Jennifer's Time and Adherence Journal

[frowsyowl]

Hello again...

I've recommitted to MWL and the group and wanted to get this journal started. Here are my focus items for this week/year. I have been up since 1:30, so heading back to bed. Here is my post from MWL to get this started:

I need to work on:

being realistic--about my triggers and the time it will take to see results.
focused--my mind has been in "re-calculating" mode every three days about what to do...adhere to the chosen plan even through turbulence.
stuffing/starving--I get high hopes for dieting and restricting and then crash and burn -or- I think that I'm eating enough, but accidentally under-eat or think that I will be over-eating if I go for another helping. Or, I just binge on crap.

...and many other things.

[frowsyowl]

1/8/23

Day one...I hadn't planned on doing this when I went to the store yesterday, so I still am working through some non-plan things.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. No--kind of forgot about this.

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 did well for the most part. Fruit with breakfast and snack, salad with lunch and cooked vegetable at dinner.

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. Although, I had some sweetened oatmeal mixed in with plain...I think I diluted it enough...also something I'm trying to use up.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes, I had planned for no animal food this week, so it worked.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). No, Soup I had made yesterday contains soymilk. I also finished up some soy yogurt, and a little peanut butter and my salad dressing had some seeds in it--but much better than recent days.

6. Eliminate any added oil. No, I had peanut butter and some homemade bread--had a bit of oil. Assuming yogurt also may have oil--not sure.

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, had one last serving of homemade bread...goodbye for now.

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

9. Don't stuff/starve, eat whenever hungry until reasonably full. Yes, I was very conscious of this today...Although signals were very subtle. Overall, I'm happy with today especially in light of the stuffing I have been doing.

10. Aim to be active, including 30 minutes of exercise (ex; brisk walking). Yes, I have been walking about 1 mile most days since January 1st for a local challenge. Today was nice, and I increased it to about 1.5 miles.

Still feel insecure about #9. At lunch and dinner, I ate some, lost interest and then ate again about 30 minutes later. I deliberately ate more breakfast than yesterday, and I'm hoping that will continue to help me not want to stuff myself all day long.

Happy with this first day...also didn't have caffeine today. Did not feel out of control, which is a relief.

Current weight about 206...Down from all time high of 232 (last hit this two years ago); but up from 195 where I dieted down to a couple times this year (last reached after Thanksgiving).

Talked to my husband about the change in plan...and he was very frustrated that I have been cycling through plans every few days for so long. Me too!!! 300th time's the charm?

Food Log:
8:25--Blueberries, apple, 1/2 c oats (dry measure) and 1 pkt maple instant oatmeal.
9:50--Banana and vanilla soy yogurt
10:30--walk outside, about 30 minutes, 1.5 miles.
12:00--half salad and soup with dressing and bulgur
1:00--Remainder of lunch, plus 1c cubed sweet potato and an orange
2:30--Tea and home-made bread with peanut butter, two small slices.
4:45--Bulgur, spiced lentils and green beans (half of meal)
5:30--other half of dinner
6:00--last soy yogurt

[frowsyowl]

Day 2,


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes/No--preload at breakfast only.

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--all meals were 50/50

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--had a problem with some treats at work and continued at home=sugar/fat

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). No? The treats I ate at work, probably had dairy.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). No, Soup I had made contains soymilk. I also got into some "healthy" treats after work that had nuts. Tofu at dinner.

6. Eliminate any added oil. No, treats.

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, no flour products today.

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

9. Don't stuff/starve, eat whenever hungry until reasonably full. Stuffed somewhat...thought I had brought enough food today, but got hungry this afternoon at work, ate treats--they weren't very filling, but also stuffed a bit at home on "healthy" treats.

10. Aim to be active, including 30 minutes of exercise (ex; brisk walking). Yes, got out the door for a walk at 5:30 this morning. 1.5mils/30 min.


Today was not stellar. As I mentioned I ended up justifying some treats that someone unloaded at work so they weren't in their home...(thanks!)...then had the "blew-it" mentality and had another helping before I left work, and then at home stuffed in some carob-seed type treats that I forgot I had until now. I finally threw those out. Tomorrow, will bring more food and hope I can do better.

5:30--walk, 30 min
6:15--small apple (pre-load) Oats, and maple oats, 1.25 c frozen strawberries, 1T flax. Couldn't finish the oatmeal and brought half to work.
8:15--finished last portion of oatmeal 1/2 to 3/4c approx.
9:15--1c sweet potato, raw celery and cucumber
11:35--Salad with dressing, vegetable-bean soup with bulgur and some lentils left from last night. Approx 1.5c soup, and 3/4c additional starch.
12:20--apple
12:55--first round of candy
3:25--went to get some of my left-over salad and got more candy--ate both.
4:40--home from work, crammed carob treats while cooking dinner.
5:00--Brown rice, vegetables and tofu.

[frowsyowl]

My "Yes" items today were #2--50/50, #8--Don't drink Calories, and #9--don't stuff/starve. I didn't walk today, because I had some soreness from the last two days.

I did end up having candy again at work today, but less so--I brought more food, but still not enough. I'm eating about every 2 hours...or 1?! I experimented today with not pre-loading so that I could eat more at mealtimes in hopes of not being as hungry in the afternoon. I don't know that it really worked. Still ran out of food. I did have a soup cup, but the time I wanted to eat it, I couldn't leave to boil water and ended up eating the candy instead, felt really distracted by needing to eat. I need to work on potatoes for next week and other finger foods. Had my fruit in the morning....I'm hoping that I can spread my meals out so that I don't run out by afternoon again.

5:30--increased oats to 2/3c (dry measure) plus the last maple oatmeal packet. 1 c wild blueberries, small apple. Black tea (meant to avoid caffeine, but didn't sleep long enough last night).
8:45--Banana
9:30--orange
11:05--Salad with a few sweet potato chunks, dressing, Vegetable bean soup about two cups, plus nearly 1 cup of bulgur. --couldn't finish all of that, so ate some later
12:55--rest of soup/bulgur...I think I also had more tea.
2:50--rest of salad
3:30--candy...it was less than yesterday, but still too much
4:45--Brown rice, vegetables and tofu.
5:45--wanted banana nice cream but nuked the bananas too long and it was more like banana soup. Tossed after a taste.
6:00--1/2 slice bread.

[frowsyowl]

Catching up with yesterday's update. Was too tired after work to do it.

Still got caught up in the candy yesterday at work, but I think between my co-worker and I, it's gone and I will be better prepared next time. Despite not getting many of the 10 points this week, I am learning about interpreting my hunger vs procrastination vs cravings.

By the end of the day yesterday, I was tired and craving and starting to get actually hungry. I was almost plotting a trip to Walgreens to get "c.r.a.p" for dinner and to veg out after work. Instead, I made a bargain with myself to not have to eat the bean soup I had made for dinner (had already eaten some earlier in the day), but have oatmeal and go right to bed--success, it was less guilt-ridden, kept me looking ahead to staying on the plan--win/win!!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes/No--started to, then no.
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, but not dinner. Brought cooked broccoli instead of salad; reduced soup and added more starch. Starting to get the hang of how much I need to bring...I think.
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. Nope--many candies, and I had a soup cup that had too much sodium (forgot to use only half the seasonings when I made it). Rest of food was reasonable.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). No--candy had dairy.
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Small amount of soymilk in my lunch soup, I added nuts to my compromise oatmeal in the evening.
6. Eliminate any added oil. No--candy
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--added raisins to my evening oatmeal.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes. I drank tea...need to add some water.
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. No, I stuffed myself at lunch time in order to eat at a convenient time, even though I wasn't completely hungry yet after the junk I ate.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes--I hadn't walked in the morning, but walked 1 mile before heading home after work. Might do the same thing tonight.

5:45--Orange, 1c oats, 1/2c blueberries, banana, flax, sweetened--couldn't finish.
7:00--remainder of breakfast, tea.
8:47--Bean soup cup, rest of tea
10:25--candy...procrastination, fatigue, caffeinated, fragmented (not sure how to describe it) at work
10:50--three more candies b/c they were there, and a few more
12:10--a couple more
1:00--1.5c bulgur, 1c soup; 1.5-2c broccoli--stuffed.
2:00--apple
3:00--mints
5:45--2/3c oats, 1oz raisins, 2T walnuts, 2tsp maple syrup.
7:30--orange

[frowsyowl]

Well, hello again!

Yesterday, I had a perfect day...until 6p.m. (I have to remember that this is me after all)

I had to pick some things up at the store after work, and when I got home, I wasn't sure that I was all that hungry, so I just fixed a small amount of dinner, but then needed a little more, and so on. Just wasn't getting satisfied. I should have just gone upstairs after the first round, hungry or not; but thought I would just settle for a less than perfect day. Of course, this morning: regrets. Still, the day was better than the last couple.


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes--I remembered to eat fruit or vegetable before each meal and snack...I guess dinner I didn't pre-load, but did sequence the vegetables first.

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--until my excursions after dinner.

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--the candy is gone, and I didn't go off the rails at the grocery store. In fact, I thought I would pick up stuff at Walgreens at first, but thought I ought to avoid the scene of my previous crimes.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes--no candy, etc.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). No--soymilk in lunch soup; nuts and nut butter after dinner.

6. Eliminate any added oil. No--oil in P.B. after dinner.

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--added raisins to my evening oatmeal. Ate bread that I left in fridge at husband's request, but that he hadn't eaten.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes--more than 32 oz of water; no caffeine this day.

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--I didn't feel stuffed even after dinner, but I felt very full at lunch time with my compliant food.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). Yes--I hadn't walked in the morning, but walked 1 mile before heading home after work with a co-worker. I was going to head straight to the store, but she caught me before I left. It was very cold!!

I tried to eat less often yesterday...the morning felt okay. I had slept enough to concentrate well at work, and didn't eat at the very first faint sign of hunger. The afternoon, I got hungrier sooner than I'd hoped, and then ate the whole lunch instead of splitting it as I have done the last few days.

7:00 ish: 1c oats, banana, flax, 1.5 tsp sugar; pre-load with strawberries about 1c; only ate 1/2
10:40: Remaining oatmeal/banana; pre-load with medium apple.
1:30: Vegetable soup-2c, medium potato; pre-load with salad/salsa dressing; dessert: orange--super stuffed.
5:30 to 7:30?: Celery, Medium potato w/mustard...scant cup black bean soup (home-made and kind of blech), small slice bread...more bread w/peanut butter...1/2c oats, 2T Walnuts, 1oz raisins, maple syrup @ 1/2 T?

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Jennifer!!!

Awesome that you have started a daily journal to track to MWL behaviors!!! Personally, I found this approach helpful in looking to create these habits to promote better health.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Cheers,
Stephanie

[frowsyowl]

Thanks Stephanie! I'm finding it more 'grounding' than trying to keep track of random notebooks, etc...and more accountable too, because it's public.

I'm also employing a chart on my fridge with my weekly prep and meal plan, 10 point checklist so I can see what my score was on a daily, weekly and monthly level. I'm trying to be committed!

Friday 1/13:

Posted on the main thread in the morning...Average for the week was 3 solid points of MWL, and 2-ish. Nice day yesterday:


1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Yes--I remembered to eat fruit or vegetable before each meal and snack...Though, by the end of the day, I don't want as much food, so this falls off. Fruit was easiest this past week, but working in more vegetables.

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--even at dinner. Had a "treat" meal Friday night with white rice, salad, and rare, but favorite, frozen raspberries!

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--Doing great with just a tsp or two of sugar here and there and limited salty condiments.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). Yes--no candy, etc.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Yes--except flax in oatmeal...for emotional reasons, I guess.

6. Eliminate any added oil. Yes--cool beans!

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--I even wasn't as tempted to purchase these at the store Friday...had an 'emergency' potato before I went.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). Yes--I have been trying to reduce caffeine gradually. Switched to black tea as a first step, but had a small half-caff cup (black) Friday morning, because I had been up since 3:00.

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 I did pretty well with this yesterday. I don't remember being uncomfortable.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). No--didn't walk after work, b/c I decided last minute to get groceries Friday instead of Saturday.

Food:
3:30 a.m.: water...considered breakfast, but too many hours before lunch.
4:00: small half-caff, black coffee...then tried to go back to bed until I absolutely had to get up.
7:15: pre-load strawberries; banana oatmeal, 1/2-1 tsp sugar...ate half
10:00: pre-load apple; remaining breakfast
12:40: pre-load orange: left-over soups all combined (heavy on the lentils); 1-1/2 to 2 cups raw celery/carrots.
3:45: medium POTATO!
6:00?: Steam-in-bag white rice, 1c salad w/3-2-1 dressing, 1c frozen raspberries.
8:00: Made tea so I wouldn't roam the kitchen. Had one sip and forgot about it.

Feeling more solid about MWL yesterday. Have a nice meal plan, husband-approved, for this week. I don't mean he approved my meals, but I planned what I wanted and added things for him...drives me nuts to cook something that I've pick for his tastes and then he doesn't eat it.

Menu plan for week:

Dinners/Left-overs:
Moroccan red-lentil soup from McD app--subbing in potatoes for pasta, stores longer if needed, husband adds oyster crackers

"Chipotle" style bowls (rice, corn, black beans, salsa or tomatoes, onions...) Adding dairy products and tortilla, avocado for H

Pasta Primavera--whole wheat pasta, extra vegetables, purchased sauce--they've stopped carrying the no-oil and/or the lower sodium sauce at our store so this will be off plan for me. Will look for better product next time--don't like sauce when I've tried to make it.

Lunches: Left-overs from dinner or freezer, Jeff's burgers and fries or Mashed potatoes if needed. Raw vegetables and fruit, hummus or bean dip. EDIT: got ingredients to make sweet potato dessert (baked with crushed pineapple) in case I "need" something.

[frowsyowl]

Good Morning,

Up again in the dark this morning before three--cats. Couldn't get back to sleep despite staying in bed. I think I still got 6 hours., but it doesn't feel like it.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
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.
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/No--I feel like I'm retaining water in my hands...too many condiments yesterday. Mustard, Ketchup, Salsa.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). exept flax in oatmeal.
6. Eliminate any added oil.
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--added last box of raisins to morning oatmeal.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

Notes:
My appetite has changed a lot over the course of this week. Yesterday I tried preparing only a single serving of oats, since I would be home and could eat again if I needed to. I kept busy and didn't need to eat again until much later. If I do this on a work-day I will still bring snacks. I don't think I had enough water yesterday...had half a tea, water in oatmeal and maybe one other glass?

I made bean burgers and chubby chips for lunches yesterday and dinner. Will make a few things today. Got my walk in and did some sewing.

Oh, I weighed Friday a.m. -1 lb...rounding the weights as recommended.

Food/Activity
7:15--1/2 oats (measured dry) with half banana, 1oz raisins, flax and 1/2tsp sugar, pre-load 1c strawberries.
9:30--Black tea, didn't finish it. Sewing
12:00--food prep
1:00--pre-load apple; 1/2 plate salad w/321 dressing; 2 bean burgers and 1/4th plate chubby chips, ketchup
3:30--Raw veg, homemade hummus (1/3c)
4:25--Left-over rice from making burgers-- 1/2 to 3/4c approx.
5:00--ish; Full-plate salad w/321 dressing; served 1c broccoli/1c rice/corn/beans w/salsa (only ate half); frozen raspberries. water.

[frowsyowl]

I've got to get back to recording each evening... Here are Sunday and Monday's records:

Something went haywire, but I'm not sure what. Sunday evening I was a little bit 'snacky', but Monday was ridiculous. I don't know if I under-ate and then rebounded, I did exercise more on Monday than I have in a long time. I was kind of irritated and bored on Monday despite keeping myself occupied. Was it salt? The food was too yummy? No caffeine? Vitamin D?

I kept looking for the feeling of either my stomach or my brain chiming "done' like previous days, or in the morning at breakfast. I haven't calculated my 10 points. I think Sunday was 9.

Sunday--
5:30--2/3c oats, 1/2 banana, 1/2T flax, sugar, vitamin D (my doctor advised, but I have been slacking); B12
1 sm half-caff coffee, black. I made more but wasn't that interested despite little sleep
12:30--apple, bean burger, chubby chips, raw vegetables
5:30--sm handful cherry tomatoes, Rice/beans, corn, Broccoli, salsa
7:00--Orange, 1 c corn, chubby chips w/ketchup, 1 bean burgers

Monday--surprise day off...forgot about the holiday.
6:00--Strawberries, 1/2 portion of 1c oatmeal, blueberries, flax, sugar
9:45--apple, remainder of breakfast...2 bean burgers, chubby chips, half plate raw veg
11:15--chubby chips, raw vegetables, water
2:30--mashed sweet potatoes baked with pineapple...I think I had 1/4c peanuts. Threw peanuts away
Later--more sweet potatoes and walnuts
Later--1c corn, 1/2c each rice and beans, salsa.
Later--Rest of sweet potatoes..(total sweet potato/pineapple if i guessed was equivalent to about 3-4 cups?)
Later--Husband's white tortilla with about 1oz shredded cheese.

[frowsyowl]

Tuesday, 1/17

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

Food:
Breakfast: Pre-load--banana, half of 1c oats, 1c raspberries, sugar, flax
8:20: remaining oatmeal
9:20: two mints
11:30: pre-load--apple, @1.5-2c mixture of rice, beans and corn, @1.5c broccoli
3:00: two mints
5:00: pre-load--carrots, 2.5 cups total ww pasta with conventional sauce and many vegetables (mushrooms, artichoke, zucchini, kale); 8oz can crushed pineapple.

More of a normal eating day, I could hear hunger/fullness signals a bit better. Was a bit hungry by the afternoon, but not intolerably. I didn't exercise because I had done some walk/running yesterday and I aggravated something. Hope is alive.

Today, Wednesday, I'm off work, because they are expecting freezing rain and potentially heavy snow. I got my walk in first thing--nothing has started yet.

Plan for Today:

Had oats for breakfast. Didn't pre-load b/c I wanted to finish all the oats. Had strawberries after my walk.
Lunch--probably brown rice, frozen mixed vegetables and left-over curried lentils We are low on fruit already, I'm going to try to keep to what I've already had for breakfast. Pre-load with raw vegetables I guess.
Dinner--left-over ww pasta, sauce and vegetables.

Prep today--I have some bean burgers that I haven't cooked yet. I may make into balls. More chubby chips, and maybe a pre-load soup if I have enough ingredients or the red-lentil soup for dinner tomorrow. Cut up more raw veg.

[frowsyowl]

I don't know why I bothered to post that "plan". It was like as soon as I wrote it down, I "knew" I was unlikely to do it! Really discouraged. Trying to read and listen to encouraging things and try again tomorrow.

There was bread that I thought I could handle having in the house and didn't want to waste (Ezekiel pitas)...along with some other things of my husband's that I can't remove...and then I turned my bean burgers into part of the binge/cram..and kept going. I get so that I can't/won't interrupt myself.

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
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.
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/No--I feel like I'm retaining water in my hands...too many condiments yesterday. Mustard, Ketchup, Salsa.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6. Eliminate any added oil.
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.
8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

1.5 for the day?!

[frowsyowl]

Here's my weekly post from MWL group. Yesterday was back on track. Ate four meals.

Hello!

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit. Not all the time, but markedly improved. I tried raw veg, and don't know if they're my 'thing'. Made a vegetable soup on Wednesday, and enjoyed having that for a change yesterday. Still working this out--how much, which item...Fruit is the easiest.

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. Most days did well on this, either mixed in with the dish or adding frozen vegetables on the side; fruit at breakfast.

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/No--I used conventional sauce this week and still more condiments than i ought.

4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood). One ounce of cheese, one tsp of butter on a 'binge' day.

5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy). Flax in oatmeal daily; nuts on 'binge' days.

6. Eliminate any added oil. Perfect except for the binge...and the conventional pasta sauce

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. Again, the binge day. Ezikiel pitas that I hadn't tossed before.

8. Don't drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages). I'm off caffeine and have lost interest in tea--not that they were calorific. But had water only the last few days.

9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don't starve yourself and don't stuff yourself. Had two unusual days off (MLK and snow day) and both times descended into binging/cramming. The worst being PB/ezekiel; nuts added to things, piece of cheese: all things around my house. Turned sweet potatoes and Jeff's burgers into compulsive snack foods too! Interestingly, I did not binge at night, but the middle of the day. These were really discouraging, but I have continued to start back up the next day with being on-plan. I have done well at work this week. Still working out how much/little to eat at meals.

10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking). I did less days than last week, but each session was longer--about 1.5 to 2 miles instead of 1m.

Victories, etc: Total of four solid yes this week; my average with the binging was about 7 'yes' day to day. Rounding, I'm down -1 this week and -2 since last.

[VegSeekingFit]

Hi Jennifer!

Hope you are having a fabulous Friday!!

I relate to what you wrote about having some days different than we expect being challenging to deal with. It helps so much to keep MWL food ready --- maybe the food that you love the most. I think we may have similar challenge --- for instance my husband / son aren't joining me in McD'ing... It sounds like you are in that scenario too?? Helped me to have food "not for me" in a separate location --- basically, we have a shelf in the refrigerator and another in the pantry that I pretend doesn't exist.

You are doing great!!! Just keep going!!!

Best,
Stephanie

[frowsyowl]

Thanks Stephanie!

Sorry, I've been MIA. I am usually on my phone, and don't like to make posts from it. I'm on a computer all day and have been wanting to hibernate most evenings this week. Today is an exception, since I had some caffeine. Hope I can get to bed tonight!

I fall in a bit of a trap with trying to work with what my husband likes to eat, then I end up eating it b/c he has no appetite! For the most part, he's willing to eat many of the McD dinners w/add-ons and has his own lunches and Friday night pizzas; random fast food. I think we might be getting into a better groove with our needs.

I don't know quite what to think about those two days off that i struggled so much with--major boredom, and once I started it was compulsive. I hadn't been trying to diet, so I didn't expect to binge so badly. Oh well, I've continued coming back.

This week, I've had another candy jag, but it has been better than the 1st one. This one was my own doing, I chose fat-free options and smaller portions. Still not great.

I'm doing well on most points, and should have just incidentals keeping me from counting them on Friday. Besides the candy, I've really slid out of my exercise pattern, but have plans to try something else next week. There is a 12 week group class at the Y that I've signed up for--fingers crossed. I didn't really think I should spend more money this year on weight loss, but I need to find a way to keep this momentum going. The plus side of not exercising is that my hunger drive is more stable and much lower.

Aside from working on this program, I have been having a small existential crisis about my job. I'm nearing 50 (13 more months) and have a type of retirement plan that I can't move to another job; (I don't lose it but it would reduce my payout if I left). There are some really great things about what I do and where I work, and some really tiresome, stressful/scary things. DH is in a similar situation with his job--maybe it's just this age and this century.

In the back of my mind, I also wonder if I shouldn't lobby to be nearer to my parent as they age, but they are independent. DH has family in our current city...haven't even discussed this b/c it seems like such a non-possibility. We just got into our current house two years ago and everything is even more expensive now.

Feels good to drop this all here. I'll think about it some other time!

Edit: I need to come up with some "fun" and easy food for Friday nights. That's how the candy started back up. I was at the grocery store. Wasn't starved b/c I had eaten a bit before I left, but still wanted a "treat". I ended up with candy and an Amy's frozen meal (oil/salt).

Also, can't wait to buy new clothes. Some of my stuff is a little bit 'shabby-chic' but I refuse to replace it until it doesn't fit anymore. Much of it is from the Good Will already, so I don't want to go get more stuff from there that I'm not crazy about either.

Ok, now I think I'm done.

Good Night