If you need an alternative sometime to reading BECK try listening to this Michael Pollan FOOD RULES: Eater's Manual. I listened while eating breakfast and doing some wood restoring. It reinforces BECK steps.
Hi,
Arrrrgggghhhh. I reverted back to my "old" (hopefully old) behaviour with food and myself on Tuesday and Wednesday. I feel like a garbage can today. Oh, I am so familiar with that physically awful feeling accompanied by the self-beating. How did the start slide? I went to a meeting at someones home and sat around a coffee table for 3 hours staring (totally totally focused on) at the large muffins, scones, cake ---- I figuratively (and almost literally "dove in"). I ate 5 large baked goods (I had no shame) in front of everyone and when I left there I was on a tear. Yesterday, (credit to me) I stood on the scale in the morning and left very early to travel to visit my mother and continued on one heck of a bad day with food.
Today - I have no stood on the scale (I cannot bare to read the information it will provide me) but I have a food plan (but yikes, a meal out in a restaurant tonight.
Stay tuned. I will post tomorrow....I commit that to myself. I will also weigh myself tomorrow.
"When my eating is managed I sparkle. I am powerful when I sparkle".
Coaches/Buddies:
Ugh, I feel a bit like a child kicking and screaming that I don't waaant to do it. Post that is. I'm just tired and it's been a long week. Overall doing better. Hope to get back into the swing of things more (especially with posting and progressing with the book).
So, just wanted to check in. Hope you are all doing well.
Shepherdess-hurray for spring, eating on plan, running and baby cows!!
gardenerjoy-good for you for tracking food, measuring and earning stars.
midlifecrisis57-you do an incredible amount of volunteering. How fantastic that you give so much.
KidsLibrarylady- hugs to you. Don't be embarrassed- we have been there and know how hard it is. I highly recommend cognitive therapy- my life has improved in every way since I started therapy.
BillBlueEyes- credit for revising your meal after the beefy soup.
ChinaMaine-fantastic control at the restaurant. Your list of successes always inspires me.
Beverlyjoy- yay for another pound down and for reaching your mini goal!!! No second helpings in 2.5 months is quite an achievement.
maryblu- wishing the best to you too!!
hikergirl-we both had a terrible Tuesday and Wednesday. Mine started at the hotel where I ordered Chinese and continued the next day into a sugar overdose. It is so frustrating. Today I am back on track. Hope you are too. We can only say Oh Well and move on.
bennyhannahmama- you didn't want to post and you did. So that is a big credit. Glad you are doing better overall.
For me, as stated above, Tuesday went well until I got to the hotel and reverted right into old habits. I had a plan that went out the window. I ate way too much. The difference was I was not really happy about the decision to do it, felt unease while doing it and felt totally uncomfortable after. The good news is I consumed way less than other times. Hotel stays suck!!!!
Wednesday I did well until the evening and then I ate a bunch of sugar/ chocolate. Eating sure triggers eating.
Today I am back on track. I am giving myself credit for:
Weighing in
Exercise bike 30 mins
Weights
Posting
Reading advantage and response cards
Planning tomorrow and packing lunch.
Eating slower and more mindfully.
WI-no-weigh-in. Did not read my cards, made a plan. Food – on-plan; Exercise – off-plan (tired – no exercise).
I had a good day from a food perspective, but was too tired to exercise. Even if I wasn’t tired, I might not have done any exercise. Just too busy at work. Today looks to be a bit better…
The Good
- Throughout the day, I identified hunger vs non-hunger before I ate – credit!
- Give credit throughout the day for every positive eating behavior – yep!
- Tolerated non-hunger without eating – up until dinner partial credit!
- Used resistance techniques – yes!
- I posted here – yes!
The Bad, and the Ugly
- Eat mindfully, enjoying every bite – I was very hungry and just vacuumed my dinner without thinking or pausing.
- Throughout the day, I identified satisfaction vs fullness while eating, and I stopped eating when satisfied – And not only did I inhale my food but I made the DECISION to eat my entire dinner, even though I was satisfied about 80% of the way in. Oh well...
- Read the pink book – nope
- Spontaneous exercise – nope
Bill lol-Willie Working Wonk… Hope things are beginning to let up for you…
gardenerjoy I had a therapist who told me to ask myself this question – ‘What’s the worst that could happen if I do X?’ and when I’d actually answer the question honestly, I’d realize that no catastrophe would occur if I took 20 mins away from work. But, this isn’t something I do well myself, so I certainly am no role model…
shepherdesscontemplating the wisdom of dirt floors - lol
Susan (hikergirl) thanks for the link. Ouch for coffee table overflowing with large baked goods. Today is a new day…
Kim (bennyhannamama) Kudos for posting and reading the book. One baby step at a time and you’ll get where you want to be…
CeeJayEating sure triggers eating. – great observation… Credit for being on-plan most of the time while in the city. Here’s to hoping you are on-plan today.
Last edited by ChinaMaine; 03-12-2010 at 06:56 AM.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Apparently, I've decided to devote my life to working, although I'm having real fun because the stuff I'm doing is coming together well and I'm like a pig in shiitake mushrooms. The urge to eat while tense comes more often. I use the old NO CHOICE more often; CREDIT moi.
Today is ticker tick day for me. At four and a half years into my journey I seem to be increasing my concern that five years is a looooooooooog way away instead of increasing my confidence that I've made it this far so it will be easier to reach my 5 year goal. Interesting, I have no plans for after 5 years since that time was so impossible far in the future when I started that it was the goal of my wildest dreams.
ChinaMaine - Ouch for continuing too busy. I'd try to think of something helpful to tell you but I'm too busy working to think. Hope you can take the weekend off.
CeeJay - Great insight, "Eating sure triggers eating." I would do well to remember that. Chanting to myself, Nuts beget nuts.
Kim (bennyhannamama) - Yep, some weeks - their time has come to end.
Susan (hikergirl) - Neat to recognize what happened and see it as different than before in your "old" behavior.
Shepherdess - Yay for good sore. If you had dirt floors, would you be annoyed when your dog tracked dirt out of the house?
Joy (gardenerjoy) - LOL at not having time for distractions, but "always had time to overeat."
midlifecrisis57 - Yay for more ways for positive reinforcement.
Readers -
Quote:
day 21 The Numbers on the Scale
If the scale doesn't go down and you know you've been following your diet and exercise plans faithfully, don't panic. You can easily go up or down 2 pounds on any given day due to hormonal or other physiological reasons. If so, you'll undoubtedly lose weight next week if you continue to follow your plan.
The Beck Diet Solution, pg 172.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 03-12-2010 at 11:19 PM.
Reason: 4.5 months=>years. Tks onebyone.
Hi buddies and coaches.... yesterday was a healthy day. I am grateful. My back is slowly improving. Gosh - so many of my pieces and parts are hurting. I feel like I could do a commercial for Aleve. I really, really want to wait until September to have my ankle surgery. I hope I can wait that long.
Today I am making Russian Cabbage soup. It's delicious. I got this recipe from my MIL. The funny thing is that it contains V8 juice. It makes me laugh - this recipe is from 40 year ago. I didn't know communist Russia had v8 juice. It always makes me laugh.
Well - next Thursday or maybe Friday we go to do the birthday party my cousins and I are doing. I'll be home one night after that- then off to a different state for performing and spending time with my grandson and his parents (notice who gets top billing). That's about 10 days. I know I made it through the last trip. . but, I wish food sanity wasn't such a big issue for me. So as Dr. Beck says - I am starting to plan a week ahead of time. I will use my second food plan...exchanges, allow a couple extra hundred calories if I want, take my response cards, my journal, take a few snackie things I like, log etc. It's tough because I don't know what food will be around when I get to these places. It's all about willingness to try - I am trying to start to prepare myself in my mind for this trip. It's a joyful event - but, scary for me in the food department. I am determined to finally learn to LIVE with food - I hope so.
credits for yesterday
fork down between bites - most of the time
no seconds - all of the time
gave credit - many times
did some stretches and strengthening exercises
left a bite - all the time
read arc/rc one time
made plan - logged food
workin' on
sponaneous exercise
feeling full
slow mindful eating - tasting
bill - I'm like a pig in shiitake mushrooms. Love this! Ya know it's good when you really like what you are doing considering all the time you must put in to do it. GREAT - using no choice when necessary! I agree five years is a very long time - I think smaller batches of time are more manageable.
chinamarie - I think trying to do everything Beck sometimes is a challenge when we get tired. It's good that you identified being full even though you ate your alotted amount. You didn't over eat.
ceejay - sorry that the hotel has proved to be so challenging. I totally understand. I good thing is you saw what was happening. Every day is a new beginning. Carry on!
bennyhannamama - glad you checked in! Hope you have a great beck day with willingness.
hikergirl - glad you have a plan. Those triggers can control us - it's amazing. Dust your self off, forgive yourself and move forward. Glad you posted.
midlifecrisis - thanks for the link - Dr. Pollan was on Oprah too. Quite a message.
gardenjoy - I know those distractions can be hard. Lately I've been using what I call the Five D's: Distractions, Distance, Deep breathing, Drink water, Destroy the food. (and only IF I am willing to do so). Perhaps, you could make a list of things that you CAN do in that environment - get a huge glass of water, deep breathing a few times can help, take a little walk, wear a bracelet or ring and change hands for them (it's a funny way I remind myself). Hang in there....you CAN do this.
shepardess - cleaning counts as exercise! Kudos for using your resistance muscle when you wanted to snack and stayed on your pllan.
Last edited by Beverlyjoy; 03-12-2010 at 08:25 AM.
Hi all. I am trying to gain some control. Yesterday was still skewed with regards to my eating but it was not as bad as the two days before. I weighed myself this morning and the "information" provided to me was what I expected (but credit to me for standing on the scale).
My big bugaboo is when I am in a setting where the food being presented to me in a manner that is not "controlled". In other words, for me to be successful with managing my eating I will have to become a 100% stay at home eater. This, I will not do. So, much, much, much work to do on resistance to techniques. I have to have hope that I will eventually have the skills to be able to manage my way through these situations. I socialize with my friends around a restaurant table and this is important to me.
I will post tomorrow. I will not drop off of this thread. I will get back on track. Thank you for "listening".
Running just didn’t happen yesterday. I just wasn’t feeling up to it. I need to remember that it’s fine to skip a run when I’m fatigued, but I need to do some other form of exercise—a gentle yoga session, an easy walk, whatever.
Still craving something starchy yesterday, so I had chips instead of my planned snack of veggies and hummus. I did keep the chips to a single serving, but it helps when that is all that is in the bag. I’m not sure if this reinforces my giving in muscle or not, but it certainly took the edge off of my craving and it was within my calorie budget.
I did have what I would consider a victory at the grocery store. I forgot my list.I can usually remember everything, but it means that I have to wander the store, setting me up for lots of impulse buys (read lots of off-plan food). I didn’t realize it until I had left the store, but my impulse buys were some raspberries, a new flavor of tea, and some lentils. I’m just proud of myself for not letting any cookies, crackers or chips end up in my cart. While I was passing the snack isle (all conveniently located in one place) I had the momentary thought to go down it, but then thought, “There’s nothing I need down there” and passed it without a struggle. It may seem like a silly victory for most people, but it’s a big one for me.
Midlifecrisis57, thanks for the Michael Pollen link. The thing that I like about Pollen is that he stresses that food is first and foremost, nourishement for the body. We can and should enjoy it and be a bit disgusted by the food that doesn’t nourish. I heard a very funny piece on All Things Considered the other day. All of the staff were confessing their food sins to High Priest Pollen.
Hikegirl, ouch for the baked goods incident. Huge credit for getting on the scale—it’s a big step towards getting back on track. I’m not sure I could stare down baked goods for 3 hours—I’m not sure why people think it’s necessary to lay food around at meetings, get-togethers, whenever. I am posting a link to an interesting article about “restrained eaters” (otherwise known as chronic dieters) verses “natural eaters.” It was eye opening for me; hope it helps you. http://caloriecount.about.com/were-y...-today-b323054
Bennyhannamamma, great job posting when you don’t wanna. It’s like Beck says, there are plenty of things we do whether we feel like it or not, like stopping at red lights, brushing our teeth etc. The good news is, the more we just do them because we say NO CHOICE, the more they just become routines and those “I don’t wanna” feelings subside.
CeeJay, ouch for a plan that goes out the window, but do give yourself credit for damage control. And don’t let this incident color your past success during hotel stays. You’ve done great before and you can do it again. Kudos for getting back on track.
ChinaMaine, sorry about the fatigue and hope it will pass soon. Kudos for the long list of credits. Ouch for eating past satisfaction, but good job identifying that it was a decision and moving on.
BillBE, congrats on another successful month of maintenance. Would giving yourself a mini-reward during maintenance (whatever time period you choose) help with the feeling that 5 years is a long way off. Then you could look forward to the reward rather than thinking about the far-off 5 years. Kudos for keeping that NO CHOICE working for you—it’ll help you get to 5 years.
Beverlyjoy, yay for slowly feeling better and continuing to eat well. Great job thinking ahead to another trip. When you lose your confidence, just remember how good you felt about yourself after your last trip. You can do it again. It just takes planning and you are doing that.
Today was my official weigh in day. I had a surprise as it told me I am down a pound to 262.2. I saw that number before DH came home from Costa Rica 3 or 4 weeks ago now, and I haven't seen it again since. It's been a steady rise, all the way to 266 last week so this was unexpected. I was starting to think I would just re-gain the weight I'd lost.
Apparently I was wrong.
Credit for being wrong.
I now feel re-energized to get into the 250's.
Food-wise I am still fighting the good fight against seasonal sweets. Oy vey its tough right now. My all time favorite treats are from this season and I continue to be gripped by them. The obsession with having them waxes and wanes but it's never completely gone. Not for today anyway.
I have not been 100% on plan, more about 80-85% OP. Credit.
Shepherdess BIG credit for the grocery store victory. I caved on a few items this afternoon. Chalk it up to shopping while hungry and then reading the advertising that told me item X was 25% LESS FAT! It justified my desire for these things... And then seeing a 99 cent sticker price when it used to be over $2.00? Well that sealed the deal. I bought two and have already consumed 1/2 of one. I called that "lunch". I call the rest of the stuff "DH's".
hikergirl Credits for continuing to post and for the willingness to work through the restaurant/out of your hands eating-type situations. Things do change following Beck. You are already better at these situations...just look at your own behaviour and give yourself credit.
Beverlyjoy Credit for your willingness to plan for your upcoming trip and for the challenges you anticipate having. I too wish I had more sanity around food as well. In the past I'd cave and buy the food I am obsessing about thinking giving in to it would rid me of the obsession. This time round I am resisting. No one else knows or sees my struggle, but a struggle it is. So far, I am winning and so are you! credit.
BillBlueEyes Are you at 4.5 months or 4.5 years? Did you make a Freudian slip? Or do I just see you as _that_ sober aka sane around food that I figure you must be close to that 5yr mark? Credit for enjoying your work, working when you need to, and avoiding poor food at your workplace. Perhaps you can be grateful the food is so bad--it forces you to get out of there to get decent eats.
hello to everyone I missed... have a good evening.
ChinaMaine- ouch for inhaling dinner and eating past satisfied. Oh well- gotta let stuff like that go.
BillBlueEyes-I can imagine that reaching 5 years would seem like a dream. I hope you are planning on a huge reward for that. In the meantime, some small rewards are maybe in order. I think that just because you are maintaining does not mean you should not get credit and rewards.
Beverlyjoy-yay for a healthy day. You did so well on the last trip you obviously had a great plan then that will work again as long as you say NO CHOICE.
hikergirl-credit for standing on the scale. Eating out is so hard, I am still struggling with that.
Shepherdess- good for you for staying with a single serving of chips. Your impulse buys sound very good. No one ever gained from those choices.
onebyone-yay for back to 262 and renewed energy and optimism. You can definitely lose 3 pounds and hit the 50's and you are going to feel so good when that happens!!!
For me- a good day today. The hotel fiasco is starting to fade from my memory. Credit for:
weighing in
walking 35 mins with DH
eating on plan
reading advantage and response cards
planning tomorrow
eating slower and tasting the food
posting to my coaches.
ChinaMaine, thanks for the "what's the worst that could happen" question. I could see that working if I remember to use it! And, really, what is the worst that could happen if I read a novel or took a walk for 20 minutes? And even more, if I take Beverlyjoy's suggestion, what's the worst that could happen if I took a few deep breaths and drank a glass of water -- hard to imagine any catastrophe from that!
I finished our taxes today, the primary source of my stress this week. And then, 100 minutes of exercise, which pretty much got rid of the physical aspects of stress.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - The work week concluded well; I left on-time and I left a happy man. CREDIT moi for taking care of that part of my life. I did gym, CREDIT moi, a full session of it - telling myself it was a reward for a good week's work. This included the full 120 d*rn lunges that I've not felt able to whine about since my outage due to a severe cough and slow rehab like re-entry into workouts. Eating was on-plan without particular distractions - the old ho-hum on-plan day that I dream of having more and more often.
onebyone - Yay for a scale reading that pleased you, and Yay for responding sanely to it. Kudos for giving yourself credit for being wrong. (I think that makes sense.) Yep, must have been a Freudian slip, I'm at 4.5 years, not months. Thanks for pointing that out.
CeeJay - Yay that memories of fiasco's fade and that you can give yourself credit for "walking 35 mins with DH." My take is that Beck is pushing us to give ourselves credit for those positive steps we had been ignoring.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for finishing taxes. Kudos that it only took 100 minutes of exercise to get that out of your system, LOL.
Susan (hikergirl) - Yay for treating the scale reading as "information" - good demo of the very chapter showing up as quote of the day. Big Kudos for "I will not drop off of this thread. I will get back on track." That's winning in my book.
Shepherdess - That's a great story of your grocery store success. In my book, a single serving of chips is a near miracle, LOL. Thanks for the tip about mini-rewards.
Beverlyjoy - Yay for your continued "willingness to try." It encourages me that facing new situations is well covered by Beck. And useful to be reminded that if starting to plan a week ahead is what it takes, then do it. LOL at the communist Russia V-8 Juice. I hadn't made that communist-red connection; suspect that the purveyors hope no one else does.
Readers -
Quote:
day 21 The Numbers on the Scale
No matter what tomorrow's weight is, take a step back and remember this: On any given day, the number on the scale is exactly what it should be, given what you ate, how much energy you expended in the past few days, the amount of fluid your body is retaining, and other biological influences.
The Beck Diet Solution, pg 172.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 03-13-2010 at 01:40 PM.
Reason: crunches=>lunges. Tks ChinaMaine. Typing Deficit Disorder.
Yesterday was on plan and healthy. I am always grateful for a good day with food. DH got home from his business trip - it was nice to see him! It was such a nice day - all the children in the neighborhood were outside enjoying the day. So much fun listening to them playing, laughing, yelling back and forth and more.
Again I ate way too fast more times than not yesterday. I really need to be much more mindful, slow and taste the food better. My friend who told me about Beck says when she gets into that mode - she will do a day of waiting 30 between bites to get her 'mind right'. I think I'll try that today.
Today is a hang around the house day. Those days are nice.
Yesterday's credits
no seconds, fork down between bites, ate seated only
gave credit
worked on and redid a response card
left a bite of food or snack
feel fullness - some of the time
made a plan - stayed with and logged my food
checked in here
lots of water
no choice and oh well when dh brought some some beautiful bread for the soup.
been planning for my trip
working on
no exercise or spontaneous exercise
ate too fast
inconsistent tasting the food
felt fullness only a bit of the time
I need to move forward in the Beck book
bill - I am glad you are feelilng well enough to do a full workout. That's wonderful. Plus - using a workout as a reward for getting through a busy week is awesome. Ho hum days are nice, really.
gardenjoy - so GREAT getting the taxes done and using exercise to releive the stress of it. WONDERFUL!
ACK!!! - my responses to the others disappeared! So frustrating. I'll come back later to redo them.
I'll be back for the other personals in a little while
Last edited by Beverlyjoy; 03-13-2010 at 07:44 AM.
WI-no-weigh-in. Did not read my cards, did not make a plan. Food – on-plan; Exercise – on-plan (35m).
It was a busy day at work, but not so busy as it has been lately. I only had 2 short meetings (amazing!) and took my planned walk. My new resources are still ramping up, so I’m still spending weekends keeping us on track in the timeline. But I think this’ll only go on for another few weeks.
I’ve had a number of tests done trying to find the source of the fatigue I’ve been feeling. To date, all tests have been normal. Last week my endocrinologist’s office called and told me my thyroid numbers were back up to the high level of normal. He planned to leave my dosage at the current level, but I asked his assistant to ask him to reconsider; I told her about my inability to exercise on a daily basis. This doctor is the most supportive about my weight loss, and my ability to exercise is always a point of discussion when I meet with him. The assistant called back yesterday with a new prescription to try to bring down my thyroid numbers a bit. If it works I should be feeling better in 6-10 weeks.
The Good
- Throughout the day, I identified satisfaction vs fullness while eating, and I stopped eating when satisfied – credit!
- Throughout the day, I identified hunger vs non-hunger before I ate – credit!
- Eat mindfully, enjoying every bite – credit!
- Give credit throughout the day for every positive eating behavior – yep!
- Tolerated non-hunger without eating – credit!
- Used resistance techniques – yes!
- Spontaneous exercise – credit!
- I posted here – yes!
The Bad, and the Ugly
- Read the pink book – nope
Bill I'm like a pig in shiitake mushrooms that’s great. It’s almost worth it to work too much when you are having fun. My management is trying to make it so I’m doing fun work again, I’m looking forward to seeing what it feels like. Kudos for no choice to stress eating! Yay for d*m the crunches! (Have they replaced d*m lunges?)
Beverlyjoy Do you think you could share your Russian Cabbage soup recipe? It sounds yummy… I’m glad you are feeling better and that you had a good food day. And yay DH is home again.
Beverlyjoy , Susan (hikergirl) Yes traveling and other social situations are a challenge. I’ve found planning, posting and just trying to make reasonable choices help a lot. But circling back mentally to analyze how I could do better next time is just as important to long term success...
shepherdess Kudos for knowing when to run, and when not to. I think your choice to have chips was a reasonable one, bravo! And for your grocery store victory – impressive!
one by one for your scale victory! And kudos for being op 80+% of the time. Sending supportive thoughts in your internal battle with seasonal treats…
CeeJay I always love to see how you combine exercise with social interaction. Kudos for all your credits!
WI-no-weigh-in. Did not read my cards, made a plan. Food – on-plan; Exercise – off-plan (tired – no exercise). 
Friday
It always makes me laugh.
official weigh-in day today
! It justified my desire for these things... And then seeing a 99 cent sticker price when it used to be over $2.00
. I called that "lunch". I call the rest of the stuff "DH's".
hello to everyone I missed... have a good evening.
Finally Friday
for your grocery store victory – impressive!
for your scale victory! And kudos for being op 80+% of the time. Sending supportive thoughts in your internal battle with seasonal treats…
