carwex - I hope that you are recovering well from your cataract surgery, Carol, and I wish you a speedy return to full health and vigor.
As you observe, changes in our environment and routine can easily present new challenges or the return of familiar obstacles from the past. Like you, I do find that I typically consume a volume of food that is substantial, both to feel satisfied and to maintain my healthy weight. Your list of qualities needed for successful eating, while perhaps not suited to everyone's situation and disposition, still seems useful and informative. In particular, accessibility and satiety seem like key factors for success in almost any situation.
If I had to choose one single contributor to long-term success, it might very likely be consistency; continuing to put in a solid, good-faith effort counts for a lot. Good luck preparing for your move, be kind to yourself, and keep at it!
squealcat - Great to see you reporting, Marilyn! That transition back, after a period of divergent behavior, is often pretty challenging at first. Don't beat yourself up about not having "too many smiles"; rather, use your checklist, your past experience, and your intuition to determine what actions to take to raise the number of "smiles" on your list. As you observe, you have some good habits that are well-established; think about those: how they started and progressed toward habituation, and how that might apply to the new habits you want to build. Something I have found useful has been to focus on REPLACING an unpreferred or maladaptive habit with one that is desired, so that often the same environmental and timing cues that already exist can be signals for the new habit, too.
Artista - That certainly looks like a pretty solid week to me, Nancy! Well done. I've spent a great deal of time streamlining and simplifying my prep work, too; I feel like this can be one area where "laziness" is a virtue.
I tend to focus on finding the least effortful way to accomplish my meal prep, which may not always be the fastest - in my case, I tend to use the Instant Pot quite often, because of the "set it and forget it" quality it has. I make liberal use of both the delay timer and the keep warm function so that I can prep a meal when it is convenient for me, while still having that meal ready to eat when I want it. Something I've found to be really useful about Jeff's SNAP template, and his basic recipes generally, is the way one can vary the starch, non starchy vegetables, seasonings and liquid, so as to produce a wide variety of different "styles" of cuisine for the same basic template. Best of luck as you peruse the recipe file!
VegSeekingFit - Awesome week, Stephanie!
VegSeekingFit wrote: Each night after dinner I plated a snack (split pea veggie soup or potato slices with fruit). I actually ate the snack 3 times over the week after dinner. Somehow not just identifying "what" the compliant food would be, but also getting it in "eat mode" seems to help me here.
This seems like a really useful observation and practice; to me, something significant is that you are working to, as much as possible, eliminate any friction between yourself and your desired behavior. It eases the path, so to speak.
VegSeekingFit wrote:It is comforting to really feel like MWL 10 Point Checklist is a 100% sustainable framework to follow for life-long weight / health management.
I find that feeling very comforting as well, and it feels like an important realization. The feeling of this way of living being achievable and sustainable seems really integral to building confidence in our capability. Wishing you another awesome week to come!
Gimmelean - Being able to quickly turn things around in the wake of a lapse is, possibly, one of the most important abilities we can cultivate, right? As you observe, you know what you need to do to get back on track, so you can direct your efforts toward appropriate follow through. Try not to be too hard on yourself, and to treat yourself with compassion. When you feel able, perhaps take a little time to think through the chain of events, and any environmental factors that may have contributed to this being a difficult week. Tackling those will make for even greater resilience moving forward. Onward!