Yes, a busy day here, too. We had to fill out our ballots and drop them off in addition to many other errands today...DH has a brain injury and his friend (also TBI) called to ask if I would help him write a letter. *credit* I told him I had to eat some lunch first...had a small salad and made a vegie smoothie after finishing the letter.
Beverlyjoy, I liked the link and the suggestion of adding a bit more fruit is a good one. I don't put celery in, because I think it makes it bitter. The processing of the veggies is supposed to be superior to just eating them, especially since they are raw....you might try again.
CeeJay, keep up the good work!
Sorry, I have to keep moving this afternoon. everyone!! Glad to hear of such great successes with halloween candy. I had 1 pc. of hard candy the day after so I consider that success. We have a FREE food event this afternoon at our athletic club. Hopefully there will be healthy food.
'Lo, Beckmates, it will be a late night for me watching election results. As much as I have been involved and engaged in the political process my whole life, suffice it to say, never, never has a state election outcome impacted me so greatly. In my state, the outcomes from the votes cast today are night and day, big darned deals.
*sigh..
I remember the 1968 presidential election night..... staying up until midnight with my dad..and not knowing the outcome until the next morning..and the gubernatorial race in Minnesoda in '98...and the surprise we the people had delivered to ourselves in the persona of Gov. Jesse....
On the lighter side, life goes on. Last night, I had to let the dawg out at about 3 AM...the Brush Wolves were howlin' up a storm, so I stepped outside to listen. That was enough of a *life moment in itself, to be sure, but the stars just accosted me..they just attacked me! I have never, never, in my whole long life of living almost entirely in the country, have I seen such a display..it was like pimples on top of pimples..*sigh. Hope to be awakened again at such an hour, as it is an equally clear night.
Hugs to Beckmates with challenges..I feel it necessary to share with you what is working for me at the moment..I'm reading my advantage cards at night, since I really am pressed for time in the morning..thanks to my Beck coach who suggested that...I had never thought of it..I shared that before..what I need to confess is, right now, my advantage cards are all negative....they are all negative..It seems to me, all the Beck suggestions are positive.."I will feel better in swimwear"..whatever..mine are all..mine are all negative.."I have muffin top over my jeans"..whatever..a long list..here's the deal..in terms of human motivation, fear of loss out weighs greed of gain..I have to focus on what I have lost..will report back
AACCCHHH!!! Still too close to call??? Does*every election have to be this close??
Today was another good day. I went grocery shopping and picked up a few things. I'm heading out of town this weekend, so I didn't need to stock up. Thank goodness the options have expanded.
Also, someone on here was talking about Honeycrisp apples. I hadn't tried them before but some last week. They are amazing! Picked up a few more of those today, so I'm looking forward to having some tomorrow.
I exercised today. I had all kinds of excuses even as I was walking out the door, but decided I could only choose not to do it once I got to the gym, which worked. Once I got on the treadmill, I actually enjoyed myself. I may have gotten a little carried away, because I ended up walking for 70 minutes and going a total of 4.5 miles. Hopefully, I'm not too worn out tomorrow. Hoping to get back out there again tomorrow, but stick to 45 minutes or so.
BillBE—Congratulations on avoiding the candy. It does seem like you have an unusual amount of temptations coming lately. It’s bad enough when the brain is the only enemy; when the forces of nature seemed determined to get chocolate past your lips, it’s a much more difficult endeavor. But you are staying the course.
BelovedK—Yay for exercise and for reading the advantage/response cards.
BeverlyJoy—Dish soap on butterfingers is a clever way to prevent yourself from eating the candy. I can’t believe how much candy kids were running around with…it’s a wonder they could blink after all that sugar. I checked out the green drink because I thought it might be close to my salad in a milkshake, but Dr. Oz’s has way more vegetables. This is the link for the “green monster” http://greenmonstermovement.com/ I usually use two big handfuls of spinach, frozen berries, a bit of peanut butter and some flax seed. Lately, I’ve been omitting the peanut butter and adding a little bit of honey for sweetness. I sometimes throw in half a banana if I’ve got some around.
GardenerJoy—Good luck with your busy day! Hooray for voting!
Lexxiss—Good job on setting limits and getting in lunch before helping out with the letter.
Maryblu—Hope you have a good night of watching election results (and hopefully, they start to turn around for you. It’s amazing the things we don’t get to see when we are sleeping. The stars can be absolutely breathtaking. I’m glad you got wowed (even enough to hope you have to wake up again at that hour). It’s something I miss when I’m not in the country, stars that go on and on and on.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - I did good; I didn't go where the FREE cookies were available for two hours spanning lunch to celebrate Cookie Monster's birthday; CREDIT moi. They were notrare or unusual foods worth being an exception to my eating plan. And I felt in need of a micro-demonstration to myself that I was serious about staying the course - exercising my resistance muscle in Beck speak. So, Double CREDIT moi. Feels good thinking about that. DW asked me what I did, and said she'd have gone for the cookie. This is DW who remains at her high school weight. <sigh> . . . we're a mixed marriage.
Took my long walk after work; CREDIT moi. It felt great arriving home in a wet shirt that would make me cold if I paused outside in the cool air. Some houses were still decorated with spider webs and tomb stones.
maryblu - Was nearly in tears reading your moment with Brush Wolves and attacking stars - what a life! Then I read, "it was like pimples on top of pimples" and I'm stuck with this eyeworm for the day, LOL.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."[Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities] Hope this helps.
Beverlyjoy - A good Butterfinger is a soaped Butterfinger; Kudos.
Debbie (Lexxiss) - Kudos for recognizing that you have to take care of yourself even when you're helping others. That's so easy to forget. "Put on your own oxygen mask first then assist your children."
MinniePaul - Yay for Honeycrisp apples - big fan here. Had one for my evening snack last night. Kudos for recognizing all the excuses not to exercise and for using the strategy that you could choose not to do it after you got to the gym.
BelovedK - Yay for Response Card and Advantage Card; they work.
Readers -
Quote:
day 41 Make a New to-Do List
Do these activities between once a day and once a week:
Weigh yourself at least once a week (daily, if you prefer).
Discuss your weight change and dieting experiences with your diet coach at least once a week.
Do planned exercise at least three times a week.
Continue to make sure that you have enough time and energy to devote to dieting.
Read your Advantages Response Card as needed.
Use anti-craving techniques.
Use the Seven Question Technique when you're upset.
Prepare yourself psychologically for special-occasion eating.
Do problem solving to reduce stress.
Take steps to enrich your life.
The Beck Diet Solution, pg 261.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 11-04-2010 at 04:39 AM.
Good morning everyone,
You all seem to have a wonderful community. I am hoping I can participate. I am 35, married, a mom of 5-year-old twins, and currently back in school to get my second bachelor’s degree – this one in nursing. It is a very intensive 12-month program and not the ideal circumstance for prioritizing weight loss but I am going to do the best I can.
My problem is this: I am not overweight but I suck at not gaining weight. The only reason I am not overweight is that I am perpetually either 1) devoting huge amounts of time and energy to losing, or 2) gaining slowly until I reach my upper acceptable threshold (where I am now). I am not comfortable at the weight I am now but I feel like I could live with being about 7 lbs lighter (I am 5’9” and 157 now) and would ideally like to be around 145. Once I get there though, as I have in the past, I start to eat whatever I want and gain it all back.
Last winter I spent obsessive amounts of time at the gym and tracked every calorie for 3 months – got down to 145, still wasn’t happy, and decided I needed to change my attitude. I had developed a very strained and unstable relationship with food, jumping back and forth between careful tracking and ‘good days’, with huge dinners, treats, and general compensatory eating other days. I decided to just stop everything and focus on having a more balanced approach to eating. That was last June or so. The balanced approach never really happened as now, over the course of 5 months, I am up 10 lbs.
So, I know how to diet and how to lose weight, but not how to pass up food at other times, and not give into eating pizza, wine, ice cream, etc... because I am tired, stressed, celebrating, winding down’ or even just ‘not dieting’.
My hope is that the Beck Diet Solution will allow me to learn what I need to do to be a successful maintainer, and also get me back to a weight that I am more comfortable at. I have both books and am thinking I will just do everything as laid out in the Beck Diet for life book. I am a little overwhelmed by all the ‘tasks’, though, and am going to have to sort out how to get started.
Did anybody follow the food plan in the green book (Beck Diet for Life)? How did that work out for you? I like to cook seasonally, get my produce and meat from local farms, etc.. The recipes feel a little restrictive and dull to me, but I can’t quite face having to track calories again.
Did anybody have difficulty losing at the recommended calorie level? I am willing to lose at a slow and steady rate for the payoff of never having to do this again.. just wondering how much exercise I am going to have to throw in to lose at 1800 cal/day. THANK YOU!!
Quick hi to all..since it was a short night, or a long night, depending on how you look at it..should realize by now in Minnesoda we have to be patient for election outcomes.
Got my evening gawk at the stars in again, and was rewarded with the same starry, starry night.
MinniPaul, Honeycrisps are a Minnesoda apple, developed by my very own alma mater, the U of M. If you have sticker shock with the price (I grow my own), try a Honey Gold (also developed here) as a reasonably good alternative. They are available here for 99 cents per pound.
Welcome Espy. I look forward to learning from another Beck coach.
Fighting off some "I don't care" vibes. Not to mention just a whole lot going on right now. I have, in the past, abandoned weight loss efforts when things got busy. Of course, in the past, I never managed to get a weight loss journey to last more than a month or so. So, I'm not that worried, but I don't like the pattern I'm seeing. Time to change things up.
Someone asked, so NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month -- an annual November challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. The Great Gatsby is about that long. Most modern novels are about twice that. So, really, it's about writing a skeleton first draft of a novel in a month. I've tried writing novels in the past and never got farther than about a half dozen scenes. This is my third year doing NaNo and I have two completed (albeit very bad) novels under my belt. The second was light years better than the first, so, if I keep going, I think some day I will produce one that is worth looking at again after November. Maybe this year! Either way, it's really fun with all the other people doing it, too. Kind of like running a marathon for bookish-type people.
WI: -0.45kg, Exercise: +0 45/1350 minutes for November, Food: 60%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
BillBlueEyes: Thanks for the Dickens! Best first line ever!
Welcome, Esby! I followed the diet in the green book over the summer and lost weight quickly -- but it's the lowest carbohydrate diet I have ever tried and I didn't manage to increase the protein and fat as much as was required to compensate. The net result was eating fewer calories than was actually in the plan so I lost weight at the rate of 2-3 pounds a week instead of the 0.5-1 that is more normal for me. I like exchange plans and, as evidenced by my behavior on the Beck diet, I do a lot of estimating and only a little measuring. Currently, I'm using Richard Simmons FoodMover (an exchange plan) with the 1200 calorie card, but with my loosey-goosey ways, I'm probably eating closer to 1500 calories and I'm losing that 0.5-1 pound a week again. It's fast enough and my husband reports that I'm less cranky than I was over the summer.
Hello to all my Beck Buddies….. Just a quick check in as it has been a very busy two days. I have stayed OP with eating and yesterday I put the NO CHOICE into action and it was truly quite empowering. Busy as I was I had scheduled a two mile walk. Oh I was trying to come up with any and every excuse why I was too busy. After a hundred NO CHOICES I just went for the darn walk and felt great about it. Good news – down a pound! I will be back later to check in with everyone. Stay Strong…..
Today is day 14 on track for me! This is the about the point where I have failed and given up completely in the past, but this time is different and I'm not giving up this time! Today I'm going out to eat with a friend for the first time since I started. I'm going to read my ARC/response cards beforehand and make sure that I eat super slowly and stop before I'm full.
Yesterday I got really hungry in the late afternoon and instead of feeling panicked and anxiety and some sabotaging thought, my initial thought was "oh good, this means I haven't eaten too much", so my thinking is starting to change
So, this is around the time I usually falter, and today... I am afraid I am. This morning I had good intentions. I worked in the book and wrote in my notebook, read my response, advantage cards.. But I just made spaghetti sauce for dinner that is OP, and I just ate a couple of small cups of it after lunch I basically ate what I would have eaten tonight
I feel too full, and bloated and just awful.
I suppose I will only eat the veggie tonight and be okay, but just the fact that I did this speaks volumes. I don't know how to think about it. I have been doing so well (when I started Beck, I was already doing SBD)
Seems like we are all getting busy !! I need to always prioritize coming here though because you folks are my support.
I had a 'no choice' moment today around exercise. Some thoughts of 'who cares' popped up and I had to squash them down. It does matter and I do want to be at a healthy weight. So I did my exercise time and it felt terrific.
Bill - DH found someone who delivered the compost a year ago. I think we got a dump truck load, and it was probably from a local sheep & turkey farm. I'm getting the last of it worked into the garden this fall. Here in the country we do things large
Welcome to the new faces. This group is very supportive and can help you feel motivated to follow the Beck skills.
I just reread my post and realize that I didn't explain why I was so upset. It sounds kind of silly and a teeny thing to be upset about.
I was eating and was not hungry, and ate enough that I almost felt sick (yet kept eating,) and up until now, I had been following things so well. I guess I am somewhat of a perfectionist, but in the past, this kind of behavior is what threw me off track every. single. time. I am just afraid of being thrown off track and not finding my way back to the path. That was why I posted
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Went to a photo exhibit with entries by some friends at work; love that some folks have the gift of finding a different way to see common stuff. But, there were FREE oatmeal raisin cookies for refreshments - LARGE ones. It annoys me no end that I'm drawn to LARGE cookies as if I were a kid. I actually had to wrestle with the thought for a few seconds, but I had none; CREDIT moi.
Standard breakfast, lunch, dinner, and three snacks; Standard gym. CREDITs moi all.
maryblu - I pay $3/pound for Honeycrisps directly from the grower at our farmer's market, but have a grocery store that sells them for only $1.50/pound (with all other apples at $.99/pound). I wish their season was longer; we get them for a few weeks and then they disappear.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - It's amazing that busy allows "I don't care" to pop up; Kudos for spotting it and planning a response.
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - [Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina (1877)]
KAM (McKt) - Yep, the old NO CHOICE is, "truly quite empowering." Kudos for just taking that darn walk.
grouse - That's the best response to hunger that I've ever heard, "oh good, this means I haven't eaten too much" - Kudos for that insight. You've got the strategies now to burst right through that 14 day hump and just keep going.
BelovedK - It seems to work wonders to dig out the feelings that go with eating; they lose their power when exposed. Kudos for spotting perfectionism as one of your challenges. [My DW would just die for a whole dump truck load of turkey manure - beyond even dreams for a small city yard.]
Esby - Yay for nurses; while politicians talk endlessly about how to fix the U.S. health care system, nurses are quietly making it work. Good luck beginning your new career.
My take is that you've put your finger on a major issue for all of us, "how to pass up food at other times" - there's just so much food constantly available that much time is spent each day passing it by. I do think that the Beck strategies help with that - they certainly have helped me. My eating plan is a homegrown version of portion control. I've seen successful folks who post on 3FC search around a bit to find the eating plan that fits them. Glad you're here.
Readers -
Quote:
day 41 Make a New to-Do List
Do these activities as often as needed (once a day, once a week, or less often, but certainly whenever you're in danger of straying from your diet):
Plan and monitor what you eat. Ideally, if you keep up one practice from this program for the rest of your life, this would be it. But if you find this task too burdensome, you can experiment with planning and monitoring in your head rather than writing down your food plan. Try it for a couple of days. If you do well, continue. But the moment you hit a rough patch - whenever you find yourself eating too much - start writing down what you plan to eat and monitor in writing what you actually do eat every day. DON'T GIVE YOURSELF A CHOICE ABOUT THIS. . . .
Hi coaches...friends - the last two days were very healthy until last night. - phooey. I overate last night. Before that, however, I did all of my daily Beck tasks.
Some of you know that I have been dealing with a foot that needs surgery and two health related delays in that surgery. That I injured my other foot (formerly known as the 'good foot'). I started Physical Therapy of the other foot so I can finally have this surgery and have a good leg/foot to stand on. The doctor told me to schedule my surgery for December 2.
Doctor gave me a new brace for this other foot. I felt 'new pain' from it and freaked out and overate. I think I need to ease myself into this brace adding more time each day.
Coaches/friends - Any ideas on the best way to cope with pain and alot of stress of dealing with it all - without overeating. I don't want this to continue. Eating is such a 'gut reaction' for me in relating to pain. I made up a response card about food not during pain or the stress around all 'this'.
Lexxiss and MinniePaul - thanks for the different ideas for a better tasting green smoothie. I made one that tasted pretty good. I appreciate the nudge to keep trying different recipes and tweeking them.
WELCOME to esby.
I'll come back to personals later.
Have a great day. This is a day where I need to take my own advice - treat yourself as well as you would a good friend.
__________________
Last edited by Beverlyjoy; 11-04-2010 at 06:41 AM.
Wednesday - The Day after
I basically ate what I would have eaten tonight 
