[gardenerjoy]

My snacks were slightly smaller yesterday. I'm going to claim a CREDIT for that and aim for smaller again today. The gradual approach often works for me if I take credit and stick with it.

Today's challenge is an awkwardly timed doctor's appointment. But the good part is that I can't eat while I'm there. So, I think I can handle it. I have a plan -- CREDIT!

WI: -0.45 kg, Exercise: +40 80/1300 minutes for September, Food: 90% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

nationalparker: I change my Advantages when they quit working! Mostly it's been because I've lost (or gained) and what's written down doesn't seem applicable at the moment. I also add things sometimes if there's something motivating me. Right now, I have one that says "I want to feel skinny for my Cuba trip."

[nationalparker]

I have GOT to rescue this day by dinnertime. I took a vacation day, did my volunteer time at the elem school for the first time this school year. Thought I'd do more FUN things today on a vac day from work. Only housecleaning by my own choice - errands, as well. It's about 90 degrees and muggy and I don't even want to do a firepit tonight.

We both thoroughly enjoyed A Walk in the Woods at the movie, and came home and hit the trail in the dark just to get moving after sitting so long.

Today I've not made good choices. Well, breakfast was fine/light. Lunch was late and as i was alone and feeling frustrated that my capris are tight and the scale is not budging. REGARDLESS of the fact that my normal cycles are all a bit out of whack right now, I took it as failure and thought what the heck. So for the first time in a year, I stopped and got an order of Rally's garlic sticks and fries (three skinny mozz sticks and mine was an order of 18 french fries. I counted as I ate bc I said I'd eat 15 fries, not knowing how many would be in there. I ate all 18 since I didn't even THINK to throw the last few away. Apparently it's way easier if I think I'm being very good leaving more for another time (real food) or tossing (junk).

Then came home and had a homemade biscotti. Why stop there is my mind now. Not sure what the issue is. Capris were dried in the dryer by accident so of course they're tighter than normal.

Think I'm just in a spot of why bother - nothing I've done in the past month has moved me any lower on the scale, but I can't see my insides and maybe it's helping for heart health, etc. I should keep that in mind. No one wants to hear more griping and grumbling so I'll hush up

A few months ago I bought the book, "Beautiful You" when a forum member here said she was reading it for self-acceptance. I haven't even started it and thought I should kick it off with my birthday next week. DH's mom's birthday is Monday and my 50th is next week as well. I feel about 39. So when DH mentions it's a big one, I recoil. WHY? I am thankful to be alive. Thankful to be able to see, hear, walk, talk, work, love, think, everything that I seem to take for granted on a daily basis. Why do I let the fact that I have extra fat get into my mind so much?

Dinner is planned - finally the bruschetta and turkey sausage. We thought we'd find another movie to splurge and go see since we're not going out of town for the weekend. Nothing is calling, though.

[SuzLen]

Dear Coaches,

As I thought it might, the scale was up a tad this morning. I took a picture and looked at it throughout the day. That helped until I was stuck at school for a carnival and they brought pizza in for us before it started. I lie not, I was ravenous. Thank goodness it was super thin crust and cut into 16ths. I ate but didn't stuff, then as I decided to throw caution to the wind and go out for chocolate. However, I turned around before I even got to the car and told myself "no!". So CREDIT for that.

I am too tired to exercise tonight, so I am opting for a good night's rest instead. We are headed to Tennessee tomorrow to do some work around the house for my mother. It is an 8 hour drive so we won't get in until the wee hours of the morning, but we will at least have two full days to help her out.

nationalparker: you hit it on the head: we have so much to be grateful for. Do you feel better mentally and physically trying to eat better? I know I do. I don't know why I struggle so much when I do feel so much better when I eat as I should. At our age, I think our bodies just run so slow metabolically. I feel like my body thinks it is being tricked into losing weight and is fighting back. I need to show it I mean business - then maybe it will give in and start shedding a few.

eusebius: good for you for steering clear of the brownie pan, a real temptation in my house. Hope your weekend reunion is a good one!

Lexxiss: That is a long shift - are you even in the mood for food after working around it all day?

gardenerjoy: When is your trip to Cuba?

No exercise tomorrow since we will be on the road - but at least I know I won't eat a ton at my mom's. Hanging around her is what helped kicked off my weight loss this summer - she rarely eats!!

Have a good night.

[onebyone]

Coaches

I'm checking in by phone so will be brief with typos no doubt.

Went to WW and saw scale rises again. Week 3. Up 5lbs over the three weeks. Expected it but felt demoralized. I thought how the heck can I always keep losing weight as my number one focus? It seems when it slips from priority #1 I eat and therefore I gain. 5lbs. 272.8. Credit for weighing though as I didn't get there last week due to being overscheduled.

Finished my second and last residency week today. Did some good work. Now I am facing clearing out the studio so I can work there through the fall and into the winter. I want it close to.empty. I have not succeeded in my decluttering efforts. Like weight loss I feel I always fall back into old.familiar lousy territory. Have I accomplished anything at all is what I have been feeling followed by the why bothers. But that's the saboteur talking. I need to keep on going.

Thanks for reading.

[eusebius]

Checking in again. Credit for posting daily. Credit for staying mostly on plan (2 extra ribs at dinner last night - oh well). Credit for getting up and doing yoga this morning. I have such a mix of emotions about this family weekend. I love seeing my nephew, but my mom drags me down. I have to find a way to work with seeing her without losing my positivity.

Tonight: fake "birthday" party for the two kids with pizza and cake. Sigh. I will make sure I'm not ravenous when I go there.

[gardenerjoy]

Still working on reduced snack sizes.

WI: +0.2 kg, Exercise: +30 110/1300 minutes for September, Food: 90% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

SuzLen: the Cuba trip is in mid-October -- not very far away now!

[maryann]

Good morning, Coaches.

12 Days OP foods but the portions are stopping me from losing weight. Scale is one pound from ticker. Today I have a written plan and then I ate some dried fruit for no reason particular reason. Baffling. But I restarted the next minute. I love my Fridays off. Hair appt, rings cleaned, library, lots of putter which help me decompress after the ultra busy school life.

Tomorrow we head to the city to see Billy Joel at ATT Park. 13yoDS is super excited. "He is my greatest musical influence," he said. LOL he also downloads Steely Dan and Hall and Oats from iTunes. The kid is nothing if not unique. I am determined to keep to my healthy foods list despite eating out several times.

It is easier to stay OP than to get back OP.

[curlyjax]

hi coaches-
a quick check in. I have been off the bandwagon again and avoid posting because I don't want to come here and keep admitting only mistakes. I have got to get my motivation back!
I wonder if you can be hypnotized to avoid sugar? some days I think I should look into that!

Happy long weekend. Keep on plugging all!

[love2garden]

CREDIT: Food on plan. CREDIT: Over 4 hours Heavy Gardening. CREDIT: lots and lots of water.

NationalParker

I carried them on the plane home from Florida as they remind me of my mom. I inhale that sickeningly sweet scent and breathe, childhood...

When you bring them inside do they bloom again indoors? I agree the aroma is bautiful, but if contained in the house could overpower one.

Mom grew roses in Florida as a test garden for Jackson Perkins for years. I'd love to have the beauty she made, but can't get roses to grow here t all.

MaryAnn Bet you will have fun with your son and the invigorating music of Billy Joel.

Oneby one You did go and you did weigh even if the number was a huge disappointment. You can declutter and also dicipline to lose weight now that you'll have a bit more time to concentrate on yourself.

Debbie So glad you and your DH has some real one-on-one time together. No matter how long we've been married, that is so necessary. Hope the doctor is able to help his shoulder problem.

CurlyJax Would you really trust another to hypnotize you and get into your precious brain? I hope not. I have enough trouble with thinking without another "voice" in there!

Bill Hope your weather held up and you had great energy to enjoy your camping trip.

We are going out for our Date Night tonight after so many hours in the garden. Thank goodness they have great Hot Tea because we will need it to stay awake.

My each of you have an enjoyable weekend. Sandy

[nationalparker]

Aiming to enjoy posting personals in the morning. In the meantime, this was a bust of a day. We went to the town an hour away to pick up snow tires that were ordered, and that turned into HOURS. Got a gorgeous geranium for DH's grandfather's grave and so went by there and cleaned that up ... then back to town and I was getting sick from the tire smell in the car - yuck. Basically errands all day and none were mine. I guess just spending time together on the menial stuff is good, but tomororw I want to tackle MY menial stuff...

Food was in good portions, not the most nutritious since no veggies again, but ate dinner at 8 - homemade pancakes. That's easy for me to control portions as I make them small and when you're full, you're FULL. Saved the $ of dinner out tonight. Both of us wanted to go out while we were out and about.

quick note to Love2Garden in case I forget tomorrow - in the winter, those gardenias will go dormant, if they survive at all ... so unfortunately no super sweet smell to even worry about. I have brought about a dozen back through the years - the only ones that have made it are the ones I brought back after mom passed. Funny, that.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies – We had a marvelous four days camping in western Massachusetts. On yesterday's hike, we saw a Mink - first I've ever seen in the wild. The two beavers we encountered while kayaking each went underwater with a loud splash of their tail so that we got the full beaver-effect. Possibly we saw a Golden Eagle - but I was so tuned to see one that I likely turned a Turkey Vulture into one. We kayaked every day in the nooks and crannies of the lake on which we were camped. The campground had hot showers. It was the best of both worlds.

Eating was on plan rather easily, CREDIT moi - there was only the food that we brought. On the one day that we had driven to climb the small local 'mountain,' we stopped for lunch at the town's breakfast-and-lunch place where I had a vegetarian sandwich. I came home with four days without a bite of meat. My arteries flow so happily.


onebyone – Congrats for finishing your second week in residency. Kudos for continuing with Weight Watchers.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – The notion that we must respond to hunger is so engrained. Kudos for recognizing that you can do Hunger is Not an Emergency instead. And Kudos for beating your August exercise goal by ten minutes. (Thanks for providing the pointer to the September thread.)

Erika (eusebius) – An additional job sounds about par for an uber busy person to take on. Welcome to your September "start it off right."

Debbie (Lexxiss) – LOL at your image of "food flying around for the taking."

maryann - Have a great time at the Billy Joel concert today. Totally agree with "It is easier to stay OP than to get back OP."

nationalparker – Congrats for choosing a DH who will take your comforters to the laundromat - he's a keeper.

curlyjax - Such great words: kayaking, Wegmans, and "kitchen closed now!"

Sandy (love2garden) - Ouch for the ordeal with that tooth; glad that it's only 10 weeks until you can get it fixed.

SuzLen - Super Kudos for staying OP on a school day.

howyoulose - Kudos for recognizing that your work issues are invading your thinking so you can get started again. Let the new September Beck thread be part of your new start.

Readers -

Chapter 1 Are You Trapped?

The Beck Team Approach

We (Judith Beck, Ph.D., and Deborah Beck Busis, LCSW, my daughter, coauthor, and diet program coordinator at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Philadelphia) developed a program for our diet clients over the course of many years. My first book, The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person, and a workbook were based on this program. The book didn't include a diet; instead, it taught dieters a series of skills to lose weight, many of which you'll read about in the next chapter.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., Deborah Beck Busis, The Diet Trap Solution, Train Your Brain to Lose Weight and Keep It Off for Good (Blue book), pg. 8

[eusebius]

Good morning Coaches,

Just got back from a long run. Credit! 10 WW points torched Other credits: said NO CHOICE to myself after dinner last night; stuck to 1 piece of pizza and 1/4 piece of Dairy Queen cake at the unbirthday party; daily meditation every day this week; continuing to read response cards several times a day. It works if you work it!!

Today: potluck brunch at the home of a meditation group friend. I’m bringing a WW-friendly salad so I’ll focus on that. Also going out for dinner with the family, but I’m planning to order salad with grilled chicken at whatever restaurant we end up at, so that should be fine.

maryann - wow your son has unique musical tastes

curlyjax - actually there are several weight loss hypnosis programs on the market - maybe some of them do talk about sugar! Hmmm …

love2garden - kudos! Gardening is fantastic exercise and the results are splendid

nationalparker - kudos for sticking with your plan and portions!

BillBlueEyes - welcome back Glad to hear you had a great trip. Kayaking is so fun and relaxing!

[gardenerjoy]

My snack sizes were definitely smaller yesterday -- thanks for being patient while I work this out! It helps to state the goal every day, even if the results aren't instantaneous.

WI: +0.25 kg, Exercise: +70 180/1300 minutes for September, Food: 100% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

BillBlueEyes: welcome home! Sounds like a beautiful time in the woods and on the water.

[nationalparker]

Well, I putzed around this morning and didn't carve out time to write as I finally slept in after 8 a.m. and just bounced from this to that. All day. Finished a few small projects around here and DH and I finally got out to run errands (he likes to do them together) by 3 p.m. Food today was okay - brunch at home and then early dinner at 5 (Thai). Mine was ordered "hot" on the spicy level and came very mild. I ate more than I typically do - goes down easy when not super spicy. I prefer it hotter.

Not in the best mood tonight, so I'm cutting it short. I told DH I'd look for something to put on Netflix to just sit and relax with - have been on my feet all day. I'm pulling for a BBC show that neither of us have seen for a fresh surprise. We'll see what I come up with.

Feel like my body is just getting bigger and bigger. Stressing myself out. I thought/hoped I'd see even just a little bit of progress. I'll wait until tomorrow to whine a bit Heat continues incessantly. Not Arizona heat but hot for here. No rain.

Glad you're back after a wonderful-sounding trip, Bill. What great experiences!

Goals for tomorrow - journal and post here ... do meal plan for the week (did most of it mentally while marketing); it includes two salads for meals - all veggies for one with homemade parmesan dressing and one from a restaurant at home in Florida we love. Bought mini sweet peppers to do "pepper nachos" by lightly following this recipe but not using a ton of cheese. Love the fresh corn, black beans, fresh pico de gallo, etc. - it all comes together quickly. didn't mean to get into food specifics here. sorry.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walk, CREDIT moi, including picking about five pounds of tomatoes from our community garden - a friend in the adjacent plot had watered it while we were away. Passed a yard sale where I bought two books that I didn't really need but I was hurting that I wasn't buying the 9 volume boxed set of Little House on the Prairie. It's hard to be in a declutter mentality and bring home that many books just because I didn't read them a few decades ago.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi. Dinner included chicken as I re-enter the world of the omnivore. DW brought a bowl of walnuts up to the attic for us to nibble as we did an onerous job of searching through old boxes to find an item that should have been labeled, but wasn't. I'm not good at labeling boxes when putting stuff away. I know that. I've done it for years. I'm apparently not good at learning my lesson.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Smaller snacks sounds good.

Erika (eusebius) – When Beck lists all the justifications for eating she doesn't list an "unbirthday party," LOL. Kudos for limiting yourself to a quarter piece of cake.

nationalparker – Amused myself looking up "putzed around" to feel gratitude, one more time, for the Yiddish that makes English so much fun to read. Kudos for doing your meal plan for the week despite the heat.

Readers -

Chapter 1 Are You Trapped?

The Beck Team Approach

Through our work with dieters and patients over the past thirty years, we've realized that sometimes you don't see a trap until you're standing in the middle of it. Sometimes the trap is so long standing that it feels impossible to evade. But regardless of how trapped you feel, there are always solutions. Remembering to stop, refocus on your goal, and use the strategies you've learned is a reflex that can be developed. As with every other new skill or habit, the secret is practice, practice, practice.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., Deborah Beck Busis, The Diet Trap Solution, Train Your Brain to Lose Weight and Keep It Off for Good (Blue book), pg. 9