Happy Weekend McD'ers!!
Hope that everyone has a chance to enjoy the weather and take some time to unwind.
Here is my report for the week...
Weight Change - 3.6 lbs. loss
Current weight - 140.2 lbs.
Last Week weight - 143.8 lbs.
1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
YES - 20/212 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 - 21/213 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.
I can do better with eliminating any non-NSA products from pantry, restocking with NSA, and choosing better condiments (or replacing with herbs / spices). I plan to clean up my environment next week and get rid of all products that don't meet the guidelines (even ones that don't want to leave...). I haven't used many, but have used some and my intent would be not to derail progress by not following guidance for this checkpoint. I started the week on the wrong path of stopping sprinkling garlic salt on my almost daily potato waffle (only thing I use salt / sugar on recently). However, thought of Mark's comment to me last time (copying Jeff Novick guidance) -- sorry, I am not using quote correctly here....
JeffN wrote:
"In regard to added salt and added sugar, we recommend buying and preparing food without either and if any are to be used, to add them at the table on the surface of the food. If either one is troublesome and create uncontrollable cravings for you, then leave them out."
So, have happily resumed enjoying my potato waffle. Hoping for next week and future to just answer "YES" here!!! 4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
YES5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
YES6 Eliminate any added oil.
YES7 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.
YES8 Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
YES9 Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
YES10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
YES.
Met goal of walking 56K steps this week. The stars were aligned from a weather and work meeting perspective. Some days I took a few short walks based on schedule. Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
I am trying to ignore weekly scale change (instead of do cartwheels).... and focus on the behaviors. It is difficult to detach from the outcome --- even knowing that it could be a fluid anomaly....
I guess next week will tell... (dreaming of the 13*'s)...
Even though it can be tedious at times, I have found a lot of value in journaling food eaten and exercise. I think that I will continue doing this until I feel really grounded on all of the checkpoints. The journal provides a record to go back and understand what may have went wrong if the outcome doesn't seem to equal compliance. I have reviewed some of my old journals and am able to pinpoint at what point my motivation started to go south (which I think will be helpful for preventing future journeys down the rabbit hole)....
In order to help meet #2, I like to roast a big pyrex pans of various veggies (liking summer squash, zucchini, onion, bell pepper, broccoli). The veggies are delicious even with nothing added - and then can be used to top salads, under soup, or eaten on own (can add herbs then). Very simple to make after chopping to your taste. Roast about 30 min in 425 oven (check & stir periodically). I like to roast mushrooms separately (since they take a shorter time and create so much liquid) and then mix them in with the rest of the veggies for extra flavor. Delicious!!
For next week, I am looking to: achieve 100% with #2 again, walk 63K steps, and add five body weight exercises on three days....
Questions -
A) Is there an acceptable substitute for Low-Sodium Tamari?
B) Or, is it acceptable to dilute this product with water to add a little soy flavor?
C) Or, is it recommended to find a completely different condiment that meets the guidelines, but can't really replace but would be used in lieu of Low-Sodium Tamari?? (i.e., something like Chili Garlic with no sodium, no sugar)
Thank you in advance if you are able to help with this.
Sorry, I do think that it is C), but just want to make sure...
Hope that everyone has a great week!!!!
Best,
Stephanie