[pamatga]

GD everyone!

Lexxiss That sounds like it should have a lot of the essential nutrients a person would need. I have tried smoothies in the past but I have just found that I prefer to chew my meals. I have never liked "eating on the run". As I was reading your ingredients, I was thinking about how I would combine those same foods: my "chew version" would be chopped spinach/kale with some fire roasted tomatoes added to a egg omelet, whole banana with a whole wheat pumpkin walnut muffin on the side. That would be my first meal of the day. Same nutrients and calories, more color and fiber to boot. Thanks for sharing! I also like a "back up" plan.

Beverlyjoy I think what you have is going around. I have resorted to acid reducers after not taking those for nearly 25 years. What gives? We have such an interesting group of people here. Reading to small children. The closest I come to that is my husband and I read the same book to each other and have done that for quite a few years. That way we can discuss it as we go along. It was a forerunner to books on dvds. A lot of communicators in this group.

Val and Bill It is interesting to read both of your experiences with maintenance and how you are adapting your food plan per the situations you are in. I can definitely see a much different approach but with equally satisfying end results.

gardenerjoy Thanks for sharing your experience with changing your weight. I have often heard that said from a lot of different people.

I see Bill's weight listed here and I think it sounds on the thin side. My husband is 1" taller than Bill here and yet his doctor told Paul that he should weigh around 175 lbs. My guess is that Paul has a bigger bone structure than Bill. When I met Paul he was very thin (too thin) and I think he looks the healthiest when he is 165-170 lbs. Paul weighs 195 lb right now and it is all in his "tummy" like most men his age. He eats so healthy that I told him to skip a diet and go straight for exercising more. If I could walk with him, I know he would do it on a more frequent basis.

I have already changed my goal weight once; down 5 lbs and I might even go 10 lbs less than that. Like Val, with her doctor's suggestion, I am thinking more from the perspective and practicality of when I have joint replacement surgery. Less is best. Of course, I might be saying something different as I move closer to my goal weight. There are just so many variables involved so I am going to take a 'wait and see" approach.

Tazzy One way to combat blood sugar lows(hypoglycemia), which is what I still think you are experiencing, is to have a cup of low fat or fat free milk when you have one of these headaches. It is a classic symptom. I used to get those all of the time until I got my blood sugar levels on a even keel. Once I did that, I can now 'tolerate" much longer periods between meals. The key to dealing with these blood sugar dips is to make sure that you have a healthy snack and not eat something for the quick sugar rush. The later is the most common mistake people with blood sugar issues do. I see it all the time. Milk has just enough fat in it that it releases the lactose into your blood stream at a slower pace than something like o.j. ONLY if you are feeling sweaty and shaky (which I have often enough), should you go for the immediate sugar rush. When my blood sugar gets low, besides the visible shaking of my arms, I feel like I am going to pass out and my equilibrium goes too. Once you get this taken care of you won't experience this when you miss a meal.

Starting on November 1st, when I begin the Food Accountability Challenge I am going to post my daily calories/nutrients and I am going to start posting the Beck Skills Check Off List. I was going through my computer files and found one someone from this group used to post and then I accidentally deleted it (oh, Pam!) so I made up a custom-made one I am going to use. Here it is:

Just For Today

Read response cards before first meal of the day.
Weighed today.
Stayed within recommended calorie range.
Followed my recommended food plan.
Planned next day's food plan.
Did daily spontaneous movement and planned exercise.
Avoided "slippery slopes": poor sleep, trigger foods, lack of planning.
Practiced strategies to combat sabotaging thoughts.
Work on making "enrich your life" list happen.
Review and evaluated progress on weekly weigh in day.

That summarizes what is on my response cards so that is what I have been busy doing among other things. One thing though that has me slightly baffled is when I was reviewing the Enriching your life section of the pink book. I am not really postponing anything directly because of my weight. There are a few things that I haven't been able to do but that is simply because of a lack of money. How have the rest of you handled this particular aspect of the book?

Finally, yesterday, I decided that I would block off a section of time and transfer my ongoing entries I keep regarding my diet experiences to my 3FC diet blog and, of course, the site was down. I haven't updated that for six months and I have a lot to catch up on. I'll check back later today or tomorrow.... I just don't want it to be another six months, since it will probably take me a couple of days to C/P all that I have so far.

Pam

[maryann]

Good Morning, Coaches.
Thanks Everyone for the supportive thoughts. I feel better this morning. I made decisions I normally wouldn't have made to help my "overwhelm" . Credit for willingness to try something new. They don't sound monumental to anyone else, but to me they were huge: #1 I canceled DS piano/ violin lesson because I had to work late, I hadn't had any sleep the nite before and it is a 3.5 hour extravaganza to drive, eat and drive back. We spent the late afternoon sleeping and reading on the coach. #2 I agreed to let my husband sleep in the living room because neither of us is sleeping and he is a terrible sleeper - loud, rolling gnashing. Usually I wouldn't agree. I take it as a sign of unhealthy in the relationship. Yesterday, I just accepted it as his gift to me. #3 I spent about 20 mins cuddling DS teddy Bear - weird but it felt better. #4 I sent DH to get my glasses fixed rather than trying to fit it in myself. The sweetheart delivered them to my classroom. #5 I tried to get off my back at school and just cruise for a day enjoying the kids.
None of these things are equal to a cure for cancer but they might just save me. Today I am going to slowly prep for art in DS classroom. We are going to make corn husk dolls.
Today's plan - exercise, eat five servings of fruits and veggies, SIT DOWN WHILE I EAT.
Lexxiss: Congrats for working your program for work. I bet it feels terrific to not have to participate in unhealthy eating when all others around you do. Freeing.
Valerie: Congrats for all the restraint you showed in food behavior. I usually bring my scale everytime I travel as well. It is so helpful to be able to know if you need to adjust eating and not just guess.
BBE: Congrats on serving yourself what you need and nothing more.
Pamatga: I think the 25% rule of Beck is very helpful to me. Sometimes, I have no choice but to eat out.
gardenerjoy: very helpful explanation of setting goal weight. I adjusted mine from 145 to 150 and it has made all the difference.
Beverleyjoy: Good for you for storytelling. I do similar things but not on such a grand scale.

[fyreflie24]

Thank you so much everyone for all the wonderful feedback and support. I was about 140 after I lost my baby weight about 5 years ago, so we'll see where it takes us. I'm still working on figuring out what works and it's frustrating, but hey, it's worth it

[na3309]

Hello, i joined 3fc a few weeks ago but never posted. My name is julie and i live in fl. I found out about the beck diet plan and bought the book. I am now at get a coach. I have written advantages response cards and wrote in my journal and quit dieting. I'm 46, I'm 5'8, I have been doing the zone diet up to this point. I have a membership at a gym and go 6 days a week until I miss one or two days then it takes weeks for me to start back again. The book showed me I'm sabotaging myself. Its so true!!! I started at 210 and I'm at 190 now. I have gained and lost at different points in my life but this time I'm really stuck. I'm prediabetic and my Dr wants me to lose this weight. She says i can turn it around. Because of my weight I have been isolating and when I get home from work I watch TV. I think I've kinda just quit living. I guess I'm waiting to lose weight to start my life over and get healthy and have energy again... If there is any coaches or somebody to point me in the right direction let me know! Hope to talk to you soon.

[BillBlueEyes]

na3309

And, in honor of your first month here,

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

And how did you find this Beck Forum on 3FC?

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - A long rainy day. We took DW's car to the garage and it has to stay overnight waiting for a part - Ouch. We'll spend today sharing one car as if that's deprivation. I left about half of my dinner, CREDIT moi, for a later meal. That's more that my one bite goal, LOL.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Ouch for snow on the lilacs - not supposed to happen that way. Kudos, yet again, for not getting suckered in by the prevalence of food at your work place - even if it happens to be a restaurant. [Make it out here and we'll serve you some Dover Sole - with no guarantee, however, that the fish has ever heard of England, LOL.]

pamaga – Re "Enriching your life" and money: I've had that feeling, for example, when I get an ad from National Geographic for their private jet world tour for only $69,000 per person, double occupancy. Then I remember that a couple I know with close to zero money keeps fully 'enriched' with free concerts and events. For me, it's important to kick myself out of staring at what I can't do so I'll concentrate on what's possible for me.

maryann - Kudos for taking positive steps. I just love that you spent time kuddling your DS's teddy bear.

Val (va1erie) – Yep, Kudos for your stellar performance at the gas station when French fries and onion rings appeared. [So great to see "critical path mapped out" - as if my private life was a real engineering project, LOL.]

Donamari (fyreflie24) – Yay for confronting "frustrating" and charging forth anyway.

Julie (na3309) – Congrats on those 20 pounds gone - you'll never have to see them again. You've come to the right place looking for a Diet Coach - we serve as Diet Coach (pink book) / Diet Buddy (green book) to each other on this forum by posting our daily successes and challenges. We'll all be glad to serve as yours and ask that you take that role for us.

Sounds like you're right on track for joining the ongoing "Enrich Your Lives" discussion. What works for me is to schedule events - I subscribe to concerts so the pre-paid tickets are in my hand and the events are marked on the calendar. There's lots of ways to do it; you've taken the big step of recognizing that it's something for you to do and that you can use the Beck Strategies to get yourself going. My take is that if you wait til 8pm Friday night to make up your mind, it's unlikely to happen. Glad you've joined us.


Readers -

chapter 4 Stage 1 The Success Skills Plan
Success Skill 6 Overcome Hunger, Cravings, and Emotional Eating
experiment 2 Prove to yourself that hunger isn't an emergency.
what to do . . .
During this experiment, you undoubtedly will feel hungry. You may feel somewhat tired, have a little trouble concentrating, or experience a mild headache. Most people report, however, that the stomach hunger they feel during this experiment is nowhere near as severe as they had imagined.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 79.

[fyreflie24]

Welcome Julie!! Good for you for taking control!!

Bill, thanks! Keep saying that... because it's still not happening, at least not yet.

[na3309]

Gm, I dont remember how I found 3fc, im sure it was looking up diet something or other. When I got here I put the diet im on in the search and this forum came up and I read some of the posts. I had never heard of the book till that day. I read the reviews on amazon and I went out and got it. I need to get the other book and i will get it through the link so it will help 3fc.

So i post here and the group is my coach? I can do that! I really like this website too. There is a lot of heart here.

Its so funny because I am waiting the 2 weeks to start my diet and I dont want to wait that long, but when im dieting 2 weeks feels like forever and I would love to take 2 weeks off! I can do some serious damage in 2 weeks left to my own devises! I am watching what I eat and how I eat. Sitting down, chewing slowly...

Today is a new day, Ive got a coach, on to the next page!!! Lol...

[gardenerjoy]

I was too busy last night cheering the Cards to victory to post. It could happen again, so I thought I should post now.

WI: -0.1kgs, Exercise: +35 785/1000 minutes for October, Food: 90%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

va1erie: "wait, you weigh yourself in kgs? In MISSOURI? Is that allowed?" LOL! My husband set the scale in kgs for some program he was doing. I found it helpful when I started weighing myself daily because I have a lower emotional attachment to the number if it's in kgs than I do in pounds. So, I never asked him to change it.
NaNoWriMo is fun! It's completely an exercise in getting stuff on the page with no editing at all. I have a hard time not fixing spelling errors that Word helpfully underlines in red, but some people manage to ignore even those -- or turn that feature off. I set up a NaNoWriMo support thread on 3FC under General Chatter -- part of the NaNoWriMo culture is fueling the productivity with snacks. But we know on 3FC that's completely unnecessary, so I like to have support here.

Welcome, na3309! As BillBlueEyes says, part of the Beck program is enriching your life. I started by just setting a goal to have six adventures in a year, defining "adventure" as pretty much anything I hadn't done in the previous year or two -- visit a museum or park, take a class, take a day trip, take an overnight trip. I'm finding it remarkable how quickly that enriched my life and that, in just a year or two, it became a habit so that I don't need it as a goal anymore.

BillBlueEyes: I always read the details of that $69,000 world tour, too. It's kind of fun to think about how many adventures I could buy with the same amount of money spread over thirty years and decide that my adventures are the way to go, anyway.

[4EverLearning]

I just worked on a very long post--for almost two hours!!--and somehow it all went POOF. I don't have time to try to recreate it now, so will have to try again later. I just want to cry!

Robin

[maryann]

Diet Coaches/Buddies -Made Cornhusk Dolls with DS 4th grade class. Very successful and a joy to see all kids - boys and girls playing with such simple toys. They loved it. Response back from my MFA professor: She said it was very rewarding to watch a student such as myself grow so much. Plus - last nite I took my chip at a bday meeting for 24 years. All in all a terrific day. DS is with a friend tonite at Harry Potter Festival. I will have all nite to work and relax. Hopefully this is the weekend I need to get my feet back under me.
Weight up .2 of a pound. Launched into the frosting of two bday cupcakes, moderated calories for the rest of the day to compensate. Ate five fruit and veggies. I am doubling up on exercise classes all weekend to make my monthly goal of 930 mins.

pamatga – The enriching part is easy for me. It is the resting part I struggle with. Too much here in Sunny California to do.
Donamari (fyreflie24) – Welcome
Julie (na3309) – I Found the two weeks I didn't diet critical. I have know how to diet since I was sixteen. It was my behaviors with food that were terrible. Give yourself time to adjust to new habits. It is worth the "weight". Pun intended.
BBE: I am now googling National Geographic world tour. Can't imagine farmer hubby would ever consider leaving the trees for that long.

[Beverlyjoy]

Hi friends... yesterday was a healthy day.... am grateful.

Today I did another performance for elementary school children. I am very tired - but, it was wonderfully. It went well. I told five stories and sang three songs. It's fun to pull out seasonal stories this time of the year that aren't told other times. Pam actually when I my do storytelling it's in the oral tradition of telling stories with no books or reading. Kind of like what folks used to do before TV, electronics, etc. LOL

DH and I went to dinch (dinner/lunch)afterwards at the Chinese restaurant. I had some steamed salmon and brown rice. (no sea bass available in the afternoon)

MaryAnn - I had a big smile as I read about the corn husk dolls. Glad you are having some nice birthday doings. Good for you for compensating after eating yummy frosting.

4everlasting - I hate when I lose a post too. So frustrating. Now, very often, I write my posts on my word processor. Then I can't lose it.

gardnerjoy - glad about your team! Kudo's on reading your cards.

Julie - WELCOME So glad you posted. Folks here are very helpful, kind and have much wisdom to share.

Billbe - kudo's on saving half of your meal!!

Pam - wonderful list of credits my friend!
Carry on!

Have a good one everyone.

[4EverLearning]

OK, let's try this again. This will be a shorter version and will be done in pieces, as breaks from grading. As implausible as it sounds, I have no word processing software on my home computer (use this computer for nothing but email and the internet), so I can't go that route.

First, my report: Weighed daily, down .4 on Wed., up .2 yesterday, up .2 today. Stayed OP, ate slowly and mindfully, did not read my cards, did not contact my diet buddies for two days (literally no time; have gotten little sleep for the last few days as I work to finish the mountain of midterm grading), tolerated a fair amount of hunger, got at least a little spontaneous exercise each day, had a personal training session this morning.

Thank you so much to Val, pamatga, maryann, Lexxiss, gardenerjoy and BBE for your gentle and constructive support and facilitation of my binge episode. Pamatga, this was not the first time I have strayed from my diet, but the other times were just little missteps (typically one extra Nutrisystem dessert). This was my first outright binge. And I have stayed at 1200-1400 calories per day, very consistently and faithfully, since Feb. of 2009. So this episode, which consisted of around 2700-3000 extra calories, was of a completely different magnitude. Gardenerjoy, I so identify with your comment about an on-off switch that used to have you alternating between "eating badly with no earthly idea of how to get back to eating well, or eating well with no earthly idea why [you] would ever stop." For most of my life I described myself as "flipping a switch in my brain" in exactly the manner you described. The switch would flip, and I'd be in perfect control. The switch would flip again, and I'd be completely out of control. I never could predict when or why the switch would suddenly flip. And, like you, I am so grateful to have gained some control over that switch! Or at least I thought I had, until that binge seemed to suggest otherwise! Val, thank you for that wonderful task you suggested I work on to help me deal better with unplanned restaurant meals. And I definitely think I need to work on that issue. In fact, I would love to get to the place where you are; I so admire the way you can eat small amounts of diet-unfriendly food (like your half a burger, one french fry, and one onion ring!). I can do that and have done that, but I feel much more anxiety and trepidation about it than you do. I need to learn to trust myself more. In this particular instance, I do recognize (and did recognize at the time I ate that steak dinner) that my meal, although considerably larger than my norm, was not tremendous, and that many thin people occasionally overindulge to that degree or more. Eating the unplanned dinner (and the glass of wine undoubtedly did not help!) did, to some degree, precipitate the binge that followed, but I think it was only a small part of the cause. The real problem is that I was already feeling a lot of emotional upheaval prior to going to the restaurant, which then contributed to both the unplanned dinner and the dessert-fest that followed it when I got home.

I was going to write this part to Val privately, but decided I would just throw it out here, since you guys are such good, supportive facilitators. I think the true cause of my binge episode was anxiety about the possibility of going on a singles cruise over my semester break. Val, that does NOT mean that you are responsible in any way, shape, or form. NO NO NO. On the contrary, I was and am truly tickled at your excellent suggestion and am still very seriously considering it. But it does raise a lot of very old, only partially resolved, issues for me. Without going into a lot of gory detail, suffice it to say that I have a lot of anxiety about relationships in general, and about romantic relationships in particular. In fact, I think that those issues are at the very core of my eating history. So the anxiety raised by the thought of going on a singles cruise was what started me on the path to that binge. BUT, the fact that I was able to STOP speaks volumes to me about how much I truly have changed. In the past, I would have kept right on going, stuffing my face for weeks or months or even years in a desperate attempt to restore the protective barrier of fat that always buffered me and separated me from other people who might try to come too close. But this time I stopped that particular train before it picked up speed and became a runaway, and now I know that I can. If a similar situation ever arises again, which it probably will, I will remember this episode and know what to do. That's HUGE! So it's all good!

I will be back later to share another dilemma and to respond to all the wonderful posts I have read.

Robin

[4EverLearning]

Now, in the it's-not-all-good category, yesterday I had my follow-up appointment with the surgeon who did my lumpectomy. The risk that I will get breast cancer at some point is high enough that he wants me to have a screening every SIX MONTHS. Just the thought of potentially going through the constant stress of repeated abnormal findings and biopsies is enough to send me running for the hills screaming like a banshee. I have had three biopsies and two lumpectomies in the past 18 months, and I can hardly bear the thought of going through those procedures over and over again. The surgeon also recommended that I take Tamoxifen for the next 5 years. I knew Tamoxifen was often prescribed after treatment for breast cancer, but didn't know that it is also approved for use as a breast cancer preventative. It only reduces the risks of estrogen-dependent cancers, it only reduces the risk of those cancers by about 50%, and it has some unpleasant side effects (like weight gain [groan] and hot flashes [which I already have numerous times every day]) and some potentially life-threatening side effects as well. I was curious as to how the surgeon calculated my risk (about 1 in 3 if I live to at least the age of 80), so when I got home I Googled mathematical modeling of breast cancer risk. I started out as a math major as an undergraduate, and my doctoral dissertation involved mathematical modeling (of Pavlovian conditioning), so I am capable of wading through and understanding the complex research. When the surgeon told me what he recommended, I jokingly replied that he should just lop off both my breasts and be done with it, and he laughed. But when I read all the research behind the risk calculation, and about the effects of Tamoxifen, my joking comment became not such a joke at all. Given the choice between a lifetime of likely frequent tests and procedures, the incredible stress of those procedures, and using a drug for 5 years that has some pretty objectionable side effects, with there still being a good likelihood that I'll get cancer at some point anyway, versus a major surgery that I could recover from in weeks or a few months (I could do it over a summer and have a whole summer to recover) and reduce the risk of cancer by about 98%? Seriously, the surgery looks pretty good. I even researched to see what mathematical model insurance companies use to determine at what level of risk it becomes more cost-effective for them to pay for prophylactic mastectomies rather than repeated surgeries, and I'm pretty sure I qualify, albeit minimally. So I have to think all of this through. I'm definitely caught between a rock and a hard place, not my favorite place to be.

BBL for call-outs.

Robin

[Lexxiss]

Hi Coaches/Buddies/Friends!

This day spiraled out of control as my list of "have to do's" increased exponentially. My desire to sit down and get back with all of you simply did not happen. We have to leave here very early tomorrow so I can make a 7am shift where I will again resist all forms of snacking.
Credit today:
~staying OP
~legitimate replanning of dinner (no time for the original)
~planned exercise (water aerobics)
~making time to drive out to the CSA farm to purchase all my veggies for the next week even though I missed Jeopardy

Take care all! I'll be back in touch as soon as I can.