My 24 hours between the church meal on Thursday eve. and last eve. were a mixed bag, as far as food was concerned. Biggest identified problem: didn't track. My choices weren't too bad and I DID enjoy the small break. Exercise was fantastic! I hopped on my bike early...stopped at the firefighters memorial and picked up trash...water aerobics...5 minutes on rowing machine(A FIRST), cruise through town and back home with a stop to pick up trash with the Salvation Army on the Colorado River. A good Earth Day.
BillBlueEyes, that was a very impressive pass-over of the home baked goodies. I had to think about the flourless cookies...decided probably not sugarless OR butterless. Good choice!
AnneWonders, I'm looking forward to the update, "Not cranky. Still on plan."
chinakat, great that you are already using your Beck behaviors to say NO to "every bit of crappy food" at work. I, personally, find it's easier for me to stay out of the candy. Dr. Beck really emphasizes that nothing should be off limits if you include it in your plan...that said I always find that sugar invites more sugar….Perhaps you have already answered your own question when you said, " I always start out with the first option, then backslide into the latter. And then after that I usually wind up saying the heck with it and eat a whole bunch."
ChefJoona, yay for meeting your 4x/week goal.Here is a recipe: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/dess...-brownies.html . There are recipes all over the net...I have a modified recipe, which has lower calories (and less ingredients). If you're interested let me know.
pamatga, I smiled at your success with the smaller plate...not only because it worked, but because you were willing to try. *credit* Good, too, for keeping your pledge for a clean kitchen after making the homemade fudge.
gardenerjoy, sending healing energies for your knee. Wow! just read you are freezing half your homemade bread now. Small steps make big differences in the long run. *credit*
Kris(greyhenry), great that you have picked your diets already. I think cutting back on the "whites" is very helpful.
Beverlyjoy, I am sorry you are struggling. I am glad you are still here.
maryann, I could feel your frustration in your post...I have been there and it's when I'm at my weakest, too. You're working on "back on track" and I suggest being gentle with yourself.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Two eating challenges for the day: I brought lunch to visit a friend who is ill, chose a plausibly healthy menu and ate reasonable portions; and I created dinner from left overs in a situation that I've sometimes used to over eat when left overs were abundant, which they were, and I didn't. CREDITs moi for both.
Gym was only good enough, with the challenge that I wanted to stop when I wasn't able to lift the weights that I had two days prior, but went forward with the weights that I could lift; CREDIT moi. I have no idea why I can do something one day and not two days later. My body doesn't fit the neat pattern that my head wants from it.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Ouch for a knee acting wacky. BIG Double Ouch for a tornado at the Saint Louis airport!!! Hope you're OK. Neat idea to freeze half the bread for later.
Beverlyjoy - Sending supportive thoughts to work your way through struggling; remembering from all your time here that you never give up.
maryann - Sending supportive thoughts for a difficult time with sugar during one of our sugar holidays. Ouch for DS getting released from day care when you and he both wanted him to be there. Kudos for being on plan for the day when the seas are rough.
ChefJoona - Kudos for 4x this week (so far) Shredding with Jillian; you and Jillian are becoming quite the pair.
pamatga - Yay for using troemp d'oeil "fool the eye" with your salad plate - that's a neat way of expressing it.
chinakat - LOL at "the bite or two that doesn't go in the measuring cup but you eat it anyway" - BTDT many, many times. My take is that a total ban on any food tends to back fire. It's important when planning a treat that it's enough to satisfy; for many, this work best if the treat is the highest quality, stuff that actually satisfies. Often when over eating food like candy we're continuously trying to get a level of satisfaction that will never come from the low quality stuff.
Kris (grayhenry) - Working at a library is my dream job - except that my dream consists of spending my time reading all the books rather than making them accessible to the customers, LOL. The Laid Back Diet sounds fine to me - I'm a fan of individually designed diets. Weight Watchers has a big following on 3FC, no doubt you've already found its forum with both attending and online followers. You might ask them about the importance of attending; my off hand guess is that it's less necessary if you're religiously being accountable with your Diet Buddy (including this thread).
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3 Get Ready to Lose
Before you start, however, I would like you to do the following 10 essential tasks. task 4 Get a Diet Buddy
At a minimum, use your Diet Buddy to help keep you accountable. If you wish, your buddy can help even more: If you give him/her a copy of this book to read, your buddy can increase your sense of hope and help you give yourself credit for every positive eating behavior you engage in. A buddy can reduce your shame, reminding you that it's not your fault you had difficulty losing weight or keeping it off in the past. He/she can assure you that your weight is superficial - not who you are inside - and can help you stop judging yourself harshly. When dieting feels too hard, a buddy can remind you why it's worth it. He/she can help you come up with practical solutions to problems, such as finding time to exercise or prepare meals. Your buddy can point out additional benefits of weight loss that you might take for granted, as well as help you talk back to your sabotaging thoughts, create Response Cards, and solve problems. He/she can help you pout mistakes in perspective and talk you through difficult moments when temptation is great. in addition, your Diet Buddy can help keep you motivated, reminding you (when you have momentarily forgotten) why you had wholeheartedly committed yourself to following the Beck Diet for Life Program to lose excess weight.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D, The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pgs 36-37.
Jillian Michaels is my new BFF I shredded again last night for 5x this week! I haven't had a work out (other than walking/hiking) that I've enjoyed this much since a Tae Bo with Billy Blanks tape that my sister and I used to do when we got home from high school every afternoon a dozen years ago. It also was a brief but very effective workout with a predictable set of fast moving exercises. I never got bored. 30 Day Shred is still challenging for me, but I'm moving off most of the "modified" moves (aside from the push ups) for level one. The "jump rope move" also kills me, but by the last set I'm "floating in the air".
On plan eating day. I had a "snack attack" right before bed. I poured myself a big bowl of popcorn took a few pieces and then decided I didn't need it and poured it back into the bag. I decided this is a move I should practice. Serving myself something I want, but don't need and then putting it back/ throwing it away. A tough challenge for the resistance muscle!
Chinakat In regards to the candy question... This time around I've been able to negotiate a healthy relationship with some Cadbury mini eggs I bought 2 weeks ago. I allowed myself small portions each night and with a lot of coaching myself I haven't yet over eatten them at any point. They are my favorite Easter candy, so they are the only ones I brought in the house. It took hard work. During Valentine's Day there was more of a selection, and I did not limit it just to my favorites and I ended up eating more than I wish I had, so I finally got rid of it all. So, maybe choosing one special treat and making a plan for it will be effective for you too?
Lexxiss Thanks for the recipe! It would be great to have your lower calorie version too... can you post it in the recipe thread?
Heading off to New Hampshire for the day to visit with family! I checked with my mom and it sounds like there will be healthy options for me to build an on plan (with some extra) meal.
I'm sure the storm damage at Lambert-St. Louis airport is making national news. On local news, we're seeing splintered homes and damaged churches, but apparently only minor injuries. We did have plenty of warning. The tornado sirens blasted several times and the local TV stations tracked each storm. We went to the basement for about half an hour, but the most serious storms went north of us.
Day 8: Create Time and Energy
Time is a huge issue for me, but somewhere along the way, the diet became the priority for me so it's getting the time. I did a Time Use Survey last fall and I was spending over 5 hours a day on diet and exercise tasks. It's probably a bit less now because that shocked me into finding some efficiencies.
Now, I'm looking for ways to put some time on other projects. Unfortunately, the method in the Beck book doesn't seem to work for me. I can spend a lot of time planning and scheduling things, but it doesn't mean I'll do it according to schedule. I sometimes spend more time planning than I ever spend on the project at hand! The method I use for exercise works better (most months)--setting a goal of minutes per month and then being flexible about how I meet that goal. I may try that for my other projects.
WI: NAkgs, Exercise: +30* 875/1500 minutes for April, Food: 90%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating on plan is easy on a Saturday when all meals are from home; CREDIT moi. Dinner was a bit shy on veggies since it was left overs and we both tend to gobble down all veggies when they are cooked. My new thing is to make my morning oatmeal from whole oats instead of quick oats (not instant) since I heard a lecture that whole oats take longer for the body to process and thus keep one feeling full longer as well as having a smaller blood sugar spike. So far, I've not been able to detect the difference but feel that I'm doing my part to extend the life of my liver.
Walking (CREDIT moi) was to the store that sold us eight bowls years ago with a beautiful blue Chinese design, one of which I use for oatmeal and broke last week when I dropped it in the sink. I showed the owner the two halves asking for a replacement. She laughed that laugh reserved for naive people who think a design remains in stock. <sigh> ... I came home with an all white one the same size.
Anne (AnneWonders) - Yay for a long bike ride to lift ones spirits. Ouch for the migraine.
CeeJay - Gotta love your quote, "To begin, begin."
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Kudos for taking your time usage seriously enough to track your time and seek strategies to meet your goals.
Debbie (Lexxiss) - That's a lot of exercise on Earth Day - Kudos.
ChefJoona - Yay for exercising with Jillian until "floating in the air" - and getting better at it also. Big Kudos for stopping with the nighttime popcorn - stopping after something is served is a hard step for me.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3 Get Ready to Lose
Before you start, however, I would like you to do the following 10 essential tasks. task 4 Get a Diet Buddy
Even if you're also seeking the help of a diet professional, I'd like you to have your own personal Diet Buddy whom you can call or e-mail every day, even on the spur of the moment when you need help - now and into the future.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D, The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 37.
We had a wintery drive from VT to NH yesterday! Hardly felt like Spring with snow, and icy rain. We saw several cars off the high way, and the driving was very slow. Today looks sunny and its already almost 50 degress out!
Did ok eating wise at the family gathering yesterday. There were lots of healthy options and I only took small portions of the calorie laden ones. I also gave DFiance most of a roll I took and didn't need to eat more than a bite. My aunt prepared 3 different desserts, plus my mom brought a platter of Easter candy, so that's where I slipped up. Not worthy of beating myself up about. Moving forward... Had a light evening meal of spinach salad to balance the day.
Today's Easter Brunch with DFiance's family is a little more up in the air. I'm not sure what is being served. I'm going to start my morning with some oatmeal (BillBE I am also thinking of switching from quick cook to whole. Interesting that you haven't noticed a difference in fullness.
Credit for Shredding with Jillian again yesterday! I'm on a roll!!!
BillBE Bummer about the beloved bowl! I have certain pieces of dishware that I eat certain things out of that I would be very disappointed if I broke them.
CeeJay Thanks for the quote!
gardenerjoy Glad you are safe after the storm!
Annewonders Credit for checking in here and reading your cards. Hope you're feeling better!
My Earth Day contribution was volunteering at a table to sign up other volunteers to work in a community garden that is starting up in a historically black neighborhood of our suburb, designed to build community and connections over gardening--so right up my alley! Credit for bringing home farm fresh eggs and spinach and not buying the many other treats available but were not on my plan.
Happy Easter to those who celebrate! I share with chefJoona some uncertainty with food today. There is less candy around than there used to be when the kids in the family were small and I'm just going to stay out of it unless somebody brings really good stuff (and then only a taste), which they probably won't. Otherwise, focus on veggies, the homemade applesauce that I'm contributing, and tiny servings of everything else.
Day 9: Select an Exercise Plan
Exercise, which used to be the one thing I got right, has been relatively lagging behind. I'm in danger of not meeting my goal this month. My knee is much improved, by the way, so I can't use that as an excuse. Allergies are not that much improved, so that's the excuse if I need one, but I'd rather not need one.
A more long time problem is that for several months, I have only been exercising when I can also watch a show on Netflix at the same time. Last fall this caused overuse injuries on the treadmill. Now, I switch between the treadmill and Walk It Out. The problem is that I do almost no stretching or strength training even though I have a huge collection of DVDs that would help me do that.
I want to change this because when I'm strengthening and stretching I feel stronger, I experience fewer aches and pains from gardening and other activities, and I expect that my maintenance calories will be a bit higher due to the increased musculature.
All of that tells me why I need to be thinking about an exercise plan, but isn't actually a plan. It's going to take a bit of time to come up with that. I'm reading a book called Change Any Thing by Kerry Patterson et. al. with the idea that I'd like to take what I've learned about myself by losing weight and apply it to other goals. As an initial goal to test their system out, I will choose "improve the variety and consistency of my exercise."
WI: NAkgs, Exercise: +60* 935/1500 minutes for April, Food: 70%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
CeeJay: waving back! Nice quote!
BillBlueEyes: yay for an easy Saturday!
ChefJoona: glad you have 50 degrees and sunny after gloomy, wintery weather. Good luck with your Easter brunch!
Having some successes and some failures today. Such is life. I only need to win one time more than I lose. Ok, calorie math is a bit more complicated but I think the gist of that is valid.
Thank you all for being here. One day I'll do personals again.
I think I did okay. I just tallied up my calories for the day in Spark People and they are about 300-400 higher than I am generally targeting, but still quite reasonable considering I attended two holiday meals.
I'm going to give myself credit for not taking seconds of anything. I made that rule for myself before the meal and I'm pleased that I kept it.
As far as the candy went, I did have a little. About a dozen peanut M&Ms. They were good.
Whew! Am I looking forward to Monday! I had an absolutely fantastic time making my annual Apple Slab Pie which has 7# of apples, very little sugar and large amounts of pie crust. It was fun-but I wished I had put as much effort into bringing something healthier. Potluck choices weren't great. I made some good choices and some poor ones, too, however in moderation. I logged what I could today and made notes on what I couldn't. Dinner is planned; ChefJoona's Butternut Squash/Spinach Enchiladas.
BillBlueEyes, yay for a Saturday when all meals are from home! Good job on the oatmeal . I got DH switched over and now buy him a 25# bag which he stores in his Man Closet.
CeeJay, "What we need is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out."
William Wordsworth
ChefJoona, thx for posting your recipe! Reading your post I look forward to Monday and predictable food choices. Yay for passing off to DF when you didn't want to finish the roll. I love that trick!
gardenerjoy, great job bringing home healthy items from your event yesterday instead of the multitudes of items not on your plan.
AnneWonders, successes and failures many times still equal progress.
chinacat, yay for credit given-a followed rule, especially at a holiday meal is just great!
credits:
attempt to track
healthy dinner
pitched some items as I cleaned kitchen tonight
kept to vegetarian choices at potluck
Last edited by Lexxiss; 04-24-2011 at 09:08 PM.
Reason: Add credits
The only real easter-y part of my day were the eggs I had on my toast. I briefly contemplated going to the store for just a taste of my favorite candy, but I've been too attached to piddling around the house. AND, major credit, I just walked out to the kitchen to get a slice of the homemade carrot cake, decided to wash a few dishes, and in the process also decided that I would feel really good about today if I resisted the cake. So I did!
I've been missing that good feeling of plain ol' resistance.
This has been a week and weekend of major introspection. I've been dipping in and out of the posts here, but not feeling up to responding. I'm definitely feeling that the Beck skills are coming to the rescue as I work on my inner child. I am constantly surprised by this. It's not that they don't help with food and exercise. But I NEED them in my emotional work.
Of course, the joy I felt, just now, in resisting reminded me that I could definitely stand to return to my written food planning and skills journal. It just helps.
Realistically, however, I can't do this intense introspection, the intense food planning, the intense exercise, AND an intense dissertation. I'm doing well with the set of skills I use right now, so I think I'm going to forgive myself for not doing the elaborate written planning and tracking. I'm going to watch for these issues: eating while standing and splurge / celebration foods. And I think I'll be okay. I don't think it's a coincidence that today is the first day in a couple of weeks that I feel emotionally balanced AND also the first day in a couple of weeks that I've *truly* exercised my resistance muscles.
My goals for this week are to finish a plan for this next dissertation chapter, and ready myself for a trip to Louisville. My grandmother's church is having their annual Mother-Daughter Banquet, this year in honor of my grandmother and her passing. I'm sad and happy, but really happy that I'll be able to be with my bio family at this once-in-a-lifetime event.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - At two big meals on Easter Sunday, I did well except for ham. Ouch. I got sucked into the salty taste. The good news, I avoided some confection desserts, including eating only 1/2 of the two micro cupcakes I was served at the evening meal, CREDIT moi, and had seconds of salad and super good asparagus - ultra thin and tender with no butter. (My goal in life is to remember whether dessert or desert has two s's without looking it up. I made up the memory idea that desserts have lots of sugar in them, before I remembered that deserts have lots of sand in them - so I stumble of that each time I type either one.)
Exercise was carrying the patio furniture out of the basement - very small CREDIT moi - hoping to use it for appetizers before dinner. Alas, the light rain started as I was testing it out with my afternoon snack. But, now it's out there as if Summer is free to begin whenever it chooses.
Anne (AnneWonders) - Yep, "some successes and some failures" seems to be the human condition. Kudos if you've accepted that about yourself - I'm still considering that I should be the singular exception, LOL. WARNING: Easter Candy goes on sale today - engage required precautions.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for "farm fresh eggs and spinach" when treats were also available. Insightful response to your exercising. I wish that I did more stretching.
Debbie (Lexxiss) - "however in moderation" seems like a good defense against all the poor choices in the world. [Love the notion of my own 25# bag of oats. Too much food in my pantry makes me feel comfortable.]
MaryContrary - Kudos for exercising your resistance muscles against that cake. Interesting link between emotional balance and ability to exercise resistance. Lovely thought of your grandmother being honored and you making the effort to be there.
ChefJoona - Ouch for lingering winter conditions up there in Vermont - it's time for winter to let go, LOL. Kudos for the mindful move with the roll as well as for the sane, "Not worthy of beating myself up about. Moving forward."
chinakat - Yay for choosing a bounded amount of candy and enjoying it. Kudos for planning no seconds and following your plan.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3 Get Ready to Lose
Before you start, however, I would like you to do the following 10 essential tasks. task 5 Get Organized
The state of your kitchen and dining room can influence how you follow the Beck Diet for Life Program. If these rooms are cluttered and messy, it can make you feel out of control, which can affect your confidence in staying in control of your eating.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D, The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 37.
Hi everyone - Quick checkin today. I have had a few bad eating days but I am back on track today. Appropriately today is Day 22, which is basically "Oh Well Day!"
This week is nutso for me as I'm commuting to the big smoke daily to play for about 30 singers in a music festival. Trying to take things one day, one breath at a time and to choose relatively healthy, quick eating options. I think I'll be eating a lot of Subway this week as I ride the subway, lol.
Time to read all the posts I've missed. Wishing you all a great day,
Erika
Saturday
I shredded again last night for 5x this week! I haven't had a work out (other than walking/hiking) that I've enjoyed this much since a Tae Bo with Billy Blanks tape that my sister and I used to do when we got home from high school every afternoon a dozen years ago. It also was a brief but very effective workout with a predictable set of fast moving exercises. I never got bored. 30 Day Shred is still challenging for me, but I'm moving off most of the "modified" moves (aside from the push ups) for level one. The "jump rope move" also kills me, but by the last set I'm "floating in the air". 
"What we need is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out." 
