[BillBlueEyes]

Welcome to the discussion group, support group, Diet Coach group, Diet Buddy group relating to the two books by Dr. Judith S. Beck:

The Complete Beck Diet for Life

and the first book

The Beck DIET solution: train your brain to think like a thin person.

The Beck Diet Solution is a psychological program, not a food plan. It provides a step-by-step program to learn specific techniques to stay on our diet, lose weight, and maintain our weight loss for life. The program is based on Dr. Beck's clinical research in Cognitive Therapy (CT).

The Complete Beck Diet for Life expands the earlier work and includes a food plan with suggested menus. From the cover:

With The Complete Beck Diet for Life you'll discover the 5 stages of successful dieting and maintenance. You'll learn how to motivate yourself, give yourself credit for every change you make, create time and energy for dieting, and handle hunger and cravings. Dr. Beck eases you into changing one step at a time. You'll master one task before moving on to the next. And you'll learn techniques to deal with challenging situations, such as sticking with ou plan at celebrations and dealing with "food pushers." With Dr. Beck's skills, you'll achieve a lifetime of healthful eating and lifelong motivation.

This is a place to discuss the Beck strategies and our daily efforts, to receive and provide support, and, for some of us, is where we serve as on-line diet buddy (coach) to each other.

If you’ve arrived from a search engine, you've landed at the site of 3 Fat Chicks (3FC), a remarkable place for those interested in a healthy life style, including mindful eating, exercise, and weight loss. More about the site, including how to register so that you can post, can be found here.

The books are available on Amazon through the 3FC store by clicking their names above; buying through 3FC helps to cover the costs of running this site.

You can find the list of previous (or more current) monthly Beck threads here on 3 Fat Chicks via:

List of Monthly Beck Threads for Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies – On a perfectly stellar food day, CREDIT moi, the scale jittered back up a pound to maintain its right to mess with my brain. Lunch was the very last token chunk of chicken leftover from days ago. It was mine because DW declared it too little to attempt as a third meal for the both of us from the one rotisserie chicken, yet I made two lunches out of it. That was stretching it thin to reasonably modest portions as if I was attempting to control my weight.

Did gym, CREDIT moi. Later I walked with my new uber-collapsible Black Diamond hiking sticks from REI that DW pointed out we'd need to fit into our backpacks for use when walking about the Amalfi Coast of Italy. She absolutely needs them for her knees and assures me that coddling my knees will make them last longer. I learned that hiking sticks cannot be in carry-on luggage because they will be confiscated as weapons. My mind boggles at the thought of attempting to take over an airplane using a pair of hiking sticks.


onebyone – LOL at "Speak and you'll bespoke(n) to." Most folks I've asked gave a vague definition similar to your witty one. Kudos for a thorough plan for the week ahead. [Think I'll adopt your usage of bespoke for repairs on my old house instead of Rube Goldberg, LOL.]

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yay for stickers for grownups used with unabashed joy. I continue to be annoyed that my grocery store will reach under the counter and give a batch of stickers to the kid in line in front of me but never to me. I've never spoken up. Thanks for letting me know that you've just learned bespoke yourself - I don't feel as ignorant.

silverbirch – Sending supportive thoughts for the stresses supporting the issues of neighbors and family that you're facing. Thanks for the thorough explanation of bespoke; I'm now working on a casual use of it to see what's the reaction of my American friends. Absolutely love the notion that "we each require a bespoke solution for weight loss."

spanky - Thanks for the insight into bespoke fountain pens - I never knew. Is it true that kids are no longer being taught to read/write in cursive in the public schools these days? Kudos for on track with food and exercise today.

nationalparker – Neat to have a specific goal to fit a pair of zip off hiking pants. I love my zip offs. A good distractions list sounds like a stellar idea.

Karen (karenrn) - Kudos for keeping up with Hiking Suzanne for 90 minutes and for continuing your usage of sparkling waters.

love2garden - Ouch for the difficulties of your DH's tooth - hope the new plan works.

Readers -

Day 36 Believe It

As the weeks went by, Brenda slowly but steadily lost weight - but she remained skeptical. After she lost 10 pounds, she said, "It wont' last." After she lost 20 pounds, she was confused: "I know the scale says I've lost this much weight, and I know my clothes are looser, but it just doesn't seem real." After she lost 30 pounds, she was very confused. The eveidence that she was successfully losing weight was undeniable, but Brenda still doubted herself. "Okay, I know I've lost weight, but I dont' know how I did it," she said. "It's just a fluke." After she lost a total of 40 pounds, she thought she had the answer: "I'm 40 pounds lighter, but that's only because you're helping me."

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 239.

[curlyjax]

Hi coaches-
I just read "bespoke tailor" in a book last night, too funny! I never would have noticed it until these posts!

just waving- i can't say i am trying very hard. I will be op and aware one day, then heavily into sugar another. I'm going to visit a friend over the weekend who is quite healthy so that should force me to eat better, and i'm not bringing any sugar in the car to snack on.

I started reading about the S diet, or no S diet i guess- basically no snacks, seconds or sweets except on the weekend or a very special occasion. It fits into Beck thinking somewhat. I may try adopting this idea.

Bill- you also can't take a conch shell onto a plane, as it can be used as a weapon...to my chagrin when i tried to bring one home last year. i think somewhere someone has a job to dream up how ordinary objects can be used as weapons. Or they just want to make life harder for people on planes!

waving to all and reading !

[silverbirch]

I think I'll move this from the old thread where I posted before the new thread was born. It's to keep me in the moment.

As maryann says, just for today, I will always eat sitting down. That's not just meals, it's anything else as well.

To reiterate, today, anything I eat, I eat sitting down.

Have a good Friday, all!

I've sat down mostly but not always .... Now it's lunchtime.

[gardenerjoy]

My day of eating without distractions went fine. Except that if I'm not reading, I'm distracted by the view out the window and my own thoughts! I did still manage to enjoy all the interesting mix of flavors in my salad, more than I normally would.

WI: NA kg, Exercise: +30 1300/1300 minutes for April, Food: NA op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Another on plan day yesterday, credit. Two hour walk in Suzanne's neighborhood this morning,credit. We did the biggest hill first when it was still in the shade. Boy did that make it easier. We started just after 6 a.m. It's supposed to hit 100 here today and was 99 yesterday. It gets more and more difficult to get out and do the exercise as time goes by into summer.

I'm hoping for an on plan weekend. Nothing going on so no excuse for it not to be that way. Just went to the market and bought lots of veggies. Plan to get in the pool and try to even out my tan. Right now it's above the low sock line to above the knees and from short sleeve to hands. Dh drained the pool last weekend which needs to happen every couple of years, so it's sparkling clean.

I hope you all have relaxing and fun weekends.

[spanky]

Yesterday's Fast went well. Today I'm on plan and have finished the week's Stealth Exercises at the goal level I started with in early April. Credit!

Tomorrow is Weigh In and I'm steeling myself to embrace the fact I only lost 2 pounds for all of April. But then, it beats gaining them I know.

BBE: Yes, Cursive classes have become rare in the public and charter schools. Many private schools and homeschoolers still insist on having students learn it. There are even Urban Legends of some college students complaining to the profs that they "can't read that language" when they are confronted with personal correspondence examples in history books. Yikes. My son will learn it.

[maryann]

Good Afternoon, Coaches.

Thank goodness for a day off. I have shopped my usual three stores for loss leaders, bulk and super low deals for overstocks. I have made four slaw salads in tupperware for the next four days which means I only have to cook the protein to add. I have vitamixed (the name now a verb) my homemade V8 for the next few days. I have completed step class and have committed to a walk and a pilates class this weekend. And now I am posting here. These habits have kept my from regaining the eleven of the pounds I have lost here. Now I am still searching for the key to re-losing the final 9 pounds.

Yes, I had to change my ticker to show 1 pound gain. I agree with Spanky, losing is much better than gaining. Still with Nationalparker, I trudge on. And I reiterate Silverbirch, the true secret for me is sitting while I eat. So I will focus on that skill and reread Beck's work on special occasions because it seems to me that I will get in the grove and then hit a special occasion about every four or five days which derails me for another four or five days. The math never works out to a loss.

Non-food related but certainly life credits include an the award I received from my bosses at the school board meeting. I was honored for the programs for reading intervention I have developed at my middle school. It is a nice plaque and DH and DS were there to cheer me on. When I worry about things like the Baltimore riots, I have to remind myself that I AM doing something in a very small way. Giving the power of reading to my students (most of whom are immigrants or generationally poor kids) can solve so many problems - disenfranchisement, discouragement, ignorance and hate. I believe that reading and, through reading, education can solve so many problems. It doesn't play heroic on t.v. but my twenty-five years in education have been about finding the courage to change the things I can. Of course, I wish I could do more.

Have a good weekend all.

[nationalparker]

Eating today - complete and utter failure. Skipped the dang donuts and probably should have just been an over-achiever and eaten one of those, today as well. Food was ok until after an early light dinner and after I'd made the lasagna and had a stellar idea - I never thought to put a bit of my lasagna sauce on a thin pizza crust (150 cal crust I like for the whole round). Hey - maybe I'm inventing something NEW. Let me just wing a little bit of that on a crust and add some parm. And some mozz. And try it. I can always leave the rest for tomorrow. I hadn't really even thought it OUT just that the idea sounded really tasty. And it was. I sat down as I always do because I like to use pretty plates and a pretty place setting. But blew through all of it, to the tune of an add'l 400 calories or so. Well, it's blown and instead of just cutting off for the night, I'll add dessert just because I thought of it. So add another 200 calories for that. Ta dah! Next thought was that I need to fire up the laptop and check in on this thread and note that this ends the food today. And that I feel bloated and like crud.

Plan is in place for tomorrow with ample veggies and volume and water. But tonight, my mind is just repeating that whole why bother. I know I need to bother. Need to work harder. I have four ultra-busy workweeks to get through, culminating in working a long sports event out of town. So again, I feel that I'll be the heaviest person working that event. This bothers me, but apparently not enough to buckle down. Honestly, even if I just can get back on track, regardless of the scale, I'll feel like I'm more pulled together. Thanks for letting me vent/gripe/worry/explore thoughts. I'm nervous about all I need to have prepared for this event and keep turning to eat, like I don't know what I need to do but I know I can knock this back.

March - down 2, up 2. Net loss = 0.
April - down 4, up 4. Net loss =0.
ugh.

Maryann - Super Kudos for the award for your reading program. That is impressive. I am thankful that your hard work is recognized.

Bill - Ahhh, the Amalfi Coast You've brought another smile to my face with that image. Keeping the thought of vacation in my mind will be a help - thanks for helping me think of that. The kids I work with in the elem school program tell me they can write script and they basically print and then hook the letters together ... so there is interest on their level...

Spanky - I know we all have our battles here but two pounds in April sounds like a very solid effort and result. Good job!

Karen - I just cannot imagine those temps already! We won't get there until July or so... A good reminder to me to take advantage of our perfect weekend temps and get out and be active.

[onebyone]

Coaches

Drank water, walked a lot, tracked and stayed to new goals. All credits. Had a good day. I even went to the thrift store to find some shirts to throw on for painting and printing and also looked and tried on nicer ones but wow. Everything, and I mean the 3x were upper arm snug. Very disappointing. Ended up in men's section with men's sizes also snug but had minor luck with 3unisex designs and colour. Grateful to find anything. I truly need ten or twenty pounds off so I can even begin to get some new stuff. Not discouraged and didn't eat over it so creditito abundanto to me.

Have a good night.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Did gym, CREDIT moi. Ate on plan, CREDIT moi. Wore a coat. Brushed my teeth. Didn't floss. Yawn.

Distraction 1: Last night, heard Archangel Uriel sing of The Creation of Eve, "Her softly smiling virgin looks, of flow’ry spring the mirror, bespeak him love, and joy, and bliss." Eve was definitely not wearing a bespoke suit! Still trying to learn English as a first language. Perhaps I shouldn't be taking lessons from Hayden - an Austrian composing in the late 18th century.

Distraction 2: Boston's Handel and Haydn Society has experienced 8 years of the extraordinary leadership of Marie-Hιlθne Bernard who is leaving to be. . . leaving Boston to be . . . CEO and Executive Director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. <sigh> Our loss, their gain.

Now concentrate folks; we're here to support using Beck strategies to stay our exercise and eating plans. Avoid Sabotaging Distractions.


onebyone – Yep, Kudos for giving yourself "creditito abundanto" for a good day, for not being discouraged, and for not eating about it.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Thanks for the reminder that a mixed salad can be savored instead of just chomped like a rabbit. Congrats on your symphony's new CEO.

silverbirch – Kudos for getting the sitting down part thoroughly a part of your life.

maryann - Super Congratulations on your recognition for reading intervention. I'm moved by the thought that reading stands as a barrier for those who are disenfranchised. Kudos for having vitamixed your V8 in advance (My first use of that verb).

spanky - Yep, Kudos for a complete month of Stealth Exercises - whatever they are.

nationalparker – Ouch for an eating diversion - though I'd hardly call it "complete and utter failure." It's good to recognize that projection that you'll be the largest person - recognize it then discard it as a Sabotaging Thought for which you can think of a Helpful Response to get your mind back on track.

Karen (karenrn) - LOL at the winter tan lines. In awe at your noon temperatures - we're a long way from those. Yay for "bought lots of veggies."

curlyjax - Yay for healthy-eating friends. The simplicity of the No S diet appeals to me. [Thanks for the conch shell warning, LOL.]

Readers -

Day 36 Believe It

I reminded Brenda that although I certainly have been teaching her the Cognitive Therapy skills, she was the one who was consistently using them. That's why she was successfully losing weight. She understood this intellectually, but, on a deeper level, this just didn't fit with her view of herself as a person who couldn't lose weight.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 239.

[gardenerjoy]

I learned two things from yesterday's undistracted eating:

1) I eat some pretty bland foods. I like them for the texture and the comforting warm feeling in the belly. But, those are precisely the same foods that I tend to overeat. I think I'm going to be better off aiming for intensely flavorful foods in order to eat less.

2) Eating is often about the break with a book, not just the food. I skipped a snack yesterday because I wasn't interested if I couldn't read at the same time. Since I've been learning about how good games are for us, I played a computer game instead. It would be great if I could take reading breaks, but that's all tangled up with the food. I'm equally uninterested if I can't eat as I am if I can't read. So, it looks like computer games can work in place of a snack.

WI: NA kg, Exercise: +40 40/1300 minutes for May, Food: NA op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

maryann: congrats on the well-deserved award! That sounds like a great program!

BillBlueEyes: Thanks for sending us your symphony executive director!

[silverbirch]

I got better at it yesterday. Credit.

Day 2 of trying to make sure that I sit down to eat, every time. I have already forgotten twice. Local difficulties meant I was late to lunch, and was cold, wet and miserable as I came in the door. I think I'll probably improve as the day wears on.

Thanks for underlining the importance of this, maryann and BBE. And thanks for any other support I've forgotten. Life is too scrambled at present.

[spanky]

Surprise for Weigh In today--I've lost 3 pounds for April and will now stop whining.

I had to make some chocolate cupcakes for DH's continued Birthday celebrations and had a brilliant idea--I filled them with peanut butter filling and topped the frosting with mini Reeses's Pieces. I nearly throw up when I smell peanut butter and everyone else adores it. I am SAFE from any temptations from these cupcakes. Relief. Kudos for dodging that dozen bullets!

Today is on plan and a day off from exercise. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

[nationalparker]

Just a one liner that I had to post here ... reading what Kate wore on emerging from hospital:

Wearing a white silk dress with yellow flowers, the bespoke Jenny Peckham dress was perfect.

Edited to add day recap: Good choices, stayed busy. Decided to deal with the issue/concern of not enough clothes that fit for 10 days of working golf tournament and prep and went to Kohls and picked up several capris ... 12s and 14s ... now need more tops but that seems easier to me. Also bought a pair of shoes that will work for days on my feet. Now I don't have that worry on my mind leading up to it. Dinner was Thai and this time they didn't give large portions - I still ate half of mine and DH's portion was smaller as well, about 1/3 smaller, so he ate some of mine and we left the rest. We'll take a walk under a nearly full moon and a starry night sky here soon.