Hello coaches,

Back on track today.

Food 100% OP? yes ; Health activities 100% OP? yes ; Drank 2L water? yes ; Went to bed on time? yes ; Streak count: 1

Credits: being very clear with myself this morning that this needed to be a 100% OP day; drinking a whole lot of water when I realised at dinner that I wasn't on track for that (and noticing how good my body feels for it); stopping myself from eating cheese while I was making lunch

Welcome back Gardenerjoy!

Maryann - thank you for sharing the experience of finding your memorabilia and all the thoughts that went with it. It was so moving and your bravery in facing your past with love and acceptance is awe-inspiring.

AZTricia - what I use to remember to read my ARC is a "ToDo" type App called Things - it is my to-do list system for everything in life but what I have done is set up all my morning health tasks (including reading my ARC) as being due each day (and they are set up as an everyday repeating function) - which means they come up as red - I always start my day by checking my to do list - and then I do the red things before I even look at everything else. It has been quite helpful for getting me to see my health tasks as the number one priority in my life. I never managed to work out a way to make myself read it a second time each day so have settled for once a day everyday is enough :-)

Hi, ceejay, awesome to hear about a success like that.

ForMyGirls: That sounds inspiring. I love adobe houses, rounded walls, and nooks. Lots of nooks. It’s a nice aesthetic. Congrats on your clarity for today too.

Seadwater: Sounds like you managed it beautifully.

BBE: Woah. I’m going to add not about me to my repetoire. Was that in the book? It’s a good one.

Tricia: My plan for reading response cards is like ForMyGirl’s. I used the clock that comes with my ipad to set a repeating alarm for 8:30 and 11:30. It pops up the message “Read Your ARC” and then my ARC is right in my notepad so it’s easy to pop over there. If you are using only paper…I got nothing. Maybe read the card while you brush your teeth? My electric toothbrush is set for 2 minutes and I get bored, bored. Enough time to read a card and be “entertained.” Win-win.

For me, it is Day 10 today. Very easy – have a 5 lb. weight loss goal. Done. I decided that I will give myself 10 weeks to lose 5 lbs (1/2 lb per week). If I have not lost 5 lbs by then, I have admit what I am doing isn’t working, and I will have to start looking for fixes and making changes. I’ll start on Day 14 as the book suggests.

Posting for the second day in a row (credit). I followed my food plan yesterday except for a lack of willingness to measure my afternoon snack. I’ll find that willingness today. I took advantage of a relatively warm day to walk twice (credit). I intend to do that again today because it’s predicted to be in the low 50s. Tomorrow, it’s predicted to be 12.

Good Morning, Coaches.

Yesterday was OP even at the ranch house restaurant we went to for lunch to celebrate DS victory game in the city basketball league. (My son is pretty much the quintessential band geek/ book worm but he has enough of his dad's common sense and sarcasm to safely navigate middle school. To see him play basketball is a joy because he is embracing and enjoying something that does not come naturally). Anyhoo . . . back to the ranch house where I ordered a salad that was literally the size of two plates. Good Gravy. Credit for eating a third and saving the rest for two more lunches.

Despite my restraint, I still felt "off" and bloated so I decided to stop eating for the day at 2:00. This was a set up for me. What was I thinking? I have veered too far off into spontaneity. As Beck says on day number whatever "I am fooling myself" (sung to the tune of the famous STYX song). Eventually I had a bad twenty minutes in the kitchen snacking.

Was this becuase of my emotional journey this weekend? It is probably becuase I am a compulsive overeater who needs discipline.

Today I have written down my food, planned the cooking and will make staying OP my top priority. Pilates session planned

ForMyGirls: We have friends here who have built a luxury straw bale home and they seem pleased.

AZtricia: I put my advantage cards on the reminder ap of my smartphone. i also made two index card sets - one for my purse, one for the bedroom.

Welcome back from holiday to CeeJay. Wave to everybody else.

Hi Coaches!!

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.

I am doing OK today. Really had the urge to keep on eating after lunch but managed to stop after a handful of nuts. Credit for that because I could have munched the afternoon away.

Credit today for:
-riding exercise bike
-reading advantage and response cards
-sticking to planned food and eating healthy food
-logging food eaten
-checking in with my coaches
-packing lunch for tomorrow

Work tomorrow- can't say I am looking forward to working 5 days in a row- have not done that since before Christmas and I think getting back into the swing of things is not going to be easy. No matter how hard this week is, the reaction from me is NOT going to be eating off plan.

Hi all,

My Big Party Weekend had too many sweets in it :-(, but I did manage to go all day Saturday without having sweets until after dinner, which was my goal--and I met it. (I did part of my office supply shopping spree at the grocery store) Today was back OP after overeating Friday and Saturday. I'm proud I didn't let that stretch to include today.

I haven't fully planned next week's meals (my normal Sunday night thing) but went to the grocery store anyway. I'm afraid it'll be too cold tomorrow for me to be willing to go!

I've got my workout gear packed for kickboxing tomorrow!

Not a good OP day for me. Streak will have to restart tomorrow. Just ate too much and then reached the point of "oh what the heck" instead of reaching the point of "I am better than this" ... could have been on plan after the pizza dinner DH suggested had I counted the calories RIGHT THEN... instead in my mind, I was over by a good bit, and then decided to make DH a small ice cream bowl which didn't end up too small with the adds... and then I did one for me and that put me over .. because mine was not small either - half cup of ice cream, but then finished up a [ahem] quite QUITE old butterscotch topping found in the far recesses of fridge. Had I thrown that out, I wouldn't have wanted the ice cream.

Frigid cold moving back in here ... they're calling for snow and 30 mph winds tonight into tomorrow and then -16 tomorrow night and wind chills into the -40 range again. I'm so ready to get home to Florida.

Feeling frustrated at my overindulgence tonight...

Hello Coaches.
Taking bunches of vitamin C in hopes of minimizing this cold. DH is currently miserable and has had this virus for a week. Had a change of plans for dinner since everyone wanted comfort food. Made blender oat pancakes with boiled eggs and my program diet power has declared that I'm a genius! My highest NQ score ever (nutrient quotient), a huge but not unwelcome surprise. I did manage to still walk the dog twice but couldn't get motivated to do any further exercise.

Eating OP+, Exercise OP, thanks to all my coaches for the ARC card ideas. I'm still in the dark ages w/ a flip phone so I'm thinking maybe a pop-up on my computer or actually tape the card to the mirror (harder to miss than behind the toothpaste.)

I finally picked a reward. I'm going to take a favorite pair of broken shoes to the shoe repair to see if they can be fixed.


nationalparkr Hurray for leftovers, sending to encourage OP eating. Wishing you happy thoughts about bouncing back to OP tomorrow!

ForMyGirls Straw bale houses sound great. They would work wonderfully here where the heat is so awful. For some reason they don't insulate houses in AZ very well. I love window seats Huge credit for back OP and water and resisting cheese. To-Do lists always make me feel stressed, maybe that is part of my mental block w/ ARC's??? Mine are all paper and I think maybe I need them to pop-up on the computer or something...hmmm thinking cap on.

seadwaters Hope you cultured veggies turn out great! Credit for adjusting your plan to reality. Maybe you should try the two pounds of cabbage and let me know how it goes? I like cumin, sounds yummy, but for some reason spiced nuts makes me think of cinnamon...I guess that would be more of a sweet than savory.

BillBlueEyes We all need hair cuts here too, should have gone a week ago. Huge credit for turning down all the free food and planning and sticking to an OP day in a not ideal situation.

flnu Great job making a plan and a goal.

gardenerjoy Good to see you here again and brr! 12 is COLD! Congrats for getting out before it hit.

maryann Sounds like our sons are similar, my oldest loves music & reading. Credit for dealing with the gigantic salad. Hope you are feeling better back OP, congrats for your planning!

CeeJay Credit for halting the munch and exercising your resistance muscle. Hope getting back into the swing of work is smoother than you anticipate.

bethFromDayton Happy kickboxing tomorrow, hope you are able to quickly recover from the sweets


Gotta go, my throat is getting sore-er by the minute...must get kiddos into bed so I can rest!

Good afternoon diet coaches

The end of a lovely long weekend. Hope your weekend was pleasant. I am posting early today so I don't get caught up like last night when I posted rather late. I had two projects this weekend - one to find and put together a small cupboard for my "kitchen" area in this studio. Achieved - found, purchased and erected yesterday. Gives me so much more storage. It is amazing how you can use nooks and crannies - if I owned the place I would love to IKEA'rise (neologism) it. Two - to finish a sewing project so I can pack up the sewing machine and say goodbye summer holidays. Hopefully that will be achieved by bedtime.

I succeeded in making three really tasty fermented (non-alcoholic) drinks, two with water kefir grains (I have been experimenting) and one with fermented beetroots. The beetroot ferment - kvass - is deep rich purple (no doubt why it is so good for you) and tastes deep and rich with a touch of fizz. The water kefir had lemon juice and ginger added before the second fermentation and tastes amazing and is fizzy. And the other one - I used the grains in raw apple juice, and it is really interesting too. I am of course hoping that as they say the fermentation gets rid of the sugar or I have just created a lot of soda pop! I really haven't got time to go to work...

Credits today:

• Eating on plan and choosing healthy options
• Planning and making lunch for tomorrow
• Walking the dogs but too briefly - my heart wasn't in it today
• Putting all food into MFP including all cultured food recipes so I know what the values are
• Checking in with coaches
• Weighing this morning - still no lower but no higher either
• Getting organised so the week isn't out of control because then eating and thinking can get derailed

Work hots up this week - last week was just a warm up for the main event. From now there is very little downtime until Easter probably. So I need to focus on organisation, planning, and being kind to myself - or it all goes to heck (I love 3FC censoring - it always catches me out) basically

Hello coaches,

Food 100% OP? no ; Health activities 100% OP? no ; Drank 2L water? no ; Went to bed on time? no ; Streak count: 0

I contemplated "gilding the lily" and calling 25 minutes late to bed last night "on time" but then i remembered that this is for MY benefit so the only person i am hurting if i let myself cheat is me. So - tonight i will be in bed on time!

A big credit tonight for a situation where i handled things differently and graciously and along the way did a little to change my DD's relationship with food as well as my own. We had a big (planned) lunch - at the end if which my partner offered to share a banana (the bananas are HUGE). My DD said she would like a banana smoothie. I thought "YUM" - then "it isn't on the plan" - then "well coincidentally all the ingredients are" - then "but i am actually quite full" - then "I wish i could have ti later instead but it will bug the **** out of me to be getting the blender out twice" - then "you need to not have it when you are full" - then "DD is probably full too". So then i had a conversation with her about how the fact that she was probably full and that she would likely enjoy it more later when she had room in her tummy - and she was totally on board. We ended up having it after a planned trip to the swimming pool when we were all famished and it wa very yummy!

Flnu - i laughed at your bored with teeth brushing - that is how i feel about stretching. (Podcasts help). You also insipred me to take the time for a proper brushing so the kids and i set a timer tonight. 2 minutes is a really long time!

Maryann - i love your posts about your son. He seems like a very wise and brave soul!

Ceejay - yay for your commitment to not letting the return to work derail you.

Beth - yay to you for achieving your goal for the party weekend. You are doing so well in finding a way to manage that challenge.

Nationalparker - well done for fessing up about tonight's indulgence. The beauty of it all is that you can get back on track right now.

Seadwaters - LOL on the censoring. I used to work in a place that had a really prudish firewall on email. The number of times my emails would bounce and i would think "but i didn't swear" and I'd have to read it twice to work out what was offensive.

Keep forgetting to say in my posts - i watched "Her" the other day and absolutely loved it. Very quirky so i am surprised it is up for Oscars. Made me think of Lars and the Real Girl, Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, and Stranger than Fiction. All quirky and deeply moving (IMHO).

Diet Coaches/Buddies – An absolutely stupendous day avoiding snacks, CREDIT moi. I had three events that served snacks - all of which remained available for the duration. I had none - not a bite. Hardest to resist were dried figs, roasted almonds covered in dark chocolate, and a bowl of nuts. Streak to 68. I took that encouragement and had a smaller dinner than planned by skipping the cheese toast that DW usually serves with soup. Shorting my daily calorie count, even just a few, is good for my mental attitude toward food.

Good walk, CREDIT moi, in the cold. The snow makes a particularly pleasing crunch when it's this cold.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yay for low 50's - we didn't see that.

CeeJay - Stopping after a handful of nuts is worth a Kudos - from a guy who's gone much further.

Cheryl (seadwaters) – It's worth saluting the basics, "Eating on plan and choosing healthy options" - Kudos for the main thing. That deep rich purple kvass sounds like worth trying.

maryann - Ouch for the diversion into unplanned not-eating - with its slap back. Kudos for moving forward. Congrats to your DS for figuring out Middle School.

nationalparker – Ouch for "quite QUITE old butterscotch topping" dragging ice cream along. Frustration is a great feeling to turn around toward determination. Have a good day despite the arriving cold.

Beth (bethFromDayton) – Neat that you'd recognized that sweets were going to be a problem and planned for them. Kudos for following your plan.

ForMyGirls - Yep, Kudos for stopping with the cheese. Super Kudos for passing sanity about food to your DD.

AZtricia - Love that reward of resurrecting old, favorite shoes. Kudos for being a genius for "blender oat pancakes" - I don't even know what they are.

flnu - Neat that you've got your wits about you with the 5-pound goals - Kudos. Not about me came into my head one day when I was walking past an outdoor party and starting thinking about their food. I've used it ever since.

Readers -

Hi, Coaches!

Yesterday I slept in until 8:00 AM, so missed my posting time. I thought about you many times throughout the day, but couldn't make it to a computer where I could post. Credit to me for going to the gym yesterday. They have some arm cycle machines that can give me a bit of cardio workout, along with bikes that are OK for me to use.

We had some fierce wind last night, which resulted in our power flickering a few times. Somehow that turned my radio on, which I have been using as my "pre-"alarm in order to minimize the amount I wake up my husband in the morning. So, by the time I was bathed, dressed, and in the kitchen, it was only 3:12 a.m. I was pretty well awake, so I took the extra time to revisit Day 17, "End Overeating". I set the table, fully, even putting the cream in a cream pitcher. I had the same food as yesterday, but ate it 4 times as slow and eating half as much. I have really goten out of the habit of leaving food on my plate. I felt absolutely smug when I returned to the kitchen with ¼ of a pancake on my plate. It seems silly to write this, but I really felt triumphant. BBE's post, though reminds me I shouldn't be smug about it... Given the early hour that I got up, I assume I will take a nap at some point today. But, I have a huge list of things I want to finish prepping before my surgery Wednesday, so it will be quite busy for me.

AZTricia: Great job for prepping extra food for the days to come. That can be a real help during the busy week. Is there any way you could put your ARC on the kitchen table or refrigerator so they are there when you enter the kitchen? I hope you are feeling better. I've got a flip phone too. I had an iPhone, which I dropped. So, I decided I was not mature enough for the expensive phone. I did like having my ARC on it though. Could you text yourself (from another phone) a really short reminder of your ARCs?

BethfromDayton: Great job for meeting your no sweets until after dinner. I hope kickboxing is a blast today!

BillBlueEyes: Great job of making Saturday an on plan by changing up your meals.

CeeJay: I am so happy for you that you had such a warm experience at home. It must have felt great to have your Beck skills at hand guiding your way. Good luck this week getting back to work.

[B]flnu[:/B] Thanks for the great reframing of my surgery with PT/exercise. Great point! I have felt very luck to have an incredible "team" of doctors (at various hospitals) on my side. I am so lucky! I have heard awesome things about the Zombie run app. Have fun! I hope your Fit Bit comes today so you can start playing with it! Also, great job with goal setting. That sounds so smart and sound to me!

ForMyGirls: I'm glad both Saturday and Sunday was on track for you. Great job for stepping up the water when needed. Great way to handle the smoothie for both you and your daughter.

GardenerJoy: Thanks for the great reminder of the power of the small post. I am adding a shortcut to the web page on my iPad now. I'm glad you got to enjoy the warmth on your walk.

Maryann: I am so glad you are going to That is quite a powerful idea. It is difficult to reconcile the difference between the love we got from our birth families and what is healthy. Take care of yourself! I loved your take on straw bale houses. I had only heard about them in the context of permaculture. Credit to you for parenting such a cool kid! Bummer about the snacking, but it sounds like you are making a great correction.

Nationalparker: Great job leaving half the food on your plate Saturday. Sorry the ice cream treat got to you. Oh well!

Seadwaters: Great job for managing the rest of Saturday in spite of the hardware store incident. We are keeping the shiba inu for now. He is such an easy dog. His family is going through a really rough time. He does not get along with kids (they have a 7 year old) and the dad has stage IV melanoma AND prostate cancer. I am glad that we can help in some small way. I am glad your kefir is coming out well. I had a bottle of kombucha in my refrigerator forever because I was intending to ferment it. I gave up eventually. Maybe sometime in the future.

Yesterday's/Today’s Essentials:
Weigh-in: + 3.0 lbs.
Read Advantage Cards two times: once this morning (after breakfast though)
Read Response Cards at least two times: once
Ate slowly, sitting down, noticing every bite:
Gave myself credit when I engaged in helpful eating behaviors: yes
Did spontaneous exercise: yes
Did planned exercise: yes
Wrote out food plan for tomorrow: no
Tracked today’s food: only breakfast
Left food on my plate: yes, at all meals!
Ate only to normal fullness: ⅓ meals
Identified and responded to a self-deluding thought: I am needing to tune in better to hear these. I've got other things on my mind.

Hello to all,

Day 11 for me. Today, I wrote down how my stomach felt and how hungry I was before, during, after, and a little later for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Except I forgot to do it at dinner. I’m not sure how much I got out of this exercise. I did have a hard time describing how my stomach felt. Pleasant and unpleasant were about all I came up with. I’d love to hear about anyone else’s insights doing this exercise because I didn’t have any of my own. Except maybe that the pleasantly full feeling during and immediately after a meal doesn’t last long. I guess that’s something.

Gardenerjoy: I really like that picture. Perfect for dieting support. Makes me think about how good good healthy food really is. I always think I’m going to grow a great garden, buy dirt and build beds, re-discover that it’s a lot of work, and give up. The first apartment I had after college had a garden out back, and credit to whoever the previous tenant was, it was a fantastic garden. I didn’t do a thing to it but harvest. And it was fun to just decide to wander around out back to find something new to eat for dinner, like asparagus or rhubarb. I couldn’t identify everything but if it grew in rows, I ate it. I think this gave me a warped view that gardening’s super easy.

I saw many credits in maryann’s post. Ordered salad. Ate a reasonable portion of salad. Got back on track immediately. I hope today went according to plan. And credit for planning it.

CeeJay: I am also not enjoying my work recently. I’m hoping it’s a normal motivational slump as opposed to my diet commitment absorbing all the available willpower.

Beth: Enjoy kick-boxing. That’s something I’d like to try. It’s in my list of things I’ll do when I am not putting so much pressure (due to my weight) on my poor knees.

Nationalparker: Sorry it didn’t go as you’d planned. Did you throw out the rest of the butterscotch? Did you have any a-ha's about what you'll do next time?

Tricia: You and I have very different notions of reward. I wish I could feel rewarded by doing something like that. I just dropped off three pairs of shoes to be fixed. One pair I haven’t worn in about 15 years because heel fell off. They might be back in style soon. I’m might need a project 333 refresher training.

Seadwaters: Your fermented drinks sound interesting. How did you come about it? Are they from a particular world cuisine?

ForMyGirls: What a credit! One of my ARC’s is to be a good role model for my girls. You nailed it. I’ve also done the 25-minutes-past-is-really-close-enough-isn’t-it? mental dance.

BBE: I’m not just blowing sunshine here, but it is truly inspiring to see someone doing what you’re doing from your 68 day streak to your nearly 7 year streak. Thanks for that.

FutureFitChick: Oh, man, leaving food on my plate is in my future? I haven’t gotten to that part of the book. My diet calls for eating no more than one plate of food at a meal (sensibly – no all-bacon plates allowed). I have to stop myself from licking it. No, I mean it, really. You rocked it though. I’m glad you felt smug and triumphant. I’m going to have to think about a response card for this one. If anyone wants to share theirs, that’d be welcome.

G’night, all.

Streak for bed/exercise/diet: 5/15/15.

I did not find the willingness to measure my afternoon snack. In fact, I made it more decadent because it came at a frustrating moment in my day. I had the thought that I need to find a better way of handling stress. But that isn’t really the problem. A few weeks ago, when I was on my 100%OP streak, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to change my snack. OTOH, a few years ago, I would have used the warm day as an excuse to invent an errand and forage for treats. So, it’s the strength of my resistance muscle that’s the problem. It’s stronger than it once was, but not as strong as I know I can make it.

Credit for my two walks. The first, in fact, was during an earlier frustrating moment. I came back and solved my unsolvable problem five minutes later. So, there’s a lesson for me. A walk cured the underlying problem that led to frustration. Even better than handling stress – eliminate the cause!