2/5
1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
7/7 I continue to select from each of these options before meals--what ever is at hand or what I have the mood for. I still have some frozen soup to use this week and a simple salad. 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.
7/7 Didn't follow through with my mid-week prep, but still made this work with left-overs/frozen vegetables. I stopped at a small grocery before work yesterday and picked up some fruit for the day. (This is also a former place for binge/cram foods, but got in and out without issue.)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.
6/7 Just realized I hadn't docked my habit list on this item for some trouble I had on Sunday. 4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
7/7 We continue to eat at home. It hasn't been a problem turning down things at work. The checklist helps and having my lunch handy. 5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6/7, again the trouble on Sunday. I will explain below. 6. Eliminate any added oil.
6/7--Sunday....the theme of this week!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.
6/7--ahem....8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
7/7 The caffeine snuck back in a little, but was able to drink it without any additions. I haven't been that thirsty, but have been enjoying herbal teas too. Have some at work and at home. 9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
6/7 Sunday...I think Sunday was a problem because over the course of last week I watched my appetite really decrease. I finally exercised on Saturday and I think I was thrown off by how hungry I was. I wasn't that interested in breakfast, but by lunchtime I had two helpings of lunch and still felt I needed to eat urgently--but at the same time felt a bit full. I think I also gave myself the false choice of either eating crap or eating nothing. So I ate crap. I didn't make something else to snack on like in previous weeks--I totally forgot the adage to eat of the appropriate foods and not worry whether you were experiencing "real hunger". I didn't employ distraction, and I didn't give myself permission to just have dinner earlier.
p.s. why does one day undo a whole weeks worth of progress (scale) and also take another week to get back off? 10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
3/7 Walked outside for about an hour on Saturday and Sunday; then 30 minutes on Thursday. I will try to do less exercise more often, so my hunger is more steady and it's more of a habit. I need to hide my scale... knowing my weight hasn't been too disturbing, but it has a body composition feature that is making me nuts. I'm back down what I gained on Sunday, but up three % fat? Discouraging: "You lost weight, but you are always 50% fat!"
After my post last week saying that it's not a minefield of holidays....my mother invited to take me out to eat for my birthday at the end of the month. Maybe I can suggest she pay our admission to something instead of the a meal...hmm.