MAY 2019 Maintenance Group

[Lyndzie]

Happy May Day!

It’s that time of year when all those April showers make way for May flowers, and the beginning of bountiful produce. Here we are still getting quite a bit of rain, but the pansies are in full bloom and the spinach has sprouted.

With the global marketplace, it is easy to get almost any fruit or vegetable any time of year. With the warming temperatures I’ve been leaning towards those lighter spring recipes. Our small group comes from both the US and UK, with a wide range of produce available depending on where you are. I’m on my second batch of tabbouleh (it’s so good, thanks for the idea!), and thinking of making a pasta salad with asparagus and zucchini. Also, I’ve started making baguette sandwiches with hummus and veggies to take on-the-go with busy schedules and sunny days.

What’s on your menu this week? “See” you on Friday/Saturday!

[Lyndzie]

Hi everyone. My month of May is absolutely packed, so I'll be checking in here, but may not be as "chatty" as usual. My weight is holding steady, a few pounds higher than my ideal, but it's really where I've been at consistently this year, so unless I make some changes that's where it is at. In not-food related news, I am making the Flounder costume for my daughter's play (The Little Mermaid), and it is taking up time that I do not have to spare. That and a few other family-related responsibilities are keeping me on my feet non-stop all day. It's giving me reason to try and clear some stuff off of my plate so I can slow down and enjoy the day instead of rushing though it. On the plus-side, the warmer weather has us outside quite a bit more and definitely getting our bodies moving in the fresh air and hopefully sunshine soon (but the skies keep threatening rain but aren't following through).

Looking forward to hearing everyone's updates!

[Ejeff]

Lindsey, I know how busy it can be with little kids so good for you in trying to clear your plate a bit if you can. I am like you pretty much staying the same weight over the past 6 weeks, but when I look back to beginning of the year this has me down 4 pounds which seems decent. Like you I will just keep on with sticking to the wfpb eating as much as possible. Now that we are back home after 4 months of RV living, I need to establish some new routines again. One thing I am trying is putting a recipe in my calendar that I want to make each Friday. This way I will try at least one new thing a week and make sure to buy the ingredients for it. I’m trying this as I come across so many recipes and yet rarely seem to make them.

Hope everyone’s week is good!

PS - One cookie I made recently was from forks over knives, chewy oatmeal cookie. I didn’t have the fresh lemons so added lemon juice instead of zest. They were quite tasty and the lemon seemed to change the taste quite a bit. They are good frozen too. I will be making them again, but will try to make them more “lemony”.

[Suey51]

Hello everyone,

Lindsey - your food sounds yummy and perfect for the warmer weather. Well done on holding your weight steady.
It's a great plan to clear some stuff off your plate so you can slow down a little. Hope the costume-making is going OK.

Ejeff- great work on holding your weight steady and dropping 4 pounds over the year so far I look forward to hearing about some of the other new recipes!

We're back home and I've weighed in on my home scales at c.2 pounds above my goal weight. My focus over the next few weeks is to stick very close to the program guidelines with the aim of getting back to goal weight. This week's meals include jacket potatoes with baked beans and green veggies; rice and veggies; veg/bean stew from the freezer and some salads.

Spring has definitely arrived in the UK. I've been watching a pair of blue tits flying between the bird feeder and nest box and a pair of blackbirds bobbing around on the lawn this afternoon. We've had sunshine, cold wind, rain and hail so a typical Spring day weather-wise!

Hope you all have a good week x

[Starchyme]

Hi all. I wasn't able to weigh in yesterday. Would it be ok to post tomorrow for this past week? Or am I supposed to wait for next Friday? Thanks.

[Lyndzie]

starchyme - tomorrow is fine! We’re a pretty casual bunch. Whatever works for you.

[Starchyme]

I gained! But still within 2 lbs of my goal weight. Ordinarily I would gain 5 or more lbs during a holiday. So I'm cool. Next week will be a better report I can count on it.

[Lyndzie]

Hi guys. I decided to make sitting down and checking in with all of you the priority tonight, dirty dishes can wait!

Erin - That is so awesome that you are maintaining a four pound deficit for the year! Where did you go in the RV? Where is home base? I have dreams of traveling the country in a converted school bus, but that won't be happening any time soon. I'm so excited to hear what recipes you end up making. I saw that cookie recipe in the FOK email, it looked rather tempting.

Sue - Welcome home! Where did you go this time? (I'm sorry if you mentioned this already, it's escaping me at the moment). Enjoying blooming flowers and "twitterpated" (as they say in the movie Bambi) wildlife are sure signs of spring. When you say jacket potatoes, what is that exactly? Your menu for the week looks quite tasty.

Starchyme - Since there are only four of us at the moment, and I don't have to do any actual math, checking in roughly around the same time is really just for accountability and support. Love your positive attitude! Holidays have their own unique set of challenges, and you have done an excellent job of getting through a big one.


My menu for this week includes fiesta bean salad, baguette sandwiches for picnic lunches, taco night, pasta night, sushi night and homemade pizza. Pretty much just the usual rotation.

I was reading a interesting post in the Lounge about the success a forum member has had since adopting some of Dr. McDougall's recommendations, which led to Jeff's response asking "How do you define 100%?" This gave me a lot of pause, because we all implement the guidelines differently, and to different degrees, for our specific circumstances.

I am interested to hear how you each define compliance. And even trickier, how do you define less-than-perfect (95% or 90%, and so on) compliance? Percent calories? By visual volume? Number of meals?

It can be easy to get caught in the weeds of these details, but a moment of self-reflection can also help us see if there are any places we'd like to improve upon.

Everyone, have an awesome week!

[Ejeff]

Nice you can let the dishes wait! Our house is in Edmonton and we just retired so wanted to escape the winter. We did one month in each place Phoenix, Yuma, Palm Springs And Bullhead City. Last week in Bullhead it was 100 degrees, now at home it’s 50. I would like it somewhere in the middle lol. Last night I made the easy curry from Vegan8. It was very tasty. I didn’t want to use coconut milk, so just used almond and it was very runny, but I put it over brown rice anyway. I also added a few mushrooms. Her spice mix is very good, in the past I have been using a packaged curry spice and I wasn’t enjoying it so I’m glad I have a spice mix that works. I can use it now it make a nice curry potato soup also.

https://thevegan8.com/2018/09/24/easy-v ... ick-curry/

[abit]

...

[Lyndzie]

Hi Abit.

Everyone is different, so what I did might not work for you. When I am trying to lose weight, I cut out all rich foods (nuts, avocado, etc), flour products, and sweeteners, so I will be more lax with those items when I’m around me ideal weight. I find it’s a lot like driving in a straight line, once you get on the road it’s just small adjustments to keep it centered. Good luck!

[Lyndzie]

Hi all! I’m holding steady. Nothing too exciting here. We have a new favorite pizza crust that we’re using for Friday pizza night from Budget Bytes. I like mine loaded with veggies, usually spinach, mushroom, tomatoes, artichokes, zucchini and black olives (no cheese, of course).

Look forward to hearing from everyone!

[Starchyme]

I'm with you on holding steady, Lyndzie. I haven't gotten off the pound or two I had gained.

[Suey51]

Lindsey - the pizza sounds delicious! I haven't tried no-cheese pizzas so will add this to my list of recipes to try. Jacket potatoes are what I think you might know as baked potatoes. They are baked in their skins (jackets!) in the oven; maybe its a British word!

I've been pondering your question about defining compliance percentages this week. In the past I've done a rough calculation based on number of meals, but those posts have got me thinking! Not sure I've come to any conclusions yet, but I'll let you know if I do Reflecting on the past week's food, I can see there's some room for improvement on the snacking front and an opportunity to increase the quantities of green and yellow veggies.

Weight-wise the bad news is I got my sums wrong last week, so my weight then was 3 pounds above goal. The good news is this week its down a half pound. Who knew that averaging 7 numbers in a spreadsheet and then subtracting goal weight would be so difficult!

[ImHere]

Good morning everyone. It’s been a while since I checked in. A lot of changes have occurred. I have retired from my job of 34 years as of April 30th. We sold our home and moved into an RV on April 21st. We are currently traveling in Torrey Utah right now. I am having to adjust my cooking style and weight management. So far have not settled on something that works.
Ejeff-I see you were recently in Bullhead. We will be there next week to visit our oldest son before heading east.

The threads on compliance and Geo’s recent thread in the lounge have me thinking about my own compliance. It has been in flux with all the changes. However I don’t need to beat myself up. Just make changes one at a time to get back to where I want to be.

I always enjoy reading everyone’s updates even when I don’t have time to check in.

Sharon