LA Weight Loss - Beck Diet Solution/For LIfe – January 2009 – Support, Discussion, Diet Coach/Buddy

a quickie before i turn in - onebyone, how about kinda sorta splitting the difference, say 1900 cals a day to start, and see how it goes for two or three weeks? it really doesn't matter too much, since all you're doing at the beginning is establishing a good baseline. just pick a reasonable number (2000? 1800? - whatever) and ride with it for a little bit, see what your body does, and adjust from there? don't even worry about conflicting information from different sources, since the real answer is YOU!

hi everyone - welcome chinamaine! - am wiped out from a long run in the snow and some heavy work at the old house. got the bad news on friday about my assignment ending, but so far, with DH's help, have stayed away from the cupcakes (and pizza, wings, cheese crunches, ice cream, etc.) i've been thinking about on and off since friday's call. was really miserable running today (wet and cold, and i don't have the fancy schmancy water repelling running gear) so my clothes were soaking, and felt like they weighed 50 lbs, and it was COLD and i had snow in my eyes that froze on my eyelashes in balls. DID IT ANYWAY and feel like a baaaad mutha now. :)

cheers all!

Rachel Hooray for enjoying the process of change, and OH YES on the four pounds. Good for you for including exercise in the process! Thin for Life by Anne Fletcher (a MUST read for long term success, I think) reports (p. 201) on a study of successful maintainers--90% exercised. The NWCR says its successful maintainers burn an average of 400 calories per day in exercise. Absolutely valuable for long term success.

Bill Hawks are fascinating. LOL on the makeover of the prune by turning it into a dried plum.

onebyone :hug: I think it is very positive that you came here and posted, even after a lousy day. Tomorrow will be two steps forward and one back. Unfortunately, it isn't a linear journey, but you should be proud of yourself that you are still on the path.

Re: calorie levels. The calorie needs calculators you find everywhere are notoriously inaccurate for many people who struggle with obesity. I personally think "starvation mode" isn't really an issue until one actually approaches starvation, but acknowledge that different things affect different people differently. How's that for definitive, LOL? One question: how many calories are you eating now, on an average day? I find it hard to change that by more than a few hundred at a time, without serious risk of going off plan. Since this is a long term eating plan for you, what can you live with for the long term? A lot of women do need to eat 1600 cal/day. Some can do more--I'm guessing you will too, since you're on the taller side of things. Maybe experiment a bit. Do 2000 calories for a few days and see how you feel. Then try 1600 and see how you feel--are you doing ok, or are you going off plan more. Then just pick something and stick to it. FWIW (and everyone is different), during the Big Loss, I ate about 1500 cal/day, and was losing about 2-3 lbs a week at first (250+), slowing to 1-2 /week by the end (190s and lower). When I started distance running, I had to up my calories to stop bingeing, since I needed a whole lot more than I was taking in, and things started to give.

davidette What a total score on the lunch and also the cookie deal! Woo hoo! You've got momentum now.

Chris/angelmomma210 Nicely done on the all-you-can-eat stuff! Putting things that didn't satisfy aside instead of eating them anyway is a major success.

ChinaMaine :welcome: I'm very impressed with the Type A to B conversion. I didn't know that was possible. CBT is very powerful indeed. Sounds like you have some challenges. Make sure you check in on the Maintainer's threads (and BTW, you are a Maintainer if you're not gaining it back this time, regardless of where you are with respect to a goal weight). Several long term posters over there have thyroid issues, and at least one has celiac.

maryblu I think your post had a lot of wisdom for all of us today!

RobinW :wave:

wndranne Gotta wunder... :)

Anne

Jean Crosspost! You go on with your bad self! Nice run. Sorry to hear about your news, but glad you are dealing with it like a thin person would!

Anne

:welcome: ChinaMaine :welcome:

Welcome to the Complete Beck Diet for Life / Beck Diet Solution Discussion Group, Support Group, Diet Buddy / Diet Coach Group.

And, in honor of your first post on 3FC, :wel3fc:

How did you find out about Beck?

And how did you find this thread on 3FC?

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Made it through two potlucks in one day. CREDIT moi. Only good enough though because I fell into a bowl of peanuts while cleaning up at lunch. Tried to give them to a teenager to take home but he replied, "No thanks, we have some at home." Now what did that have to do with getting some FREE peanuts? Where does a kid get that kind of clear thinking?

For the lunch I made a huge pot of curried zucchini. It was really good and went fast. Seems to me that people are drawn to good food when given the option.


maryblu - Thanks for your thoughtful post. Gotta love a self help book that say "stop reading self help books and start moving." For some reason that reminds me of Steal this Book, LOL.

And thanks for sharing the laugh that I blame my pounds on "sweet fresh corn." Now I'm drooling at your Sunfish still wriggling as they go in the pan. It's been a while since I had fresh caught fish; gotta figure out how to do that again.


Jean (baaaadmuthaJeanie) - Ouch for the bad news about your assignment. Kudos for avoiding food as consolation and for your heroic run in the icy environment.

Robin (RobinW) - Waving back. Yay for "cooking and planning for next week." Hope your networking event is coming along smoothly.

onebyone - First of all, Big Kudos for recording all your food on fitday, for making the pot of soup, and for making the crockpot of food for next week. You're displaying your moxie taking the steps forward.

Ouch for triggering on a "should have" - Sabotaging Thoughts continue to slip in under our radar. Good move that you went back to see what happened.

As to calorie levels: I don't bring any expertise to this question, but my gut prejudice is to choose a level that you feel comfortable with, right now. Despite what I've read over and over, I'm in the club that has never come to believe that the body has a starvation mode that kicks in easily. My perspective is that the real concern is falling off plan because we feel we aren't getting enough. I'd avoid your self identified "impatient saboteur" at all costs. Choose the number that you can stick to for the first month, then visit the choice again. One full month on-plan can rearrange enough neurons in the brain to allow access to lots of good thinking.

Choose and get on with it. Sending my best supportive thoughts as you so astutely pull yourself forward here.


Anne (wndranne) - Ouch for DD's fat mouth. I do recall trying to feel the warmth that I'd spawned a free thinking, free speaking, human with their own brain just when I wanted to bop them upside the head for their smart mouths. Congrats for keeping your sanity and working thought it.

And Kudos for getting out your road bike with only the faintest glimmer that Spring is actually coming. Ouch for the smell of fresh baked baguettes. There oughta be a law so something. I do sit here drooling at your fine construction with bruscetta toppings yet eating a reasonable portion.


Chris (angelmomma210) - Kudos for eating mindfully at an all-you-can-eat buffet. You're my hero for that; buffets remain a challenge for me.

Rachel (helping rachel) - Waving back. Hope you're having an on-plan day.

davidette - Kudos for your on-plan lunch and bigger Kudos for your on-plan visit to the bakery cafe for coffee. Skipping dessert while your friend indulged was a big step - you're showing yourself how to live with your No Choice decisions. Good show.

Yay for store bought cookies (in scent proof wrapping) for your potluck.


ChinaMaine - Kudos for starting your food log in January and for moving forward in the skills learning phase of the Beck plan. It's neat that you bring to this group your confidence that we can change ourselves, even in big ways, using CBT. (FYI, Beck has shifted to CT in her new book; for some reason dropping 'Behavior'.)

Readers - "Stage 1
The Success Skills Plan
...
Skill 8: Follow your plan, no matter what. (page 95).
..." The Complete Beck Diet for Life, pg 50.

angelmomma Congrats on the buffet success! Amazing how easy it is to pack away calories that don't even taste good at those places. AND no dessert! (which unfortunately usually tastes good enough for seconds) :broc:

:wave: ChinaMaine!

wndranne I remember the time I was trying on a dark brown outfit at a store and my DD commented loudly "Mommy, you look like a horse!". Needless to say I did not buy the outfit. It's laugh ... or cry.

Since you were not emotional eating with your unplanned baguette, and your calories ended up on track for the day, not to mention you made plans for that situation in the future, my humble opinion is you have more to be proud of than not. As delicious as it sounds, I'm sure you ate it mindfully, another point in your favor! It's a slippery slope going off plan, but us type A's can make things so difficult we eventually give up.

onebyone I agree with Kuhljeanie, pick a high middle calorie count and see how it goes. Let your body have time to adjust and tweak as necessary to find what isn't unduly restrictive and yet overall weight trends down. that's the point I'm at now, and I think I may have finally gotten the scales to start edging down and still feel like I'm eating healthily.

kuhleanie You amaze me - frozen eyelashes and you kept going! Wow - I'm going to keep that image in mind when i'm dying to get off the elliptical!

Sorry about your assignment ending, at least you were somewhat prepared and already dealing with the issues that arise.

bill Kudos on navigating two potlucks in one day! I'm chewing my nails about one luncheon. I wish I had hope of finding curried zucchini there to sample!

I'm going to do my best to have the caloric equivalent of 1 cup soup and 1/2 wrap (plus 2 cookies - let's be realistic! The cookies aren't coming back home so I'm safe there.) Plan B, should that seem impossible because of the unidentifiable calorie counts, I won't eat a thing more than the skinny lady! She always talks about how large portions are, how full she is, and she never finishes her meal. I'll choose plan A or B before I put anything on my plate. There - now I'm committed!

Good Morning Coaches

THANK YOU ALL :hug: for your advice and support. As you can see I am still not here for personals but wanted you to all know I hear you and I have received your message!

So, I am making my calorie goal 2000 calories for the month. One month starts today. I am aiming for a 40carb/30protein/30fat split (can up protein and down the fat on some days...) and I will log food into fitday and get exercise 4x a week. This is the plan. be on the lookout for triggers and binge-y moments and create something true to myself.

Better go. I will miss my ride if I don;lt though I am not keen on getting out there into that cold air...though I love the smell of that cold air.

Have a good start to the work week everyone.

Good morning Beckies! I am running late for school so this has to be quick. So enjoy reading and learning from everyone on this thread. I stayed on plan yesterday but am wiped out. My husband has been out of town this weekend and was busy with hockey, basketball games and a dance recital. Had lots of desserts to chose from after the recital and chose not to take anything.

My bad self old self hates exercise. I don't want to exercise because of energy and attitude. I told myself you have no choice and my old bad self said I am not going toooooo tired. I looked up every entry in beck's book and started journaling my feelings around exercising. Thanks Anne for the encouragement,about this TRUTH about taking it off and keeping it off HAS to include an exercise routine. I am looking at my negative thinking and writing my cards out to counteract it. I feel like my body is one big bowl of jello! Jiggle Jiggle ! I printed the picture of 5lbs of fat compared to 5lbs of muscle for one of my cards.

Will be back later to continue to process this issue. Thanks for a safe place to vent......

Good Morning :coffee:

rachel~ Awesome job leaving the deserts on the table!! :bravo: I'm with ya on the exercise thing. I hate it too. I think what I hate the most is how hot I get. I dont like being hot!! (dont like being cold either :p ) :lol:

onebyone~ good for you! :hug: sounds like you are feeling abit better too.

davidette~ Sounds like a good plan! Im always amazed at what "skinny" women eat!! A collegue was at a luncheon with me....told me she was tossing the diet to the wind and was going to take a big piece of danish. Her big piece would have been my taster/teaser size! :eek: Im starting to understand the "Im full" part. Once your stomach gets used to eating less food it shrinks....less food fit in there. Its wonderful when you can leave food on your plate because your full.

Bill~ curried zucchini sounds wonderful.....would you mind sharing that recipe? Kudos for getting thru 2 potlucks in one day!! Your exchange with the peanut kid reminded me of my stepgrandaughter....she wanted a piece of her dad's b-day cake. But only ate the middle filling part and left the rest of it. I asked her if she was going to finish it and she said no, I only wanted the middle. I was thinking.....what a waste!!!! But then switched to "wow" As a child I would have been scolded for wasting so much food. Things certainly have changed havent they.

About those prunes....I love love love them!! They are awesome in your oatmeal too! Good for you....they aren't just for old people! Even if my 12 yr old dd says so in the grocery store when I pick them up :lol: .....and then sneaks a prune when nobody is looking! Ha!

Our event is running along smoothly. Ive filled up all our vendor tables, and Im meeting today with the event manager at our venue to see if I can add more tables without it being too crowded for people to mill around. Its pretty exciting, Im thrilled with the feedback Ive been getting so far.

Anne~ Ouch for your dd's words! Im thankful mine has since grown a censor :lol: she's said some doozies! Im glad it didnt bother you tho! That's a good thing!

I was reading your post yesterday and I was thinking.....OMG where are you, you can go picking mandarins!?!?!? ....and not shoveling snow like the rest of us :lol: I thought that was just so cool that you could go pick mandarins, lemons and grapefruit!!! Ive picked apples :lol: thats about it.

As for your bruschetta....it sounds wonderful. May not have been a planned meal, but if it was all within your totals...can it be part of a meal plan? Unplanned, but still not too shabby of a choice!

Jean~ Im sorry to hear that your assignment is ending. Awesome job keeping away from all the goodies, and big kudos to your hubby for being so supportive!! Kudos for your freezing run....you're a stronger woman than I :lol:

chinamaine & angelmomma~ :wave:

Things are going pretty good here. Im down 4 more lbs this week. I did up a big pot of soup and Im going to test out my TVP today in it. I also did up 3 meals for the week, but we ate one last night :lol3: It just smelled so good!! It was too! Yah for new recipes! :cb:

Im back to my wildberry zinger tea in the evenings and Im much more at peace with my food amounts.

I have been adding some things back into my diet slowly. This week I had a potato, and some white flour (about 2tbsp). Im not positive, but Im going to cut them back out next week. This week's recipes have a bit more carbs in them. I want to see if that is what is making my feet sore.(weird I know) But when I eat alot of carbs, and put on alot of weight, one of the first things to bother me are my feet. So we'll see.

The plus side is that I havent been having cravings after adding them back in. Baby steps.

Have a great day everyone!

Ok, I've read through the Stage 1 stuff and have taken a look at Stage 2 to see what I think of the food plan. I definitely think I should work my way through Stage 1, and soon! All that stuff is kind of common sense, but it's the stuff you won't really LIVE until you practice it. And I've never truly practiced it, even while losing 110 pounds. Sure, sometimes I had to deny myself food when I was hungry in order to stay within my points range, but more often than not I would just tack on a few extra points instead. The good news is that I still lost the weight because I made good choices much more often than I made bad ones, but the bad news is that I never learned the skills that would enable me to keep off the weight forever.

Here's my big question: Do I really really need to do the food plan Beck offers in the book? I like it, it's perfectly fine, but there's a little thing I know about myself. I know, without question, that if I'm told I can't eat something (and yes, I know she offers bonus calories but please...150 or 200 calories won't cut it), then I won't stick to it. If I had a nickel for every time I've tried someone else's food plan and stuck to it for less than a week, I'd be far less concerned about our crappy economy because I'd be a billionaire. I just don't think I can do cheese, fruit, and nuts only for snacks. For one thing, my baby has a dairy sensitivity and I'm breastfeeding, so that kind of limits me even further.

What has always worked for me is to allow myself whatever I want within a certain calorie range, and to try for good choices almost all of the time. What that means is that I have a day in which I want to eat five 3 Musketeers bars instead of my normal plan, then I can do it, and I'll still lose weight as long as those candy bars are in my calorie range. This kind of thinking may sound kooky, but I lost 110 pounds and became a long distance runner with that thinking, and I think I can do it again.

Of course, it sounds like I'm just being negative about her food plan and going back to my old habits instead of trying to set up new ones. And maybe I am a little resistant to anything new. But I do want to go through the Success Skills and put them in place, and I think that will help me to keep my weight off forever, regardless of the food plan I am currently working with.

So am I being difficult, or should I do what I think is going to work for me but still incorporate learning the skills I need?

By the way, I've been counting points for the last few days and the scale is moving down. I'm also starting to change my thinking already. We went through a Wendy's drivethrough yesterday and I desperately wanted fries, but instead got a side salad. They gave me some very high-fat, high-calorie dressing, so I threw that away and used my low-calorie stuff instead. Credit! Also, my husband cooked bacon and eggs yesterday morning but I'd already had Cheerios and a banana. Normally I would still eat some bacon because it smelled so good, but I denied the craving because I wasn't hungry! Credit!

Hi LisaMarie, no you dont have to follow that food plan. In her first book we were told to pick 2 diets we liked. One to follow, and one as a back up plan incase the first didnt work.

So go ahead and use the diet that works best for you!

Here's my big question: Do I really really need to do the food plan Beck offers in the book?

Hi LisaMarie71

Becks first book and her workbook both say to choose two diets, one to do first and backup in case the first one doesn't work out. I wasn't very thrilled to see her put a suggested foodplan into her new book but it's probably to help her sell her books as a "diet book" almost always includes a "diet" right? Right. AS of now I don't even have her new book yet. I will get it in a few weeks but for now I am using the workbook so I am sticking to the pick your own plan and apply Beck as the strategy to stick to it. It's what she does best.
And kudos on your food successes at Wendy's and at home. Yay! :carrot: the dancing carrot dances happily for you today!

Hey, checking in again, as I work my way through reading the book.

I'm still liking what I'm reading, and it's uncanny how, as soon as I ask myself a question ("I wonder if I can start the food plan before finishing all the Success Skills?") she writes something to answer it. So I'm being patient with myself, because, as Beck says, doing it my way has never really worked before. So I'll do it her way!

Today my focus has been on beginning to eat slowly, sitting down, and concentrating on enjoing every bite. This is MUCH harder than I thought it would be, and now I think it might be a challenge for a while. But I will say that I do feel more full and have enjoyed my meals more. One funny consequence of doing this so consciously is that, whatever I've done immediately after my meals, it has also been very slow. I finished lunch and went to fold laundry and I realized that I was folding at a snail's pace! I don't think I need to enjoy every moment of that. :)

Chinamaine - Welcome! I've also just begun this journey and started posting here. Can I ask about your user name? I actually lived in China until last fall, when I moved back to the States, so I'm curious.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday!

Well today is a good day. Because of the weather we went 2 hours late for school....and no kindergarden. It is nice to have a samll change.
Am on the third part of stage 1. Have started the WIs and that is not always easy for me...but did put up where I can see it that it is just a number. Just a number..yeah...just a number.

Thanks to all for the welcomes and support. I've 'lost' 2.5 lbs since my last weigh-in (last week before I got sick). I won't trust that figure until it's stuck around for a few days. But, I'm anticipating being happy about it. :D Yesterday was my Day 1 - I've finished Skill 1. However the book says I need to fill out the Success Skill Sheet every night. Does anyone have a soft copy of that? Or know where I can find one on-line? I'd prefer to print it rather than copy it...

I read my Advantages and Response deck this AM. I can see it will be helpful. I completed my planned exercise yesterday. I got my food log caught up.

Today life is getting in the way - my boiler went out overnight. I've been keeping a fire going while I try to work. The plumber has been here, etc. Suffice it to say, it's been a time sync (or is it sink?). I usually exercise some at lunch and some mid-afternoon. I'm sure Beck has something to say about such lame excuses. :) I'll exercise after work instead I guess. And I'll do another Skill before bed tonight...


Bill Blue Eyes -- Thanks for the big colorful welcome. Over the holidays I saw the book in some list of best diet books. I put in on my Amazon list, but read about it before I actually bought it about a week ago. The fact that incorporated CBT was a big selling point, since I've seen too many friends gain back weight from WW, Atkins and South Beach. I've been trying to lose weight, off and on, for 3 years -- I had no faith I could do it on my own... Re CT - I don't know why she would drop the 'B'. The theory addresses how our thinking (or Cognition) affects both our emotions and thus our Behavior. So therapy to change Behavior needs to include cognition and emotions... The B in CBT is not only important, but core to the approach I think. And thanks for the kudos. :)

wndranne - Thanks for the similarly colorful welcome. I will check out the maintainers when I feel I have a minute to breath. And CBT is very powerful. Even before Beck, it had a powerful, positive impact on my quality of life. I'm hoping for the same kind of success here.

RobinW, davidette, kuhljeanie, maryblu, helping rachel, - Back at ya! :wave:

JenMusic - Hi to you too. And you lived in China Maine? If so this IS a small world. And which do you prefer -- Tobey's or Husseys?

Have a great day! :dancer:

A frozen Beckie good day to all. You know you are a true Minnesodan when at this time of year, your blood gets so thick you think 5 below zero for a high daytime temp. is not bad at all as long as there is no wind. Seriously. We are all there. Today we were noting that the days are getting longer and we are waking up earlier. That may be true, but c'mon, we are grasping at straws here.


JenMusic, yes! lol, me too, me too!

"I'm still liking what I'm reading, and it's uncanny how, as soon as I ask myself a question ("I wonder if I can start the food plan before finishing all the Success Skills?") she writes something to answer it. So I'm being patient with myself, because, as Beck says, doing it my way has never really worked before. So I'll do it her way!"


When I first read Beck (and I have only read the first book), that happened to me every time I tried to either take a short cut, or discount her in some way. You'd think she can read "fat minds" or something.

I had an epiphany today about a behavioral pattern of mine that I want to change. It struck me not only that CBT will work, but it will be easier than using CBT for weight loss. You know what Beck says about, "There is a thought that precedes the act of eating"? I am paraphrasing, but that is the principle. And it is true enough; it is just that it is fleeting, sometimes hard to recognize, and that mindless eating stupor masks it quite well. It is so easy to put any "halt" signal away, even if you do recognize you had it!

Making this other behavioral change will be much easier, because there is a thought that precedes it and I know that, and I will recognize it. Obviously this behavior has given me some satisfaction over the years, but it is time to change it. Will report back.

Hello to everyone and thanks again for the big Welcome. It's great to be here.

I'm glad to say that I started on Stage 1 and so far, so good. I weighed in, read my advantages and response cards, filled out my success skills sheet, contacted my diet buddy, and gave myself credit for all of these things.

I didn't figure out a food plan yet, but I want to at least plan what I'm eating for tomorrow and stick with it (even if it isn't all necessarily healthy). I think just the act of having to plan it and stick with it is progress for me. I also need to work on assessing my hunger and using those hunger-related skills.

Finally, I struggle most with sitting while I eat and eating slow. Like most people, I've gotten into the habit of rushing through my meals (usually out of necessity since I have to chase a 2-year old). I often eat breakfast and sometimes lunch while standing or in the car. Dinner is usually eaten while sitting, but very quickly. So, I have a lot of work to do in this area.

Well, I definitely have a lot more work to do, but I'm happy to be making some progress towards my goals.

Have a great evening.

hi ann! know exactly what you mean - i have to chase a 2 yr old too. they give a whole new meaning to "food pusher" too, KWIM? never before has someone actually PUSHED food into my mouth when i was looking the other way. and mary, just, ugh. ugh. i've been kvetching about the weather here, in ohio, where it was 25 today for a high. i'm far too wussy to live where you do. hi china! i don't have the new book, but i made a spreadsheet to keep all the assignments from the first one. that worked well. and jen, i say, if you find slowly folding laundry enjoyable, by all means take your time, and you're welcome at my house anytime you want to stop by. :) there's definitely a lesson there though, about being present no matter what you're doing. there was something on the radio about that a few days ago - something about finding bliss through being more present for everything. jeez...you'd think i just discovered cheddar cheese...not only is it not new to me, it ain't new to anyone.:dz: robin, love that you're experimenting in such a controlled, rational way. not a shred of judgement. wonderful! and onebyone, for what it's worth, i think your plan is stellar. let me know if you have specific meals you'd like me to figure out. i've got chicken stuffed with prosciutto, provolone and spinach sous-viding right now alongside sirloin with a balsamic red wine sauce. can't WAIT to try it! rachel, you don't think of your old self as "bad," do you? maybe less skilled at losing/maintaining a healthy weight, but surely not bad. exercise is definitely not optional but luckily becomes self-rewarding after a while. lisa, ditto what everyone else said - if you know what works, work it, girl! your plan sounds really good. WTG on the fries! hello davidette! i like your approach with an unknown menu. i particularly like your idea of eating what the skinny person eats. nice! bill - mmmm, curried zucchini. yummy! and wunderanne, i'll take the kudos, although you haven't convinced me i'm doing what a thin person would do. i'm guessing most wouldn't need their SO to talk them down from a binge. on the other hand, it's working, so maybe i should remember that thin people do what works and don't stress about it. :)

had a heartfelt wobbly moment with my yoga teacher, when i told her that i can attend exactly two more of her classes at my client site, and then i'm off to the great unknown. she was so sweet - suggested a DVD that she found most similar to her teaching style and particular brand of yoga. (ali macgraw. who knew?) i've already ordered on amazon. sigh. DH and i are going to get the nice treadmill - i need to stop by dick's and try it out, but we've done the research and know which make and model's the right one. again, sigh. i was too smoked after my long run yesterday to do any mileage today, and i feel like i've wasted a precious day when i could have worked out at the company gym. so i'm freaking PINING for time on a treadmill now, apparently. :) also just got done making my first bistro-style meal in bulk (12 servings) since we moved the freezer up from the old house yesterday. took more time than i thought, since my crappy little foodsaver needed some time to cool down after the first run of bag-making (from the roll) and packaging up the broc and cauliflower. i'll be glad though when i no longer see that weekly debit from my checking account, and have total control over my meals.

really tired these days... el nino is going through some kind of Thing where he wakes up at 3:00 am or so and cries until we come in. some nights he goes right back down, some nights it takes hours of consoling him before he's okay with being alone. apparently it's development (according to lady daycare.) any of the parenting veterans have any tips on coping with this (aside from chanting "this too will pass" until my head hurts?)

Hi again -- I don't intend to write twice a day generally, but I realized that trying to squeeze these emails early in the day isn't going to work for me. I need to make time for all the new things that come with being a Beckie. And there are a few other things I also do for myself early in the day, plus my employer likes to get a good day's work outta me. ;) So, I'm going to try do my important Beckie work at the end of the day, after I do my 'homework'.

I'm still in Stage 1, finished Skills 2 & 3 this evening. Skill 2 (weigh-in daily and be honest about it) will be hard but 3 (sit down, eat slowly, and *enjoy* it) will be a *real* challenge. In fact, I succumbed to so many sabotaging thoughts while reading skill 3 that I'll have to read it all over again tomorrow night. And I'll try to have a more open mind...

Good news though - I was eating a chocolate biscotti with 3 strawberries while I was reading skill 3. I practiced the thoughtful, slow eating and found I was full by the time I got half way through the biscotti. I walked it back out to the kitchen and put in a sandwich bag for tomorrow night. It's evidence there's value to skill 3, although I *really* do hate to admit it. :lol:

Tomorrow -- I have a plan for eating and exercising tomorrow. I'll make copies of my response cards and Advantage Deck to keep where I work and in my night table drawer. baby steps...

Ann77 - Congrats on a successful day!

LisaMarie - Very interesting post... I haven't seen Beck's food plan yet, so I can't speak to the specifics of her plan. But I am ambivalent about following a specific food plan. All thin people don't follow the exact same diet, so why should dieters?

angelmomma210 -- 'just a number' -- I hear ya. I'm really affected when my weight goes back up a pound or more, in just a day or two. It doesn't always feel like a number. Hopefully, it will just become info, minus the emotional baggage.

onebyone -- What a photo -- I love snow until February. :)

Coaches/Buddies Off plan tonight. One glass of wine and my 200 calorie event became a 400 calorie event. I know better. Not even going to Cheat Sheet that one. Booze makes me stupid and weak. Oh Well.

Lisa, I was going to do the diet plan, but it just didn't happen. I struggled against the planning thing, and struggled and struggled, and rationalized, and whined and moaned, and finally just did it. And it worked really, really well, so that I started eating what I wanted to and quit grabbing a bunch of junk I didn't really want to. So, I can still do the candy bar thing if I want to (and I've planned in brownies, cookies, and even a Happy Meal), but I don't do it without forethought and proper balance. Except when I'm drinking, apparently!

No time for personals tonight, so I'll try to swing by tomorrow morning.

wunderAnne

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Got back on the elliptical at the gym. CREDIT moi. I was using my walking instead because I was doing so much walking, but I need to get the balance right again. We're already beginning to see a dip in the January crowd, although I did see one large guy who seemed new doing a good workout on the adjacent machine. Rather nice.

maryblu - Super neat that you're going to take CBT to another area of your life. Can't wait to hear how that works out, thinking that I have a few areas that could use a little help.

Jean (kuhljeanie) - Ouch for 3 am with el nino. BTDT, but never had a clue as to why it began or why it ended. It did end though, and I clearly remember the feeling that it wouldn't.

Kudos for moving so rapidly with your treadmill and with your prepared meals. Do you use your food saver to package the food for the sous vide cooking?


Robin (RobinW) - Congrats on 4 more pounds. Yay for "wildberry zinger tea." Just love it that your stepgrandaughter only ate the middle of the cake and was quite satisfied. Sigh, in my childhood also I'd been told to finish what was on my plate. And, double sigh, there never would have been cake left on a plate anyway. (Will get the zucchini recipe laster.)

onebyone - Yay for choosing your calorie level. Your one month will include most of February - a good way to get thru what can be a difficult month.

Anne (wndranne) - Ouch that the glass of wine tripped you up. That does seem to be one of its side effects.

Chris (angelmomma210) - Great if you can master "just a number."

Rachel (helping rachel) - Kudos for avoiding all desserts after the dance recital. Yep, exercise is in your future.

davidette - Yay for making a plan for your luncheon. LOL at "I won't eat a thing more than the skinny lady!" Good luck.

Ann (Ann72) - Kudos for simply choosing tomorrow's meal plan when you haven't chosen your whole diet plan yet. Now that's a Beck-like step. Good luck with eating mindfully. Yep, it's sobering to face up to how and where we are currently eating.

Lisa (LisaMarie71) - Kudos for avoiding the fries, caloric dressing, and bacon. Great day.

As for diet plan: My take is to choose a plan that fits you - the one in her book is an option for those who want an option. I agree with those who quote her first book to choose two diet plans. The great thing seems to be to choose a plan then to follow the plan.

Jen (JenMusic) - Kudos for eating mindfully and slowly. LOL that you were extending this to mindful living - too bad that you remembered to get back into the rat race. You might have reached bliss while standing in your laundry room.

ChinaMaine - Congrats on the 2.5 pounds. Ouch for the boiler. Ouch for the plumber. Ouch for being cold and knocked off your routine. But Kudos for finishing your exercise and catching up on your food log.

And BIG Kudos for stopping with the chocolate biscotti just because you were full. I am so jealous; I'm still working on that.


Readers - "Stage 1
The Success Skills Plan
...
Skill 9: Get back on track - right away. (page 102).
..." The Complete Beck Diet for Life, pg 50.

Good Morning Beckie's.


No I don't consider myself "Bad" Just a little joke said in Fun.....Worked on my success skills last night and still organizing. Scale has me down offically 5 lbs. The other rewarding thing, I have cleaned out 4 rooms and taken 2 large loads of housewares and clothes to goodwill. The Beck way of thinking is working in other parts of my life. Clutter is not about me anymore...If it isn't useful, functional or sentimental....It is out the door. Trying to let go for more simplicity in many areas of my life, not just eating and exercising pattern.
I head out to pick up a new exercise bike after work. This is one exercise that I enjoy and tend to stick to.... Having it at home gives me more flexibility to be able to jump on it where I want. Also pulled out my DVD's and getting out the ones that I enjoy (gasp!) doing.

Hoping for a healthy day for all!
R

Coaches/Buddies Six hours of interrupted sleep last night, so we'll see how I do today. DS is just about to bust that first tooth through and he isn't very happy. DD pitched a major, 2 hr tantrum last night, but was very good this morning. Today's plan is a mental one owing to the lateness of my arrival home last night, my desire to get to bed immediately, and DS's desire for me to skip sleep entirely and hold him all night night long.

Weighed in this morning, and the scale is indeed stuck at the post-sudaphed +1 pounds. I jinxed myself by having that reward sent early--it taunts me from its cardboard package next to my computer as I type.

Two pages! I have two pages of personals. Yowza this place is jumping!!

Bill Nicely done on the potlucks! I would also like to see the curried zuke recipe when you get a chance to post it. Spring has more than sprung here in the desert southwest and it is absolutely beautiful this time of year. We'll pay for it in June though, LOL.

Glad you got back on the elliptical. Perhaps it will be safe to go back to the gym soon, now that some of the resolutioners are calling it quits. I so hate the gym. Which reminds me, I get to run today, assuming I don't decide a nap is the better fitness strategy.

davidette I actually worried the baguette thing because it does play into my problem eating area, not emotional eating, but simply see food, eat it, and then doh, with the brain about two steps behind the stomach. Classic :doh:. Yes, my inner Homer is making me fat, LOL. So calorie equivalent is good, returning to bad behavior pattern is not.

How did your lunch go? Using the skinny lady as a behavior guide sounds genius.

onebyone Your calorie level and macronutrient breakdown sound very balanced! You'll have to let us know how it works for you. Fitday is so comprehensive, but I always found it a bit awkward for logging. I have a small, old fashioned paper notebook, but I also track nothing but calories so that makes more sense for me.

Rachel almost (but not quite) everyone who exercises regularly eventually really likes it, or at least how it makes them feel later. Nice work on putting in the time to pick up this habit.

Ah, so you have officially picked up the decluttering bug. It seems all of us Beckies get it. Congrats on the 5 lbs and the bike!

RobinW Our climate (Tucson) is perfect for citrus if one is willing to irrigate. Our friends have some gorgeous trees!

Glad you are doing some slow experiments with carbs, and good luck on the foot thing!

Lisa I seem to recall saying don't worry about the Stage 2 food plan yesterday. I do think the Stage 4 plan is pretty good, and offers up a lot of the flexibility. I'm following the basic structure of 3 meals and 3 snacks, but other than that I'm doing what works for me. My breakfast and snacks are bigger than the plan, lunch and dinner is smaller. I eat a less protein, and more junk than Beck calls for. But I've written down everything that has gone into my mouth for the past 6 years, and I know without doubt what works for me, what keeps me full, and what I things I miss will set me off on a binge. I'm guessing you are in the same place. Plus you have the whole nursing issue to deal with, and if it's no dairy, it's no dairy. The planning was absolutely key, even though I fought it at first. I now plan and basically stick to plan, and that is something that I haven't really done consistently since the Big Loss. And it is my plan, so I'm eating what I want, with some forethought. My vote: Stage 1, crucial; Stage 2 interesting; Stage 3, helpful; Stage 4, helpful; Stage 5, crucial. After Stage 1, I didn't feel the need to do them in order.

JenMusic I think the eating mindfully thing is hard. I write down a plan, a record for my log, and sit and eat mindfully, and I STILL can't tell you what I had for lunch yesterday, LOL. I remember just throwing down food when I was otherwise occupied, and not even feeling like I'd had lunch. Being aware is so important. Sorry bout the laundry side effect, LOL.

Chris Good for you on the weigh ins. Just a number. Make sure you look back and review Bill's meteor theory of weight control, earlier this month or last month, LOL.

ChinaMaine There is a soft copy of the Stage 1 Success Skill Set checklist on the website, beckdietsolution.com, under The Beck Program tab, and Dietary Charts link at the side.

Wow on the half biscotti. I have a hard time stopping in the middle of anything. I actually bought half sized biscotti last time I bought them just for that reason. Of course I got them at Costco, so I have a thousand of them, but that is another issue for another time, LOL.

maryblu I get cold reading your post. But I get cold when it is 60 degrees out, my blood has thinned so. I use CBT for everything. I do find it helpful, but over time, my sabotaging thoughts always seem to evolve to try to find new ways around it. What's that about? Will I ever just grow up? Or do I have to beat the whining adolescent within me forever? Yeah, I know the answer. Good luck with your change, and your inner brat too, to the extent that applies to anyone besides me.

Ann72 A couple weeks ago, the only way I could actually eat and enjoy my planned snack was to lock myself in the bathroom with 3 yo DD pounding on the door ("Mommy what are you doing?!? MOMMMEEEEeeeEEEEeeeEEEE"), and eat it standing up, since well, sitting down wasn't the best option. I figure one must get the essence of the thing, which is paying attention and enjoying the food. So I made allowances for my particular circumstances. So, do what you need to do, but don't let it get in the way of doing what you need to do? Crystal clear, yes? Good progress, BTW.

Jean Congrats on the treadmill purchase, and the yoga DVD find. I know that won't be as good as your favorite teacher, but perhaps it'll bring back good memories when you use it. Sending el nino happy vibes so he banishes his Thing. We have Thing spray (H2O) that we use regularly, for all "external" imaginary Things, and the magic blanket helps with the "internal" Things.

Great day everyone. I'm off to shower, make some coffee, pack my lunch, and go earn my keep.

Anne

quick hello :wave:
Ive got a busy day ahead of me...and some food trials tonight! I'll let you know how it goes.

Coaches/Buddies On plan today, insomuch as I had a mental plan anyway. Tonight, I'm laying out my running clothes, preparing my lunch, writing out tomorrow's plan, reading my response cards. Kids and work were both OK today, so my stress levels are good, if my sleep levels are not!

RobinW Hello!

Where is everybody today??

Anne

:wave: Im here.

I had a pampered chef party tonight, I had planned on a bit more food and a glass or 2 of wine.

Well, I did very well food wise, and nobody wanted wine. So I did without. All in all it was a pretty good day food wise.

Bill~Kudos for climbing on the eliptical!!
I have to admit, its very hard for me to keep quiet when my own daughter doesnt eat enough supper. Or when she picks out the "good" stuff and leaves the rest. I suppose if I had learned this myself as a child I wouldnt be in the situation Im in now.

Ann~ How cool that you can go to a friends place and pick citrus off the trees!! I hope ds's tooth comes thru soon, it certainly doesnt sound like fun!! Kudos for laying out your runners, and planning your lunch.

Rachel~ Big Kudos on your 5lbs gone!! :cb:

Someone mentioned their little one crying for hours in the middle of the night. But its on the other page, and I cannot remember who it was. Im sorry.

But I had the same trouble with my dd. I had a book given to me by a very good friend who is a pediatrician and Im sorry I dont remember the name of it. But it was basically a technique for letting them cry themselves to sleep. After about 4 days my dd was sleeping thru the night without any issues. It was a wonderful thing!! I am going to try to google it and see if I can find the name of the book for you.

Im off to bed......have a nice evening everyone!

I had a good day today! :dancer: And now that I’ve read Skill 4, I know it’s best if I give myself for credit for what I’ve done. :D
Exercise: I exercised 45 mins today, but planned to do 60 minutes. I give myself credit for the exercise I did, and realized my goal was too aggressive for my current abilities. I’ve decided to cut back on my exercise goals in the future so that I can reasonably accomplish them. I’ll work my way up to the amount of exercise recommended by my Dr. (baby steps…)
Food: I met all my goals here. My goals are geared toward lowering my cholesterol at this point (< 35% Total Fat / <= 9% Sat Fat / >= 5% Fiber). I’ll have specific weight loss goals from the Beck book eventually. For now, it’s about portion control and forethought… My food log is up-to-date and I’ve made a plan for tomorrow. So, credit to moi!
Beck – Skills and homework. I did really well with a few caveats. Read my cards, WI (lost another 1.25 lbs – how is it possible when I’m not dieting yet??), Reread skill 3, Read skill 4. I ate slowly, but I intermittently focused on taste. I also ate my lunchtime salad while making my sandwich and soup.

BillBlueEyes – :bravo: for the elliptical! We bought one a year ago and I still haven’t been able routinely use it. Since I’ve gone so long without exercising, I’ve decided it’s time to work on my core and basic muscle strength. I do a little bit of cardio (fast walking), but the elliptical takes cardio to another level. Don’t think I’m quite ready yet. :woops: Hopefully I’ll join you (in spirit) come spring. Thanks for the sympathy re-boiler. It’s still working but started banging like a crazy-downstairs-neighbor about 6 PM. How does the boiler know my hubbie is visiting his Mom?? So it’s time to call the plumber again tomorrow AM. (sigh)

Wndranne – Thanks for the tip on where to find the Stage 1 Skills Sheet. I’ve printed a bunch of copies and will start on that tomorrow. And :cp: for your hard work tonight!

Rachel – And :bravo: to you for the bike, and for house/life organization!

RobinW – I grew up in WNY – where do you live? I’m from Zoar Valley (near Springville). Good luck with your food trials tonight! :goodluck:

Take care!

hi everyone! a good day - el nino slept through last night (it was me having DS issues) and everyone left work early to avoid a dangerous icy drive. i took advantage of the extra hour and went to Dick's to actually purchase the treadmill. it was great - i managed to negotiate a couple hundred bucks off the price, which i had always suspected was possible in "real" stores but was too chicken to try. it's a nice one! http://www.soletreadmills.com/details.php?name=F80# even has a plug-in for my ipod so i can listen to streaming internet radio on speakers while i run. feeling better about making my arrangements for life after a free gym and bistro. and yep, bill, i use the foodsaver to vacuum seal in preparation for a sous vide. if i'm adding sauce, i freeze it in an ice cube tray the night before so the vacuum doesn't suck out the liquid. if i'm stuffing chicken, i just stuff, seal, and dunk in the water bath. once i take it out it goes straight to the freezer, and when i'm ready to eat it, all i have to do is pierce the bag and microwave for a few minutes. everything so far has come out brilliantly. :) today i tried a stuffed chicken saltimbocca i put together last night (chicken with spinach, prosciutto, and provolone though traiditionally you use hard parmesan, but i couldn't find reduced fat/sodium). tonight i made a batch of chicken bryan - chicken stuffed with herbs de provence, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomatoes. although i think tomorrow i'm going to try the sirloin i did with a balsamic red wine sauce. for sauces, i'm using packaged dry mixes, so i can control the fat. anne, thanks for the happy vibes! can we borrow your magic blanket and H2O? ;) china, i love that you're giving yourself credit. 45 minute is more than respectable. can i also give you a credit for recognizing that your expectations weren't serving you, and correcting? that's a great thing to do for yourself. and thank you robin! i'm always open to ideas from folks who've been there before. rachel, how great about your clutter-clearing! we've had a couple of discussions about that on this very thread. bill can tell you all about it. :) congrats on your loss! and bill, huzzah on getting back on the elliptical! i love mine and miss it terribly (it's still at the other house, too heavy to move and will have to wait for paid movers.)

had a few hours of "hunger is not an emergency" dealings today. unfortunately the weather made me so late for work i didn't have time to eat breakfast before heading out for some exciting dental surgery, and didn't bring a lunch because i was having lunch at a wonderful place with my mom - except that they also closed due to the weather. i almost stopped at a qdoba (actually pulled into the parking lot but just looped back to the street) but thought better of it. i've been hungry ALL DAY and haven't really been able to get back on plan, since apparently el nino enjoys chicken saltimbocca too. spent a few minutes at home staring at the crap on the snack shelf, which sounded better in theory before i imagined actually eating stale halloween candy. i ate a bowl of kashi cereal thinking it would fill me up, but it hasn't. i should probably just go to bed and start over in the morning. i'm really glad to have my beck techniques at the ready for days like today, which fortunately are few and far between. here's to hoping my car isn't completely encased in ice tomorrow morning!

Good evening coaches

A few things to report

1) three days on plan and three days between 1800-2000 calories each day credit moi
2) three days food recorded in fit day credit moi

A fellow student brought yet another box of chocolates to afternoon class today. Since they were favorites, I had one, conscious (credit moi) that it does in fact have a caloric value that I will in fact (credit moi) have to account for later, and this fact of life held me to one chocolate and not to the two or three I truly desired. (extra credit moi)

We had movie day tonight as I have an unexpected day off from school tomorrow. This means no need to rush in the morning to get a ride in to the school. From this you can surmise the bus strike continues. Yes indeed. More images to choose from for my printmaking project is all I can say. The two sides have been talking the past two days but talks have broken off again.
Local religious leaders are now calling on the two sides to fix things already... finally people are getting angry and protesting. Finally. One church has canceled their services as their congregation isn't showing up cause they can't get there. But don't get me started.

So at least my food things are straightening out. It's all good.
Gotta get to bed. So happy to have the day at home tomorrow.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - The cold continues. I bought myself some better quality base layer (expensive long johns) so I can go out Saturday anyway. CREDIT moi. The sales lady told me that if I bought the most expensive Under Armour brand, they'd last a lifetime. I doubted that - a lifetime of cycling through the washer and dryer could kill granite. I was tempted to tell her that that wasn't as impressive at my age as it would be at hers, but that seemed snide so I didn't. Her only crime was to be old enough to work yet still believe that something would last a lifetime.

Jean (kuhljeanie) - Kudos for physically purchasing your treadmill. And big Congrats on getting an additional discount - that does appeal to me. Sole is the brand of elliptical I'm leaning toward for DW due to strong positive reviews about reliability and superior feel. Hope you like it.

Ouch for the circumstances that forced you into "hunger is not an emergency" - but Big Kudos for practicing that, especially the Qdoba parking lot loop. It's encouraging to me that you did it when it wasn't an exercise. (Oh good grief, I just remembered when you did it as an exercise ever so long ago. What an event that was.)

And thanks for description of your sous vide meals. You're making me drool.


Robin (RobinW) - It's so interesting that you find it grating that your DD is able to pick the food she wants and leave food on her plate. I find it difficult even as I read about it, despite the fact that I'm struggling to learn that skill for myself. What an awful, counter-productive, socially ingrained thinking process.

Tell me about hosting a pampered chef party. Do you have the merchandise on hand or do you order it? I googled it and found strong recommendations for some of the products.


onebyone - Ouch for being confronted with a box of chocolates. Mega Kudos for a mindful response. Thanks for the demo on how to take one, account for it, and move on.

And Kudos again for sending your feelings about the transportation strike into your art. Can't wait to see it.


Anne (wndranne) - Ouch for interrupted sleep. Sending toothing thoughts to DS for his journey. Hopefully, after the first, he'll find sleep more rewarding than being consoled by mommy at night. And Ouch for teetering on wndrland - you and DS are both at the cusp of a breakthru.

Are you having an early Spring? Does it usually come in January? I'm a big fan of visiting the dessert area, but not informed about the calendar cycle. Around here when something pops up in January, it's doomed for the year.


Rachel (helping rachel) - Congrats on the five pounds down. Kudos on the two large loads to Goodwill - clutter is indeed a task I'm actively working. I manage in spurts of success, then seem to need to withdraw to get the emotional commitment to tackle again. I f you have any tips on how you're proceeding, I'm all ears.

ChinaMaine - I agree with Jean (kuhljeanie)'s observation that you deserve super Kudos for adjusting your exercise expectations rather than berate yourself for only 45 minutes. Good Beck-like thinking in my book.

Ouch for the boiler again. LOL at "How does the boiler know my hubbie is visiting his Mom??" Good luck. It's cold outside.

And I was also interested in the question from Jennifer (JenMusic) that got lost a few days ago. (I had just assumed you were from that tiny miracle place on China Lake in Maine.)Chinamaine - Welcome! I've also just begun this journey and started posting here. Can I ask about your user name? I actually lived in China until last fall, when I moved back to the States, so I'm curious.


Readers -Here are guidelines for acquiring these skills.

• Learn and practice these skills at a rate that feels comfortable to you.
..." The Complete Beck Diet for Life, pg 51

Robin (RobinW) and Anne (wndranne) requested my Curried Zucchini recipe:Curried Zucchini

6 medium zucchini, sliced in quarter inch coins
2 medium onions, diced large
2 cloves garlic, minced (I dip from a jar – majorly heaping tsp.)
1 29 ounce can of diced tomatoes, with juice
1 Tbsp oil (My glug is probably larger than this. YMMV)
1 Tbsp curry spice (Will seem mildly spiced for curry lovers. Adjust to taste.)
Salt and pepper

Sautee onions until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds
Add tomatoes and zucchini. Simmer until just tender - not mushy, about 10 minutes.
When nearly done, add salt and pepper to taste. (I don’t add the salt because I’ve worked my salt taste down. I add ten twists from my coarse pepper grinder.)

Serve as a side dish for twelve. Can be served over basmati rice as a main dish for six (I’d cut the zucchini coins in half or quarter for this.)

This makes a large quantity suitable for a potluck; family sized is about half.
The chunks of regularly diced tomatoes feel right to me. Fine diced might appeal to those who wish the tomatoes to be less visible.
Mixing the equivalent of curry spice is, of course, preferred when you’re not in a hurry and not trying to finish off some Penzey’s curry powder before it gets stale.

All that planning and I had to miss the luncheon! :cry: DH needed me to stay home, sign for a package being delivered, and bring it to him at work. The good news is, in my funk I didn't devour the cookies I was planning to take. :cp: I've actually been using them, 2 at a time, as my bonus calories for the "learn to eat your favorite foods in moderation" skill. Okay, they aren't my favorites, but they are sweet, which makes them a trigger food for me! It feels really good to take back some control of my eating. The idea that someday I could even have a real trigger food, like a doughnut, for my bonus calories if I plan for it, is very motivating. So I still have the skinny lady strategy to test. Just don't let me forget about it the next time I'm whining I don't know what food will be served!

Doing very well with exercise; even slipped out Monday night for a yoga class with a teacher I adore, on top of my regular schedule. In spin class yesterday, as the instructor insisted we increase resistance and sprint up the hill, a visual of kuhljeanie running with iceballs on her eyelashes kept me pumping - I want to be a baaad mutha too!

Staying on plan with food. The scales aren't going anywhere but up and down like a yoyo. Having tried the suggestion to weigh almost hourly for a day and seen insane fluctuations, I'm somewhat desensitized. I'm going to keep to this calorie count a while longer; I feel much better and the slower it comes off, the longer it stays off.

Helping rachel I was an exercise hater too, all my life. I probably set a record for number of days sat out gym class in school. But here I am, looking forward to going to the gym! For me, music is absolutely key. I can enjoy almost anything if I have some good music to focus on. My experience has been even when I am not losing weight, everything fits better because its more firm versus jiggly! Congrats on 5 lbs! :carrot:

Robin Congrats on 4 more pounds! :carrot: How did your TVP work out in the soup?

lisamarie71 I'm with you on the question of resistance to do anything new versus using what I know works for me. I must say finding that I CAN break some of the old diet habits (like saving the majority of my calories for dinner), really builds my confidence, which actually does make things easier. Sounds to me like you are already breaking plenty of old habits! Kudos for resisting fries and bacon!

jenmusic I've had the same experince with mindful eating; finding myself doing other things more consciously also. Can I blame my messy house on mindful cleaning? Can anyone pass me the Beck decluttering bug?

chinaMaine I'm with you on the boiler; my mother's heater always cuts off when I have plans besides rushing home to "fix" it (push reset button, give swift kick). I'm waiting for the heating service to open right now, so I can call them AGAIN.

wndranne I hear you on the taunting book - I purchased my "5 pound reward" charm bracelet and the "first" charm weeks ago. There it sits on my dresser, begging me to rationalize being on plan a few weeks merits the same reward.

I suffer :doh: syndrome too; love your treatment: calorie equivalent = good; eating off plan = bad. Your sealed meals sound fantastic; even tempting me, a vegetarian!

Love that phrase "your expectations weren't serving you, and correcting"; there's something I can apply to everything, particularly expecting to have a dramatic weight loss right off!

onebyone: Great job on the chocolates! I hope you enjoyed (per Kuhljeanie) "that fabulous smug feeling that comes from turning down sweets" !

Bill Kudos on not letting the cold stop you. Speaking of lasting a lifetime; I love to hear my mom say " don't worry, life is too short" - at 96! Thanks for the zucchini recipe, sounds yummy. Wonder if I could put tumeric in it?

Off to battle the evil heating "technician".

Hello, everyone! Good morning - I'm sorry I couldn't post yesterday, but I was unavoidably swamped.

ChinaMaine and BillBlueEyes - I'm SO sorry for the confusion, while at the same time laughing. I had actually never heard of China, Maine (I'm a Southerner) but used to live in the country of China. I just thought that maybe you had a China connection and a Maine connection, and put them together in your username. Never realized it was a place! Sorry! :)

Great job to everyone who's working on exercise and all the success skills! It's so good to know, as someone who's doing this for the first time, that there are others out there who are doing this. Thanks for the encouragement/inspiration.

I had to buy a new scale, since my old one died a while ago and I've really just been estimating. Well, the good news is that my estimation was a little high - gotta love that. :) So today I'm working on success skills 1 (motivation) 2 (weighing once everyday) and 3 (eating slowly, sitting down, enjoying every bite). I think that'll be enough for today.

Hope you all have a good Wednesday!

Good morning coaches

I'm here in the comfort of my home able to write this at my leisure as today's class was cancelled and there was no need for me to venture into the snowstorm out there this morning. Yay. We're due to get 15-20cm of snow, but if the big weather front shifts north, it'll be more like 30cm (2.5cm=1" ... so like 6" worth today :shocksn:)

I just found myself digging through the cupboards looking for that Mexican chocolate... I know I put it somewhere ... and then I vaguely remembered telling my tall 6'3" DH to "hide it somewhere" the first and last time I tried it. I think I used one of the solid chocolate bits to make hot chocolate and then I went back to nibble on one as is. I had been "seeing" in my brain the same thing: hot chocolate and eat one...account for calories... Now it ain't gonna happen. So credit moi for "managing my environment" to some extent and getting this stuff away from me when I had the strength to do that. Obviously I knew this day would come when I was jonesing for it.

So now that I've had two coffees the craving has passed. yay. Time to get busy with some schoolwork soon. I'll send personals in my next message.

Good Morning

ChinaMaine~Kudos for giving yourself credit!! I still have a hard time with that one. Its usually Ann who notices and says "did you give yourself credit for that?" Oh well. Zoar valley is so pretty!! Im in North Buffalo. I like it here, its kinda like a small town in a big city.

Jean~ Ouch for your dental surgery :( Id rather go see the gyno than the dentist!! I think I had a saddist for a dentist when I was a kid.

Excellent job pulling out of that qdoba (I havent a clue what it is) But great job! :lol: Im assuming it wasnt a good place to eat since you recovered yourself.

onebyone~ Kudos for 3 days op and Kudos for 3 days of food recording!! :cb: What movie did you go see?

Bill~ you're too funny....you should have asked her if she meant her lifetime or yours? I cant get hubby to try that stuff, I dont know why. He's always cold. I get the wool/cotton undershirts from LL Bean. Thats about as adventureous as he'll get.

I think our "cleaning" our plates comes from our parents who went without for too long. My dad grew up in a family of 11 during the depression. Then growing up we heard all about not having enough food, and to be thankful that dad was working, and working hard at a job he hated so he could put food on the table. So yah, you cleaned your plate! Things are different now.

Mind you when Im at my parents, I never ever take more than I think I'll eat...only because I still dont want to leave food on my plate. I'll never pick out the "good stuff" from a food product either.......even at 40something I'll still get lectured on the starving children. Its tough tho, when you live like that all your life, to change for your own child. I dont want her to be like me, and have the food struggles. So I suppose a little blood on my tongue from biting down on it is an ok sacrifice.

Thank You very much for the curried zucchini recipe!! This will come in very handy during zucchini harvest!

davidette~
In spin class yesterday, as the instructor insisted we increase resistance and sprint up the hill, a visual of kuhljeanie running with iceballs on her eyelashes kept me pumping - I want to be a baaad mutha too!
:lol: this and Jean's post had me thinking of you 2 doing a ninja kinda workout :rofl: Great job tho, using Jean as your motivation! Awesome Job!

I had forgotten to post about the TVP.....its chewy. I made up a batch of it, and I put a heaping tbsp of it in my soup every day. I didnt put it in the entire pot because I didnt want to ruin it if I didnt like it.

I noticed the flavour the first day....but I dont so much anymore. I just know that those chewy bits are the TVP. I might try adding it to some burger and see if I like it that way. I guess Im being a bit conservative with it right now. So....its not bad, and seems to soak up the flavour of what it is cooked in. I suspect if I cooked in with the entire pot of soup it wouldnt have any flavour at all, besides what is in the pot(kwim?)

Jen~ :wave:

Bill~ about the pampered chef party....I hosted the party. The woman who sells pampered chef brought all the cool tools with her. I bought the groceries for the recipe she made (about $18 worth). She does all the demo of the products, tells you it's features and whatnot. I received free gifts for hosting the party, plus another bonus for hosting it in january. Then I receive a discount based on how much is ordered by my guests.
.......and I love love pampered chef products!! They are a bit pricey, but what I have has lasted me over 10yrs so far.

I love that they make food prep soooooooooooo much easier!! I hate all that chopping, slicing, dicing stuff! I just need a couple new cupboards so I can put all the new stuff away ;)

.......stuff going on with me~ We added 8 more tables to our event, and they are almost all gone. Im starting to think this thing is going to grow into a monster. But that's good.....brings more people, which means many more potential customers out there for us.

Food is good, exercise is lacking :( Im just not motivated to move much. I need to get myself into ninja mode like davidette and jean!

Today I need to put the creative thinking cap on and get some posters and whatnot done for the event. Wish me luck :lol3: Im not feeling the juices flowing yet :dunno:

Have a great op day!! Everyone in this snowbelt storm, stay safe and warm!

Hi. My DH is on a poker site and they arranged a secret santa this year and I was all jealous and he told me not to be jealous but to do something about it.

So I am wondering, anyone interested in a Valentine's Day secret admirer card exchange?:val3: In grade school we used to give and receive valentines, and some people even got secret admirer valentines and wouldn't it just make us feel good to get a valentine card in our mailbox with a "you're doing great!" or some such happy message of encouragement on it? We don't have to reveal ourselves if we don't want to. But it'd be good if we acknowledged receipt here. They did that on the poker site and I found my DH checking to see if his secret santa recipient got the package.

I'd be willing to organize it if anyone wants to do this. Send me a private message with your mailing address and I'll start arranging it once we have enough folks interested.

I think it'd be fun to get a secret admirer card.

Let me know by PM. Thanks.

One on One great job on managing your environment. You are such an encouragement with your sharing. I have my own secret stashes that I tell my kids to eat or I put in the freezer.....Half the time I forget with my own memory coming and going. Thanks for the invitation to join in on the valentine sharing. I am going to have to pass as my staff at school is doing it and I will be out of town during Feb. 11-16th.

Robin Great job with your pampered chef party. Good job in not opening the wine when there were no takers....good thinking and actions. Wishing you great creative inspiration for your posters and preparation for your event.

JenWhat a nice surprise to have your scale show a smaller number. Your sharing helps me to check my lists and stay on track. Glad you are here and share.

Davidette Wishing your baaaddd inner mutha strength and moxy....Great job with your exercising. Did you work up to taking a spin class or start as a newbie. I am putting my Nordic Bike together tonight. I love to ride and can't wait to be able to exercise first thing in the morning
before I have to be a school. You are right about Music. I love to get lost in the exercise process rocking out to some good tunes. What are some of your favorites that you like to listen to during a workout?

Starting a my next post as I lost a long one yesterday before i got it posted.

Jeane




Chinamaine Great job on adjusting your expectations and giving yourself credit. You are moving in the right direction!!

Anne I believe that you are on the brink of a breakthru....You remind me of days past with my own little ones...so cute and yet understand the need for a good night of sleep. Sending orajel your way for your DS.


lisamarie Good job on resisting the food that isn't on plan. My favorite thing to say isthat isn't about me anymore....(What helps is thinking that I don't want to be the size (lower half of my body)that I am anymore. I am somewhat embarrassed at times and know that I can change that...

If I missed anyone I am sorry didn't mean to trying to manuver this posting thing. Wish I could save names like when I text to make sharing easier.

JeanneYour food sounds soooooo delish. What a creative expression of caring for your body and not skimping on taste. Good job in being assertive in asking for the discount for your treadmill. You deserve it:)

Bill

To answer your question on decluttering tips I have a few that may or maynot be helpful. I sat down a few weeks before I started Beck's for the first time and did a index card series for decluttering. Little did I know these were going to be the same movements in the Beck Plan.

4 parts

Discarding
Organzing
Preventing Incoming Clutter
New Alternative Behavior plan

I realized that I didn't know how to attach value to an item so when things would come into my house, I would keep it and let it stack up until I would carry it down to my office. 75% of my house is orderly and the left overs go to my office.

Anyhow, I started clearing space in every room. If there were things that were in the room and didn't have an intended purpose I either put it in the goodwill box or trash. Just went from room to room (Garage included)

[B]Here was my big aha moment. If I decided to keep something I wrote on my index card :dizzy::dizzy: I had to decide where it would go and how would it be organized. ok that is fine but i had to have a date/timeframe for when it would be put in it's place. It made me realize that stuff I was keeping really wasn't worth that much. Having a timeframe to deal with it, putting it in small increments. and deciding that I would go little by little helped me. [B]

I tend to get very overwhelmed when I have to let things go. The next day I wrote out what I did, sipped on a cup of coffee and gave myself credit for accomplishing the clutter piles. I keep these cards together and re-read them before I start a project to encourage the next box...room ect...

Hope any part of this is helpful to you or any other beckies.

have a good night all these posts are from me Rachel:smug:

hi my coaches,

having a rough one today. we're snowed in, but were able to get el nino to daycare, since it's 3 miles away and it's a home-type thing so she doesn't close due to weather. DH left for work, and there i was, all alone, free to do whatever i wanted, feeling anxious and depressed about work/winter/finances/etc./yada/yada. the good news is that i did a stupid little workout courtesy of time warner video on demand, so credit moi. the bad news is that i overate, knew i was doing it, and did it anyway. so i guess credit moi for making it a conscious choice and knowing i was in control. i'll also credit moi for holding out for days without doing it - i've had a binge on the brain since last friday and have been working like a dog to NOT to, so it's better that i did it today instead of today, yesterday, the day before yesterday, etc. i'm also clear that eating did NOT make me feel any better about my situation (which really isn't all that bad and i KNOW that) but i'm having challenges with the fact that it felt so good to be nice and full. not uncomfortable full, but not the 75% full i've been for weeks and weeks. a real, full belly. it felt great. not sure what to feel about that since i didn't realize i missed it until today when i gave myself permission to eat more than planned. i'll also stretch a little further and give myself credit for doing almost no caloric damage with this particular binge; i ate a bag of light microwave popcorn, an ounce or two of 50% light cheddar, and 1/2 slice of low-fat, low-cal cheesecake that i made myself (and which has gone ignored in the freezer for many weeks.) i'm sure it was also partially precipitated by being overly hungry most of the day yesterday. so maybe i'm just being too hard on myself, and i really needed more carbs. will have to think about that. i'll still end up in calorie deficit today, or very close to it. regardless - it still FELT like a binge in spirit, though nothing compared to what i used to do during a binge.

and here i was getting all comfy being a shining beacon of an example of dedication and consistency! (har, har.;)) thrilled to hear that my run on sunday was inspiring. it sure didn't feel that way at the time! you'd be shocked at the potty mouth i have when i run.

anyway, i feel a little better confessing/talking about it. it may just be that there are only so many weeks i can be in calorie deficit every single day before my body starts pushing harder for food, and perhaps on those days i should, i dunno, eat more?

you'd think i would have time for personals today, but there's an enormous pile of laundry upstairs, and i promised myself i would sew up the giant hole in my green sweater so i can wear it again, and put the button back on my coat, so i don't have to hold it closed. little things like that might make me feel more in control.

hope everyone is bearing up well with the crap weather!

Today started badly, ended well. My boiler was out all night and all day. (Fixed now, yi ha!) Since it was -15 degrees, I needed a fire all night to keep pipes from freezing. All in all I got about 3 hours of sleep…
Food: I didn’t eat all the food I had planned on today – just too busy. But I was so anxious about the boiler last night that I had an extra snack (385 calories), so I think it’s fine to miss a bit today. I met my beat-cholesterol goals for today. So, credit to moi!
Beck – Forgot my usual morning Beck-work (weigh-in and reading cards). I ate slowly (credit moi!), but again I only intermittently focused on taste. This will be something I need to focus on in the future. Did no new homework today – to bed early for me!
Exercise: met my goal – credit (ka-ching!). This was a motivational challenge. When tired or anxious, I generally opt-out of exercise. This AM I just told myself to suck it up and do half. This PM though, all my old self-sabotaging arguments were working. I realized I had forgotten to read my cards in the AM (talking to plumbers, engineer, emailing work about where I was, etc) and thought it was the ideal time to read them. The RC and AD were amazingly effective – much more than I expected! So after work, I did the second half of my exercise. I do feel proud of myself, and hopeful I can push through the sabotaging thoughts in the future…

RobinW – Excellent about the party. Sounds like fun and you exceeded your goals! North Buffalo – I lived on Parkside for a few years. My son and I had a lovely 1600 sq ft flat overlooking the zoo. $325 a month – that tells you how long ago it was!! And North Buffalo is one of the jewels of the city. Have you been to the Darwin Martin House? I hear it’s fantastic now that it’s been renovated…

Kuhljeanie – BRAVO on the treadmill! We bought a Sole elliptical last year (and someday I *will* take advantage of it!). But it is a very nice machine. I hope yours is as nice, or better.  And then re your quasi-binge – I’m sending a big hug your way. re credits for adjusting my goals, I agree. I was about to fall into usual stinkin’ thinkin’ when I realized that was exactly what I did not need. So, I decided getting to my goal more slowly was much better than not getting there at all. Thanks to you and BillBlueEyes for pointing that out – I had missed it totally…

BillBlueEyes – Credits for exercising in the cold, and for buying clothes that make following your plan easier! If I ever did something like that, I'd fall over in shock! Be very very proud. And yes, I am from that place called China Maine – but we’re on Three Mile Pond rather than the big lake… Do you come up here often? We should hook up if you do.

Davidette – Credit for the cookies! Re boiler, mine is back on, how about yours? I *really* enjoy being warm! The tech was here for ¾ of a day *and* used a bunch of parts, so I’ve got my fingers in my ears, singing la-la-la at the top of my lungs so I don’t have to think about the bill I’ll get in the mail. :D

JenMusic – No need to apologize. I love the name of my town because it sounds like a non sequitor. It makes me smile to hear it, even after having lived here for years. But being to the actually country China is much more interesting! Are you still there?

Onebyone – big credits for logging food and sticking to plan for 3 days. And for anticipating your chocolate jonesing – bravo! All three take discipline and logging food is hardest for the first couple of weeks. So, know that it will get easier…And more credits for resisting old habits and making new ones re: chocolate 2 days in a row!

Coaches/Buddies A good, on-plan day for me today. A good day all around actually. Scale was halfway back to sudaphed low, kids had great behavior, I got decent sleep last night, work is looking up for once, and I had a fantastic run, a fancy coffee for my afternoon snack, and listened to some great music in the car. I was set to do my run this morning, but it was 31F, and while the thought of Jean of frozen eyelashes crossed my mind, I settled for getting into and leaving work a bit early, so I could do it this afternoon. Also my run was both long and fast (for me anyway) and when I did some core work afterward, my planks were no problem. So today I feel like supranne!

RobinW Nice work at your Pampered Chef party!

ChinaMaine I give myself credit for giving credits!! Try it, it's fun!

Nice job on today. I always worry if things are going perfectly at the beginning, because then I don't have the opportunity to practice getting back on track while I'm still motivated. I think some good progress and some learning opportunities make the best combo at the beginning.

Jean Congrats on the treadmill purchase, and nice job on avoiding the qdoba. I had to Google that.

Sorry to hear about your "binge." It did sound like a mild one for me, but you may want to try upping your carbs/calories as your runs increase in length. I had to modify like that at the end of my Big Loss, because I was doing exactly the kind of overeating you described and couldn't seem to stop it. Then I found out I was maintaining on 2800 cal/day when I was eating 1500, so no kidding I was hungry!! I think the CT techniques can get you far, but if your body perceives a no-kidding food crisis, it is going to take control of your brain and save itself. Your job then is to make sure you don't get that far out of balance. Someone on 3FC (forget the poster) once said they figured it was akin to holding your breath for too long--sooner or later you'll pass out and just start breathing. I thought that was pretty wise.

onebyone Nice work on your three days! Sending :goodvibes: for it to continue. Hope you enjoyed your day off! Is the 40/30/30 plan working out for you? Filling, enjoyable, etc?

Nice work on your environment. And cheers for the healing power of coffee!

Bill Nice job on getting the warm undies! All this winter talk is just painful to me. The weather is beautiful here, getting into the 70s during the day, usually 40-50 at night. Spring flowers will start to roll out in late Feb/early March, the trees in March, and the cacti in April/May. My favorite are the prickly pear, which produce gorgeous yellow flowers, mostly in April.

Thanks for the zuke recipe. It looks like one I can just do, and not have to write it down, which means there is a possibility that it'll actually happen.

davidette If the cookies aren't your favorite, I vote you toss them and get your favorite. No use in having mediocre treats! Jean is doing the sealed meals, and yeah, they sound great! Even if I had to look up sous vide, because, you know, I'm just not that into cooking.

JenMusic Sounds like that new scale is a keeper!

Rachel Sorry 'bout your post monster. Thanks for the virtual orajel. He needs it. That is some serious mental energy on decluttering. I must admit to the "let the piles build and then chuck the whole mess" strategy myself. I can't seem to get organized with it, but then again, don't really care much so it seems better to focus elsewhere.

Have a good one!

Anne

I signed up for, and am now getting a weekly newsletter courtesy beckdietsolution.com, with excerpts from the book. This week's topic, "Strengthen your Resistance Muscle." A nice reminder.

Anne

Coaches - Just checking in for the night. I'm working on my success skills, and today managed to check off #1,2,3 and 5. See a miss? It's #4, credit. It's just not automatic, at all. I'm used to thinking of where I've failed, or not met a goal. It's really weird for me to think of how I've done something well, and I find myself at the end of the day struggling to remember when I did well - even when I know I did. I

'm thinking I need to figure out some kind of concrete symbol to make it more real to me (as a teacher, a star chart comes to mind :)). What do y'all do to help notice your credits?

How's everyone doing in the rough weather around the country? I'm in Atlanta, and we're just getting some cold rain, but I feel so bad for all the iced in people (including my sister, with her husband and 2 toddlers!).

Have a good night!

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was shoveling wet snow. CREDIT moi. Boy does that stuff weight a ton! This morning looks iced over, but feel fortunate that we have power and heat.

I'm really enjoying the Balsamic Vinegar Salad Dressing that I made from the two quart purchase from Costco. It's close to zero calories since it's made with no oil which suits my taste. CREDIT moi for the planning, purchasing, and making. This mindful eating stuff does take effort, but this example reminds me how much I enjoy the payoff.


Jean (kuhljeanie) - Kudos for doing your "stupid little workout." Raspberries, of course, for calling it "stupid" - you know CBT isn't about negative thinking.

Ouch for "overeating." But BIG Kudos for being up front about it. Real binging seems to me to happen in secret and shame which makes it so hard to work out. And Ouch for the concerns with your work situation. Yep, sometimes we are worrying about legitimate concerns.

Have you taken delivery of and set up your new treadmill yet?


Robin (RobinW) - Congrats on your growing event (discretely trying to avoid the image of Mickey Mouse hauling buckets of water). Thanks for the thought about parents from the depression as sources of cleaning your plate. I remember being told that Ike had been served a monster plate at mess once when he was eating with the troops and he finished the whole thing to set a good example. It was indeed part of the culture.

LOL that you need "a couple new cupboards" for your Pampered Chef gadgets. If they would solve my problem with taking so long to dice onions I'd find a place for them. DW would have a fit; she doesn't believe in gadgets.


onebyone - Big Kudos for "managing my environment" with the Mexican chocolate. And thanks for teaching me the word 'jonesing'.

Continuing to send supportive thoughts for resumption of your transportation. Hoping that the threat of a citizen revolt will soften the stance of someone.


Anne (supranne) - Kudos for the exercise day, particularly for "my planks were no problem." Love being reminded that I'm not the only one who needs to work on core.

Love thinking about the gorgeous yellow flowers on your prickly pear. You guys have flowers and birds like no where else. Do you ever get out to see the hummingbirds that only exist in Arizona?


davidette - Ouch for missing your luncheon. Kudos for a moderated response to the cookies, but I second the suggestion by Anne (wndranne) to ditch them for your favorites if you're going to eat them. This suggestion comes from a guy who hasn't yet ditched any food in his life, LOL. I still use my work lunches to sweep the fridge of leftovers, which are usually super stuff from DW's dinners, but, occasionally, like last week, include some so-so spaghetti with marinara sauce old enough for DW to recommend tossing but since it didn't smell, became my lunch one day. So, if you do ever toss any food, give yourself credit and post so I can humbly give you double credits and feel my chagrin.

Jennifer (JenMusic) - Kudos for buying yourself a new scale - Yay for the smaller number. And Kudos for working your Success Skills.

RE giving yourself credit: That was a hard one for me; just never did it. I started by writing items in my journal, feeling VERY foolish every time. Then graduated to posting at least one credit here every day. It took many many months for my level of feeling foolish to start to decline.


Rachel (helping rachel) - Thanks for the decluttering tips. Yep, it was helpful just to read how you're going about it. I too have the problem of not giving the right value to an incoming item. And I'm working on not picking up an "interesting" looking brochure unless I can picture myself reading it.


ChinaMaine - Kudos for your onplan stuff, particularly getting it together to do the exercise despite the many Sabotaging Thoughts.

Getting to Maine is a treat for us, unfortunately too infrequent. Am always surprised to discover each time that Maine is one BIG STATE. There are zillions of square miles of upstate ME that I've never seen.


Readers -Here are guidelines for acquiring these skills.

...
• Fill out the Stage 1 Success Skills Sheet (pages 266-267) every night.
..." The Complete Beck Diet for Life, pg 51

JenMusic Kudos for "I think that'll be enough for today" ; practicing each skill until you feel proficient with it before taking on more is the way to go.

I use a super sticky note I move around during the day to keep track of my "good" behavior. Being anal, I do count them up the next day to "judge" myself. :judge: Still it does train me to notice the times I resist. The other day as I drove to the far reaches of the gym lot so I could count that as spontaneous exercise, the main prompter was being able to put another check down; can't have my totals go down!

onebyone Good job "losing" the Mexican chocolate, just hearing about it had me craving :drool: a rich hot chocolate. My kids grew up knowing if they wanted to keep any sweets, they better hide them.

robin I have only vague recollections of fussing about finishing my plate as a child, but it does make me a little angry at my mom / society for contributing to my loss of the innate ability to eat just what I really want or need and then stop. Then I remembered urging MY kids to finish their plate! Oops. Though often I was trying to avoid them bugging me for junk food an hour later, or in my son's case, screaming he had to eat RIGHT THEN when it was impossible to feed him. It will be interesting to see how my daughter handles her children. At 22, I don't have too many years to wait, I hope. Of course by then, I'll have "forgotten the question"! :?:

I stopped using TVP a few years ago and have moved on to tofu which also just absorbs the taste of whatever it's in. Seeing it brought up again here gave me the idea of going back to it, but I think I'll stick to my soy products.

Good luck on finding creative inspiration!

helping rachel I took a starter spin class first to learn how to adjust the bike for my size, get the hang of adding resistance, etc. I'm not really a "biker"; the spin class is part of a meet at the gym pact I made with a few friends. We go together, but everyone gets to pick a class. I've learned to like it though I'm very glad it's only 45 minutes and not an hour! The instructor picks the music, which is usually something with a strong beat, everything from "let's get it started" to Pink Floyd. I have a Zune with whatever's popular at the moment on it, but it really needs to be updated so I've just been plugging in to the music channels on the elliptical, which really isn't satisfactory. Maybe that's why water class is a struggle for me, there's no music!

Thanks for the decluttering tips - talk about inspiring! They do sound very Beckian.

kuhljeanie Don't be too hard on yourself, it may have been a binge in spirit, but there was a lot of control involved too. I'm struggling to force myself to eat my full calorie allotment whether I want to or not for that very reason, I'm afraid if I don't, I'm lowering my odds for long term success; that at some point my body will "take control of my brain and save itself" !

chinamaine A lot of accomplishment on 3 hours of sleep! Kudos! Waiting on parts to repair mother's oil burner so it continues to cut off sporadically. Luckily I can get it to come back on but it really does require a good hit in a specific place. :club: They've been charging $90 an hour to do nothing effective so far, but I haven't paid a penny yet and they can expect a fight (AFTER they get it working).

wndranne I'm curious about how you calculate maintenance calories, do you factor in exercise? I feel like that should be the "icing on the cake" ; increasing the weight loss that a conservatively restricted diet provides. So I don't factor it in my daily calorie allotment, especially since it would require daily adjustments depending on what I did at the gym. On the other hand, I don't want to promote a "no kidding food crisis"!

Sedona Arizona is one of my favorite places. Is the weather in Tucson very different? I'd rather vacation in the Southwest than anywhere else. I'm here in flat, wet coastal Virginia. You'd probably enjoy beaches and the ocean but listening to you I'm craving rocks and hot dry air!

Bill I confess I'm scared to substitute a real favorite for the not so favorite cookies. I THINK I could do it. Your faith is encouraging, I'm going to ponder the idea a little longer. And yes, part of my reluctance is having to throw out even not so great cookies! Here I've been forcing myself to leave at least a bite on my plate every meal to learn to watch it hit the trashcan without wincing! :eek:

On plan again, the hardest part has been getting on the scales and not seeing any evidence of it! It'll come; this is not a quick fix but the way I'll live from now on. And I am seeing tremendous benefits emotionally and physically. Off to chase Kuhljeanie up another hill in spin class. I get a visual of her as the pace runner with the rest of us following along on our various treadmills, bikes, etc. (walking stick and shovel for Bill) :rofl:

Good Morning :coffee:

rachel~ I love the way you deal deal with clutter! Thanks for the well wishes on my creativity. But the creativity fairy didnt come and sprinkle and creativity dust on me yesterday....Im hoping she stops by sometime today :lol:

Jean~ all things considered I think you did alright on your "refueling" I'll get like that sometimes, and I know its just my body needing alot of something. It's usually a big honkin' taco salad with real full fat sour cream. Then Im good for another couple weeks. So think of it as a refueling day instead of a mini binge....especially since you were within your calories. Kudos for keeping within your calorie range, thats awesome!

ChinaMaine~ Ouch for a broken boiler. Im glad you got it up and running....it's always during the worst weather that stuff happens isnt it? Kudos for meeting your exercise goal!! Awesome!

Im off Starin Ave, and our shop is right on Hertel....same block as B-Kwik (the little grocery store) Im not sure what it was called back then, its now called Dash's. We are nice and close to the shop so most of the time we just walk here. The zoo has been undergoing some renovations, but Ive only been there once and dont plan to go back. Im not a zoo/circus fan.

I havent been to the darwin martin house yet either....you'd think after living here for 8 yrs, Id have made it there. They are still doing alot of renovations to the property. But its open for tours. That might be a nice trip with my daughter on our bicycles when it gets nice out.

Anne~ thanks for the heads up on Beck's newsletter....I typed my way over there and signed up myself. Kudos for your awesome workout, and wonderful day yesterday!!

Jen~ things I do to remind myself of my credits? I have a remember ring on my thumb.......I see it every time I put food in my mouth. It reminds me how successful I am, or will be. I also get my nails done. Notice a pattern here? Keep my hands looking nice, and Im much less likely to use them to put food in my mouth. Its also a reward for me.....as long as I keep on track, I will continue to get my nails done. I have this warped mental image that fat women dont have nice hands....since Im making my way out of fatdom, I'll have nice hands along the way. Make sense? :rofl: .......it works for me.

Bill~ should you be shovelling that heavy snow?!?!?!?! :nono: Be Careful!
If you want the tool to beat all tools for chopping onions...this is it http://www.epinions.com/review/Pampered_Chef_Cutting_Edge_Food_Chopper_2585/content_71764708996 Tell your mrs, its a tool not a gadget....you should be safe :lol:

davidette~ the only reason I havent brought tofu into the house is because dh will see it and have a fit. I can sneak in the tvp and he doesnt seem to notice. I get accused of putting celery in stuff all the time, he inspects his food if he thinks he can smell it. Men! :no:

Kudos on your spin chase! I love your visuals!

My stuff.....Im not sure how to feel about this one. Good and Bad I suppose. I did up my supper last night, I had my first bread product since November 30th/08. I passed on the croutons at the pampered chef party, but I had 2 sesame buns left over and thought Id make a nice chicken melty meal on a bun. Ok....I had everything within my calorie range, arranged everything and put it under the broiler. But when I put it on my plate, it was HUGE!!! So Im sitting there thinking, but if I had put the bun together instead of eating it open face it wouldnt look so big. Well, I dug in.....and started feeling guilty because there was so much....thoughts racing thru my head, I shouldnt be eating all this etc etc etc. I reached satifactory full at the end of the first half...but kept eating because it tasted so good, and I really didnt want to waste the chicken and tomatoes and mushrooms. :^: I managed to stop with 1/4 of the 2nd left. Im not sure about this one.....Im just going to leave it and try to do better next time.

This week and a bit of last week I had started incorporating flour back into my diet. Im taking it back out. Especially after last night's bun situation. I woke up this morning starving!!!! I know its the flour.

I havent really been that hungry since I wasnt eating properly. I dont like the feeling of being that hungry. I can handle hunger, but not that crazy hungry feeling from this morning. So....Im taking the bread and flour back out of my diet. I dont really need it, and rarely miss it.

K......Im off to try to get creative again today. Have a great day and stay warm! (and no shoveling heavy snow for anyone!)

morning my coaches,

thank you for the support re: my unplanned eating yesterday. i'd managed to make myself feel better enough about what i'd eaten to...eat more. it was getting late, i had convinced myself that the popcorn etc. was hardly a blip, so i went ahead and made it a mightier blip by getting into the stale halloween candy. this is the candy that's been in the top cupboard for three months, the candy that i haven't thought about until late last week, the very same candy that was mostly unappealing ON HALLOWEEN. i didn't know how hard candy corn can get. pretty hard, actually. the tootsie roll was pretty hard too, but the reese's cups were unchanged. pretty nasty stuff. why i went for that when i've got a freezer full of scratch cupcakes in every imaginable flavor, which i made myself from great ingredients...hm.

i'm guessing that all in all, i added another 400 calories to my 2000-cal day. it made me feel kind of sick to my stomach, definitely not "good" satisfied. i was really, really hoping i'd feel better this morning, but today has sucked as much as a day possibly can before noon. el nino was up at 3:30 and again at 5:30; i went in, and without getting too gross, he'd pooped a dry-ish paste overnight (he hardly ever does these days) and had severe diaper rash, so bad that he couldn't lie on the boppy to nurse without screaming in pain. he accidentally bit me HARD that way, and i yelled out too (didn't want/mean to) which made him even more upset. finally got him cleaned up, calmed down, dressed, and to day care. i was then treated to a 3 hour commute which normally takes 50 minutes, most of which was almost blind driving (when i wasn't sitting in park) because my wipers were frozen in place. come to find out that even though i was working on a proposal from home yesterday, my office is still requiring me to book that time against my vacation days, because i wasn't in the office (which they closed due to a level 2 snow emergency.) i was happy because my all-day meeting in lexington was cancelled due to the weather, so i'd be able to attend one more precious yoga class - but i was so late, i missed that too.

bill, i would have LOVED to have had the treadmill yesterday, but i'm waiting for the local delivery co. to call and set up a time. i also appreciate your comment that it's important to be upfront about overeating, to address the shame part of it. i told DH about the popcorn but not the candy. he's worried that i'm upset and i didn't want him to be more concerned about me, since he gets that i eat this way when i'm really anxious. i guess it's a step in the right direction that i'm not feeling shameful about it (or i wouldn't have told y'all) but i recognize that something is really going on with me. anne, i thank you for your common sense in that idea "...sooner or later you'll pass out and just start breathing..." this week i've had no energy at all, which may partly be due to worry over my job situation, partly to sleep interrupted by el nino's screaming jags, maybe some overtraining thrown in for good measure, and my tolerance for winter fading fast. i've hardly exercised at all this week after my long run on sunday. maybe the best thing at this point is to take gentler care of myself, rest more, up the calories for a few days, and pull together a plan for feeling more in control of my life. THANK YOU. and congrats on your good run! davidette, you have no idea how absolutely tickled i am to be your pace runner. :D that makes me feel really good, which is exactly what i need right now. THANK YOU TOO! robin, your experiment with flour sounds really, really smart. i think you did great with your open-faced sandwich. a lot going on there, and you were present for all of it. really great. i'll have to regretfully decline the credit on staying within my calories, since i blew that out the window after i posted, but will strongly consider your point about needing a "refueling day" when your body is demanding it. hi jen, about the weather - i'm not doing well :) felt trapped like a rat with no wheel in my cage to spin on. when does spring come? are we there yet? are we there yet? i don't have anything to chart my credits, since i didn't struggle too hard with that one, and they become their own reward after a whille. it feels good to recognize what i'm doing well - makes me keep wanting to do it, you know? china, you GO, girl! woot woot on the exercise and the cholesterol! particularly in a cold house on almost no sleep. rock on.

BTW - if anyone wants any details on how i'm making my packaged freezer meals, every last minute detail is discussed at excruciating length in my blog (link is in my signature.) long live sous vide! i didn't know what it was either a month ago. :)

Coaches/Buddies After 4+ years of posting on 3FC, I know that the quickest way to induce a screw up is to come here and post how well you are doing. So anyway, I went off plan last night with a banana & a small granola bar after posting. I was hungry, DS had just gotten me up, and well, and well. It could have been much worse. I am once again getting lazy with reading my response cards and doing my Beckercises so I need to get on that.

Weight is behaving. Once again on a downward trend.

Today has been good so far. I'm home this afternoon waiting for Bug Guy to come fix up a termite thing. I'm officially bored. On plan so far today, although if Bug Guy shows up at the end of his timeslot, DD will have to miss gymnastics class, and the tantrums will fly, and stress levels will elevate. I have cleverly not reminded her that this is gymnastics day, but she's starting to get a clue about these things. DS was flicking at his gums with his tongue this morning, so that tooth is going to burst through at any moment. He's also more or less crawling now. And pulling up.

JenMusic I'm glad you're doing well on your skills. Are you doing anything to help with giving yourself credit? Lists of things like Bill used to, or getting one of those counter doo-dads that Beck talks about?

Bill How is that heavy snow doing with your golf elbow? We have hummingbirds all over here. I need to get the feeder going again. I get lazy with it, but we like to watch them zip in and out, and fight (!) while we eat. I got a new Runner's World with some new core work in it. I'm going to try to add it in and see what happens.

davidette I don't calculate maintenance calories so much as I measure them. The 2800 was my average during marathon training when I didn't gain or lose (outside of the usual fluctuations) for about two months. [maryblu look away: MATH AHEAD] Now, when I track my calories, if (hypothetically) I'm eating 1800 cal/day and losing 1 lb/week, then I figure my maintenance calories would be about (1800 cal/day + [1 lb * 3500 cal/lb / 7 days] )= 1800 + 500 = 2300 calories per day. Some days a person needs more, and some days less, for reasons that are explainable or mysterious. But the averages are generally good enough, unless you radically change something in your lifestyle, like perhaps [Jean] running more, when you need to rethink it. And I do actually eat more on a "big" workout day, a 2 hr bike or more than an hour run (not that that happens so often these days).

Tucson is somewhat different from Sedona because of the elevation; Sedona is higher. Well, that and Sedona is a LOT prettier. But climatewise, anyway.

Keep at it. The scales will show your work very soon. Consistency is very important.

RobinW I think you need to give yourself credit for stopping when you wanted to eat more. It is probably even harder to make a second opportunity.

Jean That sounds like a morning for the books! Yikes. You sound so composed about it though. Throw out the candy. It's yucky.

You have so much on your plate right now. Make sure you have some good quality Jean time in all that. And BTW, stress and lack of sleep mean that you won't recover as fast from running and it is easier to get into an overtraining situation, so make sure to take the rest when you need it. Speaking as one who got a serious injury after my longest run during my first marathon training program, and had to withdraw.

Bug Guy is still not here. Oh my! This could get ugly. I'll check back in tomorrow!

Anne

Good Morning Coaches

My food calorie count was higher today than the past four days but the average, according to fitday, is under the 2000 ceiling so I give myself a gold star for a) tracking in fitday and 2) keeping a good average. I can't seem to get the 30/30/40 splits I am looking for. My fat intake is higher, or carbs are higher or protein is lower. I suppose the 30/30/40 is my goal and I am working toward it.

I heard the transit strike is over. The city radio commentators were noticing that President Obama is visiting our fair town of Ottawa in about 2 weeks and oh, gee, look, the transit strike will be over. Hmmm. It's not that the sides came to an agreement. Nope. They decided to go to binding arbitration and the whole thing is to be decided for them. Whatever. I don't have any details but the buses will be back after 51 days.

wndranne Termites. Now there's something that we don't have. Of course I donlt live in the awesome desert. I would love to live there. Soak some sun up for me okay? You wondered if my calorie count and macro nutrient splits were okay and they are. I feel a bit hungry but I figure I will feel a bit hungry so it's okay. I can't seem to get green things into me again though. Will have to make a special effort to do that.

kuhljeanie oy-vey what a tough night and day. What can I say? :hug: I've done exactly what you did; been semi-bad actually kind of okay and then gotten through the danger zone only to re-visit it and really do damage. I just kind of always want to just see this bad behaviour at times. I don't know why but I don't keep going like that anymore and I know you don't. It's so self-defeatist and it really makes no sense. So you're adjusting to many things and you'll get through. Things are changing. It's always a challenge.

RobinW As far as I know there is no real important nutrient unique to flour that is essential for long term health. I think that if it triggers you why put yourself through that? I am trying to do what you are trying to do; find what works for me and is true to me and my body. You do know best. Kudos for finding out what those things are.

davidette Keep on keeping on and your scale will have no choice but to show that. I'm with you about the Southwest. I've been to Sedona twice and I haven't been to Tucson yet and I wish I lived in the desert. If I was an American I would... alas as a Canadian I dream of being a snowbird especially now, in the middle of winter with a few more snowy months to go.

BillBlueEyes I was denied the exercise of shoveling our small walk. DH looked out to see a stranger shoveling for us. Nice. Our shovel is out front and several neighbours borrow it. Someone felt like doing our walk with it too I guess. And thank you for sending President Obama to our town to shame the parties involved in our 51 day transit strike to just agree to disagree and admit their defeat and give the whole mess over to an arbitrator. No one won and no one lost. Or no one can claim to. Anyway I am sure your thoughts helped. Thanks.

Have a great night and a long restful sleep coaches!

It was a good day. Food / Exercise: On plan – credit / credit! (but no spontaneous exercise…)
Beck – Weigh-In: up 3.75 lbs. Not happy, but it is just information, right?  I’m crossing my fingers that it’s water (or something). But my weight has bounced between 198 & 202 all through January. So it’s anyone guess what my weight actually is. Otherwise, I did my Beck-work (read cards, ate slowly, read skill 5, added response cards, have started doing the Stage 1 sheet). So, credits galore here. ;-) I still need to learn to be more mindful of the taste of what I’m eating.

Jeanie – I’m really sorry about your bad day. I’m sending a hug your way! :hug:

Bill – Being mindful *is* hard & time-consuming. So credit tu! I’m hoping it gets easier over time…

Davidette – I hear you about the scale. You will see the effects, so stay patient. It’s only been a few days for me, but I read the ‘just a number’ response card every time I weigh myself. Even so, I have little sabotaging thoughts whispering in my ear all day. Someday I won’t hear that annoying little homunculus anymore… ;-)

Anne – Don’t forget you deserve credit for the great day yesterday! Bravo! Re Today – well it too shall pass. Keep plugging…

RobinW – Hertel Ave -- Back in the day, I spent a lot of time up and down that stretch. I just googled the intersection, seems like it would be a nice bike ride over to the DM house from Starin and Hertel A good friend of mine visited it at Thanksgiving and raved about it. So, it’s probably worth a visit.  Re your flour issues, have you heard of celiac disease? Of course it could be from other reasons, but a reaction to flour could be an indicator of celiac. Just a thought…

Diet Coaches/Buddies - OK, did the elliptical at the gym again. CREDIT moi. Still moping about like a teenager that I can't do weights with my golf elbow. But I did my despised lunges, partially because I get to write that in my gym journal and partially because I get to come here and CREDIT moi about it. Whatever it takes.

Jean (kuhljeanie) - Quadruple Ouch for your day. Methinks you need to jump ahead in books for el nino and get Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Terrible-Horrible-Good-Very/dp/0689711735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233312175&sr=1-1) by Judith Viorst. Your story is a good reminder that slightly-hidden is sufficient for slightly tempted, but that gone-from-the-house is the only defense when the totally irrational cravings hit. Kudos for posting your story and Quadruple Kudos for limiting the damage.

And a separate Ouch for missing the yoga class that could have helped to lift your spirits about the rest. (My company switched to snow-days-are-vacation-days some years ago, but, thankfully, I can bill time at home spent working with the permission of my boss and the project manager, which is easy to get when they want what I'm doing.)


Robin (RobinW) - Kudos for posting your mindful thoughts about your "chicken melty meal." It's tricky stuff when trying to combine leftover management and adding a new menu item. It's worth pondering what it would have taken to have responded to knowing that you felt "satisfactorily full." You'd have to overcome the Sabotaging Thoughts of not wasting good food and continuing with the good taste. That's a challenge, but perhaps worth banging your head against a bit.

And thanks for the reminder to be aware of the physical impact of shoveling wet snow. I am deeply vested in ignoring that I have physical limitations to consider, making me a prime candidate for being one more male who has a heart attack while pretending to be a twenty year old.

Pondering how to get that Pampered Chef chopper into my house. Your notion of tool not gadget might help. Of course, DW is likely to remind me that I have the whole basement to collect my tools, so this can join them, LOL.


onebyone - Yay that a visit from President Obama served as an excuse for both sides to do the obvious. I modestly admit to sending Barak a text message to his Blackberry, but am surprised at how quickly he responded, LOL. Perhaps I'll now text him about Gaza.

Kudos for continuing to work on your food plan balance. With your diligence you'll find the fit.


Anne (wndranne) - Ouch for "waiting for Bug Guy." That gets to me big time, especially when I squeeze things that matter to after the window and begin to realize that I've set myself up to feel like a victim. Feeling tense as I type waiting for the end of that story with the potential for the rage of a three year old.

Thanks for the concern about my golf elbow. I have developed a technique that minimizes the use of my left arm - LOL at the thought that I'm building a Popeye right arm while favoring the left. Dreaming of your hummingbirds. We have consistently failed to ever attract a hummingbird in our yard, using all the right feeders and all the right sugar waters. Even so, our area absolutely only gets Ruby-throated Hummingbirds; the variety in AZ just boggles my mind.

Good luck on your new core exercise pursuits. Send me some core-motivation; I'm still fighting the stuff that I need the most.


davidette - Kudos that you "leave at least a bite on my plate every meal." Bright green with envy here. You remind me that I could work on that by actually leaving something. Please keep posting about that; maybe it'll sink in to me one day.

LOL at you using your image of Jean (kuhljeanie) as the pace runner. Yep, stick to your sane attitude about the scale. Your job is to stay on-plan; your body's job is to choose the corresponding weight. Not your business if your body is a slow responder.


ChinaMaine - Kudos for being on plan and for keeping your clear mind about "just a number."


Readers -Here are guidelines for acquiring these skills.

...
• Contact your diet buddy each night after you have filled out the Success Skills Sheet.
..." The Complete Beck Diet for Life, pg 51

Good Morning Coaches

I'm off to the school in about a half hour. Thought I'd check in before my day really starts. I have had my breakfast and logged it into fitday. Credit moi. I arranged, and re-arranged, getting myself to the school and back today. My reg. ride was taking the day off but she's having to drive her sister into town and so acquiesced to taking me and Geraldine, (the other schoolmate who gets a ride with heart-of-gold Val who's been driving us all these weeks of the strike) downtown too. Phew! I am half way through the printing of some prints for my upcoming gallery show which opens next Thursday. I am showing the books I made last semester in my apprenticeship so I am printing some stuff for the walls. Egad they are fussy! I have 4 more to print today, and I have 5 hours to do it. No less. Probably 4 hours. But I had to scramble to try to get a ride in and then out and close enough to the west end that I can get a cab that I could actually pay for. (Expensive.)

ChinaMaine I know that bouncing around on the scale too. I am between 257 and 264. My brain decides on a weight and wants to see a move steadily down from there, but the body isn't always down with that so to speak. Eventually things will change. You are doing so well. Just keep going...

BillBlueEyes Ah! Nothing like savouring the feeling of having completed that which you would really not ever do ever again for sure if you didn't have to re: lunges. I feel that way when I put my food on the food scale. Ugh. I hate to know how much I am really eating. I just read an article in the NY Times about restaurants showing the calorie counts of the food they were serving. It was in the menu or on a card in front of the food if the food was in a display case. Most customers were upset about this and wanted the calorie counts removed. Many customers asked for old menus that didn't have the calorie counts. :dizzy:

Oh gotta run. Have a good Friday Becksters.

Good morning, everyone! :wave:

I think it's probably hopeless for me to try to do personals yet, so I'm hoping to start that with the February thread. I'm usually typing one-handed while nursing, so it's sometimes difficult to do a long post!

I haven't done as much as I should've in terms of working through Stage 1. I've written out my response cards and my advantages (not on cards -- I keep them all listed in a notebook because I know I would probably lose cards!), but I haven't been great about reading through them every day. I will start that today and plan on doing it each morning. There's really no reason I can't do that while nursing the baby or something instead of wasting time on Facebook or watching the Today show or spacing out!!

The last two days have been rough, and I really SHOULD have been reading my Advantages or something to keep in mind why I'm doing this, because I even found myself searching the house for candy and eating old Starburst that's probably been in the candy jar for 5 years! I stayed within my point range, surprisingly, however, but that's with all the extra points I get for breastfeeding.

Still no exercise. I have to figure that out in terms of time, the baby, and my ankle pain. I broke the ankle in 04 and it hurts at random times. Lately I've been limping, but it's getting better. Now I have to figure out exercise with the baby! It's very important to me to get back to running, though, so I WILL work it out one way or another by the time it gets warm outside again!

The scale has been at 221 the last 3 mornings, and this morning something finally broke through and it was 216.8. Yay! I finally broke that 220 barrier. I know it could fluctuate right back up tomorrow morning, but that doesn't matter to me right now. Right now I feel (for the first time since giving birth almost 6 months ago) like I really CAN do this. Like that one BIG weight loss wasn't my ONLY weight loss. Like I can get back in my size 10 jeans and my size 8 skirt that I only got to wear one time in 2007! Like I can run again. Woohoo!

I'm off to read my response cards. I think I'll read them aloud to my baby as if it's a fun little story. He doesn't know the difference yet. :p

Good Afternoon :coffee:

ChinaMaine~ There have been lots of changes on Hertel just in the last 2 yrs. Alot of businesses that were on Elmwood are moving to hertel because the rents are about a 1/2 or less than elmwood. Its actually been really good for our little strip.

I googled celiac disease...Ive heard of it but I didnt know the symptoms. But when I googled wheat allergy....it seems I have over 1/2 the symptoms from allergy instead of celiac. But it would warrant a visit to the dr to know for sure. I have no intention of going :lol: An interesting symptom of wheat allergy is chest pains!! I get those all the time, usually after eating large plates of pasta!! I never knew!! How 'bout that!?!

About your weight playing hide and seek on the scale. You have been exercising, and this will hold water in your muscles to help rebuild them. Have you noticed a difference in your clothing? I suspect soon you will see a "whoosh" in weightloss. Dont be discouraged, and keep up the great work!

Bill~ when ever I hear about someone shovelling wet snow, I always get the picture of the huge big boned finlanders from back home shoveling that stuff and keeling over! It was always those guys we heard about in the news. So...even that "young stuff" out there really shouldnt be shoveling it. Ive even threatened hubby with a full fledged yelling match out in the driveway if he didnt put f'*%$'in shovel away!! It works :D

Ok....maybe if you had your very own little cubby in the kitchen for your "tools" because you are doing alot of your own cooking now? Think that might work? It might. Good Luck!

You are right "That's a challenge, but perhaps worth banging your head against a bit." It has gotten to a point where if the food is substandard, it isnt worth wasting my calorie alotment on it. If Im going to eat it, it has to be delicious!! But then I struggle with amounts :dizzy: I'll get there :lol:

onebyone~ Kudos for logging into fitday!! Sounds like you are in a better place too....Im happy for you :hug: Yah for the bus strike finally getting close to an end!! I really think it stinks that just because the president is coming to visit, that they forced transit back to work. Rather than the 1000's of people living in the country's capitol didnt have the clout. That just ticks me off! Oh well....its over and you will be able to get around a bit better now.

LisaMarie~ Big Kudos for you weightloss this morning!!! Reading your response cards to your son is a great idea!!

Jean~ sounds like you had back to back yuckies all day yesterday. I hope it got better for you :hug:

Anne~ how did it go with the bug guy and your little one missing her dance class?

Not alot new with me....been op, exercise has been walking back and forth to the shop. Ive been getting more water into me...so thats new and good I suppose.

Creativity fairy arrived yesterday....good thing too! I was closing in on my deadline.

I wanted to mention a strange and weird thing that has been happening to me. Last night I had fried bean sprouts and snow peas with a bit of soya sauce splashed in! It was delicious!!! Crunchy flavourful and exactly what I wanted. Who'da thunk it?!! I crave bean sprouts and snow peas :rofl: :lol3: I love it tho....its not the crazy head craving that makes me nuts....its the craving for good tasting food. I can do that :D

Have a great day everyone!

still feeling pretty crummy. i'm SO OVER winter, feeling out of it. i could count my blessings, the very pretty pink sunrise this morning shining through ice-covered trees, my goofy child crunching in the snow, my incredibly supportive DH, the fact that a wonderful treadmill will be arriving at my house in just 5 short days, having enough in the HSA account to pay the dentist, my size 14 jeans fitting loosely straight from the dryer, y'all, having dinner with my mom tonight, my clients getting upset when i tell them that my contract is ending next week, a freezer full of good food, one more wonderful yoga class.

ok. that was helpful. feeling a little better.

think i'm just getting worn out. we have a couple of big expenses that just came up, and are juggling accounts to make everything work. i intensely dislike that feeling. also so out of it, i forgot to schedule my kid's 2nd birthday party. BAAAD mommy! now not sure how to make it work. and i'm hurting to figure out how we're going to get the old house finished so we can put it on the (abysmal) market. sigh.

all right...enough kvetching. i need to work out. thanks everyone for the great support! y'all have no idea. big kiss.

Checking in - I'm deciding to come online and check in, because what I really want to do is go back to the kitchen and eat some cheese and crackers. But that's not hunger, just a craving, and I'm choosing to say NO CHOICE.

Today I practiced being more conscious about giving credit. At lunch I had beef stew, ate slowly, and threw away part of my bowl: credit. That one was huge for me as a lifelong member of the clean plate club, so I wrote a memory card and will try to remember what that felt like. I also did some spontaneous exercise (stair climbing). Credit. I'm going to try and remember some more little things tomorrow, because I know making a big deal out of the little things is what's going to help me most in this journey.

I did hunger experiment #1 today, where you make a chart and track your cravings, and see what is hunger and non-hunger. I think I need to do this again, not because it was difficult, really, but because it was strange - I think I actually made myself hungry, just by thinking about it long enough. Has that ever happened to anyone else?

BillBlueEyes - Yay for lunges! They are one of my most despised exercises, but also one of my most effective. Major credit for doing those.

onebyone - Do you like FitDay? I've used the Daily Plate a little, but end up just writing stuff down on paper because I'm impatient. :) Also, are you an artist? I wondered because you mentioned gallery shows - how fun!

LisaMarie - Hi! I think we're both just starting. I'm going really slow, which I feel fine with, and I hope we can encourage and motivate each other. I love that you're reading your cards to your baby! :lol:

RobinW - I wish I could crave veggies more. Good for you! Send a little bit of that my way, when you figure out the magic secret. :)

kuhljeanie - Sending you a big hug. :hug: I hope your weekend looks up, and that winter ends soon! Also, am really jealous of your size 14 jeans fitting loosely from the dryer!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Coaches/Buddies Bug Guy showed up just in time, and with an advance call to daycare and their help in getting DD ready to go, we made it to gymnastics not quite 5 minutes late. So the night was saved.

On plan today, got in a nice run, walked the dog (for once), went to the optometrist with DH, prepped dinner, made some healthy(ish) muffins for DD, and have just finished the nighttime rituals. DS has now graduated to the big tub, and he and DD had a fine time sharing a splashy bath. I did not get to Target for bibs and sippy cups. I'll shoot for that tomorrow.

I had to talk myself down from an after lunch craving for sweets, but managed to do it. Got myself distracted IMing a friend. Yes, that sentence is dangerously close to LOLspeak, but hey, language evolves.

Spent some time last night with my Response Cards, and did some reading and reflecting in Phase 4 about flexible eating vs loose eating. I'm not sure I agree with all of Beck's definitions of what is loose and what is flexible, but the basic idea is pretty powerful. DH drove us through Del Taco after the eye exams, but I passed, and ate my leftover spaghetti as planned.

Weight is moving down again, and hovering on the verge of wndrland.

onebyone Good luck getting your green things in. I prefer the yellow/orange vegetables myself, as well as the fruits in vegetable disguise (zucchini, tomatoes, and such), but am sort of able to eat spinach and one or two types of lettuce if I must. I also felt a bit hungry all through my Big Loss, and now again. If I'm not dealing with hunger, I'm not losing. I think it is important to manage it so it isn't major and constant, but it is a fact of life.

Congrats on the tracking progress, and YES for the strike ending! Hope you got your prints successfully done. Shoot out some pictures, won't you? I like looking at your stuff.

FWIW: I also dream of being a snowbird, in reverse, going somewhere a bit more pleasant for the summer. Perhaps when we retire.

ChinaMaine Nice job on the diet and exercise and CT practice. Throw in managing stress levels and getting enough sleep, and you've got an unstoppable fat loss train moving. You are controlling the things you can, and the weight will come along for the ride. Weight is fickle. Make sure you plot it out to see the trends.

Bill You shame me on the lunges. I feel a "should" bursting to get out of me. I'm working on some running specific strength training though, and lunges aren't on the menu now.

If you ever get to Tucson, you must visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (http://www.desertmuseum.org/), which has a fascinating hummingbird aviary, where visitors get buzzed by the territorial beasties, and occasionally nests with actual chicks are there. The whole museum is awesome--we go at least twice a month.

Lisa I was just thinking about you today! Don't worry about personals if you don't have time. There are too many "shoulds" in your post. You need to read the "Oh Well" section! Small steps, one thing at a time, and all that. I think you need to give yourself credit for 1) starting to make your cards, 2) reading them on some days, 3) making a plan for doing more, 4) staying within your points, and 5) committing to exercise. Probably also 6) weighing in daily, and 7) contacting your diet buddies (us). Congrats on the breakthrough weight loss. It happens that way for me a lot too; just when I start invoking the meteor theory, a breakthrough!

RobinW I think the wheat allergy symptoms are interesting, but I'm hoping you don't feel the need to justify what and why you chose the plan you did. If something makes you feel lousy for any reason, then not eating it is the right thing to do.

Ah, DH taught DD that word this morning in traffic. At least I'm only responsible for "crap."

I crave lentils, so bean sprouts and snow peas sound mighty fine to me!

Yay for the creativity fairy!

Jean Good for your blessings! That was a very smart thing to do, and an exercise I should take more often! You've got some big stuff on your plate right now, so do the best you can at taking care of yourself, physically, emotionally, and spiritually if you are so inclined! We are not necessarily supposed to be able to deal with everything, every day, all at once.

JenMusic I learned a lot from the hunger experiments. Or relearned, perhaps. There is a lot there to digest, so to speak. Very nice job on managing the craving! A reminder to me that it can be done.

Have a good evening everyone!

Anne

I could do better… I woke up hours late; my cold had reappeared! I took a few hours off of work…

Food – I did okay (credit moi), in part because I told myself I’d have to fess up to any mis-steps to this group. So thanks to all of you, collectively, for playing the bad-guy. 
Exercise: One of my goals is to exercise 6x a week. I give myself one free pass per week on exercise. Most weeks, I actually use the pass 3x or more instead of one. Today was the day I chose to have no exercise. I did do spontaneous exercise. Credit!
Beck – Weigh-In: down 1.5 lbs. I also logged body measurements today. So credit moi! Otherwise, I did not do much Beck-work. I did remind myself to eat more slowly when I started rushing, and tried to taste every bite.


Bill – Bravo! on the elliptical (still jealous cuz I can’t manage it yet :D) and especially on the lunges. It’s funny that is one exercise I excel at… Now, push-ups kill me and I despise them.

onebyone – I’m impressed you got your Beck-work done before starting what sounds like a very hectic day. I hope it all went well.

LisaMarie71 – While I’d love to get a ‘personal’ from you, I’d feel better if you cared for yourself and your baby, and didn’t write them until you have time. You obviously have many more important things to do. I enjoy reading your posts though! I love the idea of reading your cards to your baby!

Jeanie – ‘Credit tu’ for counting your credits / blessings on a morning when the weight of the world was also weighing on you. And double-credits for working out! (But don’t say ‘BAAAD Mommy’ – it’s not true and can only diminish your ability to follow through on the great things you doing with your life... No stinkin’ thinkin’!) That said, I was aflame with jealousy about your size 14 jeans. It’s hard for me to believe I’ll ever wear size 14 again, much less have them LOOSE out of the dryer. Bravo!

Jen Music – Wow, I’m impressed! Bravo for NO CHOICE! And for throwing away food you weren’t hungry for!

RobinW – ‘Credit tu’for walking and the bean sprouts with snow peas. It *does* sound good! (doesn’t soya sauce have wheat?) Thanks for the supportive words on the weight fluctuations. I’m sure you are right.  BTW I tried to send you a private post on allergies/celiac. Unfortunately, the support group rules won’t allow me to do that (I haven’t posted 10x yet apparently.) If you are interested in the info, send me a private post and we’ll go from there.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Small steps: The candy pusher at my weekly meeting at the office upped the stakes - he brought in artisan dark chocolates made by the coffee distributor. Everybody grabbed. Except me. CREDIT moi. These could have squeezed under my rare and unusual exception since I'd never seen them before and might not get them again. But I had planed my NO CHOICE when I thought there would only be excellent dark chocolate, so I just used it anyway. Thanks to all of you who have recently reminded me that snarfing candy is not on-plan. Candy begets candy.

Then at a gathering last night there was a dessert smorgasbord, as expected. I did good Beck stuff, in advance. I planned to have one and only one small treat plus as many fruits as I wanted. So, I had one lemon something bar, carefully chosen from a table of all homemade goodies. Then managed to get DW to take half of that. CREDIT moi and CREDIT moi again. Then ate a few strawberries which, by my idiocentric accounting, have zero calories and mucho Vitamin C and goodness.


Jean (kuhljeanie) - I'm touched that you chose to count your blessings when the burdens seemed to gather all at once. Will try to remember that for myself.

Ouch that the stuff does stack up and begins to feel overwhelming. Sending you supportive thoughts as you confront that feeling and move against the stack.

But am laughing at the difference meanings between "BAAAD mommy" of yesterday and "baaaad mutha" of a few days ago. Glad that I don't teach English as a Second Language.


Robin (RobinW) - Yay for craving bean sprouts and snow peas. Now you got me drooling for bean sprouts. Do you grow your own? Are they the standard mung bean sprouts?

And hearty welcome to the creativity fairy. Thanks for the kitchen cubby suggestion. That idea might work; I might move some stuff from the pantry to the basement to give myself a little space.


onebyone - Ouch for the juggling required to get to school and Kudos for having your act together to just do it. Good luck in getting your prints done for your gallery show. And Kudos for continuing to eat your breakfast and log into fitday.


Anne (wndranne) - Yay for Bug Guy for showing up on time; Raspberries to Bug Guy for creating the tension.

Kudos for passing up Del Taco and going for your planned leftover spaghetti. Just love the power of planned. And thanks for "IMing" - yep, you have the right to tintinnabulate the language as much as Poe did.


Lisa (LisaMarie71) - Congrats on breaking the 220 barrier. Yep, you can do it - you are clearly on your way. I agree with ChinaMaine, don't rush to do personals; juggle your time as makes sense to you. But do keep posting, that's part of the Beck plan.

And Ouch for the old Starbursts; this Craving thing does seem to strike. It might be useful to do the Cheat Sheet on page 104 on that. Glad that you've carefully designed your food plan to account for nursing.


ChinaMaine - Big Kudos for excelling at lunges. You must have good core to do that. Feeling a little jealous here.

Kudos for continuing on plan with food and on plan with exercise. Laughing at the thought that we're the bad guys, but I share the experience of toeing the line so I don't have to fess up here on 3FC.


Jen (JenMusic) - Hat trick Kudos for: confronting cravings with NO CHOICE, making a Memory Card about it, and giving yourself credit on this board.

Interesting response to your hunger experiment. Nope, I didn't create a hunger by thinking about it. My experience was remarkably textbook - I felt hungry for about an hour then forgot about it. Just what Beck had predicted. Good luck on repeating your experiment.


Readers -"Here are guidelines for acquiring these skills.

...
• Try to eat healthy foods and eat reasonable portions.
• Avoid the temptation to load up on your favorite foods now." The Complete Beck Diet for Life, pg 51

:yay: The scales made a healthy drop this morning! I know this means they will go up the next 2 days and the net loss is miniscule, if any. But since I'm still letting every increase depress me, I might as well celebrate the times water weight works in my favor! I am getting better at focusing on everything I'm doing right (count your blessings with credits) instead of obsessing about a .4 pound weight increase. This is the way I need to eat to feel good and have a life, whatever the scales say. I may make minor adjustments but I'm not going to do anything different, ever. I've been avoiding aknowledging the fact that I've been "toeing up" to diabetes for some time now. It runs in my family, I check my mom's blood sugar regularly so occasionally I stick myself. I'm happy to report that since I've been avoiding the sugar binges, I've stopped having the shaky blood sugar drops I was experiencing. So I can eat right now and avoid damaging my system even further, or I can eat right later, when it's too late to undue the damage. There, putting that fear in writing helps me face it.

Made it through Costco AND BJ's yesterday without sampling! I knew I needed to feel good about something since the scales weren't providing a lift, and I recognized that as an opportunity for an esteem boost. They were out full force for the superbowl feasts and I barreled through there, screaming NO CHOICE (mentally). Whew! Credit Moi.

:bravo: Bill What a performance on the chocolates and deserts. A standard to live up to!

ChinaMaine Hope your cold went right back where it came from. :carrot: on weight down and keeping up the mindful eating!

JenMusic I too repeated the hunger experiment. Focusing on exactly what I was feeling did seem to accentuate the cravings / desire, but they didn't pass the "would eat anything test". Like the idea of "making a big deal out of the little things".. that will keep us going!

kuhljeanie Great job focusing on what's right in your life; it's so easy to lose sight of the big picture. I have to remind myself that everyone I love is healthy so everything else is minor. I'd be happy with anything being loose coming out of the dryer, much less the notoriously shrinking denim. Congrats!

robinW I've read that a large percentage of the population suffers wheat allergies in various degrees. Hope avoiding wheat products eliminates those pasta chest pains! Credit on the water increase, I'm working on that too. Happy to hear the creativity fairy visited, I'm still waiting for the Beck declutter bug to show up.

LisaMarie Congrats on the weight drop! :carrot: Reading cards to the baby is inspired!

Onebyone Credit for weighing food when you dread it. Using measuring cups I find myself mashing the food down to get more in! Who am I cheating / kidding? I'll use the scale more often.

Off to the gym - today's plan is ab class and step. Is it okay to hope for an easy instructor? :lol:

Thanks so much, everyone! I've only been part of this group for about a week and I've already felt so much support and encouragement from you. Wonderful!!

Thanks, Anne, for reminding me that I deserve credit for the changes I've made. I really do!

As for personals, I will get to them eventually, because I really enjoy that aspect of a group thread and I think it will help me if I stay updated on everyone. I like learning from everyone else's experiences!

On that note, (and ignore me if this has been done), do you think it would be good for us to share some of our Advantages from our Advantage Deck? Maybe we could do a separate thread, or just post one advantage at the end of each of our posts? I sometimes forget some of the side advantages to weight loss until I read things someone else finds important, and anything that can motivate me at this point is helpful. I'm so determined to stick with this and I refuse to back down, so I'm setting up all sorts of defenses, I guess!!

Good Morning Coaches

On Fitday I discovered my average calorie count so far is 2020. I was aiming for 1800-2000 so I am in the ballpark. I am 40/40/20. the 20 is protein, (20%), 40% fat, 40% carbs. Will have to see if I can reach for my goal today of 30/30/40(protein).
I do love my fat and my carb.
I also saw that I was regularly logging into Fitday in 2006 and on March 30, 2006 I weighed 237.2 this was news to me as I would have told you, had you asked, that I have been at or near 250 for about 4 years now. Apparently, this is not true. I was actually heartened to see that number. I can't really even see me under 240 ever again truth be told, and I know, I know, I have to get rid of this assumption or I will live up to my own expectations!
So this was good to see as it proves I WAS WRONG and therefore, and by extension, I am also most certainly wrong about never seeing anything under 240 ever again. So there.:snooty: hrmph.
BTW I forgot that using Fitday makes this whole food and eating thing seem like such a game. it's a good thing. "if i do X it will do what.... oh! I don't want Y... let's see I'll change X to x ... ah. Better."

I had the most perfect printing day ever yesterday. My prints went through the press flawlessly and fairly effortlessly! I was printing masonite plates, about 12"l x 8"w, that I carved images into with wood carving tools. (Masonite carves like butter. Easy.) The images are from my really big handmade book that will be on display as part of my third year apprenticeship show in the school gallery this week. I am having a real dilemma as to whether I allow people to touch and hold the books! My heart says "yes of course people have to touch these" and my head says "someone will break one, rip one, stain one, and you may need these yet to apply for some program/residency/master's program in the future. They are part of your portfolio and you have to keep them safe!"
I have to opt for safety so my books are displayed upright and fanned out so you can look in but you can't turn the pages (only this big one has traditional pages to be turned) so I decided to do extra work and print the plates individually to display them on the wall for people to see so they don't feel compelled to pry open my book.

I'm nervous about this show. My stomach is in knots. I hate/love openings. I have to get all my work out on display--find the pedestals for the gallery, arrange my 6 books in the very small space, put the pritns up on the walls, print up invitation cards, get the labels made, take photos, provide food and drink for the vernissage (aka the opening night this Thursday 5-7), decide whether I want to invite people or not. I usually just want it to all go away.

This weekend I am re-making my pop-up book. I have the accordion structure and the covers finished and they look good. Nice and square and clean and even (unlike the first version :o) and now I have to make the pop-ups. I have one that comes up and out (a toilet) and one that's a pull tab to make an arm move up and down and scratch a chin, and another to make a girl's head move forward to give a kiss. I'm procrastinating doing this so I'll start it when I log off from here. See how long this post is? It's called procrastination in action :rofl: I am very good at it.

davidette This is brilliantSo I can eat right now and avoid damaging my system even further, or I can eat right later, when it's too late to undue the damage. Awesome Beck thinking here and so very very true. I too will remember this as it was my own motivation for trying again after I had just given up and given in. And big kudos for running the gauntlet of the free food samplers. I am sure that took extra calories to do;)

BillBlueEyes I never thought about it until I read your post but Denise in my advanced studio class is a candy pusher! Why didn't I see this before? She can be counted on to bring in boxes of chocolates almost every week she has something. She, of course, is very thin. And, of course, it's cause she gives the chocolates away! Wow. Will be more prepared for this on Tuesday when I may face it once more. Kudos for your strategizing and then for applying same.

ChinaMaine Hi! You know I could do better too but sometimes we just do what we can and it has to be good enough. Oh Well... I, for one, think you are going along marvelously. Congrats on the weightloss, and for keeping track and for checking in!

wndranne Glad to hear your bug guys showed and everything worked out. Also equally pleased to hear how well things are going. And i can't resist! you wrote:I had to talk myself down from an after lunch craving for sweets, but managed to do it. Got myself distracted IMing a friend. Yes, that sentence is dangerously close to LOLspeak, but hey, language evolves. Well here it is, translated into LOLspeak:
I HAD 2 TALK MYSELF DOWN FRUM AN AFTR LUNCH CRAVIN 4 SWEETS, BUT MANAGD 2 DO IT. GOT MYSELF DISTRACTD IMIN FREND. YEZ, DAT SENTENCE IZ DANGEROUSLY CLOSE 2 LOLSPEAK, BUT HAY, LANGUAGE EVOLVEZ.:rofl::rofl: The translator is herehttp://speaklolcat.com/ it's horrifying yet addictive....:dizzy:kthnx.

LisaMarie71 Hi! Billblueeyes regularly invites us to share our advantages cards with each other so I'll just beat him to it and say post away! I am sure others will chime in too. And I would re-phrase this:I'm so determined to stick with this and I refuse to back down, so I'm setting up all sorts of defenses, I guess!! I wouldn't call them defenses, I'd call them supports and strategies. You are planning ahead. Very beck-like behaviour. Muchos kudos to you for that!

JenMusic Yes, I have done that, made myself hungry over thinking about hunger...but I don't think it was real hunger but desire to eat food x, experienced as hunger. My DH calls me an advertiser's dream as I'll be watching tv and see and ad for food x and then a half hour later I really really want food x! I won't remember we saw an ad but he does. I am very suggestible and if I dwell on food, I can make it happen that I am hungry. Credit to you for doing the Beck exercises. The time and effort to do them is well worth it. And yes, I'm a craft artist who went back to school to learn to be a fine artist... I'm finishing up my last semester of a three year program and I have a student show this week in the student gallery at school. We are a very hands-on school so we get to build up exhibition credits by putting on our own art shows while we are studying. It's good experience and good for the resume too.

kuhljeanie Hi! How's today going? you do have many large projects underway. When I find the burden of all things pressing down on me I do have to stop and smell the roses because most of the time these burdens are of my choosing. So different than what some other folks have to deal with. Although, that whole job thing is not of your choosing so extra sympathy there but you are so resourceful. I have no doubt you will come out for the better for all of this... BTW I trekked out to look at food sealers. I am planning to come on board with the freezer bags in a week or two... Yay!

RobinW Hi! the bus strike ended, so they officially say, because Parliament was going to hold an emergency vote to legislate them back and the writing was on the wall. So ONE HOUR before the vote that would force them to arbitration was scheduled to be held the two sides met and decided to do the same thing for themselves. Well now. As many people say, they could have done this weeks ago...but yes. It's over. I have another week of carpooling and then can be independent again. I am seriously considering an electric bike though. (They had one at, guess where.. Canadian Tire for $499 last year... it's still on their website.) I think I can see myself using that to get around. I'm a big transit user but I don't ever want to be stuck like this again. Not ever.

Hello to everyone reading this and have a good Saturday.

morning my dear coaches,

a quickie before i get crackin' with some food prep, made much easier since DH took el nino to the machine shop this morning just so i could sleep in, do my thing, whatever. since i didn't write it yesterday, my DH is a BIG HONKIN' ENORMOUS blessing to me.

sun is shining and i've gotten a little more sleep. had a good run yesterday, still ate some sugar i didn't really want after my "free" dinner (once a week) but have asked DH to get rid of it. (y'all were right - time to get it out of the house.) when i stop to think about it, it really is kind of amazing that even though the binging/couch slug tendencies are still there, i don't slide into them with nearly the same force that i used to, and i don't stay there for long at all. lots to appreciate there. also had a minor victory on the treadmill yesterday - a brief (2 minute) sprint at a 9:30 mile. felt every step but was thrilled that i could maintain that speed even for a few seconds. and thanks for the notes on the jeans. i'm still in a sort of wonderment about that - i haven't worn a 12 since i HAVE NO IDEA - high school? college? not sure, it's been that many decades. so yeah, wow! and can i just say that when i started this last year, i was in an 18-20. so there. everything is possible.

i will get back to personals soon, for sure, once i've gotten the old cup filled back up. i'm getting there. don't know what today will be like, but am reminding myself that everything i've ever felt, everything i've ever gone through, has been temporary, and so is this. we'll all be fine and for the most part already are. particularly el nino. :)

(china, no worries about "stinking thinking" from me - i was kidding about being a bad mommy. sometimes it's hard to communicate my refreshingly dry wit online. ;) )

crosspost! onebyone, PM (or email or call) me if you want some help figuring out how to get more protein in. mazel tov on your prints! can't wait to see the pictures.

crosspost! onebyone, PM (or email or call) me if you want some help figuring out how to get more protein in. mazel tov on your prints! can't wait to see the pictures.

Thanks for the offer! I am just choosing to eat more carbs and fat...not planning ahead like I should... but will definitely take you up on your offer if I try and can't get it right... I'll post pictures soon. Thanks! :hug:

Good Afternoon :wave:

Jen~ nope not magic (I dont think) :lol: But I can honestly say Ive never craved broccoli!! :lol3: Big kudos for coming here to post instead of snacking in the kitchen!!

Anne~ Yah for making it to dance without any issues! I love the computer distractions for keeping me away from food that I dont need. I like to play a game on msn games called flowers....keeps me out of the kitchen!!

Your comment about using the allergy as a justification for my plan of choice had me thinking all morning. I still dont know the answer :^: Ive known for years (12ish yrs now) that low carb has been the absolute best way of eating for me. I dont crave sugars, I feel absolutely wonderful, my eczema is a rare thing, I havent filled my asthma inhaler meds since May of '04, I dont get those crusty cracking heel issues....and many many more pluses. So the wheat allergy seems to be another thing that Ive noticed, and another reason why my food plan choice is smart.

It isnt a bad allergy, more of an uncomfortable thing....so that when Im eating properly I notice the little things I used to think were just part of my eating poorly.

Jusitification? Yes and No, but definitely solidifies my choices as being smart ;) Thanks for making the think about that one :)

ChinaMaine~ I dont know if soya has wheat, I'll have to check the ingredients. I think once I get all the other stuff out of my system, the little bit in the soya sauce shouldnt be an issue. Seems the big hunks of it are ver noticable.

Bill~ BIG Kudos for turning down the "candy pusher" (I love that title :lol: ) Its so much harder to turn down the quality stuff. That cheapy stuff is easy (usually). Good going! Let us know how succesful you are at getting your new cooking "tools".

LisaMarie~ good idea! Id be willing to share some of my response cards. Id like to see it here so I can find it all month....maybe we can start after Bill posts the February thread?

onebyone~ Good luck at your show!!! I think you'll do great!
Things I do to bump up my protien.... one protein serving at each meal. Protein shake for breakfast (every single morning) Or eggwhite omlettes when Im out of protein powder. Lunches also always have protein, soups have had shredded chicken or egg whites for protein. Tuna, salmon are also in my lunch menus. Also I'll have the greek yogurt instead of that other lowfat crap that you get now. The yogurt I have is fat free and has 14 grams of protein! Dinner...a serving is suppose to be 3oz....I usually eat 4-6oz(sometimes more) of protein with my veggies. Cheese is another way to sneak in a few more grams. Different cereals have protein...Kashi go lean crunch is awesome and I think (but not positive) it adds another 7grams of protein.

I eat so much chicken, Im surprised I dont have feathers and cluck!

Jean :wave:

Im off to get some grocery shopping done today. Some food planning for next week. I think Id might like a different soup.

Have a great day everyone!

Coaches/Buddies On plan today so far, which is an accomplishment. I've been very munchy today, and have been working hard to fight it, so I thought I'd stop in to post. After this I'm going to work on DD's web site.

Things are ok today, although I'm a LOT on the tired side considering I got 7+ hrs of uninterrupted sleep. I'm chewing gum, which is not a Beck recommended strategy, but I keep wanting sweets, and it isn't a habit, so it'll do for today. Kids are both napping (or at least in quiet time). Plan is changing (legitimately) for tonight since DH wants to go out to eat. I have a plan for both potential restaurants. I'm visualizing following through.

ChinaMaine Being sick makes everything harder. You get EXTRA credit for doing things well today. Hope you feel better soon!

BillBlueEyes If the candy thing is getting regular, and you want some, can you plan for it? Don't know if it is worth it to you, but it is something to consider. I often include IF-THENs in my plan, or an OR, if I know an uncertain situation is coming up. Nice work on the dessert spread!

Thanks for the vocabulary builder. I had to look tintinnabulate up.

davidette Hooray for dropping scales! (Sometimes I'd love to drop mine!) I think the blood sugar news is even better. And congrats on getting through Costco and BJs unscathed. I'm having an easier time at Costco since Bill's "not like it's real food" observation.

LisaMarie71 Lisa, I'm glad you're here! Old and new friends abound here. Oddly, I feel sort of private about my Advantages list. I don't mind sharing with people who are in this journey with me, but it feels wrong to me to just put it all out there where everyone I ever meet has the ability to google this particular bit of what passes for my biggest insecurities forevermore. Does that make sense? So PM me, and I'll give you permission to access my private site where you can read my list. That goes for any regular posters here.

onebyone I think reading about how you do your art is just FASCINATING!! Feel free to procrastinate here any time. Funny how the past comes back. I kept a journal for about 3 weeks in 2003, and there was some really amazing stuff in there. I'm glad Fitday is working out for you.

That LOLspeak stuff is just too scary! BTW: I put tintinnabulate in it and got back tintinnabulate. At least some things are constant.

kuhljeanie 9:30s! Yes! So when will you be picking up your first pair of 12s, or are the 14s so big you need to go straight to 10s??

RobinW I eat so much chicken, Im surprised I dont have feathers and cluck!
Good thing you're on the Fat Chicks site then huh, and not 7 Fat Turtles are something!! :) Bad joke??

If you are mixing up the soups, may I recommend lentil? MMMMM!

Anne

Good afternoon Beckie! Been a trying few days. I had a dental implant put in
(titanium base) and will get my new tooth in March. Got my exercise bike together and put it to good use before surgery. I added my Response cards to My Day on my Mac so I can read it each day. Haven't been out to eat yet and will plan on going next wednesday as my son is signing a letter of intent for college (scholarship). Anyhow, freaking out about eating out.... I will have to have a plan. Last night I was mad that I couldn't eat pizza and drink Beer:(.
As I was sitting at my desk this week checking books in and out, I look up the word Delusional. I have been so delusional with my thoughts in the past....the reason I can't/couldn't lose weight had a lot to do with me thinking that my eating here and there (especially out to eat and on weekends) thinking it wasn't that big of deal....I have blamed it on my hysterectomy and metabolism for so long....Couldn't have been the extra 1000-2000 cals I wasn't planning for or lack of exercise :dizzy::dizzy:

Anyhow, while my family was eating pizza and off plan food, I
jumped in the bathtub and listened to a Cd "Thin for Life" to meditate on why I am changing for the better.

Glad you are here doing the daily duty and I do't have to think that I am the only one. I learn from each of you and am encouraged.

Blessings,
Rachel

I had a very happy day!! I don’t have a good explanation about why I was so happy today, but I couldn’t keep the silly happy smile off my face. Maybe it’s that it was 30 degrees instead of below zero. Maybe it was the beautiful sunshine, or the fact that I felt pretty close to healthy. (I’m still stuffed up, but feel great otherwise.) But more likely, it’s this group. I feel like I’m really on the road to being healthy and, someday, even being thin again! :D So, credit to you all for being so supportive on this path (and to J Beck for writing her riteous book)!

Food – I did great today – credit! (Hmmm I just seem to be to happy about everything, so I’ll try to modulate my joy and happiness a bit…) In addition to following my plan, and remembering to take a high protein afternoon snack with me today, I tried a new recipe that was quite tasty: Chicken Tamale Casserole. And now I have healthy leftovers for days! Credit, moi!
Exercise: I did my 45 minutes plus spontaneous exercise. I’m really learning to appreciate the power of NO CHOICE…
Beck – Weigh-In: down 0.5 lbs. So credit moi! I read my cards, read part of skill 5. reminded myself to eat slowly and taste my food. However, although I was clearly full during dinner, I kept eating because I was enjoying the casserole so much. So that’s something to work on in the future.


Bill – I love the candy pusher story! You’ve demonstrated thoughtful ways to handle difficult / tempting social situations. So give yourself extra credits for both!

onebyone – Your story about looking back at fitday includes a great insight. And you are right – your thinking will affect your future. So credit tu! You are on your way to disproving your most entrenched fears.

davidette – Bravo for the weight loss, the positive attitude and for avoiding the evil food pushers in Costco!

LisaMarie71 – I’m happy to share one of my ‘Advantages’: ‘I’ll be able to hike moderate++ trails again.’ My husband and I like to hike on weekends, but I haven’t been able to do a couple flight of stairs, much less a challenging hike, for a couple of years. It’s really important to me that, come spring, he and I can be out hiking in Acadia and Camden again. 

Jeanie – You sound like you’re having a better day – so I’m glad for that… You are having victories, large and small, in spite of the cup that’s not yet full. That’s really impressive, so credit tu! I’m especially impressed by your ability to keep long standing habits and tendencies at bay…

Anne – Bravo for being on plan. Although you got 7 hours of sleep last night, it won’t make up for multiple nights where you got less than that. It will probably take a bit longer for you to feel refreshed, so give yourself extra credits for being on plan when you are still tired…

Rachel Credits for making it easier for you to read your cards every day! And avoiding the temptation of off-plan food. Re delusional – I was thinking similar things today. And you are right, being honest with ourselves has to be step 1… Bravo for the deep thoughts!

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