I just ordered the two less expensive books from the EBT site. My internet is pretty crappy so I don't know that the eworkshops will work, but I'll read the books and see how far I can get.

I just took my morning 1/2 mile walk with some new Keen hiking boots and they are heaven! They fit me like a glove and make me feel bouncy, like they are propelling me along. There's a little bit of a heel to get used to, since my right knee doesn't straighten out after I fractured it a few years ago, but I really, really love these boots! This has nothing to do with this thread, but I'm happy so I posted it!

Great minds think alike. I just downloaded the Getting Started book from amazon. It was less than $3 for the Kindle edition.

Oh, I will have to look at that getting started book. I did get access to many videos on the EBT site once I paid. I imagine much the same info as in the book, maybe.

My group meeting are by phone, not internet, but conference call.

Thank you Samba! I will check it out.

Okay, this is not related to the mental part but I this felt like a good place to post this.

http://mynewroots.blogspot.com/
This is a food blog that I saw in another thread. It led me to other food blogs and others of a similiar nature.

A couple things seem to be important for phasing off. Getting the mindset in order. I believe this will help in numerous ways including preventing relapse. But, I think preparing for the future and transitioning into the our new way of eating will help. It was a while into this diet before I realized that there are many foods I won't be returning to. And the more I find out that sugar and other weird things are hidden in our foods, the more I realize I will have to continue cooking and preparing my own foods as I have so far in this journey.

Don't know if these talk to you. I will be leaning Paleo once off this diet but I like these foods and will probably incorporate some of these recipes altering carb content as need be.

Good morning everybody! Yesterday, as I got going on the Phase 4 diet, I had a bunch of errands to do, did okay with a packaged chef salad on the road, and by the time I got home to put groceries away, late afternoon, I was pretty pathetic. You can have a snack then, so I opened a can of nuts I had just bought. Oh my... A serving says 1 oz, but by the time I could force myself to stop, it was a good 3 oz. I felt like I'd failed coming out of the running gate, so all the fears of backsliding reared their ugly heads. ('I want my Phase 1 !!!! ' )

I did check myself, and I did have a good dinner and an IP snack in the evening. This morning, as I reflect, I see once again, how 'all or nothing' I have been, most of my life. Either I'm a success or a total loser. I know life isn't like that. Then I perused the 'Daily Menu' thread and thought, maybe that's my next tool. With Phase 1 going on so long, I had gotten into a routine that worked, was easy for me. Of course, I didn't have nuts in the house, or my proverbial 'chocolate cake.'

This whole process is so humbling. This morning I am renewed with a drive to plan, again. Plan for those moments of being so pathetically tired or stressed that I'll grab anything. I got ahead of myself with the confidence that came from accomplishment, but the challenges continue. They are just new ones, and probably the hardest ones yet. The choices are so open now, I have to really, really want this new healthy life, and I do, and I will keep reminding myself of what I said in the beginning...' I want my life back! '

I hope this isn't all sounding too self-involved, but I'm thinking we all go through these things and can learn from each other. I have learned so much from all of you and appreciate your journeys.

Hope you all have a splendiferous day!

I am already in Phase 4 panic! Uh, but I am still in Phase 1! Talk about borrowing trouble.

Sewmam- I like the idea of meal planning. It helps to "know" what you are going to eat. I really like that about Phase 1. I had to plan, it helped with grocery selection, etc. There is a saying I like....."If you are failing to plan, then you are planning to fail". I have found that very applicable here in P1 even.

I am reading a lot and looking for recipes that are whole food and plant based. Unfortunately, before our meals were much of the meat and potatoes American diet fare. Can't go back to that! So it will be quite the learning curve for us to get familiar with a new type of menu. I am excited about it though.

I had a conversation with a friend this week and I thought it was worth mentioning here...

I told him how I had just started Phase 4, and had my first taste of salted, roasted nuts in over 15 months, but instead of the allowed 1 oz, I must have had at least 3 oz before I could stop myself. I felt like I could eat the whole jar. I was freaked out that I could not maintain my discipline, in my typical all-or-nothing brain. (I have since had nuts and did just fine...yeah!)

He commented, you need to listen to your body and if it tells you that you needed those nuts, listen to it. This is coming from someone who has been very thin all his life. I laughed, but really, I think he doesn't have a clue what goes on in the overweight persons brain. Just because our body says "I'm hungry" does not mean someone like me can eat. I could be misinterpreting "I'm tired or I'm stressed' as "I'm hungry." It is not understanding what my body was telling me that got me in trouble in the first place, at least partially.

Now I am so obsessed with this new life, this new understanding of what's going on inside, i.e., the pancreas and all that, and confident that what I'm doing is the right thing, that his comments didn't bother me in the least. He has been very supportive of my efforts over the past year, he just doesn't understand where I am coming from on the emotional eating thing.

So, anybody who tries to tell you stuff that sabotages your efforts or your belief in yourself, just smile and pay them no mind. You know in your heart that the hard work you are doing and the mental examinations are the right thing!

Our EBT phone conference group had its first meeting. We learned how to do the check- in and had brief introductions.

I am amazed how difficult it is for me to get 10 check ins a day going! I am becoming more self aware. This has to be a good thing!

Gosh, now that I can not over eat, I now over shop. Figures! I try to limit myself to the fun of second shops and the like. Hopefully, EBT will result in my rewiring. I have not shopped for clothes with any happiness in soooo many years though. It is fun to shop off the rack and actually want to try things on! But, I am still losing and don't need that many clothes. Good grief, I have some goofy mechaisms going on!

I got really peeved today. My newly bulging discs at L4-5 were very painful. My son was uncooperative to boot. I could feel myself getting crabby and stressed. The EBT work already has given me the ability to step back and "see" myself getting stressed. That does give me a much better perspective and the ability to do something about it.

That's great, Samba! The growth in our paths is what will sustain us.

I too have bought clothes recently, and I really have no money to do it. I took some things in, as I do sew, but there came a point where even that didn't look right. I have relished buying things that I love, instead of what's available in a plus size. So much more to choose from in the clearance racks or second hand shops when you can get smaller sizes. I love clothes, texture, color, design...and wearing clothing that I love and feel good in is a real motivator for me.

Last night I was so darn tired, after an odd day of not enough sleep and trying to force myself to keep going, that right before I was going to sleep, I got some water and grabbed the can of nuts. Ate way too many of them and relished every bite. So, I guess that was my first splurge day and I just had an IP drink for breakfast. I put the rest of the nuts in the freezer. Am really hoping that this sort of thing is happening because I haven't had them in so long, and with time, and putting them out of sight, or just not buying nuts, I will find a way to enjoy without overdoing it, even when I'm pathetic. I did pretty good the rest of the day.

When I am stable in Phase 4, I think I will try the EBT workshop. I thought it was through the internet, which is not great for me, but a phone conference would work.

Keep up the great work!!!!

Sewmam: I think the very good thing going on, is even if you do eat a few too many nuts, you are still positive and ready to figure out to handle it! This is real growth and strength..plus you are writing about it, reflecting on it and trying to plan ways to handle it.

I also love nuts, but in the afternoon when I am tired, before dinner, I use the 100 calorie packets from Walmart. That way I do not overdo it.

Everyone here mentioned using food for celebration or for emotions..but sometimes you want to keep eating food simply because it tastes good. That might be tapping into an emotional fear or never eating this food again..probably because i have been dieting all of my life.

I have been overweight since I was in my teens. I have yo-yoed all of my life. However, now with eating low carb for 16 months, and Ip, this is the stablest I have been for years. I have been maintaining for 6 months.

Like some of you mentioned, I cannot tolerate sugar or carbs. I do find that many of my cravings have died with this way of eating. Yes, there are foods I never will eat again..but I try my hardest to find low carb substitutes.

Thanks for the EBT info..I am going to look it up.

I have also used Beck's book for self therapy..If you do her journal, it is like having a private therapist. Also..I have listened to her tapes.

Great job everyone on IP!

Thank you so much! I have been such an all-or-nothing person, that when I screw up, my brain tells me 'loser' and that is a hard habit to break. This process of self-examination requires real focus and a bit of obsession until we get it down, to where it is calmly automatic and we don't drive everybody around us nuts. (haha...pun intended!)

Can you tell me the title of Beck's book?

I went searching and found Judith Beck has several books on diet and cognitive therapy. Perhaps she is the one?

Another lightbulb moment...

My older sister and her husband came to visit me last night and we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with our brother and his wife. I'm in Phase 4, so I had thought maybe I'd make this a splurge night. You can't have alot of fat with your starchy carb at dinner. I ordered a dish that was quite tasty but did not have any cheese on it, had a little bit of guacamole, mostly because I had to share it between us and my complex carbs were tortillas, rice and some chips with the salsa.

They came back to my house and I gave them angel food cake with fresh strawberries, and I had my yogurt with the strawberries, and did not miss the cake at all. I was fine with my gorgeous fat-free greek yogurt.

Today, I am doing a sort of conservative day. Not strictly Phase 1 because I didn't go off the road last night, but I chose to have my regular breakfast of yogurt/oatmeal/berries, light on the fat, for lunch, I had the IP potato with my vegee soup and a lovely big salad with the vegees and Walden Farm I truly missed at the restaurant, and dinner will be as conservative. Lunch could have had fat, but I went without. By knowing what the limits are, I can now choose to go up to them or stay well below them (and feel really good about that), or, on my splurge, go above them and have a joyous meal. I can now live without the guilt and the feeling of failing that then leads to compulsive repeating of that failing.

This is so life-affirming and life-changing !!! I feel like I did when I finally became entrenched into the routine of Phase 1 and could really start trying new spices and new vegetables and totally embrace the limits we were given. Now I am 'allowed' to expand those and I want to choose the right things!

Who'd a thunk it?

I really hope for myself that I also make that switch to eating what is good for me! I have known many people without weight issues who do this. They want health for themselves and optimal functioning and they don't often choose cake! In fact, it is not really appealing to them.

I am a few weeks into EBT work. Have to say that it has brought up some core things for me. I am not able to get myself through a circuit very well though. Perhaps at the next phone conference I can get a chance to work on it. I also have some resistence to dealing with the emotional reasons I eat! Obviously, I have chosen eating due to "old wires" for some time. The emotional brain resists changing all this. I should not be surprised as the title is EMOTIONAL Brain Training. Duh!! Then, I get to that and think ....oh no, don't want to deal with that stuff!! Anyway, I will do my best to keep myself in the process. It is amazing to see that much of stress response is just a brain wire and can be changed!

Today, I m going to watch the videos we get with the course and try to work on my check-in process. Have to bring myself to willingness.