The Behavioral Path to MWL Success - March 2023 Group

[Mark Cooper]

Rebecka22 - Really awesome progress!

I am trying to make sure to enjoy and really appreciate the beautiful food I get to eat

This is definitely a practice I try to apply myself. It seems beneficial to me. Have a great week!

BambiS - Great work applying renewed focus; I'm glad this felt like a good week! I often cook my greens in my Instant Pot, as well. Delicious!

Artista - Woo-hoo! Excellent adherence, Nancy! I hope you, your mother, and other loved ones are doing well during this time of transition. I think it is SO awesome that this way of eating is serving as a source of stability and endurance during such a busy and stressful period. Thank you for sharing that. I think being of service and finding some peace in the midst of various challenges is really admirable. Carry on!

VegSeekingFit - Congratulations on being featured in Dr. McDougall's latest presentation, Stephanie! So cool! You certainly seem to be managing your recovery from that injury with equanimity; as you observed, things will resolve given time.

Gimmelean - Your progress continues! Your vegetable pho sounds really appealing to me, and veggies with fruit seems like just the thing for staving off any (mis)"adventures". Onward!

Hjklost55 - Fantastic efforts! Your preload veggie plate sounds amazing! YUM! Kudos to you for doing everything you could to have an adherent meal at the restaurant. Your exercise routine seems great! Keep at it!

Noella - Great work! Thank you for sharing that excerpt from your colleague's book, I really enjoyed reading it. What a stark contrast, right?

Greens - Looks like a pretty good groove to me, too, Marilyn! Restaurants can certainly be a challenge, right? That expanded variety of available options is, in and of itself, a big influencing factor, not to mention the proximity, visibility and aroma of what everyone at the neighboring tables might have on their plates. It seems like that experience didn't knock you off track or negatively impact the rest of your week, and that is what is most important. Keep doing your best!

[Mark Cooper]

Congratulations on completing another week of practice and habit-building! As I look back over our discussion, adequate preparation, having a solid and tested routine, and creating a beneficial and supportive environment are all common threads that emerge as major contributors to success. That is pretty much what we would expect, right?

This week, apropos of Hershey marketing some new candies as "plant-based", I found myself reviewing this interesting and nuanced discussion of the various and sundry names applied to our way of eating, and the problems that can arise when we try to sum up an array of behavioral recommendations with simple labels.

Also of interest, I think, is this rundown from Jeff covering the discrepancies found on most Nutrition Facts labels.

The problem is that you and I think they are using an exact system when in fact, they are using one of several systems and all of the systems have some range of error built into them and some of them round off numbers.

Wishing you all an amazing and successful week ahead! Take care & be well!

[VegSeekingFit]

Stephanie, I REALLY want to hear your story presented by Dr. McDougall. How do I find Hunger Volume 2? Would you be able to post a link to it here? I can relate to your feelings of joy regarding discovering the truth about healthy eating. Knowledge is power! I hope your injury heals quickly!

Hi Noella!

It sounds like you are doing great!!! ❤️ The quote that you shared --- just really a stark comparison of cultures... Thank you for that!

KNOWLEDGE is POWER!!! Love that!!!! (Of course, I love the JOY too!!!)

Following is a link to Dr. McD's presentation --- Hunger: Why Diets, Drugs and Surgeries Fail

Link is from last Monday on Chef AJ live. For those who watched the Dr. McD YouTube Channel presentation on the same topic (live) -- this is the same presentation, just given at a different time (maybe minor modifications?). Mark shared that link a couple of weeks ago.

The "V2" that I put in my earlier post .... really just meant that I believe that this was his second time giving the lecture!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9X_dtU_bTs

It is a great presentation --- about 2:27 in length. He features McDougallers at about 1:53.

Now, given that (for the minute or so on me personally) ... I think that I have shared everything here on this thread ad nauseum!!!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Noella]

Thanks so much for posting this link, Stephanie; I learned so much! Noella

... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9X_dtU_bTs It is a great presentation...Cheers, Stephanie

[BambiS]

3-17


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Some days


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. Choose fruit for desert
Yes


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.
Yes

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes, not an issue here

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Yes

6. Eliminate any added oil.
Yes


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.
No I did have a St Patrick’s cookie in the office

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself
Yes

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Most days

Victories, comments, concerns, questions good week, nothing eventful.

Pretty much non eventful week, I did have a cookie in the office

[Rebecka22]

1.Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
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. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
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. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). YES
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). YES
6. Eliminate any added oil. YES
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. YES
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). YES
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. YES
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). YES

A lot of cravings this week, but I made it through. Had Girl Scout cookies in my house and didn’t eat any, so that was an accomplishment. Tried to continue to appreciate my food. Hope everyone has a great week!

[Artista]

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes

2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Yes.

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. Yes.

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes.

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Yes.

6) Eliminate any added oil. Yes.

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. Yes

8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes.

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.   Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Yes.

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). 5 out of 7 days.

Victories, Comments, Questions, Challenges: I’m usually terrified of the scale, but I did manage to step on it a couple of days ago and I've lost 4 pounds since restarting MWL. That was some much appreciated good news. My week went okay as far as staying with the guidelines other than missing a couple days of exercise. I've noticed that I’m starting to feel underwhelmed with the foods I’ve been eating, I need to figure out some different recipes to make. When things calm down schedule-wise, I’ll experiment with some new recipes. I hope everyone is doing well and thank you so much, Mark, for all your valuable encouragement.

[Hjklost55]

Hello everyone. Hope you all had a good week and HAPPY ST PATRICK’S DAY


1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
YES

2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals.
YES

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.
YES

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
YES

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
YES

6) Eliminate any added oil.
YES

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.
YES (ALMOST HAD A DISASTER…. SEE COMMENTS BELOW)

8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
YES

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Ongoing issue…. Still working on this one.

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
NO, had 2 days when I wasn’t feeling well. So didn’t get to go play pickleball. But needed the R&R…

Victories, Comments, Questions, Challenges: Had a Huge NSV this week. I had some very unexpected news from the car dealership when I took my car in for a general oil change. They told me I needed a MAJOR repair that was going to cost me $3600.00. It’s a Toyota!!! With 80,000 miles on it. Suppose to run forever. RIGHT!!!! I was sick. Had some cookies in my car for my grandson…. Almost ate them, but REFRAINED!!!!! I’m so glad I did. Because that would NOT have made me feel any better about the news. And then I only would have felt worse because I ate them. I was so stressed out about it. But got a second opinion the next day, and found out it was NOT the problem the dealer said. UGH!!!! (I dislike car dealership’s anyways) But got problem fixed for $270.00. Savings of $3,330.00….. AND NO COOKIES!!!! LOL

Continuing with my Mary’s Mini/MWL 10 day checklist process. It is still working. My scales were down another pound this week, which is always a boost. My biggest concern right now is how I am going to do this once I hit my goal weight range. I am scared to death to add much back into my regimen. Because I know how easily I can be set off track. But…. Guess I won’t worry about that now. I’m still out about 10 lbs. But I do like to think ahead.

Have a great week everyone. I get to have a sleepover with the 5 year old grandson tonight. So he will keep me busy. (Does that count as exercise? Chasing him around? LOL)

[Gimmelean]

Post for week ending 3/17/23
Greetings everyone.

1) Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Yes.

2). Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals.
Yes.

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.
Yes.

4) Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes

5) Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu,soy)
No- must eliminate nuts

6) Eliminate any added oil.
Yes.

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.
No- ate pie at work on Pi day. (See comments)

8 ) Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes.

9) Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full.   Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes

10) Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes! I really did well with exercise this week. It’s motivating with longer days after daylight saving last week.


Victories,Comments,Concerns,Questions:
-Noella, your post , “Please Madam.What is a diet”?, was very evocative. People suffer because they don’t have enough while ironically people suffer because they have too much. Thank you for posting.
-Artista and Beth- fantastic progress. When the numbers on the scale go down the scales seems to become less terrifying ( temporarily). I enjoy those moments.
-Mark, knowing that Oreos are vegan makes me wonder how long it will be before they start plant based marketing like Hershey does.
-Stephanie I was impressed with the video featuring YOU! You’ve accomplished so much and inspire me with your resources, positivity, and energy.
-Holly, good for you with the car (and the cookies.) I thoroughly understand as a proud owner of 2006 RAV-4 that’s still going strong.
-Bambi and Rebecca, you overcame cookie challenges too. This week at work, we had a pie event for PI day. I caved and gave in. Yes, I did try a little of this and a little of that which wound up being a lot of many small samples. It was awful. I can’t believe how sugary, salty, and distasteful those processed baked goods were not to mention how I felt afterwards. My palate has changed so drastically for the better, I’m glad I came to that realization before continuing to lapse big time. Took a couple of days to feel “normal” again. Feeling that way most of the time was my old “normal” and I never want to go back.
-Marilyn, being sequestered during the pandemic years made it much easier to remain adherent. I could always control my own environment. In a way, I miss that time. I made incredible progress with my weight loss and learned how to maintain it. The learning continues and thanks for your ideas.
-Mark, When I first joined this forum you talked me off the ledge weekly. I’m grateful to have your feedback and support and never cease to be amazed at how you always write in a non judgmental, sensitive, and intellectual way. How do you do that??? Please keep doing more of the same on purpose.
Have a good week everyone!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

Hope you are all doing great!!! Have lost a bit of my bounce this week with my older kitty having some health emergency, but she is happy / acting normal and pain-free now. Still sticking like glue to the recommended foods and this checklist as best I can. It is extremely helpful for me to review adherence each week and honestly evaluate so that I don’t lose sight of the “behaviors”.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
A bit less than recently --- probably 30-40% of the time. For some strange reason, I mostly do this for breakfast…

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. Choose fruit for dessert.
Mostly! I usually ALWAYS do this --- had a few starch heavier meals this week. One great thing… Discovered the fantasticness of Farro --- loved the nutty chewiness of this whole grain and will definitely be adding more to 50/50 plates / bowls!!

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.
Yes. Reduced, not eliminated.

4 Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes.

5 Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Yes.

6 Eliminate any added oil.
Yes.

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).
Yes.

8 Don’t drink your calories especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
Yes.

9 Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
Yes, I think so. I was sad to the core for a few days and that makes me less wanting to eat much. This is why I had a few starch heavy meals (#2)… I do not think that I was starving --- definitely not stuffing. Anyway, this week may be a bit of an aberration for me --- I am normally thinking 100% yes here.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Still mostly no --- injury not healed 100%. However, have been doing some exercises that do not involve it and also slowly and gently getting back to walking --- but definitely less than the 30 min. Baby steps, but forward progress.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Thank you a ton, Mark for your support!!! Thank you to all of my fellow T&A peeps for sharing and participation. I hope that everyone has a successful and awesome upcoming week!

Love ❤️ this group!!!

Best,
Stephanie

[Ejg]

I missed the last two weeks posting (last weekend I was away with my daughter and can't recall the weekend before) but I felt myself starting to slip and didn't want to completely fall off the map. I find this forum useful to hold myself accountable so with that, will tuck my tail betwixt my legs and try to give a general overview of what's been going on.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. For the most part, yes. I definitely eat a lot of salad before meals.
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. Choose fruit for dessert. Probably not 50-50 for every meal but I also have been good about eating lots of steamed vegetables.
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. This one was a disaster. I make my daughter do extra math homework (reasons probably not relevant for here but needless to say, she doesn't like it) and struck a deal with her that she can have a couple cookies whenever she does her extra math. The good news is that she seemed happy with this arrangement and did the extra work without complaint. The bad news is that I ate WAY more of the cookies than she did. I went through 3 days of this before admitting to myself that this arrangement wasn't a good idea, so no more cookies. Now, I just pay her, and she's good with that, and no cookies around. Win win for both of us.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). I ate two pieces of pizza I made with my daughter last weekend, see below #6
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). A got a few bags of salted pistachios in the checkout at the grocery store
6. Eliminate any added oil. I helped my daughter and her cousins make homemade pizza last weekend and the recipe called for an obscene amount of olive oil. I ate 2 pieces
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. I ate some of my daughter's goldfish crackers
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). No issues
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Can't recall ever feeling really stuffed but its been a few weeks so its possible, not sure
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). I'm usually an avid exerciser but have been feeling pretty drained lately and took a bit of time off. There were definitely some days I didn't do much

As of earlier this week (Monday or Tuesday) I told myself "enough's enough, time to stop this" and have been doing much better. As with any destructive behavior predicated on bad habits, recovering quickly seems to be key. I'm not sure why people (I'm sure its not just me) can have one minor slip-up/relapse and decide to abandon the entire effort, but I guess it happens. When I feel myself doing this, I make it a point to listen to any of the Alan Goldhammer/Doug Lisle interviews and do this on a regular basis, and it seems to get me back on track. I suppose I benefit from the continued reminder that this is a good thing and to not quit. When I start to get lazy about those daily reminders, that's when trouble happens for me. Have a good week.

[Mark Cooper]

The window for reporting this week's behavioral results has officially closed.

My replies and the weekly summary will follow.

[Mark Cooper]

BambiS - Nice work! An uneventful week is often a pretty successful week in regard to maintaining desired behaviors it seems.

I did have a St Patrick’s cookie in the office

How do you feel about that? Based on your checklist, it doesn't seem to have contributed to getting further off track or including additional "exceptions", so that seems positive, right?

Rebecka22 - Fantastic efforts! Cravings can really seem powerful and burdensome sometimes. Saying "NO" to the Girl Scout cookies is definitely an accomplishment worth recognizing.

Tried to continue to appreciate my food.

Did you notice any particular correlates or effects from that appreciation? Do you feel like this is serving as a useful tool for you? Have a great week!

Artista - Great progress and great results, too! Things seem to be going really well for you, Nancy. I think you are wise to pay attention to that "underwhelming" feeling; it seems like an appropriate time to consider which of the recommended foods seem most appealing to you at present, and slot those into your meals. Might not hurt to be mindful that each meal includes an adequate volume of starch, too (for me, that is often the at the root of things when I notice I'm feeling somewhat unsatisfied with meals).

Hjklost55 - Awesome non-scale victory! How exciting that even in that moment of major stress (financial stresses can feel so overwhelming) you were able to self-regulate, connect with your real needs, AND take action to discover that (contrary to the dealership's diagnosis) it wasn't such a big problem, after all. To me, that all seems really laudable and definitely worthy of proud feelings. I can understand feeling some concern and trepidation about what one's "maintenance phase" might look like and how to manage that. I think you might find this post, regarding how wildgoose arrived at her "goal weight" reassuring, and perhaps another of her posts, about losing the last few pounds and what that was like, might provide some useful context, as well. Enjoy that precious time with your grandson and have fun chasing him around!

Gimmelean - Seems like a pretty solid week, overall, notwithstanding Pi day; I've always found it interesting that the socially propagated custom for marking 3-14 involved a bunch of pies, instead of doing geometry or drawing circles or something!

I can’t believe how sugary, salty, and distasteful those processed baked goods were not to mention how I felt afterwards. My palate has changed so drastically for the better, I’m glad I came to that realization before continuing to lapse big time. Took a couple of days to feel “normal” again. Feeling that way most of the time was my old “normal” and I never want to go back.

Isn't it remarkable how distinct and significant those changes can be? And also, how a detour toward the hyperpalatable stuff can leave one feeling "out of whack" for a few days. Our bodies, sensory systems, and behavioral mechanisms are really fascinating to me. It seems to me that a good touchstone for moving forward is building a strong connection or staying mindfully connected to the "WHY" driving efforts toward a particular, desired pattern of behavior. A clear sense of one's underlying motivation and rationale can help to separate what is necessary, what is useful, and what can be discarded.

I’m grateful to have your feedback and support and never cease to be amazed at how you always write in a non judgmental, sensitive, and intellectual way. How do you do that??? Please keep doing more of the same on purpose.

I really appreciate your very kind words. To be honest, this is an area where I don't always feel I succeed, but it is something I really care about a great deal. I strongly believe in the concepts of Nonviolent Communication; I'm no expert, and putting those concepts into consistent practice isn't easy. I fail all the time, but I try to give it my best. Have a great week!

VegSeekingFit - Kudos to you! It sounds like you are making thoughtful and sensible progress on the exercise front. I think "baby steps" make sense when it comes to recovering from an injury. I'm really happy to know that your kitty is now pain-free, happy, and seems normal. I'm wishing her the very best! It can feel so alarming and traumatic when a beloved pet is in distress. Enjoy the farro (I quite like it, too) as you head ONWARD!

Ejg - I'm really glad to see your post, Eric! From my perspective, one of our primary intentions with this group is to provide a framework for community and accountability; I'm happy it feels like a useful tool for you. Your observations about the last few weeks point toward the powerful influence that our environmental context can have over our behavior and decision-making. In my experience, "willpower" is often insufficient in opposition to those environmental stimuli. I agree with you that direct and rapid recovery typically helps to moderate the lingering influence of behaviors that are incongruent with your important goals.

I'm not sure why people (I'm sure its not just me) can have one minor slip-up/relapse and decide to abandon the entire effort, but I guess it happens. When I feel myself doing this, I make it a point to listen to any of the Alan Goldhammer/Doug Lisle interviews and do this on a regular basis, and it seems to get me back on track.

I've heard Dr. Lisle refer to this as "kicking over the table"; if I'm not mistaken, he discusses it in relation to what he calls the "Ego Trap." Keep interacting with those daily reminders and have a great week!

[Mark Cooper]

That is this week done and dusted! Thank you to all participants for your openness, generosity and thoughtful efforts!

I've no particular links to share this week, but I thought you might appreciate this quote from a recent newsletter from James Clear:

The connective tissue between your failures and your successes is the lessons you learn along the way.

It is only by going through your early attempts (usually failures in some form) that you accumulate the insights, skills, and understanding required for success.

Everything is a lesson. Learn enough lessons and the failures become useful.

Keep learning! Take care & be well!

[BambiS]

3-24


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Most days


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. Choose fruit for desert
Yes


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.
Yes

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
Yes, not an issue here

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
Yes

6. Eliminate any added oil.
Yes


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.
Yes!

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself
Yes

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Most days

Victories, comments, concerns, questions good week, nothing eventful.

Felt good with my choices this week. I kept my “why” in mind if I was tempted with bad choices.