Diet Coaches/Buddies - Leisurely walk, CREDIT moi, again to check out the ducks passing through. More Coots this year than usual - the funny looking water birds that move their head like chickens. Eating on plan, CREDIT moi. Today's the day to increment my monthly ticker, CREDIT moi; I do like watching my months go by. I had worried that the loss of that adrenalin rush seeing the scale go down would lead to drifting away from my goals. It feels super to remain on the path. My thanks to all my Diet Coaches/Buddies for being here.
Debbie (Lexxiss) – Love the notion of "put it in its place" as I go. It's not the saved steps that appeals to me but the clutter in my brain that there are things to be dealt with. Kudos for immediately knowing that it was "just one meal."
Beverlyjoy – Kudos for continuing to give yourself credit and leaving a bite. LOL at Sesame Street bagels.
pamaga – Ouch for the return of sleeping difficulties. Thanks for the reminder that one ounce of walnuts is 180 calories. The high calories in nuts is great for a squirrel who has to survive in temperatures down to 20 degrees F without a spare coat to wear.
Tazzy - Congrats on "endurance is so much better now" - so great to know you earned that class by class. Neat idea to scale back the food at Thanksgiving. I love, love, love leftover turkey and dressing, but dread the thought of mounds of pies and side dishes.
Val (va1erie) – LOL at the thought of your DD being embarrassed by her mom bringing a scale - brings back fond memories of my kids being embarrassed by small things. Thanks for raising the questions about how pleasure is measured on the three bite subject; now I'm curious.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 4Stage 1The Success Skills Plan Success Skill 6Overcome Hunger, Cravings, and Emotional Eating experiment 4Prove to yourself that you can stop eating. what to do . . .
Tell your Diet Buddy about the conclusions you have drawn from this experiment when you report on your Stage 1 Success Skills Sheet. Repeat this experiment as often as needed until you can easily stop eating and throw away the extra food.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 83.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 11-14-2011 at 05:24 AM.
report: weighed (down 1.2, yay!), ate slowly and mindfully even though I was in the car with two teenagers snacking on stuff I like for over six hours, got a ton of exercise (11,000 steps on pd) walking around Wash U of St L campus, contacted my diet buddy.
Beverlyjoy -- thanks for the recipe! Oh, it's one of the WW zero points recipes -- they're always good. I might have to think about something like that for dinner tonight, as it's nippy here. Sorry the new brace is causing problems elsewhere in your body! That's a drag. LOL on your GS's Sesame Street bagel!
Tazzy -- good for you for recognizing the NSV of your Zumba class now being your EASY class! LOL on the issue being not what you eat between Christmas and NY but what you eat between NY and Christmas!
Pam -- You sound like you're taking a very sane approach to the inevitable days when you eat a little more than you've planned. You look back at the day and try to learn from it rather than beating yourself up about what's past. Good for you!
BBE -- I love coots! And loons. As much for their names as their looks and behaviors, I think sometimes. Good for you for taking pleasure in watching your monthly ticker count up and recognizing that pleasure can replace what you felt as the scale moved down. Edit: I decided to finally figure out how to put an event ticker into my sig here on 3FC. I used to have such a ticker showing how long I'd been at goal at our old forum, but I hadn't figured it out here yet. Like you I enjoy watching it count.
Hi friends/coaches/beckies... yesterday was a healthy day - I am always grateful for that.
Well - last Tuesday (Nov.8) when I got on the scale my weight was at 222 - today I am back to my ticker weight.... 218 - I am so grateful for the willingness to keep trying. It's funny - but, I feel a sense of relief. I'll tell you one thing... 218 looks alot better on the way down, than on the way up.
Yesterday I accomplished many of my healthy living goals. I worked very hard on eating more mindfully, tasting the food, and feeling for fullness. I certainly wasn't very consistent, but - at least I was thinking about it. YAY
My food was within my plan.
Sodium - about 1250 mg.
goals to aim for and think about:
eat seated only - yes
fork down between bites - some of the time
no seconds - yes
leave a bite on the plate - yes
journal - yes
plan/measure/log food - yes
watch my sodium yes
Beck readings/cards - no Beck... cards yes
TASTE the food - trying harder
eat slowly and mindfully - working on this
feel for fullness - once in a while
lots of water -yes
stretches/strengthening - yes, gentle stretches
Today I will take some of the veggie beef soup I've made over to my Mom's apartment. She isn't getting out much & doesn't drive anymore. (seems the only time she gets out is when she has to go to the doctor or bank. Not for lack of invitations or planning outtings..) - It was such a good move for her to move to live closer to me. She's a neat lady.
Pam - sorry you've had some trouble sleeping the past few days. It's frustrating. I give you big credit for keeping track and posting your 'stats'. When it's right in front of our faces... then we have to 'face' it. I wish nuts were low calorie too.
tazzy - I can see it being frustrating when folks just assume that your health is a certain way or level. I have a good friend who weighs 200 pounds and she has been leading exericse classes for years. Actually - she is very very physcially healthy. She sometimes feel selfconscious... but, it does prove the point that we can learn and be inspired by an overweight leader.
billbe - congrats on 'living the dream!' - you getting to update your information and still being live with the Beck techniques. Glad you got a nice walk in... with lots of birdies to see.
valerie - good report... hooray for the scale going down! Many goals for a busy day with kids, etc... and all those steps. Great.. carry on.
Have a good day!
Last edited by Beverlyjoy; 11-13-2011 at 03:36 PM.
I didn't manage to plan today, but eating was okay. It helped to go out to lunch with a friend who also eats carefully. A half sandwich / half salad lunch is just right and it felt great that we both ordered it.
WI: -0.55kgs, Exercise: +40 575/1300 minutes for November, Food: NA%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
Pam(pamatga): sorry you're struggling with RA and sleep problems. I've been having some sleep difficulties the last few days and it has detrimentally effected things, not food and exercise so much but everything else.
Bill(BillBlueEyes): I saw the largest number of coots I've seen at one time last week when we were at the cabin. Must be a good year for them. Back at you on the gratitude for this thread keeping us on track in maintenance.
Val(va1erie): I'm a Wash U alum and also worked there a few years ago. Let me know if you need any info.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi. Left a bite on my dinner plate, CREDIT moi, which felt good since I rarely remember. We had a platter of carved corned beef in the center of the table; I offered seconds to our dinner guests, and then had seconds of . . . salad myself, CREDIT moi.
It was a classic New England fall day; brisk, but not cold, mounds of fallen leaves, a time to savor fall before the harsh aspects of winter appear.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Isn't it fun to eat with folks who are also mindful. It certainly influences me. Thanksgiving dinners where everyone is having seconds and thirds wakes up in me that I oughta have more and more also. [Yep, it appears to be the year of the Coot.]
Beverlyjoy – Congrats on getting back to your ticker weight. Kudos for working "TASTE the food" - isn't it great to be doing something so much fun that's prescribed by the doctor, LOL.
Val (va1erie) – That's a lot of walking! Kudos for standing down the snacks while driving with the snacking teenagers - a big challenge.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 4Stage 1The Success Skills Plan Success Skill 6Overcome Hunger, Cravings, and Emotional Eating experiment 5Prove that you can make cravings go away.
So far, you have learned that hunger and the desire to eat are not a big deal. They always pass. So do cravings, even though they are usually more emotionally and physiologically intense. The moment you decide you absolutely will not eat, cravings diminish. It doesn't work if you are indecisive, though, telling yourself, I'll try not to have any; or, I won't have it now, but maybe I'll have it later; or, Let me see how long I can hold out; or, It's so unfair that I can't eat this.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 84.
Where has November gone to, cannot believe it's already the middle of the month. I could honestly say that I wish it was Dec 14 and the craziness of my job was behind me for another year.
Had a good pre-Christmas dinner with my whole family (18 in total and the first time ever that we have all been together in one room). It was buffet style so I checked it out before getting a plate (they only had 1 size on those). A lot was breakfast stuff like bacon, sausage, waffles, french toast - all those good low calorie choices. Being it was noon when we got there, and I had a good breakfast at home I decided on lunch choices. I filled 1/2 of my plate with salad and steamed veggies, added a small piece of ham, about 2 tablespoons of shrimp stirfry, the same amount of pulled pork and some strawberries and watermelon. I'm giving myself credit for not going for seconds, eating slow, leaving bites and just saying No choice to some of the items. DH and I shared some dessert, some apple crisp (not anywhere as good as what I make at home) and some cheesecake. We left about 1/2 of the cheesecake as well. I felt pretty darn pleased with my choices.
I weighed this morning and am down another .4, really want to get that ticker changed. Another .6 to go and I'll be able to!
Well back to work, just wanted to have a quick break while I ate my spinach salad with grilled salmon. I decided to bring a fresh lemon instead of a salad dressing and it was much better that way.
I am going to do personals quickly because I am feeling well enough that I am going to the first night of a 3-part series over three nights regarding "suffering, forgiveness and healing", in that order. The weather has gotten warmer with it being in the low 70s right now. Good news for me after a miserable couple of weeks. I am torn being wanting it to be warmer so I can get out more and also liking the fact that colder temperatures remind me of all the late falls and winters in my past. Knowing what to pray for is hard sometimes.
Tazzy GJ in how you maneuvered your way around a buffet with limited choices.
beverlyjoy on meeting your long held weight lose goals! with you dear! I am so sorry to hear about your brace helping one thing and hurting another. That just plain sucks!
Bill Yes, as Taz just said above, this time of year is all about "overkill". I am liking my pre-planned choices more and more. I agree that it is nice to have leftover turkey since I have a million and one ways to make other dishes with it but we save that for the Christmas-New Year's week. Then, we can settle in and have the leftovers at that time.
Again, on meeting your monthly goals. It is nice to know that you never get tired of seeing how far you have come. Certainly worth celebrating, just not with nuts.
Val You got something started here with your "3 Bites". You might have to trademark that or better yet franchise it. GJ in getting all the walking in.
I confess that I do not think I have seen a coot. The Loon is the state bird of Minnesota. Are they related?
I had to share something with all of you:
My husband did something that was quite subtle and intuitive, at least for a man, I think. I was craving chocolate something fierce yesterday. I have noticed that I usually crave certain foods when my food plan is not as on the target as it needs to be. He had gone for a walk. We had discussed the "option" that he was going to pick up something sweet on the way back. When he returned he told me he forgot to take his wallet. I will say I was disappointed because I had been anticipating having chocolate. However, I am also sensitive to the fact that he already had been doing a lot for me in the past several days; everything from going grocery shopping for us to checking on our garden to doing some other errands I just wasn't able to do; so, I told him that was alright, "just forget about it".
And, you know, once I made myself my favorite ground turkey burger and settled in to watch free HBO I honestly forgot about my cravings. This morning I asked him if he had done this "on purpose" and he smiled. He said quite softly, "I know how much you want to make your maintenance next year. I was only trying to help." I was both humbled by his gesture but also I was "convicted" of just how compelling certain foods can be for me, after all these years.
He was enabling me but in the most positive way: a way in which I have a better chance of meeting my goals. I realize that there is still a lot of work on my end when it comes to me and my relationship with food.
There are two response cards that I keep reading over and over since it seems like I am most in need of those two: Anti-Craving Strategies and Practicing Behaviors that Support my Food Plan. Typically in the past I have given into my cravings under the misguided assumption that it was something my "body wanted/needed". I read that somewhere many years ago and thought it "made sense". Well, whether it does or not, it doesn't work with a specific food plan and staying on course so now I have to work on how to deal with "slippery slopes" of poor sleep, pain and wanting chocolate all in one knotted mess. That is my job right now.
It's been a long day and I stuck to my guns with food and my Beck skills. I left for the airport (1 hr each direction) at 345am and had 1/2 hour home before heading to waitress land. I had my green smoothie at home and didn't have a bite at work. I weighed when I got home and will eat early this evening. Stress has diminished greatly and DH is speaking to me again. He gets agitated with all the women when my Sis visits.
BillBlueEyes, credit for remembering to leave that bite and for having seconds of salad while the others enjoyed corned beef!
Tazzy, great choices at the buffet ! It's such a strategy for success!
gardenerjoy, I love going out with others who are careful with food choices! It makes it so much easier.
Beverlyjoy, yay for a healthy day and for enjoying life back at your ticker weight!
Val(va1erie), credit for slow and mindful eating in a car with teens! I noticed your new ticker right away-Kudos!
Pam(atga), credit for willingness to keep trying while you are tired, irritable and in pain. Hoping you're feeling better very soon!
onebyone, major credit for getting back on the scale after 16 days and having it show you only 1 pound off.
Donamarie, how are you enjoying onederland?
Robin(4EverLearning), sorry for the continued rugged schedule, but glad to hear you're feeling confident and strong!
They announced at work today that they're having a Biggest Loser contest. It costs $60 bucks to join and the winner will take the pot. It's 12 weeks and the winner will have the best percentage of loss. Since no one else has been dieting I think my chances would be less than average and I think I'm too cheap to join in. It will be interesting, though.
Hi folks/friends/coaches.... Sunday was a healthy day... I am very grateful for that.
I've been really working on doing all my journal work... that is good for me. I write down so many things that I am working on, need to remember, resistance techniques, food plan/food eaten, sodium and so much more. It kind of give me a check list of sorts. When I am willing to do this.. I live more sanely with food.
Sunday my sodium was 1300mg. It was in a healthy range for the past week. I am grateful for the willingness to keep tabs on it.
I have had alot of my plate of late - and am trying to fix things I can't fix. (my mom's failing health, my stepmom will need a shoulder replacement, my never ending foot/ankle senario, my GS is having some health concerns, my sister has to have another back surgery - 4 surgery in 18 months, and a few other things piled on). I am extremely stressed and am wanting to have chocolate and sweets. I keep telling myself that food doesn't cure pain, emotions or stress. I write in down daily...I need to tatoo it on my brain. I've had seven days of food sanity - I am grateful. I will be reporting in daily on whether or not I do some meditations. I think it can help if I willing to do it.
I have read all of your posts and comments. I appreciate all of your thought, wisdom and support. You folks are awesome! I hope to get in more personals tomorrow.
First, my report: weight was unchanged on Friday, didn't weigh on Saturday since I was out of town, up 1 yesterday, down .4 today. Did well with my eating every day, including when I was out of town. On Friday night we ate in a really good restaurant. Everyone had fettucini alfredo with either chicken or shrimp added, with garlic bread. I ordered the fettucini with chicken and asked for extra broccoli to be added and for the alfredo sauce to be served on the side. I didn't eat the garlic bread at all, left about a third of the pasta, and just barely touched each forkful to the sauce, and enjoyed every single bite.
fyreflie24, yeah, I generally eat around 1400 calories a day and can maintain on that. I am still trying to determine if I can maintain on 1500. I know I gain on 1600. Despite Beck's admonition against going below 1600 calories, I do believe that I can stay at 1400 indefinitely if I have to. And it's definitely worth it to me. Your interpretation of the research you saw on Biggest Loser is indeed the correct take-away, assuming that the brain differences they talked about are an effect of overeating rather than a pre-existing cause. And that does seem to be my personal experience. I certainly derive more pleasure from small amounts of food than I ever did before.
BillBlueEyes, the fact that those fried onions evoke happy childhood memories for you would certainly explain why you chose to eat those mashed potatoes with embedded fried onions, rather than choosing to resist them. But you said you SAMPLED them. And I bet you would have had a much larger "sample" in the old days!
Tazzy, YAY for that increased endurance!
Val, it's actually been about 3.5-4 months that I've been at this weight, but your point is well-taken. No matter what my friends might think, I am most certainly not anorexic if my weight has remained unchanged for so long!
Val, you asked how the research on sensory-specific is done and how the "diminishing returns" are measured. The basic protocol for the research is quite straightforward, and the measures used are primarily behavioral for animals and a combination of behavioral and self-report for humans. First, pilot research is done to identify two foods (let's call them A and B) that are equally palatable but which differ significantly on one dimension (such as taste, food group, or texture). The subjects are divided into two groups. In Phase One, the "prefeeding" phase, one group of subjects is fed Food A and the other group is fed Food B, to a pre-determined level of satiety. Each group of subjects is then divided in half. In the critical test phase, half of each group is given a second opportunity to consume the same food they ate in Phase One, while the other half of each group is given an opportunity to now eat the other food. So there are four groups: two control groups (A-A and B-B) and two experimental groups (A-B and B-A). The two experimental groups eat significantly more in the test phase than do the two control groups, showing that, even though the subjects were full at the end of the prefeeding phase, they once again eat heartily in the test phase as long as they were switched to a different food--a food that they had not adapted to. Sometimes no attempt is made to measure the degree of pleasure the subjects derive from each bite. If the hedonic value of each bite IS measured, it is usually done on a Likert scale (a 5- or 7-point numerical scale), so it's a self-report measure. I actually don't know if anyone has ever tried the much more involved study you mentioned, where eating speed is also measured, but that would certainly be possible (albeit tedious) to do and would definitely be interesting. One of these days when I have some free time (HA!!!), I will have to investigate the research literature to see if anyone has taken it to that level.
I know that you already know that, because of sensory-specific satiety, people (or animals, for that matter!) are more likely to overeat when a wide variety of foods is available, such as at a buffet. But something you may not know is that the same thing happens when a single food has a large number of ingredients. Thus, if you eat something like a stew or a casserole that has numerous ingredients, you will likely end up consuming more calories than if you had eaten a less complex food, simply because the rate of adaptation to the various ingredients in the complex food varies from one ingredient to the next. The same thing happens in response to highly processed food, which has so many different ingredients and additives. Bottom line: you are much less likely to overeat if you restrict yourself to simple foods with a limited number of ingredients, and if you restrict the number of different foods eaten in a single sitting.
On a completely different topic, I did something very impulsively last night. I went to eHarmony.com and filled out their personality profile, just in the interest of checking out how it works. I thought that you have to pay a fee in order to actually get matched with someone, and therefore I could test the water risk-free as long as I didn't join up and pay their membership fee. WRONG! I woke up this morning to find a bunch of emails with information about potential matches, some of whom sent messages and asked for photos. ACK!!! What did I get myself into? I can't see their photos or get access to their full profiles without paying a hefty fee, so now I don't know what to do. One of my potential matches is right in my hometown. Anyone have any experience with this?
Time for me to go to bed. I was out of the house at 7AM for class this morning and didn't get home from a meeting at the main campus until 9 this evening. I am wrung out, and I have a personal training session in the morning. Have a great day tomorrow, everyone!
Diet Coaches/Buddies - On plan eating, CREDIT moi, including, yet again, the 13 bean soup DW made a week ago. Boy, that stuff just gets better and better. Exercise was moaning that a gallon of Benjamin Moore paint costs $47 with tax.
Ate a slice of apple pie for dessert without so much as a single bite of the crust, CREDIT moi. It wasn't sugar free, but close. In the olden days I loved the crust most; in the recent past I've learned to eat some of the crust and leave some. This was a first time to eat NONE - perhaps progress.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yay for yet another new low. Are you still writing?
Debbie (Lexxiss) – Yep, I would imagine you're not in line to compete in a Biggest Loser contest with 88 pounds already gone. Maybe they'll give credit for prior loss, LOL. Kudos, once again, for no bites at work.
Beverlyjoy – Kudos for making yourself aware, "am trying to fix things I can't fix." My take is that it's extremely hard to give up control of the things we've never had control over.
pamaga – Yay for standing down that chocolate craving - even with a little help from your DH.
Tazzy - Yep, you should be pleased with those choices - especially at a table of 18 family offering multiple opportunities for emotional eating.
Robin (4EverLearning) - Neat demo on how to deal with fettucini alfredo - Kudos. That was well done. And thanks for the "diminishing returns" explanation. I've noticed when putting out cookies for a community coffee hour that two bags satisfies the crowd. But when I put out two different types of cookies, it take two bags each. Seems like an anecdotal example of diminishing returns.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 4Stage 1The Success Skills Plan Success Skill 6Overcome Hunger, Cravings, and Emotional Eating experiment 5Prove that you can make cravings go away.
When you experience a craving, your attention gets fixated on food. You try not to think about the consequences of eating it. But it is important to remember that the experience of eating goes far beyond the actual time that food is in your mouth - it includes everything that happens afterward, too: feeling weak, guilty, and out of control (and possibly gaining weight). I would guess that whenever you tried to diet in the past, you gave in to cravings, sooner or later, and felt upset with yourself. Well, you won't have to be at the mercy of cravings anymore, not after you successfully learn how to overcome them by doing this experiment - perhaps many times.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 84.
Hey friends! Please excuse the lack of personals! I'm in the height of my busy season with holiday pictures, coming into crunch time right now!
I went to dinner at a friend's on Sunday. She made a special meal and I just kinda let go; first time in almost 80+ days! So I guess that's a credit. I'm still up 2 lbs so a bit freaked I can't get that off, and the 2 lbs I need for my weekly quota but it's a live and move on kinda thing. I didn't let it screw up everything and I am back on track (credit) and I think it was important to experience so moving on now.
I hope everyone is doing well!! I skimmed through posts and will try to be more responsive very soon!
I changed it up a bit - according to what I had the house. I recommend it if you like dill.
I got my journaling in yesterday. I made my plan/measured/logged, left a bite, had no seconds, had a lot of water, stretches and kept track of much more. I shouted back at sabotaging thoughts of eating when I was having some back pain. Credit.
No arc/rc/beck, however.
I did my meditation (short one.. but counts!). My sodium was 1735mg.
I made an appointment for tomorrow with the woman who designed my foot/ankle brace to see if it needs some tweaking to prevent further back pain.
Firefly - hop right back on your plan. The unplanned meal is over and done. It’s in the past and today you have NOW. Sometimes, I think we learn from those times. I totally understand how it feels so scary to have wavered. You CAN get back to your plan.
Billbe - by now.. I am wanting to make that ten bean soup!! I love bean soup… yes, soups get better with age. Kudo’s for leaving the crust of that pie!!!
4everlasting - wonderful job on your dinner out and ordering food and eating the food in a healthful way. Credit. I am so glad you enjoyed each bite.
Gardener/joy - congrats for a new low.. Doing a happy dance in your honor.
Lexxiss/Debbie - way to go on standing your ground and staying with your plan through the ‘commotion’ of company and such. Much credit!!! So glad things are calming down! You should be struttin’!
Pam - isn’t it amazing when we learn that we actually CAN walk away from the thought of having chocolate! Glad that DH is intuitive.
Tazzy - well done at the buffet!! I think you were so thoughtful in your choices and no seconds is a great accomplishment. Credit.
Hey all,
Sorry its been so long since i posted. I have been running like crazy. My mom, im doing a home loan modification, and I found out I have celiac disease. After I had my son I ended up seeing a gastroenterologist for really bad heartburn. This was 16 yrs ago or so. He told me that he felt I had it then because of my lab results and symptoms. He told me I needed a biopsy. I didnt go back and my pcp put me on medicine for the heartburn. I never thought too much about my results of celiac and actually I started to feel better. Well now I have gotten myself in a bad way. This thing has been silently reeking havok on my insides. I have had stomach problems for the past few years and just dealt with and ignoring symptoms that should have been looked at a long time ago. I always put myself behind everyone else. OH BOY what a mess!!! So now I have been off gluten for 4 days and finally today I am starting to feel better. I also feel that I dont tolerate fats too well either. Im prediabetic and I might as well get the sugar out of my diet as well. I really do know how to eat well. And sweet stuff makes me want more sweets or the yo yo between sweet and salty carbs.
I havent gotten in the book in awile just been too busy for anything really. But I want to get back soon.
MY new thoughts on eating.
Breakfast-eggs, and gluten free oatmeal.
Lunch is usually breakfast actually, but when I do eat im gonna stay with meat ( made at home) and lots of fruits and veggies.
Dinner the same. Meat fish chicken. Fruits and veggies.
Im gonna try to eat like this for 3 months and then slowly incorporate more foods back in my diet. Just not Gluten products and refined white sugar.
In a way I wish I had pain from eating gluten like most others, That would definitely keep me in line... Actually the people with pain get treated faster and not as much damage gets done. And no I don't like pain. Im a sissy!
As far as beck I may start the book over or start where I left off. I haven't done anything like I was such as sitting at the table to eat or reading my response cards. Any suggestions with this?
Sunday
on meeting your long held weight lose goals! 
with you dear! 
I am so sorry to hear about your brace helping one thing and hurting another. That just plain sucks!
GJ in getting all the walking in.
