Diet Coaches/Buddies - Fought off the urge for my DW's trail mix when things were rough, CREDIT moi, but persevered and got a task done that involved 10x3.25 inch ducting to vent the new stove. The good news about dinner at a tiny sushi bar is the lack of opportunity to over eat.
Big Ouch: My browser just lost my entire post. Big Yay: I had just copied it to a Word document to save before I submitted it - so nothing lost!!!
onebyone - "moving on" is the way to go. Good news about decreased stress about your Ottawa visit.
Debbie (Lexxiss) - Super progress this, "No off and running thoughts. None." Kudos for getting yourself there.
maryann - Kudos for helping your neurons with, "Well, just type a first draft then, it won't count." [Congrats for getting those two kids back to themselves.]
Pam (pamatga) – Wishing you luck with your increasing exercise goals. [Thanks for inventing Home Depot there in "Hotlanta." It consumes a bunch of my money these days.]
Tazzy - Congrats on those 20 pounds gone forever. With Kudos for chosing a non-food reward of sitting in the shade with your DH.
Lovely – Kudos for passing your five month anniversary - I'm a believer in using time as a measure of progress. Having a plan for the upcoming holiday season is one smart idea.
Val (va1erie) - Ouch for sleepless in Cincinnati before your heavy duty day at the farmer's market. Interesting insight that the arrival of fall and winter clothing helps to mask one of our motivations for losing weight.
BelovedK - Kudos for resisting hot, homemade biscuits. With thanks for mentioning real Southern biscuits since that word is used for cookies by the rest of the English speaking world, LOL. Yep, welcome back. We can always use an additional Diet Coach and will be glad to collectively serve as yours.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 4 Stage 1The Success Skills Plan
Success Skill 5Get Moving
If you struggle with exercise, reread pages 43-44. Create a Response Card to read each morning and pull it out again whenever sabotaging thoughts threaten to undermine your resolve.
Exercise is not negotiable for good health. I need
to make it be a daily lifetime habit. The hardest part
is getting started. I'll feel so much better when I'm
done. So get started!
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg. 71.
Report: read my cards, weighed (down 1.2), ate slowly and mindfully and left a bite, got tons of exercise (11000+ on my ped) at the farmers' market, contacted my diet buddy!
maryann -- I'll be 52 in a few days, and yes, menopause has created havoc with my sleep patterns. I've always had insomnia issues, but now I have the added joy of being awakened by power surges.
pamatga -- ah! You're from MN originally? That explains 'hot dish' then! So the quilt and the sampler...would those be things that would bring you joy, or would seeing them remind you of your mom's inability to give you approval?
Tazzy -- yay on 20 pounds!
BelovedK -- welcome!
onebyone - yah on the 1.8 pound loss! When you say you plan to exercise and don't, what exactly happens? You make the plan -- with a certain time specified in the plan? -- and when that time rolls around, you say what to yourself? Can you come up with a response card so that tomorrow, when the time rolls around and you say whatever sabotaging thought you're using, you can read your card?
OP Yesterday - better about standing up and eating. I wrote and wrote yesterday. Three more hours this morning and the boys will be home for a nice family day. Yoga this morning.
BelovedK: Welcome back Tazzyhat is terrific about your 20 pound loss. You are losing weight becuase you know how and you put in the effort. That is what BEck says in the BEck. I always thought this stuff was mystical. Now I know it is by day to day viligance. pamatga: Family is tough and that is the bottom line. We have one box for mom and one box for dad. No one can ever replace either. We can get things from others that bring us joy but those primary relations are for a lifetime. I'll never have the Dad I needed "O Well" but I do have a dad who loves me and who is still around. That is the relationship I have to put energy into. BBE: I knew it was just a matter of time before we were into the duct tape part of the show.
I had a breakdown last week with all the stress from this semester. So Beck skills and checking in here have taken a backseat. I've been exercising regularly and trying to stick to healthy snacks, but the Demon Stress is really pushing me toward unhealthy food choices, some of which I choose. I suppose I needed to test the solidity of my Beck skills at some point, but right now? ::sigh:: When it rains . . .
This has been a much better week. I made some decisions regarding the job search, and I also made a calendar that plans out every single weekend from now until early January, meaning: I planned out every step I need to take to get this dissertation fully drafted. And so far I have been OP with these writing goals. Credit moi.
I have noticed some thoughts floating across my brain, and I'm not sure how to feel about them. They seem potentially dangerous, potentially on the verge of weakening my resistance muscle. Thoughts such as, "I'll be happy if I'm just able to maintain my current weight through this stressful period." Is this a good thought or a bad one? I can't tell. Part of me says that it's rational and self-forgiving. The other part of me says that it's a green light for too much unhealthy eating, because I know I can lose more weight, and I can't put off this process in the face of this other, more stressful process. Somehow, they have to learn to get along.
At the root of all of this wondering is a situational anxiety: the last time I felt this stressed, I was preparing for my Qualifying Exams. During that time, I gained about 20 pounds. Yes, I am more skilled in handling these food stresses, BUT memories are being triggered.
In the midst of these dangerous thoughts and memories, it also occurred to me start writing down my food again, maybe even to make plans. Doing so might help to relieve stress that emerges when I start to feel out of control of my eating, even if feel like it's yet another thing I have to do. The pay-off will be worth it. Hmmmm. I think I'll spend the rest of my break writing down what I've eaten today, and planning the remainder of the day.
Mary Contrary, stress has so much to do with making healthy choices. Good of you to recognize what is going on and take steps to remedy it.
maryann, sounds like a nice day
Va1erie, kudos to you for following through today.
As for me, I haven't made any progress on the book, but I did get new shoes that may help my feet heal faster so I will be able to get out there and exercise more. I feel hopeful.
Oh, I went to lunch and the sandwich came with onion rings, and the actual sandwich was greasy. I am happy to report that I didn't eat the sandwich except for a few bites, but I did eat the rings I felt so bad about it, but I am now in a better mental state with hope about my foot injury. I have been drinking my water and plan to work on the steps in the book before the day is done
Seems like the weekend just disappeared as quickly as the week before did. I was hoping for some downtime and it was going pretty well until a situation developed last night between my DH and I and it became a emotional train wreck. So now not only am I mentally tired but also physically and emotionally. We have some things to work through and have started to but it's going to take some time and energy to get back to where we both want to be. I did not let anything derail me from my Beck skills and am happy to take credit for not once wanting food to fix the situation.
Zumba again today and even though I was pretty tired I decide riding my bike would be a good choice. Seemed a little easier on the ride home but it's one pedal stroke at a time coming up those hills. I'm really happy that I'm just doing it and not questioning it too much. I even forget my bike lock this morning and had to turn around to head back home to get it, didn't even cross my mind to get in the car, just decided I had left enough time that I would not be late. Worked in the garden and pulled out all the bean plants and dill. Who knew dill roots could go so deep?? Still have the potatoes, carrots, green onions and beets in the ground and hope to leave them for a couple more weeks yet. I made my version of the WW veggie soup today and am looking forward to having some this week.
BelovedK Welcome back!
MaryContrary Credit for realizing that you need to make good decisions so you don't become too stressed out. I think it's a female thing that we need to feel like "Superwoman" in every aspect of what we do. Do you think taking a maintenance break in your weight loss right now would hinder you? Concentrate on the success you have had and know that you can do it again with the remainder you want to lose. Slow and steady wins the race.
BBE Kudos for resisting your DW trail mix. I'm not sure how you do that so consistently. I'd be tempted to ask my family not to have things in the house that I could not resist as well as you do.
onebyone Good luck on your trip to visit your mom.
va1erie Love your idea: Let's all make a promise to ourselves right now that we'll INCREASE our motivation. Let's read our cards -- all those Advantages of losing weight are going to feel really important to us again come January when we're thinking about NEXT summer. Maybe we should each make a new response card to the sabotaging thought that "I'll give myself a break now and get back on track after the holidays." RESPONSE: If I don't control my eating now, I'll likely have MORE weight to lose come January. I need to control my eating now as we head into Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Party eating so that I won't have the experience of getting on the scale on January 1st for the first time in months and discover I've gained another ten pounds.
pamatga I heard this once about forgiveness: Dr. Phil says that forgiveness is what you do for yourself, not for other people. When you forgive, it doesn't mean that you approve of what's happened. Rather, it means that you're giving yourself permission to move on with your life.
I hope your decision on the items from your parents house is for you and not what you feel you have to do.
Lovely Congrats on completing your 99 day challenge.
Hi to everyone else on the board and wishing everyone a successful on track week.
I'm as ready as I'll ever be to take my trip tomorrow. I think the weather will hold and it'll be a nice drive. I am sure the leaves are beautiful right now.
I will catch up with two sets of friends while away: my drawing group and my oldest Ottawa friends. My visit is bookended by my friends so the family stuff is in the center.
Hello!! This is my first post on this site and on this thread. I am Va1erie's diet buddy. (Hi, Val!) I had planned to join her here earlier, but my life has been totally topsy-turvy lately. On the first day of this semester (I am a psychology professor), I experienced the end of a long-standing friendship that was very important to me, AND I got a very anxiety-inducing medical diagnosis. Neither situation is completely resolved yet, so I have been, and continue to be, in a state of great stress and distress.
I stumbled on the Beck program after I'd already been dieting successfully for two years. As a psychologist, I was very familiar with the work of her father (Aaron Beck) and with cognitive-behavioral modification in general, so I was very, very excited to find this particular program. It has been tremendously beneficial for me, helping me lose the last 20 pounds (I'm down 92 pounds all together now) and making me much more confident about the possibility of lifetime maintenance--no small thing considering that I have struggled with obesity literally since infancy and now weigh the same as I did when I was 8 years old (almost 50 years ago)!
I actually met Judith Beck at a session she did at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association this past August, and I was SO excited about that! I felt like a groupie worshiping at the feet of my favorite rock star!
With all the emotional turmoil in my life lately, I have struggled at times to maintain my equilibrium and have let some of the Beck tasks fall by the wayside. But I am very proud, not to mention completely astonished, that I have not fallen back into my very deeply-ingrained pattern of binge eating for comfort--and I definitely have Beck to thank for that!
I am looking forward to getting to know all of you (I skimmed the whole month of posts and see that there are lots of committed, insightful, supportive people here) and to getting my Beck program back on track.
I'm pretty happy with myself that I've stayed within my points and taken a good walk these past few days. Everything is going nicely. I tend to like it when my healthy habits feel like normal. When I can say "It's a usual day" and mean it in a happy way.
Someone on another thread reminded me about canned pumpkin, and I'm going to see about incorporating it into a few things this upcoming couple months. Pumpkin and apples. Very good tastes for fall time.
Report: didn't read my cards, weighed (no change), ate slowly and mindfully though the dh wanted Indian again. Made good choices there and only ate a few bites of the appetizer and almost none of the soup I'd ordered that I hadn't realized would be so rich. Avoided a wine-induced snackfest. Didn't get much exercise, but I'm up this morning for my class, which I missed Friday after a very bad night's sleep. Contacted my diet buddy.
maryann -- That standing up and eating thing is so easy for me to fall back into.
MaryContrary -- Do you have a response card for stress eating? Re: the possibly sabotaging thought...no, I actually don't find that necessarily sabotaging, though I can see how it might be if it translates to "eat in a less healthy way." But maintenance -shouldn't- mean 'eat less healthily.' It should mean 'keep eating right and exercising, but don't stress over the scale not dropping.' Plus I think it's okay to change your short-term goals to make them more realistic, and switching to maintenance for a few months during a stressful period might be the best choice if the likely alternative is simply going off plan. You might even find that "maintenance" translates to "very slowly losing." That's what has happened for me. Goal is 118, and I reached it in May. But since then I've lost on maintenance and am now at my before-I-had-kids "fat weight."
BelovedK -- Where are you in which book?
Tazzy -- good for you for not allowing a big emotional stress to derail you! And for not allowing forgetting the bike lock to discourage you from getting the extra exercise! It's pouring here again and again I'll be driving to my class. I thought about walking, but even with a poncho my feet and pant bottoms would be soaked by the time I got to class. How am I going to solve this problem?
onebyone -- have a great trip!
Robin! -- You're here! Yay! I'm so glad you made it. I know how busy you are right now. I am so impressed by how well you've handled the stress and that you've not allowed it to derail you into comfort eating.
All -- Robin and I have been working Beck together since maybe March on another forum. For unfortunate reasons we decided to leave that forum, which is why we ended up here. We've gotten to know one another pretty well, as we were the only two regularly using the thread we were in, so it's kind of new for us to have a diet buddy -group-. We're actually attending a Beck workshop in Philadelphia this coming weekend and will meet each other in person for the first time. I'm really looking forward to both events!
Lovely -- yay, you, for staying within your points and getting your exercise!
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Typing on a borrowed computer; mine decided to ignore the Internet this morning - BIG OUCH!
We made good progress this weekend doing our part of concluding this home refresh project. Little things like putting the switch plates back on the walls (with new ones of course) make a big difference in appearance. Eating was on track despite having to avoid an opportunity to overeat at a buffet situation, CREDIT moi.
onebyone - Have a safe trip. Good plan to use friends to help soothe the feelings that family always brings up.
Mary (MaryContrary) – Ouch for "Demon Stress" appearing at an inopportune time. Kudos for planning to take positive steps to counter it by recording your food. Hope things get better.
maryann - Congrats on getting all that writing done. [Yep, it's the duct tape phase - just get it together so we'll be done, LOL.]
Tazzy - Ouch for the Agony and Ecstasy of marriage, with Kudos for facing the situation and not using food for comfort. Love reading your gardening reports. No, I didn't know dill had deep roots.
Lovely – Oh Yes, "Pumpkin and apples." Gotta love the seasons.
BelovedK - Yay for the right shoes. I cringe every time I learn that early shoes did not distinguish between right and left. And that you selected two from a huge barrel since standard sizing didn't arrive immediately.
Robin (4EverLearning) - It's great to have someone following the Beck program who already believes in Cognitive Therapy - a big step toward sticking to your plans. Sending supportive thoughts for all the turmoil you're currently facing, with Big Kudos for avoiding comfort eating as a way of dealing.
I join you in believing that this program will help with lifetime maintenance. Glad you've joined us.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 4 Stage 1The Success Skills Plan
Success Skill 5Get Moving
Some people are all-or-nothing exercisers. They think, If I can't do my whole program, It's not worth doing anything at all. Others are gung ho at the beginning, but then once they skip a session or two, they abandon their exercise program completely. If you fall into either of these categories, make yourself another Response Card:
Remember that five minutes of exercise is better
than zero minutes.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg. 72.
I am just re starting the green book. I have old response cards, but am going to completely start over and make new ones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BillBlueEyes
BelovedK - Yay for the right shoes. I cringe every time I learn that early shoes did not distinguish between right and left. And that you selected two from a huge barrel since standard sizing didn't arrive immediately.
-
Yes, that is cringeworthy. The shoes are already making a huge difference in my life
Hi friends/coaches... I haven't given up. I am plodding along with healthy days and unhealthy days. I've been reading - just not posting.
I've made my plan for today. I got some kale. I am going to make kale chips today. Folks say they are good! I have lots of veggies in the house and all I need to have a healthy day. I need to muster up the willingness to push through.
Breakfast - toast, pnb, morningstar bacon, half yellow pepper, lite veggie dip
Snack - kale chips
Lunch - egg white salad, rice cakes, stewed tomatoes with parm cheese
Snack - fiber cereal, milk, fruit
Dinner - salmon, sweet potato, salad with evoo and vinegar
Snack - 2% cheese on rice cake, fruit
Hello again everyone! I wish I had been just lurking.......I suspect it might have resulted in my staying the course. But I checked out. From this forum, and from any sort of healthy plan. Not sure what my current specific issue is. Fall is my favorite time of year and it is usually easier for me to focus and stay on track. Not so much this September!
I checked in today expecting to just read a few missed pages to see how you are all doing. Wasn't planning on jumping back in to the posting world. But then I read a couple of BillBlueEyes' posts from the Beck book about exercise that hit home. And va1erie's post about NOT waiting until January to get motivated. And maryann's and pam(atga)'s posts about missing those of us who have gone missing. And here I am posting and realizing how much I missed you all and your insight!!
The doctor told me last week I have to lose 30 pounds. (I have some issues with high triglycerides that seem to be very weight driven). She gave me 10 months, which seems very reasonable. So reasonable in fact, that I stayed derailed, ate all my favorites, and told myself I have 9 months and three weeks to lose 30 pounds!
Better get that pink Beck book out and start from the beginning!! I will do better at checking in here for advice and encouragement. Need to think about my diet choice and decide if WW is still the best course for me. I think I will also start a new challenge for myself once I get my ducks in a row.
Thank you all for your inspiration!! You all made a difference in my world today!
Sunday
hat is terrific about your 20 pound loss. You are losing weight becuase you know how and you put in the effort. That is what BEck says in the BEck. I always thought this stuff was mystical. Now I know it is by day to day viligance.
Glad to be back!!!
I felt so bad about it, but I am now in a better mental state with hope about my foot injury. I have been drinking my water and plan to work on the steps in the book before the day is done 
Hi to everyone else on the board and wishing everyone a successful on track week.
