Just a quick check in to complain!
Spent 40 minutes on the treadmill for the first time in a week and instead of going down, the scale is up a pound...so I'm back to where I was a week ago. I hate having no progress.

Eating OP, Exercise OP, will read ARC's but I had to complain first

Day 19. Stop fooling yourself. Yes. It’s ok to eat this because I would have planned for it if I’d thought of it…could be a delusion.

I am surprisingly bad at planning. Today was two meals off-plan, because there was no plan. I have excuses but they’re all rubbish. I do see the value in planning. So I will stick with it and hopefully get better at it.

Seadwater: I really like the idea of telling the desire/craving to go away. I'm adding it to my stack of cards.

Gardenerjoy: Thoughtful trouble-shooting. Credit.

Maryann: I never contemplated something other than physical hunger. I’m glad you posted.

FutureFitChick: I’ll high five a nice weight loss. Congrats.

ForMyGirls: Rounding down. Yes. Good innovation.

Inadogg: WELCOME! I’m new here too. I’m on Day 19. I guess you’re around Day 6? It’s super inspiring group here.

AZTricia: Getting on that treadmill is progress, important progress. I am sure “be healthier” is somewhere on your advantages response cards. The scale is not the only metric of progress.

Hi, Coaches.

I am feeling better now than last night and earlier this morning. I had gotten a nasty gram from someone at work, wondering why I was being so slow on some corrections she wanted me to do. Somehow that magically transformed in to a "I'm worthless" tantrum. I woke up this morning with an emotional hangover from it. But, this morning I went to PT, and that went well. I really appreciate that my therapist is so positive and encouraging. I am now able to go 0 - 104 degrees in my range of motion, after a bit of warming up.

Food has been mostly on plan. My husband, the man who can live at a healthy weight and routinely eat ˝ boxes of cookies a day, has been making all of my food. I am sure this is a challenge for him, and I really appreciate his help. He has been trying to do his best to make me on plan foods, but there have been occasional misses that I have been trying to gently remind him/point out to him without trying to make him crazy. Exercise has been good, with my regular PT. Spontaneous exercise, sadly, has been the occasional trip downstairs once or twice a day. Oh, well. I have logged my food today and sat for all meals. I still need to work on leaving food on my plate, so I will focus on that today.

AZTricia, hang in there! Those days where the scale doesn't match your work are SO frustrating. Great response by posting your frustrate here! Hang in there.

BillBlueEyes, I am really excited about the snow storm we are supposed to get tonight. I just love looking at it. Luckily, my husband has been a diligent snow mover with his snow blower this year. Great job on serving yourself a normal size portion.

ForMyGirls, wow! Your day yesterday sounds awesome! Fantastic job being so on target. That must been awesome!

GardenerJoy, hang in there! Sorry to hear about your "ouch" on the scale, but great response after seeing numbers you didn't care for.

Inadogg, welcome! The forum works as if we are all each others Coaches and Buddies. I find it most beneficial to post every day, though sometimes I have let life get in the way of that. Most of the time I like to respond to everyone's comments about their Beck work and their responses to my posts. When I am short on time, I just post an update about me and skim other people's comments as I am able. BliiBlueEyes has been here the longest and is kind of the grounding force of the group. We have all found the Beck strategies make a real change in our weight management strategies. Beck and this group helps me to make regular, small changes that have a lasting impact. Some people use one of Beck's books in a 30-day sprint. Others work on each technique a bit slower, waiting until each technique is "mastered" (or at least no longer frightening to perform on a regular basis). As far as your strategy to sit and eat slowly, enjoying every bite, when I mess that up I have to 1) say "Oh, well" so I can move on and forgive myself and 2) put a reminder (like setting something on the table, refrigerator, or TV) to head to the kitchen table and not the couch. This is a great group and a great weight management tool. I wish you the best of luck in your journey!

Seadwaters, great job on the 8,000 steps. Congratulations!

I'm going to take gardenerjoy's lead and join in her streak count. I've been having difficulty posting and I need to find a simple routine since I start another rental project Thursday.
Streak 1
Weighed-not ouch yet but could be soon
Write a food plan done
Write a post done.

I wrote a sign at work today "no snacking today". It's already working. I love my restaurant job yet know it takes active resistance every day.
Get Back On Track is one of my best tools.
Credit for doing it.

Welcome inadogg! This is a great spot to check in and participate!

Good day "Beck coaches"

I have decided that I am going to post once a week here for the time being. January was a month of setting the stage for the rest of this year and laying that foundation took all of my energy and focus so I apologize that I have been missing in action. Therefore, for me, it will be reasonable to post once a week until things settle down.

Credits: I resumed exercising daily on January 1st, picked it back up in February and, God willing, plan to do it every day for this coming year. I belong to another online diet support group (some ex-BLC members). My own exercise plans are to rotate walking on the treadmill, strength workouts, yoga and/or Pilate and stretching (with that being more and more important as I age). The other group also has individual and team challenges so I am involved in a team step challenge (Team Wonder Woman) and I walked 83, 661 steps in January.

I also belong to a +1 Day/Challenge where you start out on the first of each month doing one rep of a specific exercise, increasing with each consecutive day. When the next month starts you continue with the first exercise but then add in a new exercise. January was squats and February is pushups. This is in addition to my own strength workout that I do. For example, today is 35 squats and 4 pushups.

I have always loved exercising and this is a great destressor at a time when my DH and I are going through some incredibly difficult times financially. I awake each morning glad to greet a new day.

As for practicing my Beck Diet Skills; I am doing pretty good with that. I needed to make a "No Go" list of foods that I just can't have during my weight loss phase.

I also recognized that I needed to make a low sodium list as well and now am using that when shopping.

All of the increased exercise works great as an appetite suppressant so calories are falling in line well.

Biggest change: is that I decided to throw out all of my "plans" of specifically losing X amount of pounds per week and just focus instead on doing the "footwork": eat a healthy, well balanced food plan (again with avoiding the No Go list of foods I mentioned above) and just work out every day. The weight will eventually come off. I have already lost 1/2" each on my waistline, hips and upper thighs. This is a way of life not a "quick fix". I see where God is leading me and I am willing to follow.

I am continuing to pre-pack for a move and I found the green Beck book which I didn't even know that I had so I think that I will read that but I will keep my thoughts to myself to avoid the long-winded posts of "before". Again, thank you all for being so patient with me as I work through all of this.

So, I am feeling quite confident these days. I won't do personals this time around but new "Becksters".

To all of the "faithfuls", keep up the good work! You are all doing great!

Pam

I can't believe it is Feburary already. It has been a crazy month. My husbands dad died and we had two weeks of h--- Diet went out the window and I didn't lose a lb all month. New month new goal.

Today had class and parked on outside of campus and walked in. Credit. Need to get back on plan. I have been counting and logging everyday. Credit. Weigh almost everyday. Sometimes I forget or avoid it. But I am honest with myself at least.

Hope you are all well.

Hi all,

Food mostly OP today--a bit over my calorie goal, but not by much. Walking a bit under my desired steps, so today was an "almost" sort of day.

Tomorrow isn't really planned because I don't know if I'm going to try to go into work in the morning or if I'll work from home. (Snow) If I go in, I know exactly what I'm having and it's already in the fridge at work :-). If I work from home, I'll have to come up with an alternative. Okay, alternative planned. Dinner planned (I even already got up the veggies I'm going to sautee with the chicken)

I've got pilates tomorrow if I go in (and the trainer can also make it in). If I work from home, I'm going to do a work out DVD--day 1 of the 30 day shred. Even if I don't try to do it every day for 30 days, it's a good thing to fill in with if I can't do my class at work.

It's another late night where I'm not doing personals :-(. I'm reading everyone's though--and waving!

Good evening diet coaches

I invented a new dessert/breakfast/snack today. I usually put gelatin into my kefir smoothie that I have for breakfast/lunch (I break fast around 11.30). I usually add a tablespoon of gelatin and it can get a bit lumpy and awful so I decided to dissolve it in a bit of hot water. I then blended the smoothy and added frozen berries along with the kefir and the protein powder and guess what happened - it turned info a mousse / jelly - duh. It is good actually but not good to try to "drink" in the car

Exercise - I walked this morning - a bit further than usual. I then went to gym and the shops so my steps are at over 10,000. My usual "Very Activity level I aim for is 8 minutes and today I made 13 (it is a very generous interpretation of very active in fitbit - but it is nice to do more). At the gym I went and tried a few machines that the trainer didn't introduce me to and which I had used in the past. I used the cycle - 5 x 2mins. I am improving.

Credits: Food OP; logged food in MFP; 8000 steps; weighed myself and logged my weight; posted to my coaches; ate sitting down - 90% (I am working on this)

Inadogg - welcome! I found my way here in exactly the same way you did. We are all coaches to each other her
BillBE - well done serving yourself the usual portion and for your amazing streak. Hope it snows for you so your machine gets a workout
ForMyGirls - goof idea to round down r/t rounding up!
(Gardener)Joy - for weighing in - ouch is always a wake up call. Credit for three Ws ticked off
Tricia - credit for coming here to complain (mildly) - horrible when the scales don't reflect the effort. I feel your pain
FLNU - Planning is hard - I have difficulty with the routine and the structure but without it I am totally off track. Credit that you see the value in planning
FututeFitChick - Ouch for demanding colleagues - but it seems you rebounded well. Credit for staying on top of PT and putting effort into it. Difficult to make progress otherwise
Lexxiss - the 3W system does seem good doesn't it! Credit for being proactive about snacking
Pamatga - credit for being clear about your goals and where/who will help you most. Nice to see you here even briefly
LoseToAll - Good to see you. Good thoughts your way for your DH father's death. Credit for logging and conting every day regardless. This month will be better!
Beth(FromDayton) - hope things work out tomorrow and you get to retrieve your lunch and see your pilates trainer

Have a good day coaches - I will have a full day tomorrow and hope I am organised for it

Diet Coaches/Buddies – At gym, CREDIT moi, there were fifteen minutes to wait before my group class. I passed the time on a stationary bike in 'heart' mode. The time went quickly as I spent it ardently gripping then gripping again even harder the handles with the heart-rate sensors which were never successful. I didn't have time to get bored. Maybe there were no heart-rate sensors. Maybe my low cost gym found a way to save money. Oh Well.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, including snacks so that I'm streaked to 77. Evening was the challenge. DW and I went to a lecture followed by a reception that we knew would have generous and sane foods. I planned to make it my dinner (a good choice since DW didn't make dinner, LOL). I chose well from the middle Eastern humus type choices, avoiding the liquid calories, the muffins, and the plates of everyday cheeses. I could have done better by avoiding the olives despite them being a natural part of ancient Egypt. Olives have been with us for a long time. Yay for the first guys who thought to press them for oil. We saw a mock-up of a small clay oven where the flat bread was stuck on the wall to bake - just like naan in an Indian Tandoori oven. Apparently, good ideas get invented in multiple places. My gratitude to my ancestral grandmothers who started grinding grain before dawn for the day's bread so that civilization could evolve.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Thought of you last night when I was in front of the table of cheeses. We'd bumped into a friend unexpectedly and I remembered your people, not food.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – I continue to be impressed that you stay your path while working around food. Love the sign, "no snacking today."

Cheryl (seadwaters) – Yay for inventing the mousse - you'd be famous and revered except that someone beat you to it, LOL. Kudos for continuing to work on eating-sitting-down.

FutureFitChick – Ouch for the existence of anyone who thinks it's OK to send a nasty gram. Kudos for letting your physical therapy counter it.

Pam (pamatga) – That's an impressive exercise streak, Kudos. Neat that you'll focus on your strategies rather than loss goals.

Beth (bethFromDayton) – Super demo of multiple plans for multiple possibilities for your day.

ForMyGirls - This is a big one: "It is an important adjustment - to round down, not up, when measuring food." I find myself offering the excuse, It's just a small bit over, yet so unwilling to accept, It's just a small bit under. Kudos for getting there.

LoseToAll - Sending supportive thoughts as you deal with your FIL's death. Kudos for maintaining your weight while you were hurting.

AZtricia - It's a HUGE money maker to have found a treadmill that adds weight - athletes and body builders will be knocking at your door, LOL. Kudos for "OP, OP, read."

flnu - Thanks for the reminder, "It’s ok to eat this because I would have planned for it if I’d thought of it…could be a delusion." Kudos for examining your own thinking.

inadogg - I like the name of a programme called "Enjoy eating". Kudos for working the basics: "sitting down, eating slowly and enjoy" - so important to build the strategies to use daily.

Readers -

Coaches

I weighed myself yesterday and saw 275. OMG coaches. 10lb gain in 10 days. Yep, that's my efficient body. Given that I can hold up to 8lbs of water weight, well, I've been eating a soup/stew over the past few days and even the no salt broth does me in. Of course, this is just a "fooling myself" statement in some ways as I have been dithering about committing to a food plan and this is what happens when I am in between food plans. I gain weight. I just do. Left to my own devices, I choose poorly, even when I have the structure of 3 meals a day and one snack. I simply need more restrictions than that at this age than I did at 25. *note: I am not 25. So, I am unwilling to follow Weight Watchers anymore and I went in search of an anonymous program since I can accept myself as a food addict/addicted person and I found a food plan coming out of that structure and so I am adopting that as my foodplan. It's really where I have to go as a longtime eater. What's really getting to me is all the work I am doing at the gym and my weight continues to rise or rise then fall then rise and I am the same-or worse. It puts me off going to the gym. Talk about self sabotage! I am unwilling to give into this inner saboteur so it's back to the only way there is: food plans and food planning. I am re-starting Beck as well. Let's just hit the re-set button fully and completely this time round.... and while I am at it, I never did take my personal reward when I lost that first 5lbs. What good is achieving a goal, which has at the end of it a reward that actually means something to me, and then I don;t take it and now that weight is 10lbs down the scale again? I tell you Becksters, I don't make any sense.

Thanks BBE for this this morning....

Another flying check in tonight coaches.

The stress thing got really stressful today and I really really really wanted to just drown my feelings in beer. (very unusually for me I was seeking intoxication not just food). But I didn't - I remembered that this week doesn't require perfection but it does require feeling not eating - so I had my planned water with dinner. I am very proud of me.

On the upside I am really enjoying being back at work and feeling blessed that going back to work after a long holiday is a positive thing in my world.

Hi Coaches!

Weighed, wrote my food plan(beside the refrigerator) and am writing a post. Streak 2. Credit.

ForMyGirls, kudos for making some very good decisions during a very stressful time. Dr. Beck tells us, and I find it to be true, that we can make good decisions during bad times. Take care

onebyone, I hope you find a food plan soon. Keep searching.

Cheryl(seadwaters), I'm glad to hear you're already noticing progress at the gym!

everyone else!

Busy day here....off to Denver w/mom and DH, both have appts. I'm going to do something nice for me while I'm there. credit.

Yesterday's 100 minutes of shoveling snow marked my 200th day in a row of exercise!

Nice to get dramatic scale results after my first 100%OP day in recent memory.

3Ws (Weigh, Write a food plan, Write a post) streak: 2

WI: -0.75kg, Exercise: +100 230/1400 minutes for February, Food: 100%op, Read my Advantages and Responses:

LoseToAll: sorry for the loss of your father-in-law. That's a tough time for the whole family.

onebyone: I'm really coming to a place of acceptance that I'm an overeater and will always need a plan. That could seem unfair, but considering we're in the midst of an obesity epidemic, I really think that most people need a plan in our current broken eating environment. We're the lucky ones who know we need a plan. Fortunately, I have this response card and I believe it to be true: I'm a happier person when I'm following my plan.

Hello coaches,
Thanks for your encouraging words yesterday. The pound is "gone" again today, so I'm glad for that, but still a bit sad that I have not lost anything in 8 days....but that is much better than up a pound when I'm eating under 1700 calories and walking! I'm not good at measuring myself, so it is possible that I'm loosing inches and don't know it. Hanging onto that hope anyway.
Puppy update, he's STILL coughing. Had blood drawn and vet wants to do x-rays, but we are waiting for the Valley Fever test to come back first. He's finally eating regularly and is a bit playful.
Wednesday is pizza night here. Planning 1 piece with veggies.
Will be OP for exercise (treadmill today) food, and read my ARC's...decided to make my daily posting a "trigger" to read them.


seadwaters Congrats for sticking to the plan on lunch out. Great job on 8000 & 10,000 steps. Your new concoction sounds yummy.

BillBlueEyes WhooHoo for your streak, 77!!! I have a difficult time getting the heart rate sensors to work also. LOL about my huge new $ maker!

ForMyGirls Hurray for rounding down on food and staying OP. Kudos for resisting the beer for stress. Hope today is less stressful for you.

inadogg Welcome, I hope you find this forum a big help.

gardenerjoy Kudos for your new streak tracking, WOW on 200 days of exercise!

flnu You will get better at planning and healthy living will become more natural, success breeds success!

FutureFitChick Great for going to PT, so glad your therapist was positive and encouraging as well as helping you achieve good results. My husband is just like yours, but doesn't make my food...don't know how he can eat all those calories!

Lexxiss Kudos for starting a new streak and for your strong resistance muscle, and for being kind to yourself.

LoseToAll Sorry for your loss, Kudos for restarting with a new goal.

bethFromDayton Hope you enjoy your Pilates and have a great session with the trainer. Waving back

onebyone Bummer about the 10 pounds. I find I need more restrictions also to loose, too easy to fool myself. It is one of the reasons I'm tracking everything I eat w/ Diet Power, I get to see the impact of my choices by calorie and nutrition and can't live in denial. There are lots of sites that allow you to log your foods for free also, perhaps something like that could help? Another thing I like about the program I'm using is that it has "intelligence" to calculate my metabolism and raise/lower my daily calorie budget to keep me on track.

Hi, Coaches.

I had massive hunger yesterday and today. Yesterday, I used NO CHOICE. Today, I decided to have a few eggs between breakfast and lunch, which helped a lot with energy levels. Tomorrow I head back to the surgeon for my first post-op check. PT has been going well, and my therapist said I am doing really well, so that is encouraging. I was able to get up nice and early this morning, which felt great.

I am having trouble writing a food plan, as I am no longer in charge of cooking/planning meals until I am back on my feet. Any suggestions how to handle this?

I had been thinking about tracking my "success" days with you all, but I am honestly up to my neck in tracking life right now. I may try it later though.

AZTricia, I am really sorry you have a sick pup! I hope he is feeling better and that you are able to get some answers soon. Also, kudos to you in advance for sticking to that single slice of pizza.

BethfromDayton, keeping my fingers crossed for you that you will be able to have your pilates class. I am really impressed that you have such a solid backup plan already.

BillBlueEyes, great job at the gym! Your grain musings are interesting. So, it was an Egyptian oven that was so similar to a tandoor?

ForMyGirls, I am glad you enjoy your work so much! I had that desire to drink after stressful days when I was losing weight quite rapidly. It is really weird, because I very rarely crave a drink.

GardenerJoy, woohoo! 200 days in a row! That is fantastic!

Lexxiss, you must have amazing strength to be around food all day! Good for you for charting your course ahead.

LosetoAll, great job jumping back on your plan! Condolences for your loss.

OnebyOne, I am sorry to hear about your struggles. Good luck on hitting reset. Could you try focusing on one small habit at a time?

PamatGA, good luck in your continued exercise and healthy habits!

SeaDWaters, I am impressed with your moose! That sounds great.