Leslie’s Journal

[ladevereaux]

Sunday-08/16/2020

B - Oatmeal with blueberries
Coffee, 2 creamers, 2t sugar
L - Potato and vegetable soup
Baked potato
Broccoli, cauliflower, carrot
D - Vegetable soup
Sweet potato
Broccoli, cauliflower, carrot

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 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. NO
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. YES
8. Don't drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

Observations:
Today was a good day for eating on plan. 9 out of 10 on the checklist (I had a little butter on the potatoes)!

[ladevereaux]

Monday- 08/17/2020

Exercise - Walk 2.26 mi in 44 min
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
L - Vegetable soup
Sweet potato
S - Ritz crackers
Macadamia nut cookies
D - Vegetable soup

Liquid beverage - pina colada

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. NO
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. NO
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. NO
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. NO
8. Don't drink your calories. NO
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

Observations:
The highlight of my day was going for my walk without my neighbor. I have been working on being consistent with my morning exercise. If it’s not raining, I’m walking or biking with my neighbor. Today she wasn’t feeling well, but I went anyway.

I am still working on my snacks. My daughter made cookies and I didn’t eat any yesterday, but today they kept calling my name and I answered the call. (The downfall of being home all day.) And those Ritz crackers are truly a weakness. I may have to throw away the rest, but the accountant in me hates the idea of doing that. Also, I need to stop thinking of fruit as dessert only, but as my go-to snack. I’m usually to full to eat a dessert after dinner and who eats dessert at lunch.

I want to get to the point where I am meeting at least 8 of the 10 points everyday.

[ladevereaux]

Tuesday-08/18/2020

Exercise - Bike 6.9 mi in 50 min
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
L - Vegetable soup
Sweet potato
S - Vegetable soup
Frozen mixed fruit
D - Vegetable soup
Baked potato
S - Ritz crackers

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 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. NO
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. NO
8. Don't drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

Observations:
I really enjoyed my food today. Had a little butter on the baked potato and still eating those yummy crackers. And I met my goal of 8 out of 10 points.

[ladevereaux]

Wednesday-08/19/2020

Exercise - Walk/Jog 3.08 mi in 52 min
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
L - Vegetable soup
Ritz crackers
Canned Pears
D - Curry potato and cauliflower soup
Bean burger patty
Rice

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 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. NO
8. Don't drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

Observations:
I was looking through this board for some different meal ideas and came across link to a pdf by Jeff called Healthy Eating Made Easy. There were some recipes at the end that I made tonight for dinner and they are pretty tasty.

[Ejeff]

You may already be aware of this, but ritz crackers have oil and more than half the calories come from fat. So if you do eat them and are tracking your intake with the MWL list, #5 and #6 would be “No”.

Also butter is dairy

Congratulations on your decision to follow the McDougall way, wishing you health and happiness eating starches.

Erin

[ladevereaux]

Thursday-08/20/2020

Exercise - Bike 7.03 mi in 50 min
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
L - Curry Potato and cauliflower soup
S - Ritz crackers
Macadamia nut cookies
D - Curry potato and cauliflower soup
Bean burger patty
Rice
Canned pears

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. NO
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
6. Eliminate any added oil. NO
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. NO
8. Don't drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

[ladevereaux]

Friday-08/21/2020

Exercise - Move kids to college dorms
D - Freebird’s burrito bowl (Rice, black beans, grilled veggies, chicken, lettuce, tomato, guacamole)
Tortilla chips
Brownie
Vanilla shake

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. NO
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. NO
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. NO
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). NO
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). NO
6. Eliminate any added oil. NO
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. NO
8. Don't drink your calories. NO
9. Follow these principles...Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. NO
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily. YES

Today I took my took daughters back to college. It was a long day with a lot of walking and I only ate one meal that was completely off track on every point.

[ladevereaux]

Saturday-08/22/2020

Exercise - 30 min dance workout
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
L - Curry potato and cauliflower soup
D - Vegetable soup
Baked potato
Kiwi

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). NO
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). YES
6. Eliminate any added oil. NO
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products. YES
8. Don't drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

Observations:
Today was a lazy day for me. Usually when I am home just relaxing, I find myself roaming the kitchen for something to snack on. But surprisingly, I didn’t have any food cravings. I did have a little butter and sour cream on my baked potato, but otherwise a good eating day.

[ladevereaux]

Sunday-08/23/2020

Exercise - Rest day
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
L - Vegetable soup
Bean burger and rice in lettuce wrap (with salsa and sour cream)
D - Vegetable soup
Bean burger and rice in lettuce wrap (with salsa and sour cream)

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. YES
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). NO (sour cream on wraps)
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. YES
8. Don't drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

Observations:
Today was another good day. Met 9 out of 10 checklist items. I am loving the simplicity of making a big pot of soup to eat before every meal. I no longer feel guilty for not eating salads (I don’t really care for them) and with this WOE that’s ok. And now that my kids are gone back to college, I can focus on myself and not have to deal with feeding other people that are not following this plan.

I plan on focusing on meeting checklist items while making great tasting meals. I bought 3 different flavors of Mrs. Dash seasoning this weekend. The food has to taste good for this to become a way of life for the long term.

[ladevereaux]

Monday-08/24/2020

Exercise - Walk/jog 3.09 mi in 53 min
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
Coffee, 2 creamer, 2 t sugar
L - Vegetable soup
Sweet potatoes
Mixed veggies
D - Vegetable soup
Sweet potatoes
Baked beans
Mixed veggies

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 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. YES
8. Don't drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

Observations:
I read somewhere that baked beans could be used as a topping for baked potatoes and sweet potatoes. I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted good with the sweet potatoes. I don’t know if I would try with a regular potato though. 10 for 10 on the checklist today!

I had the worst headache last night and I didn’t really get to sleep until after 1 am. I would have normally texted my neighbor to cancel our walk, but I am focused on being consistent with my eating and exercise so I powered through. She had been trying to talk me into adding a jogging interval for a while and I finally agreed last week. I am committed to not making any more excuses (I am too tired. My head/knee/back/foot/etc hurts. ...) We have been doing 10 intervals of 30 sec jog/4 min walk. I have been feeling so good that next week we are going to drop the walk time.

[bunsofaluminum]

Good for you, sticking with your exercise! Impressive. And moving a kid to college...oof...that's hard work physically and emotionally. Looks like you are making the transition slow but sure. You are going to LOVE getting that oily stuff out of your life. bye-bye aches and pains, hello energy!

Keep it up.

[ladevereaux]

Tuesday-08/25/2020

Exercise - Walk/jog 3.09 mi in 53 min
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
Coffee, 2 creamers, 2t sugar
L - Vegetable soup
Sweet potatoes
Baked beans
D - Vegetable soup
Sweet potatoes
Baked beans

Wednesday-08/26/2020

Exercise - Walk 2.1 mi
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
Coffee, 2 creamers, 2t sugar
L - Vegetable soup
S - chips
D - Vegetable soup
Mashed potatoes
Mixed veggies

Thursday-08/27/2020

Exercise - none
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
Coffee, 2 creamers, 2t sugar
L - Vegetable soup
Mashed potatoes
S - chips

Observations:
I live in a suburb of Houston and the news all week was Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane Laura. My focus all week was preparing for these storms. Fortunately for us (unfortunately for LA) we didn’t get much damage. But I’ve lived through these storms before and it’s better to be prepared. I had some family come stay with me (just in case) because I have a generator and I bought some food items for the kids (that I mostly did not eat). My willpower fell short on the tortilla chips. And I ate a lot! I could tell this morning that my sodium level was way too high. I still had a 0.3 drop for my weigh-in but I know it could have been more.

[ladevereaux]

Friday-08/28/2020

Exercise - Bike 6.87 mi in 48 min
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
Coffee, 2 creamers, 2t sugar
L - Mashed potatoes
Mixed veggies
D - Black bean soup
Rice
Mixed veggies

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. NO
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 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. YES
8. Don't drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

Observations:
Almost perfect on all points today. Didn’t realize I was out of soup at lunch and was hungry enough that I didn’t want to wait to make some more.

[ladevereaux]

Saturday-08/29/2020

Exercise - Walk 2.77 mi in 50 min
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
Coffee, 2 creamers, 2t sugar
L - Black bean soup w rice
D - Black bean soup w rice
Mashed potatoes
Squash
Collard greens

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. 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. YES
8. Don't drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

Observations:
10/10 on the checklist today. That black bean soup was sooo good! I ate a large portion for lunch and wasn’t hungry enough to eat anything else. So I ate a smaller bowl for dinner to get to the other starchy and non starchy foods. It was all delicious! Plus I think I read somewhere to only eat 1 cup of beans a day. I probably had 1-1/2 cups today.

[ladevereaux]

Sunday-08/30/2020

Exercise - Painting bedrooms
B - Oatmeal with blueberries
Coffee, 2 creamers, 2t sugar
D - Black bean soup w rice
Mashed potatoes
Squash
Collard greens
S - Hot Tamales candy

10-Point Checklist:
1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. YES
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals. Choose fruit for dessert. YES
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. NO
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. YES
8. Don't drink your calories. YES
9. Follow these principles...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. YES

Observations:
9/10 on the checklist today. I was really busy today. Spent 6 hours prepping and painting bedrooms. The air was out so it was really hot. But I took my breakfast and worked through lunch. So I ended up having an early dinner. Watched the ABC showing of Black Panther which is when I ate the candy. Luckily I was at home. I can’t go to the movie theatre and NOT get popcorn. Who does that?????
Anyway, I ate the last of the black bean soup and got to wondering if the starter soup should be non starchy vs starchy. If I remember correctly the calorie density is lower with the non starchy soup. So for this week I am going to make a non starchy soup for the starter and and leave the starch for the meals (following the 50/50 plate of course) and see how that goes for my loss for the week.