Stephanie's Journal - Moving Right Along

[Ejeff]

Stephanie, can’t wait to see your Halloween Pickleball pictures, what fun to play in a costume. Good for you with your new strength training program!

I don’t have a trainer, I do some weights at home. Hopefully my form is okay lol. I don’t do a lot, some over head presses, shoulder shrugs and rows. I do knee pushups, 4 sets as many repetitions as I can until I can’t push anymore. I do calf raises on the stairs. I also do a hip and quad stretching routine which keeps a recurring leg numbness issue mostly resolved. I am making progress as I have gone from using 8 pound weights to 12. I think for me the main thing is to just stick with it. I’ve recently changed from 3 days per week to 2. I wasn’t doing any specific lower body weights, but have started to use 3 machines at the gym. I can really feel that so I’m looking forward to getting stronger legs too.

Looking forward to hearing about your progress at the 3 month mark. Have a great week.

Erin

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Erin!

Thanks for sharing your strength training routine which sounds awesome! Yay, that you are progressing strength and stretching to heal! I am with you 100% on doing something that you can stick with --- doing something consistently and sustainably. I am inspired by your example! Hope you have a terrific week!

Hi Journal,



Made a super easy and delicious plate for lunch with just brown rice, frozen chopped broccoli, and some corn on the cob. I added a Tb of California balsamic (Teriyaki) – yum! Still loving brown rice / corn / bean salads.





Did a bit of prep over the weekend. Made some Jeff burgers and soup. Roasted some squash which is new territory for me. They turned out just fine! With the oven on, had to throw in a tray of fries. Delicious.


A simple preload --- red pear and some persian cucumbers.



I survived week 2 of strength training! Mainly doing 3 circuits of dumbbell / body weight exercises then shifting to many types of planks --- finally doing some interval training with 30 seconds of various activities followed by 30 seconds rest --- jumping jacks, mountain climbers, jump forward / backward, jump side to side, burpees. Intervals are supposed to help pickleball footwork. Feels great when it is over! HA!

Below is behavioral assessment that I will post for week of 10/20.

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly. I skipped preloading a handful of meals this week. Ate a bunch of veggie soup and some salad for preloads.

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. I am loving a huge bowl of warm oatmeal with fruit for breakfast – it is really hitting the spot in the colder weather.

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. No starving or stuffing.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes - 7 / 7. Hoping the weather is nice tomorrow for a hike in the woods.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Loved your post last week, Wildgoose! Thanks for sharing that soup recipe – sounds super easy and flexible! Will definitely give it a go this month. Probably need more green things in my bowl! HA!

Welcome back, Mark! Hope that you had a fantastic time away with your family.

Gimmelean, hope that your injury is healing / healed. I am 100% with you on not liking to (have to) be cautious / sensible.

Drew, your potatoes sound wonderful!

Rebecka, I am “all ears” for if anyone has a compliant recipe!

Have a happy, healthy upcoming week everyone!

Best,
Stephanie 

[Artista]

Wow, Stephanie, I’m so inspired and impressed by your new exercise routine. You will be so fit in no time. The physical therapist I see for my shoulder gave me some strengthening exercises for lower body (squats, etc.) and I’ve started to do those every day. There are some exercises I can’t do yet until my shoulder is more back to normal, but I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Love seeing the pics of your food, it looks so vibrant and full of health!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Artista,
Thanks so much for dropping by and kind comments! That is terrific that your PT has provided you with some strength exercises! I hope that your shoulder is healing well and that you are at 100% very soon --- glad that you see the light at the end of the tunnel!!!!

Hi Journal,

Had a crazy busy week – not stressful just full… HA! Did not take many pictures, but here are a few.



Had some unseasonably nice weather in the 70’s this week which made for some great walking! Love the changing colors and the crunchy leaves! The purple berries are a Beauty Berry plant – love this!


Awesome to add frozen mango and strawberries to oatmeal with banana!




Below is behavioral assessment that I will post for week of 10/27.

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly – about 2/3.

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. Lots of oats and fruit, potatoes and veggies, brown rice / beans / corn and salad.

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).
Mostly yes… but (womp, womp) had one night where I did have two handfuls of pretzels. Was a busy week and these do live in my house (for others)– which is just fine most of the time. I am dusted off which I think is the important part for me --- to just stop and move on. I still wish that there was something horrifying that I could visualize about the pretzel, but I have not been able to make any such connection.

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. No starving or stuffing.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes - 7 / 7. Pickleball, walking with some strides, 2x strength training. We had our Pickleball Club costume tournament this week – was so much fun! There was voting for the best costumes. The winner was Pebbles (from Flintstones) then Maverick (from Top Gun) followed by a couple dressed in authentic German attire (lederhosen and all)…

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Thanks, Mark for posting the links to Jeff’s threads on protein and building muscle. So, OMG I laugh every time that I read the quote about not getting nutrition advice from someone whose bicep is bigger than their brain!! (Thanks, JeffN!)

Hope that you all have a terrific and productive week!

Cheers,
Stephanie 

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Journal!

Happy November! Here’s a few photos from the week.


Still loving oatmeal for breakfast – this one is with a banana and frozen blueberries and mango. Delicious!


Was inspired by Starflower’s recent post in Jeff’s forum on winter squash to give them a try. They are really festive looking and I just cut them in half, scooped out the seeds, and roasted them cut-side down in the oven. Then, a bit of spice and they are good to eat!


Made a just dump ingredients into the crockpot soup and it turned out great! 2 cups dried Great Northern beans, a couple of boxes of NSA tomatoes, onion, carrots, brown rice. Thumbs up.



Below is behavioral assessment that I will post for week of 11/3.

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

We had our first snow of the season in Chicagoland on Halloween. It snowed a few times during the day --- even had to brush my car after pickleball. Felt bad for the trick or treaters as the temperature dropped to about 30 degrees and had been in the 70’s a couple of times the prior week. So, we had zero come to our house --- and now have many individual bags of pretzels that I will bring into work on Monday.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly – still roughly 2/3 of the time.

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. In addition to my standard oats, brown rice, beans corn potatoes --- I made a great “dump ingredients in the crockpot soup” – Great Northern beans, tomatoes, carrots, onion, rice --- was delicious. Also, have discovered squash – and love how it looks so festive! Have just baked them in the oven and added a bit of salt and pepper.

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. No starving or stuffing.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Mostly. Took a couple of rest days this week that my body was telling me were needed. I have 2 tournaments coming up next week for pickleball – should be a lot of fun! Have completed 4 weeks (in a row) of strength training and intending to keep this habit. Feeling stronger already as evidenced by being able to progress to heavier weights and plank for longer.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Mark – love how you started out with making this an awesome November! Yes!!! Let’s all do that!!

Bambi – awesome how you continue decluttering! I bet your home is looking fabulous. Going to use your positive energy here to get myself in gear over the holidays.

Rebecka – I find that same thing that once you open the Pandora’s box, it is easy to double down on the crap. Yay, that you are back on track.

Holly – Great to see you back here!!!

Gimmelean – We missed you! I love what you said --- “Halloween is not gonna get me this year… it has ended.” Think this is a great thought for all of us as we get into the holidays.

Artista – I am 100% with you on needing to be very conscious of my hunger when in different environments and to be ready with MWL foods. Love that we all of this forum to learn and share and thinking that learning how we respond in different scenarios is so valuable.

Wstokes – Hi! Good to see a new face!

Was excited to celebrate 2.5 years on this program this week. I had soup (split pea), salad (with rice, beans, corn, veggies, fruit), fruit (mango!), and potatoes --- lots of good food! Am feeling very committed to keeping on with this pattern of eating. I still feel fantastic!

Thanks Mark, Wildgoose, Jeff, and fellow participants for this group --- it is quite helpful!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Journal!!!

Just a quick post to say that I am so thankful for this program and to the folks who have helped me along the way.

This morning, I did something that there is NO WAY that I could have accomplished without following the McDougall program....

I placed FIRST in our club's pickleball tournament. That is a first for me, so really feeling happy, grateful, and motivated to keep going!





Hope anyone reading this has an amazing day!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Daydream]

Congratulations Stephanie!! Well done!

[Ejeff]

Great photo, thanks for sharing your wonderful results! Way to get it done out on the Pickleball court

Erin

[Starflower]

Way to go, Stephanie! Congratulations!

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Daydream, Erin, and Starflower! ❤️ Thank you for amazing comments! I appreciate you all!

Hi Journal,

I am early this week!!!



These are my two favorite meals hands down. Happy to eat them every day! A huge bowl of oats with cut up banana, frozen mango, and frozen cherries. Brown rice, corn off the cob, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, romaine, black grapes, mango, pineapple and some smashed beans.



Below is behavioral assessment that I will post for week of 11/10.

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

Hope everyone had an awesome week! This week, I actually met a kindred spirit (for this way of eating) --- who I know through Saturday pickleball matches, but didn’t know he ate only plants! After a club tournament, we all went out to lunch and based on what he ordered, I asked him if he was a vegetarian. He said --- “I am a vegan --- do you know what that is?”… We talked about Forks Over Knives and The China Study --- so thought this was really cool --- and he knew of Dr. McDougall and was interested in what I had to say on the 12-day on-line program.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly – continues to be about 2/3 of the time.

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. Favorites this week were oatmeal and fruit (especially banana, mango, cherries), rice / corn / beans salad with fruit and veggies, and whole wheat spaghetti with veggies and tomato sauce.

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. No starving or stuffing.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Mostly. Again, had a couple of rest days – plantar fasciitis ramps up with pickleball playing. The good news is that I found an amazing pair of shoes that seem to be really helping to minimize it (will continue to test these). Did pretty well and had a blast at this week’s two tournaments. Will have 2 months off of Pickle Spears before it starts again – will have to find something else to do on Tuesday evenings in the meantime!
Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Mark – On your question last week --- “What actions are you taking to make the week ahead a success?”, here are my thoughts.

I am giddily getting ready to go on vacation! I am super excited as I haven’t really gone anywhere since COVID. I am also a bit apprehensive of the food (and drink) environment since we are going on a cruise --- which many folks do for one endless feast.

Several months ago, I asked here for suggestions and Wildgoose and you both provided some great thoughts – in addition to JeffN’s traveling tips. I also read Stacy Cross’ article on McD’s website and talked to Tiffany (support specialist). So, lots of helpful input!!! Then, I spent some time thinking about how I could best apply this information to my scenario and put together a plan.

I talked to my “cruise consultant” who gave me some tips for when I board and updated their records with my dietary requirements. She assured me that the cruise line will be “delighted” to meet my needs. I know where I can always find fresh fruit, veggies, steamed rice, oatmeal on the ship. Also, I will be bringing some food to supplement – oatmeal and thermos (thanks, WG) and some McD Split Pea soup cups --- so no need to be hungry. I have also visualized how I can best avoid both the Pleasure Trap and the Ego Trap.

I probably erred on the side of overthinking this, but I am feeling quite positive about being able to travel and follow the checklist. For me, I think having a coherent plan and having a positive mindset will be key factors for success. I will plan to stick to my plan!!! And if anything isn’t per plan, to dust off and get back on plan. Pretty confident it will work out fine.

Wishing the group a great and successful week!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Journal!

My family and I had an awesome vacation on a Holland America Mexican Riviera cruise – which was our first true vacation since COVID! (insert sun and beach emojis!)

My objectives for this vacation were: to have an amazing time with family (no stress) AND to continue to eat McD compliant food / drink (avoiding both Pleasure and Ego Traps). YAY – accomplished!

Even after receiving many tips on how to cruise and keep to McD, I was a bit apprehensive about doing this successfully --- and needed to have the experience myself for proof. I was also nervous of sticking to NO alcohol after quitting that early this year with seemingly everyone else around drinking.

Results - it was relatively easy to keep to McDougall food and I got into a groove of eating after a day or two. I was at times tempted to drink but held steady and feel fantastic about that!

Primarily I ate:
B - oatmeal and fruit (sometimes raisins and sliced almonds in oatmeal, not MWL but there was no sliced fruit to sweeten the oats)
L - huge salad with rice and veggie sushi and fruit (only option for lunch is white rice)
D – salad with Dr. McD Split Pea Soup Cup (brought from home), fruit, sometimes vegan whole grain bread (not MWL) --- sometimes brown rice (when I could score that!)
Snacks – Fruit, veggie sushi, oatmeal (brought from home), raw veggies

I did expect dinners to be challenging at the Main Dining Room --- and this was true. No problem at all to be served vegan food (there is a separate menu that you select your choice the day prior), but all standard choices are either oily OR centered around fake “Beyond” meat analogs (or both).

I attempted a couple of times to special order veggies steamed, NO OIL… but the oil spin doctors have been busy and it never came that way (I think they thought I was joking!). I had a stash of oatmeal and McD Split Pea soup cups in my room --- so going with the no stress theme --- I just pretended it was preschool (you get what you get and you don’t get upset) and pushed the oily food around on my plate --- and ate McD soup and / or oatmeal back at the room.

After a couple of tries, I enjoyed having dinner on the cabin balcony (avoiding Main Dining Room) which worked great (and Room Service for others offers Main Dining Room choices to eat alfresco).

The Good:
* Had lots of fun, sun, and relaxation
* Successfully enjoyed my first vacation with no alcohol --- helped me to feel terrific physically and mentally
* I was very active - got up early every day and exercised – met a bunch of friendly fellow pickleball peeps
* Ate McD compliant and learned what to do if we cruise again on same line (bring more soup cups and learn to make other items in thermos for dinner / snacks, bring less oatmeal as it is everywhere for breakfast)
* Felt comfortable in my swimsuit (priceless!)
* I am ok with the bad as none of my choices jeopardized my ability to come back to the real world and get right back to my standard routine
* Since it was easy, thinking about planning next vacation!

The Bad:
* Did not eat 100% MWL (and likely had more than normal salt and possibly some oil even though I tried to avoid it like the plague)
* I got more feedback about “no oil” than no animal products (even from folks I was with) --- understanding how much people really love their oil (yuck!)
* The ship could have used more pickleball courts – HA!

The Ugly:
* None!

Here are a few pictures!


We sailed out of San Diego on the Koningsdam with stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and La Paz / (Pichilingue).


This was an incredible fruit plate that I prepared at the San Diego hotel breakfast buffet. I went back for seconds and ate my first ever rambutan --- had to Google “hairy fruit” to identify it. Tasted like a grape to me (and not pictured).


Super easy to find oatmeal in many places on the ship --- all of it is made with water only. Usually I enjoyed this with banana and berries. Sometimes had them add raisins and slivered almonds (if no berries to be found).


I consistently had salad bar for lunch. Sometimes I would then get in another line for rice and also add salsa for dressing. You could ask for whatever you wanted in the salad bowl --- usually 2 kinds of beans (mainly kidney and garbanzo).


Sometimes I would just have a veggie only salad and grab a plate of veggie sushi, rice, and fruit. The only veggie sushi available was carrot and asparagus which was good.


I liked to snack on veggie sushi, if still hungry!


My favorite meal on the cruise was at a specialty Oriental restaurant. Had a vegan rice noodle and veggie soup and then brown rice. For dessert was “exotic fruit” with a bit of mango sorbet. Seriously delicious!


We had lots of sunshine, but rain on our last at sea day. I still walked the track which was awesome. There was a fitness center, but I didn’t really use it --- kept to pickleball, walking track, and walking stairs on the ship.


When I was eating my last breakfast on disembarkation day, this bird was seriously checking out my oatmeal --- I think hoping I would drop some!


Beautiful Cabo San Lucas!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Again Journal!



On to regular checklist review!


Happy to be eating my favorite oatmeal again - with banana, mango, and dark cherries.


Loving apples and some raw veggies for preload.


Yesterday’s shopping haul!

Below is behavioral assessment that I will post for week of 11/24. I missed last week as I was still on vacation. The “misses” would be the same for that week --- 5 and 7 for a few non-MWL food choices and 3 (possibly also 6) as I didn’t have full control of my food. All is back to normal now that I’m home!!!

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed Thanksgiving! We got back this week from our cruise and had a fantastic time. I have noted deviations from the checklist, but it was a good learning experience and honestly not as grim as it may look. I am firmly back to my regular routine (looking for consistent compliance) and feeling positive about the week – with some lessons learned to apply if we cruise this line again in the future.

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly. Still about 2/3 of the time. Loving apples for the preload!

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.
No - more than my normal amount of sodium on vacation. I did have beans and salsa at the salad bar on vacation that I bet were not NSA.

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. I had some slivered almonds on vacation in my oatmeal.

6 Eliminate any added oil.
I think so, but leaving room for a shadow of doubt as I didn’t have full control of the food on vacation. I did request “NO OIL” when ordering and didn’t eat anything where I could detect it.

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 had some whole wheat bread and raisins when traveling.

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. No starving or stuffing.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes. Lots of walking. Thanksgiving Day was beautiful and sunny here and got in a nice 90-minute walk around the neighborhood with my son. Two days of strength training this week. Played less pickleball due to holiday week hours.

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:
Thanks, Mark for posting Jeff’s Thanksgiving message. It is beautiful and seems some of the themes are equally applicable everyday.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Best,
Stephanie 

[VegSeekingFit]

Love going out to breakfast sometimes. It is so easy to order steel cut oatmeal (made with water) and fruit. Went out with my son this morning and was served an enormous bowl of yummy fruit (along with oatmeal – not pictured). There was enough fruit to bring some home for later!



Below is behavioral assessment that I will post for week of 12/1.

Hi Team Time & Adherence,

Happy December! Hope everyone is having a fantastic start to the month! We had our first real snow of the season last weekend in Chicagoland (already melted). Enjoyed a seasonal walk in the bright fluffy flakes --- seeing kids getting their sleds out and making snowmen!

My checklist looks a bit better than last week – happily back to my regular routine in my normal environment!

1 Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
Mostly. Remains at about 2/3.

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. Had a fun pre-holiday get together with a few girlfriends this week. My one friend is an amazing cook, but loves to use oil. She was texting with me – trying to come up with a dish that I would eat for sit-down dinner– asking about peas and pasta. I could picture that with garlic and a boatload of olive oil. So, I said don’t worry about me for dinner – I can’t eat oil at all on top of no animal products – I’m just looking forward to the company and don’t expect you to make anything special for me. She then responded back …. For the soup, would a bit of olive oil to saute the veggies be ok… Anyway, it ended up where we brought appetizers --- including fruit plate and veggies with McD compliant hummus – in lieu of full dinner. Had a great time.

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. No starving or stuffing.

10 Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).
Yes. Walking and strength training. Some pickleball but it has ramped down with the move indoors. Many of the indoor opportunities around here are during the week when I am working. I did sign up for my first tournament of 2024 today!

Victories, comments, concerns, questions:

Thanks so much, Mark for your feedback last week - helped me to consider my perspective on "success". I think it is important how we frame outcomes in our mind and remember that this is all a learning experience where we can consider without self-recrimination options how best to handle future similar situations. Also, that this learning brings us closer to success. And we just keep moving forward trying to make the best decisions in alignment with our goals.

Going to a holiday party next weekend where I learned last year to STAY AWAY from the food table. Doesn’t matter if the folks I want to talk to most are congregating there – just go elsewhere… I am going to not arrive hungry, bring a couple of compliant dishes, and keep to the perimeters of the party. Feeling good about being able to navigate that situation.

Wishing everyone in the group an amazing week filled with good choices!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[Ejeff]

Stephanie, I so admire how you are navigating your social events. It’s wonderful as your friends might learn something from you and perhaps improve their own diets one day if they want to improve their health. That fruit looks so delicious. Makes me want some right now!

Very nice you enjoyed a walk in the snow. We did have snow a few weeks ago, but it melted quite quickly. Last year at this time we had about 2 feet of snow. It seems our forecast is staying just above zero with no precipitation coming. Wonder if we won’t have a white Christmas this year, if so that sure doesn’t happen often here in Alberta that’s for sure.

Erin

[bunsofaluminum]

Stephanie, your journal is so much fun! I love the pics and descriptions of your cruise...gosh, what a great time! And of course your luscious food photos. My fave? The 100% ingredients (nothing processed) "grocery haul" ... I thought "Now here's someone who eats foods she prepares herself"

Also, way to go on the pickleball victory!