BambiS — "Nothing eventful" is a very good report!
Glad you liked your Irish recipes. Shepherd's Pie is one of those things that's amazingly flexible. I use the basic recipe as a template for cleaning out the fridge/freezer. Anything I happen to have in there that sounds good can go into the mix. Vary the seasonings, depending on the ingredients. Add a mashed-potato topping, brown it a bit, and I have an endlessly variable, filling and delicious meal.
Rebecka22 — Look at all those YESes! Another vote for "good and uneventful." Looks like we're starting a pattern here -- a very good one in the world of Time and Adherence. Congratulations!
If your weather is anything like ours, a couple of days of warm and sunshine is soon followed by rain and colder. Typical roller-coaster spring. Fortunately, the spring flowers are hardy and seem to be surviving frequent plunges below freezing.
Starflower — A good "no major problems" report -- well done!
Starflower wrote:The simpler my food gets, the better I do.
This is
SO TRUE! One of the maxims of this WOE is that it's simple, even though it may not be easy. But the simpler you can make things, the easier it is to stay on track. If you worry about perfecting a complicated recipe or planning a list of menus for major variety, it just gives you that much more to think about. An overtaxed brain can lead to that little siren song of temptation that tells you it would be so much easier just to order take-out. Keep it simple, and your path to success is much straighter.
Artista — Your report looks quite close to perfect! And if it's as perfect as you can get it right now, don't let the goal of "perfect" distract you from the reality of "pretty darn good."
I think your observation on eating more while adjusting to lower calorie density is valid. I know when I lowered the calorie density of my meals, I felt a little "crave-y" as a result of the lower overall fat content of what I was eating. I wanted more, but it was a different feeling than normal hunger. If I ate what I thought was enough to kill that feeling, it turned out to be too much for "comfortably full." I eventually adjusted, but it took some time and experimentation. Good for you to tune into what "comfortably full" means for you.
kirstykay — Congratulations on your big gains with points #3 and #5! Only adding salt at the table will definitely lower your sodium intake. And eliminating avocado and tofu is a really big deal! You definitely should be proud.
The premade black bean burger is something you can work on. Restaurant meals can be harder to deal with, but burgers stored in your home fridge or freezer can definitely be switched out for something healthier (see the links in my followup post below for information on the commercial plant-based burgers). I recommend Jeff's burger recipe. Easy to make, easy to alter in terms of type of bean used (double the recipe and sub a different type of bean for
one of the cans of beans), easy to change out the spices and other ingredients added. They freeze beautifully, defrost quickly, and are just as easy to have on hand for a quick meal as the packaged kinds.
This file has the recipe for the burgers (Dishes 5 and 6 under the Recipes section) along with a lot of other very valuable information, which I highly recommend. There's also a
black bean/lentil burger recipe on Jeff's Facebook page, if the black beans are particularly appealing to you. I haven't tried that burger, so if you do, let us know what you think!
Gimmelean — Great report! And congratulations on almost 4 years of weight loss maintenance. You've learned a lot about the times of year when you're most challenged and how to navigate them. The point from your post that stands out to me is this...
Gimmelean wrote:I look forward to weeks like this where following MWL guidelines doesn’t feel like a huge effort and just feels like the right thing to do.
That's what we're aiming for -- an ease with the program that only comes with Time and Adherence. You find where the challenges are, you figure out how to fix them, and the whole process becomes seamless and practically automatic. That doesn't mean that other bumps in the road won't happen, but figuring out how to avoid them or manage them gets much easier with practice.
Like you, and many others, I read about the McDougall program (I had a copy of the original
McDougall Plan book gathering dust for years!) a long time ago and was convinced that I couldn't do it. Lessons learned for both of us!
VegSeekingFit - Another good report, Stephanie. Sounds like your next goal is to figure out how to get a bit of your own food into a restaurant without feeling uncomfortable or self-conscious. I've found that if I just do it matter-of-factly, hardly anybody notices. You can have some simple, off-the-cuff comments at the ready if you get a comment from your table-mates ("yes, I bring my own hummus -- I like it a lot better" -- you don't need to go into detail). I've never yet had a server say anything to me. I've even brought a baked potato in foil, which I just unwrap and slip onto the plate next to the veggies. It blends in, and nobody notices (except maybe in envy, because your meal looks better than theirs!). Same thing with a
no-oil bowl of brown rice, microwaved for 90 seconds right before I leave home, then wrapped in a paper towel and a zipper-lock bag to keep warm in my tote bag.
I agree, time hanging out with your son is a fine trade-off for a day of exercise, especially with your pickleball schedule!
We didn't get snow in central Illinois, but the temp sure dropped like a rock when the front went through!
Nice picture for Mark's birthday. I love anything with wild birds on it (guess it's a Goose thing
).
sarabee — Not a bad report at all! 90% is definitely progress, and you have solid plans for improvement. One of the useful things about the checklist is that you can see whether your actual behaviors were better or worse than what your overall impression of how things are going is telling you. Sometimes, it turns out that you're doing better than you think! Other times, it shows that you might be overestimating your level of compliance a little and need to tighten some things up. Either way, the checklist is a valuable tool.
As you've noted, preparation is key (along with attitude)! Make that light veggie soup and always have it on hand. I usually have a container in the freezer as well as a big batch in the fridge. Also, if you're finding that you're having trouble staying out of the higher calorie density stuff in the cupboards, see what you can trim from your shopping list so that tempting off-plan foods won't be right under your nose. The trick is to make the optimal behavior easy and the less optimal behavior harder.
You might want to concentrate on just turning one of those "MOSTLYs" into a "YES". Any ideas on what to tackle first?
Best to all for a fabulous end to the week, and I will see you here next time!
