Discussion Board

YES YES YES!

Thanks for the great journal, inspiration and reflection!

I appreciate it greatly.

Now its time for my oatmeal ritual in the morning. I began a habit of making sauted greens, peppers,onions, mushrooms, garlic to put on top of boiled potatoes in the morning in the last few months and I feel really fantastic when I do that, too.

If I can get that morning walk daily I think I'll move towards my goals very quickly. Cross your fingers that I make no excuses. I just went by the TV and I caught Jane Fonda talking about being older and what happens to our bodies. Exercise is something we must do.

BOOTS!
What an excellent picture of exactly the steps to take along this journey toward success!!! Not only am I sooo happy for you, but I am so inspired by your positive and encouraging spirit. Once again, you are leading the way in such a non-assuming and humble way! I appreciate you so much. I think it is easy to get stuck at any point on this road, but you are a shining example of how to never, never, never give up! Thanks for always being here to encourage others and share both your struggles and successes! You are AWESOME!!!

I hope you don't mind, but I am going to take a copy of your post and put it in my own journal as a reference.

I thought it might be helpful to post my meals again for someone out there. I'm at around a 90 pound loss today

I eat only when hungry. I listen to my body and hunger cues. Its not perfect but I have gotten better over time. Is my stomach growling? When was the last time I ate? Am I really hungry or just want something in my mouth? I had a hard time breaking the always have something in my mouth craving.

Meal 1: monday-friday this is the exact same menu every week. I usually eat breakfast around 8 or 9am depending on my body hunger cues. I eat raw celery first. I don't measure. I then eat steamed greens until I feel semi-full. I then eat my oatmeal, I cook my oatmeal with 1 cup water, 1/2 cup oats, with 1 cup fruit and 1 tablespoon of flax and chia seed. I add nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice to flavor my oatmeal. I can never finish my oatmeal in one day, so this one batch usually last me 2 days

Meal 2: I eat between 6 and 7pm, depending on when hunger hits. I eat a raw salad with homemade salad dressing, I usually add fresh fruit to my salad. My plate is set up where its 1/3 raw, 1/3 steamed vegetables and half starch. I then eat my steamed greens. Lately I'm loving rainbow chard, which I steam for 13 minutes in my steamer and spray with lemon or lime juice. I then eat my starch. I make everynight, 6 or 7 days a week what I like to call starch casserole. I take steamed sweet potatoes, microwavable brown rice and black beans and mash it all together with seasonings. My favorite seasoning is chipotle powder. I always eat my food in a certain way. I eat the raw veggies first, then steamed, then starch. This helps with satiety and gets me fuller quicker so I don't overconsume on starch. Im not prefect, there are days where all I want is starch, so that's all I eat but nowadays I make a lot of effort to get me vegetables in and I truely do crave and enjoy them.

Snacks: I will eat banana ice cream after my last meal and fruit between meals if I'm feeling hungry

Hope this helps

Look at the entry above---do I always eat that way? No, I do not. I have days where I do not listen to my stretch receptors and I continue to eat and eat until my belly is very fully. I have days where I do not want vegetables. I reach for the highest calorie density food that I can get my hands on and eat it. The good news is that these days are less and less and happen less than 2-4 times a month--yay!!

I like what Dr. Lisle said about there is no "good" food or "bad" food. It might help if you labeled your food A plus to D minus. This was a B plus day for me

Here is an example of what I ate today

Breakfast: celery, steamed greens, oatmeal with fruit and flax/chia seed

Snack 1: 2-3 pounds of cherries fresh from the farmer's market--have you ever!! They were so good. Around a 1/2 a cup of strawberries--I didn't measure but it's my best guess

Snack 2: I stopped at the store, Whole Foods to be exact, we don't normally shop here but my husband requested something and I decided I wanted a "treat." I had 2 bags of kale chips. They are high in fat because they are made with cashews

Dinner: Whole Wheat pasta with pasta sauce, avocado, and onions. I also mixed hummus in with the pasta.

Snack 3: Strawberries, frozen banana

Exercise: 45 minutes

Keep on keepin on

I love black beans on a salad. I will have to try the dressing for the salad that was posted.

I bet black bean salsa would be good over rice too and it is so easy to make.

I switched from Atkins to Vegan Atkins to McDougalls MWL so I bypassed the cravings when starting McDougall. I had them the first week on Atkins and then they were decreased. If I eat junky type of carbs, it can still set off some cravings. Compared to how my horrible appetite was before, it is pretty calm now. I just have to take it one day at a time and not get too anxious. Accept that each day is progress.

Did you say hi to me?

Yes, I did and I bought your book--you signed it. I was the 5'2 shorty with the curly hair and the man, LOL

Hi ya'll . Thanks for following my journal. I'm excited about posting again. A spark got ignited in me and my hope is to follow my dreams one day of being a food coach. I'm not able to go to training right now but I hope the future will bring about different options.

I got 7 hours of solid sleep last night. I didn't wake up once. I dream of days when this happens. I woke up before 5am. I did want to sleep until 6:30am but it didn't happen. I laid in bed for a bit and then went for a 30 minute power-walk to start the day!! I continued my walking throughout the day and walked my way to 1 hour and 10 minutes. I love walking. There are a few other forms of exercise I love but for the most part I don't get to do them every day but I do love walking. Walking is so easy. At my biggest weight, I started walking 15 minutes around the block and added 15 minutes every 2-3 weeks until I was up to 60 minutes of walking. Later on, I started to focus on speed and walking until I couldn't talk and broke a sweat. I truly believe walking is a great form of exercise and besides strength training, which I don't do enough, no more is needed.

Eating: I did okay today. I wasn't really hungry so I just listened to my body and went with it

Meal 1: A +
I ate grapes and a banana. I brought other food like sweet potatoes celery and steamed greens to eat at work but guess what? I didn't want it. I just wanted the fruit, so I ate enough and it made me feel satisfied

Meal 2: B-
Raw salad with my salad dressing, steamed greens, starch casserole. I also had some whole wheat bread. This is why I give it a B- because I'm trying to eat MWL and bread is not on MWL.

Snack: A +
Banana ice-cream!!

Exercise: A+
1 hour 10 minutes of walking

Hope everyone is doing great. I'm off to read journals. Keep on keepin on

I went out to Bed Bath & Beyond after work and bought a Yonanas. It's a banana ice-cream maker that uses frozen bananas and other fruits. Genius. It has the consistency and texture of ice-cream. My food processor and blender couldn't touch it. I'm already in LOVE. I need to go to the store and get more bananas to freeze.

Meal 1( A +): celery, steamed greens, sweet potato with flax/chia seed, mangoes
Snack (A+): mangoes
Meal 2 (A+): raw salad, steamed greens, starch casserole
Snack (A+): Banana ice-cream
Exercise (A+): 35 minutes HIIT, 20 minutes walk

Hope everyone had a great day. Keep on keepin on

I love ny Yonanas! I make this sauce to go with it:

http://www.eatunprocessed.com/dietitian.html#42

We have one too!! Love it too. Glad your back to posting

Boots, I'm going get a yonana today for my parents and I will pick up some bananas, strawberries, blackberries, and pineapple to experiment with ice cream and sorbet. They love evening treats so I'll nudge them in the right direction and send myself there too. Thanks again for the info.

I'm excited to make more banana ice-cream today . I realize how many gadget I have bought since I started eating this way (too many lol). This one is well worth it though!

It's my day off today, yay for a 4 day weekend! I woke up way too early. I'm fixing to get up and go run some errands and then will probably come back and crash this afternoon. I just ate a meal, so that way I don't get tempted when I'm out and about.

Meal 1 (A+): Starch casserole and steamed greens. I'm sure I have mentioned how I make this before but just incase. I take a steamed sweet potato, cooked black beans, and brown rice and I mash it all together until it's like a casserole. I then add in my spices and herbs. I use a lot of chipotle powder around here--I like an extra kick. I eat the starch casserole several times a day and never grow tired of it. There are times where I use a different potato--like a yellow potato and or chickpeas or other beans. It's nice to play with and I feel like I get to try all the starches I love.

Exercise: It is a rest day. I have already gone out and got 5 days of exercise this week through walking (my favorite exercise) and I did HIIT 3 days this week

I'm going to enjoy the rest of my day and relax relax relax.

Have a great day and keep on keepin on

Wow, I'm so glad that I was catching up on your journal today!! Lots of inspiration that I needed. I'm doing great, probably the best that I've ever done, and I'm reading everything that I can that inspires me. I must really be "normal" if struggles are normal - I must be the most normal person around! I don't struggle at all when I totally stick to MWL, but I do struggles once I have anything that is off plan. I've been making some wise decisions, and I'm proud of myself. I'm very proud of you for all that you've accomplished and for helping the rest of us. Take care, LauraA

Hey ya'll . I'm cooking up a storm. I didn't see myself cooking today but it just sort of happened and boy am I glad it did. I'm making some wonderful tasting food. I was reading healthy living blogs this morning and someone posted one of Chef AJ's recipes and it looked good. I decided to give it a try and it does not disappoint!! I have her cookbook Unproccessed and have never been unhappy with something I have made from there.

I don't normally follow recipes I keep my diet pretty simple with MWL but sometimes a couple of times the month, I just want something different and need to break out the cookbooks.

I was hesitant at making Chef AJ's Hale-To-Kale-Salad. I'm not really a Kale fan. I do love me some chard though. I eat chard all the time! Kale not so much. I decided I needed a new green in my life and if anyone was going to make me love it, maybe the Chef could do it. This salad is wonderful. It did something magical to my taste buds. She picked the right ingredients to make everything POP. Me and Kale may be friends after all. Please follow the link to the blog, to see this wonderful recipe!

http://amysnutritariankitchen.blogspot. ... salad.html

The next thing I made was cabernet roasted potatoes and vegetables. I have it cooking in the oven right now. It seems to take mine more than 60 minutes. I have made this back in the day so I know this recipe does not disappoint. It's really wonderful, as well.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=18966

Whelp, I'm off to finish cooking my food. Hope you all have a great evening