frozen bread, apples, water, + the box of crackers, hit the road + had a most enjoyable drive + concert. (First outing since the pandemic hit last year--we stayed on the outskirts of the venue to avoid possible exposure to covid.) I know the bread + crackers were not MWL compliant. But I think this is where the rubber meets the road. Can we navigate through life, maybe sometimes not being 100% MWL, but yet still be 100% McDougall (except too much salt in crackers), yet not let that lead to us continuing to not be MWL, + worse yet, fall off the wagon all together? I am so grateful that, despite the food choices not being ideal, I was able to successfully get right back on to MWL. I didn't "beat myself up" over it, but instead appreciated the fact that I passed a lot of formerly "yummy" "treats" being sold at the concert + formerly favorite fried potato wedges at a favorite gala gas station in that area.
----The corn cakes (like rice cakes but made from corn, sesame seeds, + salt), were eaten because of not having enough time to prepare adequate food before I left the house + I became hungry while out. Again, prep not done. The good thing is that the only reason I ate them was because I was legitimately hungry. It's not because I had a craving for them or am addicted to them. Just figured they were better than going through a drive-thru. Hope to have MWL food prepared so I don't have to fall back on rice/corn cakes or bread. And I really need things I can eat with my fingers (cold potatoes, cut raw veggies) because i couldn't eat the can of no salt added beans I had in the trunk.
----Regarding eating too much: As mentioned, I did eat a bit too much 2 times because I had gotten too hungry (1 time was with the corn cakes). But 1 good thing is that I'm now able to listen to my body in that it's acting more so like a naturally thin person because I naturally eat less at the next meal and/or eat later or not at all. Nonetheless, I can use improvement.
----Question. I ran out of berries that I had washed, drained, + frozen. Just bought frozen berries. But now am wondering if there could be possible covid contamination because I don't think they wash the berries before they freeze them. Or does freezing kill covid + other undesirable things like ecoli, etc.?
Thank you!!! Hoping everyone has a wonderful, MWL week. And remember, all we have control over is what we put in our mouths. If the scale isn't showing what you'd like, try to keep the course, have your chin up, + keep trudging along...eventually you'll get your desired results on the scale.
And like I've been experiencing, the positive changes in my health and behavior are even more important than a # on the scale...though I do like to see the #'s dwindle, too.
One good thing with the pain/injury, I have been forced to rest...a lot. Usually I'm one who runs on fumes with only about 4-5 hours of sleep. So I'm sure the rest has helped my body lose...for now.
) on what I just said about in my posts, having my weekly weigh-ins all in my journal will hopefully help to see patterns, etc..
