Hi Coaches!

This is a hopping place lately! I will try to get caught up with you all today.

Saying "it was inevitable" is definitely a sabotaging thought. My food choices weren't so great yesterday...not totally off, but I dived into the chocolate almonds for an XXL snack. Dinner was pizza as we were beat from our project but I did order 1/2 with veggies and light cheese. I took time to make a salad for myself and had it before my allotted portion of pizza. *credit* for getting back on track and ordering/eating dinner wisely.

Today starts a two day painting marathon...hoping to get this project to a point where we could say it's ok to stop. They are twin/tiny Victorian cottages with a walkway to the outhouse in the middle. I have the gingerbread/fascia left unfinished on one front and once it's finished it will look great from the street although the mountain side will be left undone. Oh, well...it hasn't been painted in my entire lifetime so the back might just wait until next year.

Happygoal, :welcome2: Glad that you're joining us on this journey! I follow South Beach Diet. I'm 53 and want to follow a "whole foods" plan. This plan helps me stay away from white sugar/white flour and I feel very energized. My back up plan is calorie counting WHILE trying to maintain SBD principles. I calorie counted in addition to SBD principles during a slow time in the Spring and was greatly rewarded. I lost my holiday gain, plus a few more, and learned lots about myself. I'm physically active, have lots of ongoing stress and am overjoyed to lose 5 pounds a year at this point so I guess I'd call my plan "maintenance" right now. I am so happy to have incorporated Beck skills into my plan. The sitting down/slow eating mindset makes my eating feel much more sane and controlled, and I've become much better at saying NO CHOICE to unplanned foods (mostly stress snacking).

Back later....hopefully!

Welcome happygoal
 

:welcome: happygoal :welcome:

And, in honor of your first post, :wel3fc:

How did you discover the books by Dr. Judith Beck?

And how did you find this Beck Forum on 3 Fat Chicks?

Wednesday
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Tension continued and I had an extra snack. Ouch. It's so counterproductive to eat in response to emotions. Otherwise, food was on plan, CREDIT moi, including a lovely piece of broiled cod with Red Kale and a bowl of tomatoes from our back yard for dinner. Yay for summer.

onebyone - Have a great trip to Ottawa. Keep the faith.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Thanks for continuing to demonstrate how to deal with creative Sabotaging Thoughts.

Shepardess - Will keep my fingers crossed that you've found the night time solution. Kudos for getting in both your weights and your run. Are you guys still remembering to tend your sheep through all of this?

Erika (eusebius) - Congrats on those scale numbers following your return to a calm, sane life.

Debbie (Lexxiss) - Special Kudos for resisting snacks at Whole Foods.

maryann - LOL, "I am constantly astounded what constitutes a serving." Me too, particularly when a restaurant provides some four servings in an order.

SuperChick - Gotta remember this, "Feeding my soul and not my stomach."

Alana in Canada - Kudos for being so organized that you plan your food for the month and then get that killer 10% off the entire bill. That's real money.

Becky (anotherchick) - Ouch for family drama - always the most dramatic there is. Kudos for staying your path through it.

missyj - Yep, Kudos for starting your healthy eating plan. It's hard not to start right away while the enthusiasm is high. Which I think is fine, provided one also takes it seriously to learn the strategies. Love your reminder - WW works when actually following it.

Oriana (ovwgirl) - Terrific hunger exercise - Kudos for pulling that off. What do you mean by a 10 hour flight? That's a long time in the air. Are you piloting a plane from here to Australia and back?

rubidoux - Congrats on that new low weight! Yep, my ARC has gradually reduced to key phrases that have meaning to me; they started out as near paragraphs each one, LOL. Kudos for the sane choice at the McDonalds drive thru.

happygoal - Kudos for jumping right in on day 2 of the Beck Diet for Life. I'm on a home grown plan centered around portion control. My main challenge is to stick to the three planned meals and three planned snacks each day. Glad you've joined us.

Readers -

Morning Coaches/Buddies!

Starting day 4 of the new plan today. I am experiencing some headaches which apparently are quite common at this phase - detox symptoms. That's what I'm telling myself anyway, LOL. I do feel like I slept better last night and have a bit more energy today. One day at a time ...

Oriana (ovwgirl) - WTG on completing the hunger exercise! It really is educational.

happygoal - Welcome!! Great to have you on our team. I was doing Weight Watchers until recently when I started the Eat to Live plan (Dr. Joel Fuhrman) which is a low-fat vegan diet.

rubidoux - thanks for the kind words about family - it means a lot. Kudos for all of your good choices yesterday!

SuperChick - Love the word gremlin-y - it really describes that pesky little voice well. You are so right about life being messy. I can also relate big time to the drinking issue. I know, for example, that there will be wine tonight at dinner with my parents and I am not sure how to handle it. I am thinking of restricting myself to 1 glass. Anyway you are doing great! Must have felt awesome to zip up those trousers!

Debbie (Lexxiss) - Ouch for the XXL portion of chocolate almonds (they're so good, or as they say in Newfoundland, "more-ish") ... but kudos for getting back on track and ordering salad and going light on the pizza! Would love to see pics of your cottages. I live in a Victorian cottage myself (1875) so I always notice the style when I see it elsewhere.

BillBE - sounds like a great dinner. How did you cook the red kale? Would like to try some.

Time to enjoy some more of my very, very green smoothie :) Have a great day all!

Erika



Read ARC: yes
Sat down to eat: yes
Gave myself credit: yes
Walking: to & from meditation sitting
Qi Gong: yes (short session)

Hello everyone and thank you all for your positive thoughts and greetings!

I have survived the first two days of getting on track with healthy eating - and they both involved eating out/social obligations for lunch AND dinner. I travel a lot for work, and I eat out all the time. So staying the course in restaurants is a huge issue for me. But it is my reality and I have to learn how to handle it. So I am taking a big credit for navigating the first two days successfully! ;)

maryann - Thank you for sharing your story! I have to admit, I was sitting here cracking up about your Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches/points story. I was notorious for the same behaviour - just with 100 calorie packs! :dizzy:

Hope everyone has a great day!

Had a good OP day yesterday. I stopped by my MIL’s yesterday afternoon, shortly after she had baked a strawberry rhubarb pie. I declined a piece right then and there, but took one to go. I’ll work it in for today’s plan.

I didn’t have it in me to run this AM, but will figure out some form of exercise for today.

Alana in Canada, sending supportive thoughts while you are in a diet funk. It seems like you have two options when facing diet boredom: 1) you can pull out the “NO CHOICE” card and live with it or 2) you can start searching for some new and interesting diet recipes to breath some life into your meal repertoire.

Maryann, thanks for the reminder that “THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS!” Weighing and measuring has been such a powerful tool for me; glad it is working for you.

Gardenerjoy, great job pulling out the “What if I’m wrong?” response and turning out to be wrong. Yay for a drop at the scale.

Anotherchick, kudos for doing so well on vacation. Hope you had a great time in spite of the drama.

Eusebius, congrats on lower numbers at the scale! Yay for looking forward to a veggie-packed meal. Hope the headaches are gone soon.

ovwgirl, great job completing the hunger experiment! It was a real eye-opener for me as well. It’s a great idea to plan some refreshers. I certainly could use them every now and again since it’s easy to forget that hunger is not an emergency.

Welcome happygoal! It’s great to have you here and I look forward to getting to know you. I started with the diet in Beck’s green book, but eventually tailored it to better suit me. It’s basically a calorie counting diet. It was tedious and time-consuming at first to count calories, but it didn’t take long for me to get into a routine. Now I know where most of the foods I eat fit into my plan and if I want to try something new I just need to figure out the calorie contents and plug it into my diet.

Rubidoux, congrats on the new low! Great job making it through the drive through with only your planned item. With only 1 meal, do you have small snacks throughout the day?

SuperChick, yay for fitting into smaller pants! Sending supportive thoughts while your facing the gremlins. Great response to focus on your response cards. My most helpful card when I’m struggling is: “Dieting is supposed to get hard. If I keep practicing my skills it will get easy again.

Lexiss, great job on a quick recovery after off plan chocolate almonds. Best of luck on your painting marathon and kudos for saying the backside can wait.

BillBE, ouch for continued tension and eating in response. Great job keeping it to one snack. I’m not doing much sheep tending these days, but DH is keeping it up. I did have the pleasure of hearing the herd come up the creek by the house the other night. I was feeding DD at the time and I got excited thinking about taking her with us to check the sheep.

MissyJ, great job successfully navigating restaurants and accepting that it is something you will have to deal with. What do you do for a living? Sorry if I missed it on an earlier post.

Wednesday am
 

Hey everyone,

Had a great day yesterday--even though we stopped for a hamburger and "Twisted Yogurt" after picking up my son from the airport yesterday. I made some OK choices and the scale rewarded me with a pound and a half loss from yesterday. Crazy stuff.

I also went on a walk with dh--we went further than usual and I had to walk quickly to get home--and I was so annoyed with myself. My hips ached, my thighs were stretched and my back was tender. It was a good motivator to keep going, I guess!

Shepherdess: Glad you can work in the strawberry rhubarb pie.

MissyJ--Congrats on the first two days!

Eusebius: Congrats on getting to Day 4 and being willing to "detox."

BBE: Glad the food was on plan.

Lexxiss--those cottages sound wonderful. Are they rental properties for you? My mom was quite successful with South Beach.

Superchick--I'm sure your time with the response cards will silence that nasty gremlin for a bit!

Rubidoux--congrats on the new lowest weight! Love your attitude. Hope you are feeling well (and not getting a cold. Summer colds are such a nuisance.)

Happygoal--I've been following the Beck principles for about a month now. I feel as though I want to go through the book again once I've finished it. My food plan is laid out for me as a portion control program by the Mayo Clinic. Lots and lots of fruits and veggies--it's been wonderful that way.

ovwgirl--congrats on skipping lunch. I just realised I haven't *really* done that yet--not deliberately. I skipped breakfast one day--but that did not turn out well! I should pick a day this week and do it. Thanks.

anotherchick--well done! "Family drama at the lake" sounds awful. It sounds like you managed really, really well. Fabulous. Kudos to you. Keep with your plan.

Gardenerjoy--thrilled it worked! --You were wrong, lol! Glad you feel confident with your plan! Sounds like the road to wellness....

Maryanne--good for you for going back to weighing and measuring. Pasta based dinners--though allowed on my plan--are a drag becuase I either have to have what seems like a teeny amount--or save up (nearly all) my portions alloted for the day and have a decent bowl. Oh well. Have fun at the Strings workshop.

Got a bigger down tic on the scale today with the salt out of my system. I'm still tickled by how happy I am to be wrong! That's not a common experience for me, being the kind of person who sometimes gets the exasperated response from others "Do you always have to be right?" I think I should apply this more widely. How interesting could life get if I ask myself often "What if I'm wrong?"

WI: -0.55kgs, Exercise: +45 95/1300 minutes and 3/33 miles on treadmill for August, Food: 100%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Shepherdess: excellent strategy with fresh home-made pie to take it home and work it into your plan

missyj: great job working with your reality of eating out -- it's a challenge but you're proving that it's doable

eusebius: hope the headache improves while still seeing continued improvements in sleep and energy

BillBlueEyes: sorry for continued tension but your backyard dinner sounds awesome!

Welcome, happygoal! I use Richard Simmon's Food Mover which is an exchange plan. That's my fourth plan since I started this journey and I actually found it helpful to change things around now and then to keep my interest up. I started with an exchange plan of my own devising based on the government's food pyramid, then tried the DASH Diet, and then the one in Beck's green book. All worked for me, but the Food Mover seems to be the one that's going to work for the long haul.

Lexxiss: Yay for getting yourself back on track. Wishing you well with the painting project.

SuperChick: hugs back! The drinking question does take some thought and experimentation -- give yourself time and willingness. Have you tried daily weighing? That's what works for me because it gets me past the avoidance thing and, eventually when I'm on a roll with it, the scale quits "talking" to me and becomes a simple data provider like checking the daily weather report.

rubidoux: Yay for all your credits! I get allergies this time of year with an accompanying malaise and I find that if I don't fight it, it can actually be helpful in certain ways. If I say NO CHOICE to medicating it with food, then I'm forced to medicate it with rest and relaxation and that never hurts!

ovwgirl: yay for surviving the hunger experiment and learning exactly what we're supposed to learn! That really brought home for me the "Hunger is Not an Emergency" response which is one of the most useful things I say to myself.

anotherchick: Welcome home and welcome back to our group!

Alana: glad you're seeing improvements in your mood -- and that "a great day" can include exercise with achiness. My great days include that fairly frequently, too. I have a friend who says that we can have pain from not exercising or pain from exercising -- take your pick!
Reading what you wrote to Maryanne, I'm going to put my pasta dish in our recipe thread -- it's really more method than recipe, though. We're happy with only 1 oz of pasta each if the sauce and veggies are flavorful enough.

Good Morning Coaches!
Lots of action on the old blog. July must be a tough month for overeaters because we get spurred into action come August 1. I know that was my story.
OP yesterday and today. Food packed and weighed and measured. I am going to ride this horse as long as I can. It feels great to be so well planned and organized and consistent after a summer of travelling and vacationing. Being out of a routine is so difficult as many of you have said. I remember the old Buddhist (?) saying. "By consenting to be bound, I am truly free." Right now, I feel pleased to be bound to knowing exactly what I will eat today.
Alana: I don't actually eat the pasta in the pasta meals I bake for DS and DH. I always make myself a little side dish without the pasta part. For instance, the boys tonite are having pasta primavera with garden zucchini and chicken. I will have the chicken, veggies and a smaller amount of sauce in my little dish. I don't have the time to make two separate meals and I don't want my slim little DS to eat my "diet meals".
gardenerjoy: credit for "green dish" awakening. So many of the triumphs of changing food addiction is being willing to pay attention to what really is going on and then change perception accordingly. This is a long race.
shepardess: credit for taking the pie home. That is a terrific skill I picked up here. It is not food that is the enemy. It is the resistance to planning.
Eusibius: Congrats on 10 pounds lost. I had a big headache when I first started eating more healthily.
OVWgirl: The biggest gift Beck gave me was learning "Hunger is not an emergency." Who knew?
Happygoal: Welcome. I am on The zone now for a year and I am truly NOT HUNGRY. A miracle.
Rubidoux: I also was a changed woman with the discovery that carbs were my problem. Although I have my little Reese' treat, the rest of my day is carbs only through fruits and veggies. Grains have to be extremely limited. I started loving exercise in a group aerobic class - step class I think. I love the music and the group energy. I also enjoy private walks - especially when I was quitting smoking.
missyj: I started Beck on vacation. It is tough but great because so much of life is unforeseen circumstances. Keep up the good work.
BBE: Emotional eating is so tricky because it DOES work - for about 2 minutes. It is the old joke of the little boy with a pot on his head letting his big brother hit it with a spoon. The mother says'"why do you let him do it?"The little guy answers, "Because it feels so good when he stops."
Lexxiss; Three cheers for getting beyond perfectionism.
Superchick: This is a long race. Last nites' drinks are nothing in the scheme of all your new healthy behaviors.

Shepherdess - Thanks for reminding me that this whole posting thing is new to me, and I never really properly introduced myself! :o

I am 43 years old, single, born and raised in the Detroit Michigan area (with a wonderful stint in Chicago for my 20s!). I work in the environmental field - emergency response work cleaning up oil and chemical spills. I work on the clean-ups (mostly in the Midwest, but could go/have gone anywhere) and train new hires nationwide. So I travel alot, and don't have regular hours. I love my job! But it makes it harder to prioritize healthy eating and exercise.......but I am working on prioritizing me! :)

When I am not working, I enjoy travel, reading, hiking. But mostly spoiling my three nephews and one niece rotten - ensuring I am the best Aunt ever.

Quick hello
 

Morning coaches I’m going to check in super quickly this morning – I have a massively busy day today with loads of meetings and deadlines so if I get chance I’ll check back later, if not, tomorrow morning.

Credit: I weighed in. No surprise, the scale shows an increase – not quite up to 200 but close :( could be any number of things (carbs late last night etc.) so I’m trying to not let it affect me. Gardenerjoy – I have a history of a poor relationship with the scale, so have only been weighing in once or twice a week but I’ve decided that as I’m experimenting with what works for me, I’m going to give your suggestion a go and for a week or so I’ll try weighing in every day, and be observant in the emotions it stirs. Thanks!

Planned food today, quick gym session, biked to work, checked in.

Thanks for all your encouragement – maryann, you made me think. You are right, this is a long race, and if I can learn from something so I can change it in the future then so be it; I’m trying not to sweat the small stuff…

Superchick, I hope you're able to regroup without too much pain. Sometimes it feels like all of the stars have to line up perfectly. I think getting on the scale will help -- having all the information is a good thing. I think. I weigh every day, that way it can never be too shocking. :hug:

BBE, That dinner sounds so yummy! Yay for summer, indeed!

Eusebius, That's kind of wild that you're getting headaches as a side effect of starting on a low fat vegan diet. When I saw "headache," I thought "low carb" and was surprised to see what your plan was. Interesting. Maybe those headaches come from the shock of a big change. I hope you're past it and feeling great tomorrow.

missyj, I would have such a hard time staying on a plan if I ate out that much. You really should take big credit! And your job sounds so interesting. It's great to be doing something you love.

Shepherdess, Wow on the strawberry rhubarb pie! My great-grandmother used to make those. I hope it was yummy! It is so amazing to me that you're running with a one-month old! :carrot: I'm pretty sure I was still sitting on the couch eating poptarts for dinner at that point. :cool: I bet that has done a lot to help with the stress and getting back to feeling "normal." As for snacks, nope, just my one meal (though I do have my coffee with as much as 250 cals worth of heavy cream during the day before I eat). It's getting easier every day and I think I actually do better this way than when confronted with constant decisions and options about food. I don't think about it a whole lot which is nice.

Alana, Yay for the big loss!

gardenerjoy, Interesting that you've been on four plans. I am about a third of the way to my goal, and on my second. It would be great if this one got my through, but nice to know that change can work, too.

maryann, Sounds like you're happily hunkering down. Nice! I'm going to have to find your blog. And I hear you about the reeses, 24 g carb for the two cups, I believe. ;) I wonder if all diabetics know that off the top of their heads. It has been a go to treat for me often and one I don't feel too guilty about. Have you tried Zumba? I haven't, but it looks like this decade's answer to step, which I also loved.

So, I had another great day! My cold didn't materialize. I guess it is allergies -- Alana and gardenerjoy called it. All of the sudden my allergies have gotten so much worse. I've had them all my life but this week, omg! I think I'm gonna have to see the doctor about it.

Anyway, I ate OP all day. I had kinda given myself permission to eat a lunchtime meal if I needed it today, but it turned out I didn't, and I was able to listen to my hunger rather than dive into the yummy buffalo wings I had waiting. Credit! For dinner I had 9 wings and 2 cups of yogurt and I don't think that's enough cals for a whole day -- added to the 250 I had in my coffee, of course. I may have to just stop getting those wings because I get full w/o enough cals when I eat them. This is a problem I'm happy enough to have, though, much better than the one I struggled with for the previous 20 years. :cool: Tomorrow, I'll have pork belly instead. :p That definitely has enough calories. And, btw, I'm giving myself permission again tomorrow, if I need to eat lunch I will. It doesn't seem possible to go 24 hours without eating after a day of only 1,000 cals or so. We'll see...

I lost another pound and I'm down to 178.8, which I'm so excited about. I feel like I've been in the 180's forever and have several times gotten so close to the 170's without ever seeing them. :carrot:

Oh... and Beck... I am worried that I just cannot pay close attention to my eating. :o I'm a little resistant to it because a lot of how I've lost so far was about NOT paying attention to food. I want to break the obsession, yk? When I get my book, I'll see if I feel differently. I did read my ARC twice, and probably will again before bed, and gave myself plenty of credit. :) Tomorrow I'm going to skip to day 13, I think it is, the one where you work on dealing with cravings. For all the stuff in between now and then, I feel like I either really need to read the book or it doesn't quite apply to me (like skipping a meal, I am not skipping my dinner!). And cravings are something I'd like to feel in control of anyway.

Good night all! :wave:

Thursday
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - More tension. Guess it's gonna be like this for some time until we get past the key decision points of this redo of the house. CREDIT moi for appropriate choices at a buffet dinner last night because buffets have historically been an opportunity to overeat big time. I did, however, have a dessert that I don't normally have, but I skipped over the key lime pie that was calling my name.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – I'm enjoying your new "What if I'm wrong?" line of thinking. I might try that.

Shepardess - Strawberry rhubarb pie calls to me big time since it only appears briefly each year. Love the thought of introducing your DD to the herd.

Erika (eusebius) - Yep, "One day at a time ..." [DW sautés the Red Kale in just a touch of oil with garlic.]

maryann - Kudos for attitude with, "ride this horse as long as I can."

SuperChick - Feels so hard to get work done with "meetings and deadlines" - much less stay the course with food and exercise.

Alana in Canada - Kudos for walking til it hurt.

missyj - Kudos for eating out twice in each of two consecutive days - that's a bunch. Glad you're getting on top of that since traveling is your thing.

Readers -

Hi Coaches!

A pretty normal day with food considering the continuing chaotic nature of my immediate environment. As I reflect, I'm really happy that when I'm amidst a calm stretch that I practice my Beck skills and follow my food plan. It makes it so much easier to turn on the autopilot and make good food decisions when life gets crazy.....with the exception of overeating snacks (or desserts). I got through my day with success then nibbled at the leftover raspberry/rhubarb cake...1 inch square at a time. *credit* for stopping at one row, which was actually an extra piece. I could have eaten every last bit(which was 1/2 a cake-healthy but not calorie free).

We're travelling later today and I have many projects to complete before then. I'm pacing myself so I don't panic at the end. I know that my food choices are better when I keep my stress level to a minimum.

I'm weighing everyday *credit* and my weight is holding steady. *credit* for making those better choices as often as I can.

Morning Coaches/Buddies!

I stayed up too late last night, so I'm very groggy right now. My friend Joe (coffee) will be helping me in a bit ;) Possibly a nap later as well ...

Happy, though, because the scale has gone down every day since I started Eat to Live and I've lost 4.2 pounds this week already. I went to eat at my parents' house last night and skipped the pork tenderloin and potatoes ... my mom made two oil-free salads for me (Thanks Mom!!) as well as plain fruit for dessert -- fresh peaches, which were delicious. I had a half-glass of each of the two bottles of wine that were open, and skipped the port and ice cream that were happening at dessert. My body is thanking me today!

missyj - Great job staying OP in restaurants twice yesterday!! We really need to make our plan work in real life and you are doing that. I think we were born in the same year ('68?) Your job sounds fascinating! How did you get into the environmental field?

Shepherdess - Good job planning for the rhubarb pie!

Alana - Isn't it nuts how the scale responds? Kudos for great choices on the road!

gardenerjoy - I think "What if I'm wrong" is a great question. I have been striving to approach life with "I don't know mind" - allowing for fresh possibilities. This is tough for me as I've spent most of my life thinking it's wrong to not know the right answer. Yet how many times in life is there really a right answer? Thanks for the reminder!!

maryann - Love that saying ... will remember it! Thanks! Great job getting organized and consistent - so important!!

SuperChick - Credit for checking in with us even though you are so busy!! Also kudos for weighing in even though you knew the news wouldn't be fantastic. The journey continues!!

rubidoux - Kudos for staying on your plan and not being tempted by the wings! Doesn't it feel good to get into a new "decade" on the scale? WTG!

BillBE - Big kudos for staying on track through this stressful time ... I may have to try that Red Kale sauté, yum!

Debbie (Lexxiss) - great job taking care of yourself and planning to deal with your travel and work stress!

Have a great Thursday, all!
Erika



Read ARC: yes
Sat down to eat: yes
Gave myself credit: yes
Walking: to & from health food store
Qi Gong: yes (short session)