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:
Diet Coaches/Buddies – My after-dinner walk, CREDIT moi, included stopping at the drugstore for an errand. The clerk looked like she'd rather be a party, LOL. DW was feeling out of sorts so we skipped the rambunctious. I sent off greetings shortly after midnight and called that sufficient. For dinner we had traditional black eyed peas cooked with the leftover hambone from the freezer - so good.
May all of you have a joyful, prosperous, and on-plan 2017!
onebyone – Yep, stripping chicken (or ham) is a challenge for me. Kudos for tallying up your successes for the day.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yay for fruit as a satisfying snack.
nationalparker – Waving back to the Piazza San Marco - you got my wanderlust excited for getting back to Florence. Sending supportive thoughts for the impossible job of stepmom.
Karen (karenrn) - Love the notion of more joy as a New Year's resolution.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 9 Psychological Traps
#4: The Feeling Overburdened Trap
.....You get tired of focusing on
and putting effort into weight loss.
Linda has been overweight almost her entire life. When she first came to see me, she weighed just under three hundred pounds. Her weight was greatly affecting her life and her health. She was prediabetic, had high blood pressure, and was on a host of medications to help with health problems that, as her doctor kept telling her, her excess weight was greatly exacerbating. Linda also cared for her elderly mother, who had difficulty getting around. Both of them had mobility issues.
As Linda and I worked through the initial skills, she felt very committed and did well. She dutifully worked on her foundation strategies every day.
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. 189
I am excited about 2017. I learned more about myself and about life in 2016 that I had since 1986. I have been forced to shed so many behaviors, relationships and traditions that are no longer of service to me. On this first day of the year, I thank the past for the service that it has provided for me to get me to this moment in my life. I turn and walk away. My resolution for this year is to become comfortable in this new me.
I am blacking out days on my 2017 calendar in December. No matter what, I will not schedule those days for anything. I have learned my lesson this year.
Credit for stretches and morning prayer and meditation. I started them 4:00 am. I was so exhausted from the constant company of others, I went to bed at 8:00 last night but that means I have time in the morning when I am fresh.
Credit for several salads. The portions were wrong and I added other things but salads are an important healthy habit for myself.
Credit for sitting down and eating.
Credit for starting school work. I have been paralyzed in the face of prepping for spring classes. I took the easiest piece and started to work on it.
I am excited about tomorrow. No more company and I have already checked myself and refused to line up a ski weekend in two weeks with friends. Nope. I will come and ski by myself. Putter around in the cabin. Clean things up.
KarenRn: Love the weather. It is super cold here. BBE: I spent an outrageous sum on berries for a new year's eve dinner. I hear it was still less that one drink in a bar. So credit. onebyeone: I like the idea of setting chores. A clean sink makes a big difference to me. nationalparker: I use the serenity prayer in situations like you face with DH daughters. I accept the things I cannot change. I always remember that acceptance is not approval.
Happy New Year, every one! One of the things I love this time of year is that I have so much company in my commitment to a healthier life style. Let's do this in 2017!
Even though it is Sunday it feels like the BIG MONDAY of the year. Gardener Joy is right we are joined by nearly the rest of the world in getting healthy and losing weight.
I did pretty darn well yesterday. No alcohol and no sweets. We did go to friends for dinner and I had a small portion of lasagna and salad with things off the antipasto tray. In spite of the good day, I was at 141 not 140, but I still think it's better than I've been for awhile. I wish I had a record, but I don't.
Today, I'm just back to the basics and doing the Karen Plan. It's a bit rainy today and I'm just doing some indoor chores. I took down the Christmas Tree and we had to empty the laundry room because they come tomorrow to put in a new floor and cupboards. Hopefully that doesn't take too many days.
Happy New Year's to all; let us all have a great new year!
An early night after a pizza dinner...420 taxi to airport in morning. Fingers crossed all goes well on our three flights to get home.
Yes!! Let's make 2017 the healthiest yet!
Maryann...how i needed "acceptance is not approval". That resonated. I'm already mentally fighting the battles - no phones at the dinner table, etc. I'm thinking we'll go out.
I did nothing special to see the new year in. For as much as I wanted 2016 to end, I am not energized by the arrival of 2017. I suspect I am fighting some weird cold bug. I have a dry cough, a couple of days of that now, and a bit of sore-ish throat. I feel tired.
I could still *be* tired.
I want to take the month of January off.
Much of my energy is being zapped by this MFA business. I am not 100% sure I should do it. I'm not 100% sure of anything and when I actually try to dissect what I want, I feel lost. I need to do some writing around this issue.
Other than that I have a canvas waiting for me. I love that!
Monday - Daguerre takes first photograph of the Moon (1839, France)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Out for a morning bird walk, CREDIT moi, with more new birders than usual - the New Year brings out folks ready for new things. Loved watching a six year-old nascent birder getting excited that she learned how to get her eye close enough to look through the spotting scope. The new folks didn't know that spotting a Cooper's Hawk as well as two Red-tailed Hawks was unusual for our location.
Later walked to a New Year's grand performance that included some violin virtuosic performances. It's hard to believe that Handel wrote stuff 200 hundred years ago that we still want to hear.
onebyone – Yep, writing has a wonderful way of exposing parts of the brain that we don't easily access. Hope you can shake that cold; the ones we've had lately outlasted their welcome.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yep, "Let's do this in 2017!"
maryann - Super Kudos for honoring your need for me-time. You did have a remarkable 2016.
nationalparker – Waving back toward an airport somewhere - maybe the mid-Atlantic by now. To ease the shock of returning home, let me remind you that in 1999 "Chicago temperatures plunged to -13 ºF and19 inches of snow fell." You'll get a warmer reception, LOL.
Karen (karenrn) - Hope that your workmen don't take up so many days that you don't get back on the trail. Kudos for "I did pretty darn well yesterday."
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 9 Psychological Traps
#4: The Feeling Overburdened Trap
The first few months, Linda was thrilled with her steady weight loss. She still had a long way to go, but she felt in control of her eating for the first time she could remember. However, a few months into treatment, her mother injured her arm, and Linda suddenly found herself having to do much more for her mother than she was used to.
"I have so much to think about right now," she told me. "Things with my mother are really difficult, and I have to say I'm just tired of having to think about my eating. I'm tired of having to make healthy choices all the time, and I'm tired of having to put in all this work."
Many people who are trying to lose weight eventually get to this point: feeling burdened by having to work on healthy eating. They usually have sabotaging thoughts along the lines of "I'm tired of having to work on this" or "I just don't want to have to think about it right now."
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. 190
Happy New year coaches!
I’ve had a few days off and its so nice to sleep in, and then have a leisurely time with my coffee and the computer. I am going to get back to checking in more frequently, it is indeed so helpful.
I sat DH down and wrote a few things we want to get accomplished in the next six months, fun things like going to see theater, and house things like sorting through the basement, yikes! I am going to secretly write some weeklyish goals so we actually do this stuff.
I started out the year with a beautifully cleaned off bureau, leaving just a few items that are pretty and make me happy to look at . I also sorted the utensil drawers and lined them with wrapping paper. Little steps do make a difference.
Dh’s illness this year gave me a lot to think about, and realize I take for granted his emotional support as well as the “manly” things he does like yard work and getting rid of dead mice (we have dispatched about 8 in the last two months i think!!). I have talked myself through some panic attacks when he was in the hospital, and started adjusting my thinking about the future. So like Maryann I have learned a lot about myself this year.
And of course I need to take better care of myself physically- i’m at the highest i’ve ever been, 161, and it is time to take steps to make myself healthier and stronger. I turned 50 this year which I am actually excited about and it is time to get back on track!
Waving to all!
ps Bill, I have enjoyed Rita Mae Brown books as well, and not the talking animals either. Always interesting to get the southern viewpoint!
Eating has been all over the map during a long Christmas break – thankfully I’m no more than ½ pound over where I was at the beginning of December. Exercise was also random, but foot is getting stronger and I did a very short, flat “First Day Hike” sponsored by our state parks yesterday as a way to symbolically start the year ready for lots more hiking and biking and awesome outdoor activities. School starts tomorrow so back to regular eating patterns, thank goodness. A total cleanout of the kitchen is on the agenda this afternoon. I’m actually kinda sick of all the sweet stuff around here!
Just spent an hour packaging lunches for the rest of the week: helped me make a grocery list, also, to complete my planned lunches and get ready for breakfasts. Now to just think about dinners.....at least I know now how many "exchanges" I have to work with.
I ended up having 2 1 inch square treats yesterday, a brownie and a lemon bar. Our friend will be leaving today and if he hasn't eaten them, they'll go in the garbage. No sweets or alcohol today and no alcohol yesterday. I've been following the plan well today and got in a two hour hike this morning with my MN friends who are here at their condo's for part of the month. My closer friend Tammy will be here all month and she's a good hiker. We did the Tour du Mont Blanc together 3 years ago. It was nice to get out with the girls and to leave the house which is football, football, football.
They got a good start on the laundry room today. Hopefully another day or two at the most and they'll be finished. I start physical therapy on my left shoulder tomorrow. It's not the arm I broke, but I think I may have hurt it a bit almost a year and a half ago on a backpacking trip. It isn't bad at all and to be honest if I had known we have to pay for all of it (deductible) I likely would have said it's good enough. Dh says go see if they can make it better, so I'll give it a couple of weeks to see.
I am ready for no company, no holiday and no workmen so I can get some things done around here. It's hard enough to work around the pup.
Nature Girl Good job keeping the holiday weight gain to practically nothing; heck I would call it nothing. Glad your foot is better too.
CurlyJax It's always good to hear from you. Yes, I bet your year has been a time of reprioritizing. You sound good though and like you are stronger than ever. I suppose a person gets stronger when they need to. I know I have at different times in my life and I've become much more resilient than I used to be.
Bill It sounds like you got a couple of good walks in. When you talk about birding I keep thinking that is something I should take up, but so far I just think about it.
Onebyone I hope you're feeling better soon. Why is it that you want your MFA? I'm not trying to be funny, I just wonder what it will do for you. Is there a particular position you're wanting that requires it?
Nationalparker I hope you are home safe and sound and beginning to get rested up. I also think Maryann's advice of acceptance is not approval is great. I need to remember that for some situations.
GardenerJoy I think tomorrow will be the real start to the New Year's Resolutions, at least that's what it seems like with it being a National Holiday today and all the football on tv.
Good luck to all of us as we start the new year. My hope is that we can all follow through on those resolutions that are most important to us.
If I doubted it yesterday I know for sure today I have some weird cold. I dry cough. I ache a lot. I sometimes sweat. I am tired withow energy. Still I am off to teach tomorrow. Second last class so I want to do it. I will just take my time.
Food wise not a good day. No sweets but quantity and quality both out of whack. Oh well. Scale was 278.8 today.
I did go out to pay for a two hr crash course ukulele class on jan 22! The teacher is hosts a ukulele jam once a month. I want in on that. I'd love to be in a ukulele orchestra. I am super happy to be learning my instrument! I'm looking forward to getting a small amp for it as well. Can not wait.
karenrn: the MFA is about Opening g the doors that are really tough to open. Public and National gallery exhibitions. Opportunities to write about art or critique art. More show chances due to expansion of my art circle etc. I also wonder about the future. I can see myself teaching in a university of writing academically about art and craft. This can all be done without the MFA but it's tougher. I aloso feel great inner pressure to make some real money. But that's pressure, not joy. I'm still on the fence but will probably test the water by applying only.to the one school.
It's as much a crap shoot as everything I do. My main worry is adding to my personal debt. That would be great hat stops me from.doing this. Not sure if that's a good enough reason or not.
Posting to restore lost momentum. First I couldn't bear to be strict with myself on Christmas. But since my daily routine didn't magically go back to normal on the 26th, before I knew it, it was New Years and no use being strict with myself then either. Too much good food and too many people to share it with will get me every time. (Especially the people! Even those I love, who notice and support me losing weight, mustn't ever see me working on it. There's nothing specific I fear about their reaction - just knowing that they know I'm dieting right this second is enough to make me squirm.)
I think I did sort of OK with a fallback plan of just paying attention to hunger signals. Not great. I still overate some days. I'm also still trying to figure out meal planning (thanks all for your advice on that!) - today I decided on breakfast while I was still in bed and dinner while I was still in the grocery store. Stuck to both plans. Tomorrow's breakfast is going in my food diary as soon as I finish this post, and who knows, maybe lunch as well...
Things I definitely did do right: my apartment has stayed clean, maybe even gotten a little cleaner. And I finally did an electronics project! It was the first one in a kit I got for Christmas. Not much, just a blinking LED, but it's broken through my sense of being unable to get started.
onebyone hope the cold gets better soon. I like your strategy of applying to just one school and writing to help you think the decision through - maybe having the ukulele jam as another creative outlet will help too somehow?
naturegirl congrats to you and karenrn on hiking despite obstacles! With you on the need for a fresh start after having left food and exercise to chance for a while - let's burn some calories kicking 2017's butt
shiviti welcome! Hope you stick around - yes, this is a supportive place and there are enough of us to keep that vibe going even if one or two go MIA at times.
curlyjax much respect for the independence you've gained. Talking yourself through panic attacks takes a lot of strength.
Tuesday - NY Yankees acquired Babe Ruth (Boston, 1920)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – A quiet day; it felt like an undeserved vacation day. Many businesses and services were closed. DW and I took down the tree, removed the ornaments and lights. It went to the curb looking forlorn until a neighbor placed their tree on top of it. Then it looked like it had a friend, LOL.
Eating was OK - still in recovery mode from the holidays. There's no junk food around so snacking is under control - particularly the ice cream that was left over from our Christmas Eve dinner that sat in the freezer calling my name. Fortunately (or unfortunately) it's been nibbled away as evening snacks so that's over.
onebyone – Watched the ukulele orchestra from your link. I'd never heard of such. They certainly looked like they were having even more fun than the audience. Kudos for remaining thoughtful about an MFA program.
Nature Girl – Congrats for taking that “First Day Hike” to set the tone for the year.
Karen (karenrn) - Always Kudos for "following the plan well today."
curlyjax - Super Kudos for continuing open communication with your DH. Love the notion of small changes in the household to make living more attractive.
dorodango - Congrats for doing your electronics project. This generation of kids is missing out on the old Heath kits that were popular when I was a kid. I recognize the "mustn't ever see me working on it" syndrome. Recognizing it helps to be sure that it doesn't get in the way.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 9 Psychological Traps
#4: The Feeling Overburdened Trap
I told Linda how sorry I was that things felt so difficult for her. I could certainly understand how the process of losing weight might feel like one more gigantic burden that she didn't want to think about. But here was the truth: she would be burdened either way. I asked her to consider some other burdens she was carrying right now. How burdensome was it for her, at her current weight, to
help her mother around the house?
go up and down the stairs?
spend time worrying and feeling bad about her weight?
go to doctors' appointments?
deal with the cost and side effects of medications - all due to the extra weight she was carrying around?
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. 190
Yesterday I was reading an article on the My Fitness Pal Website and came across the following:
"The #1 Habit You Should Have to Lose Weight (™) is:
FINDING PEOPLE TO SHARE YOUR JOURNEY
Permanent lifestyle changes happen in relationships. Whether they take place with peers, a coach, family, friends, coworkers, the other anonymous people at the meetings, or the other new recruits who joined the Marine Corps with you, new habits happen when people get together and help each other out.
Finding your own triggers are hard. Seeing other people’s is easy. Remembering to tell yourself, “Great job!” is hard. Remembering to tell other people is easy. Figuring out how to work new foods, new activities, and new steps into your own life is hard. Watching and learning from a whole bunch of other people like you who are trying to get to the same place you are is just so much easier! Even my colleagues, habit experts all, needed each others’ help to figure this problem out.
I call this habit, this all-important, #1 habit, “Creating a community of consistency.” And it can be as big a commitment as hiring a coach, or as simple as telling a friend what you’re doing to lose weight or inviting them to join MyFitnessPal. Whatever you can do to share the load of learning, planning, remembering, and rewarding will be one less thing you have to worry about."
I thought this was interesting and very pertinent to our group. I just wanted to share it before I forget to and will be back later for a regular post.
Beck Diet For Life/Solution – January 2017 – Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach
Sunday - New Year's Day
Happy New Year
to everyone!
