Just copying over my MWL weekly report so I keep record of it here in my journal..
Hello fellow travelers!!
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. I might create a simple check list to put on my McDougall Inspiration bulletin board so I can keep better track of how often I am really doing this across the total meals for the week. I haven’t been doing this for breakfast, but I have been pretty consistent with lunch and dinner. I think my only miss was last Tuesday when my husband’s vehicle had problems. I had to drop was I was doing RIGHT THEN and help him deal with the situation so he could keep his client schedule. Result – I was caught out of the house without food, and HUNGRY! I guess you might say I had my “pre-load” for lunch! I stopped at the grocery store and grabbed some bananas. I ate two, which staved off the hunger until I could get home to my beloved potatoes!
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. This would be another good item for my checklist so I could say “18/21 meals” or whatever. I think I hit this one for every meal except the crazy lunch day.
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. Progress! I am not looking to eliminate added salt, just move it more and more to the shaker on top of the food and less and less in the food itself. I tried Goose’s easy homemade ketchup recipe this week and so a LOT less salt came out of the ketchup bottle for me. I’m on the hunt for lower sodium or no added salt bottled salsa – I feel I need that convenience. Any suggestions?? No sugary foods this week, or any sugar added to anything.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). DONE!
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). DONE!
6. Eliminate any added oil. DONE!!
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. This would be another good item for my check list. I had 2 meals which included corn tortillas. I think those were the only two meals that included higher calorie density products.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). DONE.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. A couple of times I feel like I went past the “comfortable full” point. It’s pretty easy for me to pass that up before I realize it. I will say that unlike the SAD days, that “too full” feeling dissipates quickly – I would imagine as a result of the lower calorie density? Whatever the mechanisms, it was nice to not feel discomfort for any long length of time. So, I’m not going to worry over this one right now.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Sigh. I fell far short of my exercise goal. I am giving myself credit for learning 2 of the 6 J. Dixon Functional Six. Maybe a better goal for where I seem to be right now is 1 per week instead of 1 per day. I did log over 79,000 steps on my Fitbit last week, so there is that.
Victories: No animal products. No free oils/fats. Progress on salt. No sugar. Minimal flour-based items which I’m calling victory over! Shout out of thanks to Stephanie for the encouragement in this area, and for all the great alternative ideas. I’m going to quickly run out of excuses! I have been lost on average 2 pounds per week since May 13 (start date of my 12-day program). So I don’t want to beat myself up about the areas where I have room for improvement.
Comments: I’m mentally struggling with the flour thing. I spoke with Tiffany about it today (McDougall Support Specialist from 12-day program) and she suggested that for now, I could just think in terms of the weight loss portion of my journey, and not the “rest of my life” portion of my journey. Buckle down for now and ditch the flour, and then when I am at goal weight (yet to be determined, which I am fine with), it will be easier to manage if I want to experiment with the foods/meals that are inside the SS, but outside the MWL guidelines. That make sense to me, so I will work on that mindset. Also, huge shout out of thanks to Stephanie for the encouragement in this area, and for all the great alternative ideas. I’m going to quickly run out of excuses!
Concerns: Next Wednesday is the last of my weekly meetings with Tiffany (12-day program support specialist). The meetings are due to drop back to monthly for 10 months from there. I’m concerned about scaling back so much, because I find Tiffany very motivating and a great person to hold me accountable. So, I decided to go with the option of paying extra for some support, so I can see her twice per month for a while. I am still concerned about a wandering mind as I learn to travel the McDougall highway on my own.
Questions: Does anyone have commercially available reduced sodium, or no salt added salsas to recommend? I found a couple on a “heart health” site (lots of reduced sodium products there) that are much lower than what I typically see in store bought salsa, but still not low enough to meet Jeff’s guidelines. I kept my credit card in my wallet for now! I would love to have the convenience of a ready-made salsa that meets the guidelines.
I am VERY grateful for all the support so freely given in this MWL group and also around the forum. What a phenomenal resource! I appreciate you all!
Feeling CONFIDENT!!
Positive mental outlook, energy --- so much that isn't necessarily physical will keep me on this path. I am also hoping to do the 10 year from now test... like with Katie! 
