[Beverlyjoy]

Hi friends.... yesterday was another healthy day - am grateful for that. I have had 8 days of food sanity and have lost 5 pounds since last week/Tuesday. I am particularly proud of not feeling good and staying on my plan. Credit.

I've been doing gentle stretches since I pulled the muscle in my middle back (reeeeaccching far behind a big piece of furniture to unplug something) I am feeling improved.

I fulfilled some of my daily goals:
meditations/guided imagery
Plan/measure/log
Journal
Say No Choice - many times (however, not all the time - had a piece of DH’s licorice)
Left a bite
No seconds
Weighed
Sodium good
Lots of water
Gentle stretches
Deep breathing ’montra’ before each meal
Slow/mindful/tasting food - improved

Billbe - a good day except for some walnuts is a credit.. Because you realized you needed that no more walnuts were for eating anymore that day. Glad you got the trim bought and done!!!

Gardener/joy - happy dance for your new low in many months. Major credit. Carry on.

Maryann - interesting term - ‘collecting scalps’. However, I think we all have done it at a point in our lives. That you are aware and dealing with it in a better way for yourself takes a lot of introspection (is that a word). Sorry food is a struggle. Having a plan and some goals can be a path back to food sanity.

Pam - thanks… my back pain is soft tissue - did big overstretch of my arm trying to unplug something. As soon as I was done. I knew I had injured myself… phooey. It is a wonderful accomplishment to be NOT always turning to food to ‘fix’ something. That’s good progress, Pam. You are so, so right… it is always about making choices.- in almost all aspects of our lives… friends, food, family, life…..

Missyj - I am so sorry to hear of your friend’s passing - such sadness, especially at a young age. Hope you mend quickly from your minor surgery. Credit for taking the down time to review the Beck principles!

Onebyone - bubbling soup sounds good… I love this time of the year with it’s pots of soup, etc. It’s nice to be able to figure out how to do old favorites in a more healthful way. Major credit for that walk to the Dollar store!! Your five minutes of exercise reminds us all that we can start anywhere with exercise… just start - no matter how it consists of. Many credits!!

Lexxiss/Debbie - yesss! Stopping at the right time for your healthy, on time dinner is a good credit.

4everlasting - credit for staying right with your plan and even seeing a loss!! I hope your personal training session goes well - I hope it makes you feel good.

t/azzy - happy dance…. For not caring about the daily fluctuations of the daily weigh in!!

Have a great day!!

[va1erie]

Report: read my cards, weighed (no change), ate fairly slowly and mindfully and made pretty reasonable choices, especially given how crappy the past two days have been. Boy, have they been crappy. My daughter is just so incredibly stressed and depressed. It's really worrying me. And my dishwasher sprung a leak sometime in the past five days, flooding my basement before I discovered it yesterday when I fortunately went downstairs looking for something I needed to make dinner. The flood is in the hardwood kitchen floor, so for the next week we've got this incredibly noisy apparatus attached to our kitchen floor trying to dry it out before everything warps, and we have a hose snaking out our door, and the cats can't come into the kitchen, and I don't have a dishwasher, and I have dirty dishes that I thought were being washed plus all of last night's dirty dishes that couldn't be washed just stacked everywhere in my kitchen. Didn't make it to my class this morning. I got up, got dressed, and just was so tired from not having slept last night that I ended up crawling back into bed when it was time to go. It was probably the right choice, as I slept for three hours and feel less depressed myself right now than I did at 5:30am.

I just don't have the energy for callouts today, I'm afraid. I'm going to go for a walk to my local produce market and buy the ingredients for a big pot of vegetable soup with noodles. (My normal vegetable noodle soup recipe, triple the veggies, halve the noodles.) I'm going to spend the day washing dishes and chopping veggies so at least I have a clean kitchen with a big pot of soup bubbling, and I'm going to hope my daughter (and as a result, I) feel a little better tomorrow.

[Lexxiss]

Hello Coaches/Diet Buddies!

Yesterday was a good Beck day. I checked off most of the items from my Stage 4 Success Skills Sheet. *credit* I have been sooooooooo busy and have not written down my food, but I have measured and know exactly what I'm eating. I am trying to work on it because I recognize it helps. I'm also finding I don't credit myself enough….so
Credits:
Today:
~ right now for making a good choice while I sit and post (decaf iced coffee, black).
~easy dinner planned
~locating my resistance cards and setting time aside each morning to read them. Like BBE's scale, they seemed to get lost in the "project". BTW-it feels good to be reading them and I DO notice my progress forward.
~bringing mom and I lunch, and resisting the yummy Thai restaurant because we're going out for Dim Sum on Saturday.
~taking time for me (right now!) I've taken my mom to her monthly eye appt which lasts 4 hours. I ended up spending all my personal time this morning helping DH (essentially doing it) order something online. So I told her I needed to get some "business done" and would be back. (Make time for dieting! It's important to check in)
Yesterday:
~no choice 10 min. on treadmill before hauling firewood from our yard.
~walked the pup to the library for puzzle making (me time)
~OP, included resisting candy at the bank

I've read posts and I'd love to stay for personal responses but I want to get back to the hospital before mom gets her injections. Perhaps I'll make it back later.

Thanks for being here everyone!

[pamatga]

GD everyone

After three overcast days, two of which were raining, it is indeed nice to see the sun again.

Val I am so sorry to hear about the dishwasher mishap. I remember when I had 13 little kids coming over for my child's birthday party and the newly installed dishwasher hose was hooked up wrong so the water and suds went all over the newly laid kitchen floor. As they each arrived, I handed them a bath towel and we all sopped up the "mess". I did laundry while they played and then the party continued. Yes, sometimes, sleep is the best medicine!!

You know, I think a lot of people do not realize that you can tweak recipes for the better. I have made many homemade soups from scratch over the past few years and I prefer how I make them because they are made exactly the way we want our soup to taste. Great way of eating less pasta and more veggies. Major Credit on how you handled it all.

Bill I joined a "Food Challenge" in an "old" group I used to belong to while you were away. I am so glad I did but guess what one of the "Keys" of successful weight lose is: 1-2 servings of healthy fats. So, now, I am eating a small portion of nuts every day! If not that, then I am adding 1 TB of olive oil when I cook but I hate doing that because then I count the calories and I don't like wasting my calories like that. However, having said that, in the past, I never thought twice about "wasting my calories" on non-nutritive sweets either.

gardenerjoy Major Credit on staying on track and being so close to your goal weight. Maintenance must not be very far away, right?

beverlyjoy I have a soft tissue injury from falling and landing on my back last November in the bathtub. It is more of a soft "moan" than a "can't you hear me" ouch but with time, like most things in life, it does get better.

My sister was trying to argue about learning to accept being a plus size as a statement against our culture of desired thinness but I finally said "There comes a time when it isn't about vanity and that is when it endangers your health." She just didn't know what to say. For me, the deciding factor came when I had an eye doctor tell me my blood sugar was causing my vision to fail (not that I needed a stronger prescription). His alarm and genuine concern put me into action. Granted, I floundered for quite awhile but the more I succeed at doing this, the more I want to do it.

I too once had a girlfriend tell me that she liked "hanging" with me because then she wasn't the only fat one in the room. Some people cringe when I tell that story but I am not sharing that to diss her. I understand because I have been going to a Friday night Bible study for three years now and two years ago I was the fattest woman there. Now, there is another single woman who is and I just look at her and feel compassion. I am sure there is a part of her that must feel the way your relation felt.

My happiness at my present weight lose is not all hinging on the physical aspect but the fact that coupled with the strength exercises I have been doing and eating healthy, I feel better. I have had a mild cold instead of pneumonia like I usually end up with. When, I re-injure an old injury, it isn't weeks before I recover but a week. I sleep better now because my pain is white noise and not a traffic jam. I turned to my DH the other night and I said " I can only imagine what I would be feeling like if I hadn't been working on my muscles this past summer" because the truth of the matter my RA takes me down. I get tired easily. I hurt all over and I can barely move for weeks at a stretch. My muscles are stronger now so even though they are being worked overtime right now with the inflammation in my body and I am experiencing more fatigue it is not as debilitating as it could and has been. I am able to make social commitments so far and that tells me to keep pushing through this.

maryann I hear you loud and clear about the scalp thing. I have slowly withdrawn from being a people pleaser and I am a happier person as a result. I can enjoy a lot more alone time than some people but I am okay with that. I have a lot of solitary pursuits that keep me actively engaged in a positive way so I think I have struck a happy medium. I have a lot of hobbies I can spend hours at in blissful contentment. Now, when I am social, I enjoy it so much more because I am there because I want to be there and no other reason.

onebyone sounds like you are uber-busy with yet another tour. What are the dates and place in Florida in February? I would love to come and visit you if I can.

Credit: With flushing all of that added sodium out and getting a resultant weight lose again. I've been busy changing my ticker back and forth but now that I am in this "Food Challenge" and one of the requirements is to drink at least 64 oz H2O every day, I have virtually stopped drinking diet soda (I just can't drink both) and my daily sodium has been around 2000 mg for the past couple of days. It seems this is what I have needed and I should continue it as best as I can after this challenge is over with.

Thanks for the input on what you all consider your "On Plan". My definition of being "on plan" is staying within my recommended calorie range (which I am still hovering at the top of although with less and less struggle), eating whole (organic when I can get it) minimally or no processed foods, "eat the rainbow", lean protein, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. I would say that over a span of a month (looking back on my online food log) I am doing this 80% of the time. Of course, the better I stick to this the better I lose weight since it is definitely a lower sodium meal plan than eating out so my nemesis is "eating out" meals.

Credit: sitting with real hunger (I checked against your daily quote today Bill and mine is the real thing) because I had eaten all of my calories for the day but still remained up doing things on my computer late at night. "No Choice". I am fine with that.
Credit: with logging everything I eat every day, reporting it and doing all of that without falling into my old pattern of perfectionism.
Credit: Coming in second on my just-completed Buddy Challenge and I am seriously okay with that. In spite of my former very competitive self, I did a victory lap with the winner and she has agreed to co-host the next Buddy Challenge next week. The winner won by -.6 lbs lose. Now, I understand how those Olympic swimmers or skaters must feel. I still feel like a "winner" because I lost 6.5" overall and a total of 9.4 lb in 8 weeks. (I believe it would have been double that if I hadn't eaten out so much during that time-oh well!) How can I complain??? Exactly.
Credit for coaxing someone out of his self-pity shell and motivating him to reconsider how chocolate kisses are killing him because of his diabetes. He has been candy free for nearly two weeks! I am very proud for him for accepting my personal "challenge" to cut the ties that bind.
Credit for sharing my "secrets" of weight lose with my one competitor who then embraced them and then I got beaten by them (see Buddy challenge results above) Life is full of sweet irony. Just love it!!

Pam

[gardenerjoy]

Two meals of carry outs today -- but both planned and light. Sheesh, though, I don't want that to happen too often.

WI: -0.2kgs (new low), Exercise: +0 345/1000 minutes for October, Food: 90%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was good enough, CREDIT moi, except walnuts again for a larger than planned afternoon snack, Ouch. The good news is that the end of this project is beginning to feel possible; the painters are working the front of the house - the last side. Freshly painted houses just shine. My neighbors are all going to feel pressured to paint theirs, LOL.

Felt the desire to snack after dinner and compromised with an apple. CREDIT moi for recognizing that I was on soft ground and avoiding an unhealthy diversion.


onebyone – Good luck with the Mighty Putty - sounds like good stuff to know about. Kudos for ignoring the after 8pm temptations from your DH - if Adam had used your determination, we'd all be in better shape today, LOL.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Kudos for "both planned and light" - sometimes carry outs happen.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Kudos for "(Make time for dieting!" Yep, it's critical for the care giver to just take some personal time. Even the airlines instruct us to put on our own oxygen masks first then help the person in need of help.

Beverlyjoy – Staying on plan when not feeling good is a challenge; Kudos for winning that one.

pamaga – Yay for the "sweet irony" of life. Kudos for whipping out the No Choice when it was the weapon needed.

Tazzy - Congrats on half way to goal. With Kudos for "all still working."

Val (va1erie) – Kudos for choosing the "big pot of soup bubbling" therapy - just thinking of that smell will help my day. Hope you are able to help your DD through her tough times.

Readers -

chapter 4
Stage 1 The Success Skills Plan
Success Skill 6 Overcome Hunger, Cravings, and Emotional Eating
experiment 1 Prove to yourself that you confuse hunger with other states.
what to do . . .
How will you know whether you are feeling hunger or non-hunger? Notice which sensations you experience in your mouth, throat, and body. Then ask yourself:
. . .

• Is my mouth or throat dry? (If so, that's thirst.)

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 75.

[va1erie]

Report: read my cards, weighed (down 1.4), ate slowly and mindfully and made terrific choices. Last night's soup was delicious, filling, and very low calorie. Didn't exercise. Contacted my diet buddy.

Bleah day again. Heard DD crying in bed at 1 am. Yay, me, for not letting stress give me an excuse to overeat.

Robin -- I love your flash of insight regarding overgeneralizing from your shaken confidence in your ability to judge a friendship to your confidence in being able to maintain. That makes so much sense to me. I wonder if as you get back to "normal" -- that is, a more normal schedule once this crazy work period is over, a more normal exercise schedule now that you're recovered from your surgery -- plus as the thing with the ex-BFF starts to become the new normal, you'll find yourself feeling more confidence. Right now everything in your life is in an abnormal state! That doesn't make it easy to feel in control.

Pam -- I love tweaking recipes to make them healthier. I find that except for baking recipes, almost everything can be done just fine with half the oil/fat called for, and any soup or stew can easily be made with triple the veggies, half the meat, cheese, pasta. Casseroles can be a little trickier because they are supposed to thicken, which means some sort of roux (which requires a certain amount of butter and flour) and/or cream and/or cheese and/or pasta and/or breadcrumbs, all of which both thicken them and make them higher in calories. Cutting these items too much means your casserole won't hold together. Hmmmm...anyone know of a good low-calorie casserole cookbook?

[Lexxiss]

Hello Coaches/Buddies/Friends!

Yesterday I was 90% OP (switched dinners due to time constraint). I checked most items off my Stage 4 Success Skills substituting my planned outdoor walk for "Costco Walking"-fast and furious while mom waited 45 min for prescrips and flu shot. *credit* for all. I have a "mental plan" for today and will try harder for planned exercise in addition to my painting activities.

BillBlueEyes, neat that you remembered that you don't eat randomly. I like that! Neat, too, that you are visualizing an end in sight with your project.

Beverlyjoy, and *credit* for 8 days of food sanity.

onebyone, I'm excited that you found a great spot to walk to….not too far with fun stuff, too. Many credits!

missyj, sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. Hope you are feeling better . Glad you decided to make "a fresh start".

Pam(atga), it was great to get so many responses to your question.. I learned, too. I am following one of Dr. Becks Success Strategies for stage 4 which is that it's ok to have a mental plan and make legitimate changes. When I'm stressed, I know from experience it's best to have less flexible plan. I, too, eat mostly the same thing for breakfast and lunch. I'm continually amazed at how you persist with your exercise as you live with your RA. *credit*

maryann, thanks for a very potent post despite a crushingly busy schedule. (especially "need" vs "almost need")

gardenerjoy, congrats on your new low and thanks for the 90% explanation.

Tazzy, great job coming up with a plan for checking in during your busy months. Yay for 450 min of exercise already!

Val(va1erie), take care.. It's very difficult when we can't change other peoples' pain, especially those we love so much. *credit* for being such a supportive mom and recognizing that your overeating won't make things better, either.

[Beverlyjoy]

Hi friends... yesterday was a healthy day - I am grateful for that and the willingness to keep trying. I accomplished many goals - I am especially proud of doing my meditation/guided imagery (every day for over a week) Credit.. It's always helpful. Also, I have been very consistent in my logging of food & journaling my goals and thoughts, leaving a bite, watching sodium, slow/mindful/tasting food and more.

Pulled muscle is doing better - I'll be glad when it's all better.

Today I must redo the curriculum guide for one of my programs. I need to rehearse for programs the last week of October. It’s been a while since I did Halloween or ghostie stories.

Valerie - I am sorry your DD was crying - major credit for not eating in the face of her sadness. So so sorry the dishwasher fiasco.

Billbe - oops on the walnuts. Would putting them in the freezer help? Glad your projects are getting done.

Gardener/joy - well done on your healthy take out food!!

Pam - I know what you mean… sometimes, when I doctor lays it on the line about the repercussions of being overweight, it can be the incentive to try harder or try again. Real hunger is a good thing to be able to recognized. So often it’s emotional hunger we feel. Well done.

Lexxiiss/ Debbie - kudo’s for that power walking - doing it and fitting it in. Credit!!



I am reminded of the East Indian Story of The Elephant and the Rope (briefly)

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them to a stake and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.


Essentially, the elephant is trapped and tied, not in the physical sense of the word, but rather in its own mind, due to bad past experiences. Had the elephant tried to do it again - he would be free. I think, for some folks, weight loss is the same. Many of us feel that we have failed so many times - why should we try so hard again. That we will ultimately have the same result. BUT - we should throw away those past experiences and give our best to our plans. We do not have to be like the elephant in this story who can’t try because he knows he will fail. We must persevere.

[onebyone]

Hi Coaches

It's the afternoon now. I have done what I can to/with my major ceramic pieces and they are now curing until tomorrow morning. Not sure what I will do if my Mighty Putty fails me. I'll still have 24 more hours to figure it out.

I tended to other studio tour duties and potters' guild tea room duties. I need to continue to open boxes and look for a few key ceramic pieces that have yet to turn up.

But coaches, I am fighting very strong urges to overeat. They started when I drove back from dropping off a few sample pieces of work for the studio tour stop where I will be. The woman in charge was snippy with me over the phone yesterday, letting me know I "let her down" (HUGE trigger for me as I am a recovering people pleaser) by not bringing stuff to promote the show stop to her. I simply forgot and she didn't remind me--she just stewed. Anyway, all is well and she, of course, was just feeling alone and burdened with trying to get it all done on her own. She just needed to know she's not alone.

We're all the same.
Isn't this the universal human need?

So after I was done I was driving home, slowly, in traffic jam *sigh hate that* and had to drive by the coffee place with the good cheap coffee and the day old HUGE $2 bags of these-things-you-can buy-in-coffee-shops-that-are-round-with-holes-in-their-middles. Just thinking about them made me want them so bad. I had to actively resist stopping and getting them this morning. I didn't stop. I came home and could not decide on breakfast. I've been very light with the breakfast lately, opting for a "brunchy" meal of my big healthy soup instead. I didn't want any soup this morning. I had two small meat pies we got for free at the agricultural fair instead. It should have been enough; it should have satisfied me... but I am in the grip of a food obsession -- a desire for eating A LOT of food. I want quantity. So, from pat experience I know I'll be fighting this all day as I also want to escape preparing for my show this weekend which is just normal for me.

Oh well. I just read my advantages cards. I have 22 to read now, broken into short term and long term gains from losing weight. Beck was smart to have us do this. I sure don't think about things like "losing weight will help me present myself more professionally" when I just WANT a pile of who-cares-what food. The goal is so vague and so far away it's easy to do a meh. why bother? Even the "losing the double chin" doesn't matter--and that's pretty tangible. Anyway, this sounds like the cards didn't work but they helped.

I did hop on the wii fit scale *credit and see a drop of 1.8, so this morning I am 281.2. My Official Weigh-in is tomorrow and I am anxious to see what it says then.

I did my 5min of deliberate exercise late last night. *credit* I stomped/walked fast for five minutes while watching the cable tv box's clock and the tv for the duration. I could see me doing the 5min but could not envision doing 5 more so when I up my 5 minute minimum it may just go to 6 minutes. That 10 minute minimum is just that much more that makes me think "can't do it". I need to honour this right now. UPDATE 10pm: just did my 5min. for today the same way. *credit*

Better get back to what I need to do. I have to dig out my printer and scan stuff and send it off to a friend for printing.

Oh I need to give myself a *credit for emptying 6 boxes yesterday and consolidating 2 as well as locating a few key tools and supplies for both my ceramics and my printmaking. Slow progress is being made on the home front.

Bye for now.

UPDATE: I resisted food this afternoon then DH came home and I was feeling extra mopey and then I decided not to have any dinner after having a late large lunch (I finished my soup off around 3:30pm) and after 8, like at 8:30 I felt guilty for not feeding DH and I ended up making a modest meal for the two of us of an egg sandwich. I am upset I did not follow my foodplan 100% re: not eating after 8pm. OTOH, it was a reasonable deviation considering I should have known I would eat dinner...hello?

Anyway. Better days ahead.

[maryann]

Good Morning Coaches,

Caught up on some posts. Good to read about everybody's life. I had a huge meltdown this morning - huge. I realize my fear and anxiety have been building up for a couple of weeks. Only now do I see that is why I have been having difficulty staying OP. The truth is, as I have said here before, I have always had huge mood swings which I know now are in large part chemical. That is the bottom line. I do lots of things to minimize the impact but much of the time I am terrified. DH and DS saw me this morning in a literal ball under the kitchen table sobbing. Not proud to say it. Wish it wasn't so. Nothing to do but go forward. Talked to DS so he wouldn't be so scared. I will teach in the classroom this pm and he will see me "ok" My only hope today is to be a good mother. Rest. stay OP. Scale down a pound. Unbelievable that the weight isn't a necessary byproduct of my mental challenges anymore
Lexxiss: how clever to walk Costco while waiting for prescription. That is true dedication to health.
Onebyone: Good for you for keeping on with your art. I hear you about the urge to overeat. Compulsion is very difficult and Beck does have skills to combat it as you said.
Beverelyjoy: When you responded to my "scalps" post I had a new insight into what I was saying. It is interesting how I phrase it. I think there is a lot of angry in me about relationships and I always seem to turn it in to wards myself.
Pamatga: Congrats on second place. That is terrific and congrats for accepting its terrific-ness.

Shout out to everyone else.
Mary Ann

[pamatga]

Hey everyone!


Credit: Sorry I am late but I accepted a "personal challenge" for me that actually ended in a much different way than I thought would. I went to a on-site job recruitment. I have felt a lot of conflicting feelings about "pulling my weight financially". I have always worked since I have known my DH and I just feel like I am being so "self-indulgent" not working (although I am really loving 99% of it). I "confessed" to Paul and he said he would like to see me "at home" if that is my desire, but alas with this economy, well, you know the rest..... it has been a hellish extended financial time but a blessed spiritual time. We talk about that aspect all the time! Anyway, while this group I was part of was sitting there waiting for this company to "show up" this woman across the table began saying things to me that was so affirming, I just had to wonder why a complete stranger would do that. Destiny? I'm not sure but I told my DH later that it was very affirming and sort of caught me off-guard.

Anyway, the job was 12 hour shifts and over an hour's away although the wages and benefits were very good. I walked before my interview came. Why waste my time and his? I have a small problem with making a decision like that without consulting my DH first (because it does impact us both) but I was so proud of the fact that I went when I have been avoiding these kinds of "cattle calls" since I have been unemployed.

Credit:BTW, remember last month when I was trying on all those clothes? Well, the linen sheath dress I wore today fit me fine a month ago. It was hanging off of me today. All over. I had to keep pulling the belt in tighter over and over again. It was annoying and I felt a little self-conscious about doing so but WOW!

maryann It was not that long ago when I was going through some of those heavy-duty emotions like that. My heart goes out to you. I have been chronically depressed since I was 8 years old. I swear I will struggle with that until the day I die. My body is definitely -minus a lot of the needed "happy chemicals" or something. The ONLY thing (non-chemical) that helps is to exercise hard, fast and furious. Afterwards, I "purr like a kitten". I would exercise that way now but my body says this is far as I go---if you take me further, you will pay, Missie. So, right now, "my spirit is willing but the flesh is weak and, hopefully, being whipped into shape...."

onebyone Stick with this girl, I believe that if you can really exercise your resistance muscle over and over again, you will be rewarded with all of this desire to overeat subsiding. In the pink book, Dr. Beck has a section on working through all that. I think, Bill also had some of the green book's strategies about determining real hunger over false hunger. At least, you have identified that this is more about your will at odds with yourself and not genuine hunger. I think what you are going through is "emotional withdrawal". You want what you used to so easily say "Yes" to. The more you say "No" the easier it will become.

Major Credit on getting that exercising in amidst all of your own plans. Great Job on recognizing that the issue with the other woman was hers and not yours.

Val Part of life is watching those we love "hurt" as a result of the human experience. It is painful to watch and feel helpless to do anything. It is like the Tin Man who always wanted a heart. He said, "Now, I know I have a heart because it is breaking." goes your way and to your sweet DD.

gardenerjoy Great Job on well made choices in spite of wishing to make more perfect ones. Think of it this way: you made the perfect choice for that moment.

Beverlyjoy and Lexxiss Great Job in "logging" and "jogging", respectively.

Bill We might need to do a telethon for endangered nuts one of these days. Squirrel away some for the upcoming winter.

Well, I am busy preparing a Buddy Challenge called "Move It N Lose It", which starts this coming Monday. I am working with a group of people, some who, like myself, have some physical issues that require a "work around" when it comes to doing physical activities. It has really gotten my creative juices flowing. We will have two competing teams (after all this is BLC!): Snails vs Turtles.

My first daily challenge will be one which uses the upper body muscles: I am calling it "Put A Sock In It!" Here is what each person will do. You put a pile of clean socks next to you. You put an empty laundry basket between your legs. With your arms behind you at all time, you are going to bend over, pick up one sock in your mouth and drop it in the basket. You will time yourself for 5 minutes. The person who has dropped the most socks "wins" that daily challenge. However, the competition part of this will be only one person's score on the team counts so you have to decide as a team which person you want to choose to represent your team. To make it even tougher, I am going to have everyone do a 20-30 minute upper body workout before they do the daily challenge.

Also, this challenge will increase in its difficulty: putting the basket off to one side so you have to twist your trunk farther, then putting it farther away and you have to run back and forth dropping the socks one by one, and finally I might even have a one-legged hopping challenge. We'll see.

There has already been a little bit of game play going on between myself and the former winner of our last Buddy Challenge. Paul told me a joke which I passed on to the Team Snail Leader, Annie,: "What did the snail say when he was riding on the turtle's back? Wheeeee!"

I am hoping to make this FUN at the same time of getting some serious working out in.

Pam

P.S. Thanks so much for the elephant story. It is definitely worth sharing!

[gardenerjoy]

Attempted to solve pre-travel stress with carbs. Wouldn't it be great to live in a universe where that actually worked? It's a good thing that travel for me, these days, usually means eating a bit less than normal. I also anticipate some exercise, including a hike.

The purpose of the weekend travel is a family wedding that everyone seems a bit skeptical about except, apparently, the two people most involved. Oh well. Pretty much the definition of things that I can't do anything about. So, I'll focus on eating well, having fun in any place I can find it, and breathing deeply when it's all over.

This will be my last post for a few days -- I anticipate no access to internet at all until at least Monday, maybe Tuesday. It's been a really long time since that's been the case!

Everyone, thanks for being here and take care of yourselves!

WI: +0.2kgs, Exercise: +20 /1000 minutes for October, Food: 70%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Finished another minor project with my house, CREDIT moi. Everything takes longer than I expect. Don't know whether I'm not as efficient as I used to be, or whether I'm just more optimistic than is reasonable. (Thinking about it, I never was as efficient as I used to be, LOL.)

The task was to replace the plastic covers over the electrical receptacles that were removed for painting - clearly a few minutes at most, especially since I'd bought all new ones. I failed to plan for removing paint, removing plaster, removing old dirt, tightening up the receptacles, tightening up the boxes that hold the receptacles, changing the depth of the receptacles in the boxes so that the outlets weren't recessed, and moving whatever furniture or stacks of construction stuff was in front of them. But it's done, and I didn't eat over it, CREDIT moi.


onebyone – Good luck on your studio tour today; visitors are never burdened with all the things that might have been displayed. Kudos for working through the alternatives for your evening meal with your DH.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Just recently met two different couples who've been married 50 years starting with a chorus of non-believers who thought that marriage at 18 was too young - it can be successful. Have a good trip.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Like the thought of "Costco Walking" - especially since you get the rush of ignoring the samples.

Beverlyjoy – Thanks for the elephant story, I need to be told that story about once a year to recall all the tiny bonds in my own life. Yay for the story teller getting ready for her gigs.

pamaga – Yep, Kudos for answering a "cattle call" to learn whether there was a job opportunity for you - ya gotta kiss a lot of toads to find your prince. LOL at "Put A Sock In It!" - what a kick!

maryann - Sending supportive thoughts for working your DS through his feelings as he learns that his mother is a person in addition to being a mom.

Val (va1erie) – Yay for good soup. You just made me spend time on Wiki sorting out the different ways of Roux - I'm not a cook, but love reading about what causes food to form. I clearly remember as a kid watching flour and water being added to meat dripping to form gravy; I didn't know that was adding roux. We've never used clarified butter even though it's readily available at Indian food stores. Continuing to send supportive thoughts to your and your DD as she works her way through a tough time.

Readers -

chapter 4
Stage 1 The Success Skills Plan
Success Skill 6 Overcome Hunger, Cravings, and Emotional Eating
experiment 1 Prove to yourself that you confuse hunger with other states.
what to do . . .
At this point, it's not really important to differentiate between a desire, craving, tiredness or urge to engage in emotional eating, and thirst. You can just label all four states as "non-hunger." For the rest of your life, whenever you want to eat and it's not mealtime or snack time, label your sensations as "hunger" or "non-hunger." Once you master the skill of overcoming hunger, cravings, and emotional eating, you will be able to say to yourself, This is hunger ... No big deal, I'm scheduled to eat again in a little while, or, This isn't hunger ... I'm definitely not going to eat. In later stages, you will learn what to do to minimize hunger and how to change when or what you eat if you find you are still getting hungry too often.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 75.

[Lexxiss]

Hello Coaches/Buddies/Friends!

It was a good Beck day. I checked most of my success skills off my Phase 4 checksheet. 100% OP and exercise done, even though my choice of exercise took a twist. *credit* I had a spontaneous moment this morning. I was heading off to do errands around 8:25am. I have seen these women walking briskly on the upper street several times. They always have to move for a car to pass by. This morning I waved and asked them if they had a walking club. They said yes and I was welcome to join them. They are 4 moms who walk after they drop the kids off. The great news is I can just walk up my back stairs from the lower to the upper street and join in with them. I would have never done this 3 years ago. *credit* for asking. I will try today and report back.

BillBlueEyes, I certainly heard the perfectionist speaking as you described working on your receptacles. I'm trying to understand that working on a 100+ year old house is sometimes about doing the best job possible. Credit for not eating over it AND for checking another part of your project off your list.

Beverlyjoy, so happy for you finding joy in the consistency of your meditation...and in your logging of food, journaling, leaving a bite….and more. Gratitude in the willingness to keep trying is key! Thanks for the elephant story. I have filed it-a keeper for me.

onebyone, I am sorry you felt such strong urges to overeat. Have you written down a list of distraction techniques? I have found they really help AND it's better for me to distract from the urge to overeat rather than to continue with the task that is triggering me. I can always come back to the task later. I also have a card, "I NEED TO MAKE A BETTER CHOICE". Credit for reading your advantages cards and good for you breaking them down into short term and long term goals.

maryann, I'm so sorry for the pain you endured yesterday but much credit for owning it, talking to DS and working on moving through it. Sending supportive thoughts your way.

Pam(atga), love your new challenge! Yay for clothes which are hanging off of you after it fit a month ago! What a great feeling! credit for your persistence.