Weight change +/- in lbs:
-3.2
167.8 (whoop whoop)
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
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. NO
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. NO
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. NO
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). NO
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES
Victories, comments, concerns, questions: Ok I know my answers to the 10 points don't line up with my results, so I want to explain. On Sunday we celebrated my parents 55th anniversary! We ate out and I had a fairly on track meal except for the oil, we also made a toast with some wine and then dessert afterwards. I knew that it would most likely show up on the scale, but we all enjoyed celebrating their relationship with a good meal. So on Monday, I checked in with the McDougall board to read through everyone's posts and see if I had a message from Mark. I did
and he shared some information on plateaus (which I have been on one for 6 months-ish) and the set point theory from a behavioral perspective. I highly, highly recommend anyone who is in a plateau to check it out. I don't know what it was but it just clicked and starting on Monday, I was 100% adherent, it felt wonderful. I made a huge pot of lentil and potato soup and ate on it for dinner the next several days. I felt lighter and was pretty sure I would see the results on the scale, so was very happy to see such a significant drop. The article made me really examine whether I was doing all that I could to stick to the 10 points, which I knew I hadn't been. I have also been going to bed much earlier which has helped to prevent late night snacking. I'm feeling good and hope to be going a better direction with adherence. I also happened across a great video by Chef AJ Episode 36 from her Weight loss Wednesday series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abJ8EpApZLA (hopefully the link works) She really gets at the heart of adhering to the plan and keeping your environment clean. Her matter of fact approach was just what I needed to hear! Well, I know things will continue to go up and down but I'm feeling hopeful.
thanks Mark for all of your positive words and patience!
Happy weekend to all!