report: didn't read my cards, weighed yesterday (4 under goal) but not today because we're in Atlanta. Jane and I decided to take a quick visit to Emory -- their admissions office is open today and tomorrow -- and get them out of the way. I know from the website their tour is 75 minutes, and the campus is hilly, so I'll probably get great spontaneous exercise today. Had salad bar for lunch and was so starved when I sat down that I ate too fast and ate way too much of it, was uncomfortable afterward, but I guess if I'm going to overeat, salad is a good choice. I didn't get much of the bad stuff on the salad bar -- no croutons, no meat or eggs, small portions of dressing and cheese.
Up early as usual, decided to get on here while Jane still slept. She started falling asleep at 8:30 last night!
maplover -- Beck does deal with cravings -- it'll be coming up soon. She takes you through fighting cravings and other desires to eat when you aren't actually hungry. I don't have the book beside me, but it comes up soon after hunger monitoring.
Debbie -- Good job on not eating while you were upset!
onebyone -- overeating for me also has a nasty twist: feeling overfull is in itself a trigger for me. I can feel overfull on SALAD and have to fight the thought that I might as well eat a piece of cake since I'm already too full. Okay, so the eating of "vast amounts of food and still stay on plan" with WW. Are you meaning you might eat huge amounts of zero-points veggies to get that "overfull" feeling, then feel emotionally bad about it because even though you were within your points, the eating-until-overfull behavior itself is unhealthy? I'm chewing this idea over...I certainly have had the experience of eating an entire bag of carrots, but I never saw it as necessarily unhealthy eating behavior. But I can see where you're coming from. I generally prefer to eat just smaller portions of whatever everyone else is eating -- one piece of pizza instead of three -- rather than eating vast amounts of veggies day in and day out, but I guess I never thought of the idea eating too much broccoli or zero-points soup because you want to feel FULL might still be unhealthy eating behavior that needs to be addressed, too.
maryann -- so glad to hear you feel more like yourself every day. I can remember when my kids were small and I'd very occasionally get away from them -- heaven!
FFC -- sorry to hear about the strained muscle in your back! I used to pull back muscles ALL THE TIME. About a year ago I started doing core abdominal work as part of my regular routine, and it's helped amazingly. I've had one muscle pull in my back since starting doing this, and it was so minor in comparison to the pulls I used to get that I almost don't even want to classify it as the same thing.
gardenerjoy -- I'm thinking maybe you were digging, then discovered a surprise bunch of something that needed to be harvested and decided to put it up?
BBE -- Wow, I love the thinking on what's REALLY rare and unusual, and that just because it's labelled Swedish doesn't necessarily make it anything but fruitcake. Although I'd probably have at least tried one bite of it just to see if it really WAS different.
Okay, no time for more callouts -- have to go wake daughter and get her to her tour!
Hello coaches! I've been poking my head in here but haven't had time to really do anything, especially another chapter in Beck. I'll probably wind up doing maybe one-two more chapters this week between the overtime. I don't want to do it at work. I want to do it at home where I'm entirely focused on the chapter. Although I keep the book with me so that when I see it, I think of my current goals and this extra time gives me time to focus on what I am doing.
I've been fairly successful. Christmas dinner went well. I meant to leave some on my plate but I didn't. It's not like I grabbed huge portions anyways. I helped myself to two salads before I ate and a few hours later, one after with a bit of the meat. I still had pie and didn't feel bad about it!
The next night I was pulled to a unit celebrating with food. I had a plan to pick small portions, sit and all that smart stuff. I wound up going back to the dip numerous times (omg love cheese beef salsa dip!) and scarfing down three cookies while standing! I was stuffed and felt icky physically. I've mostly been eating salads with some chicken and other healthy stuff and that was a wang bang on my system.
Of course, I went straight back to healthy eating the next meal (which was when I got home). Credit moi! Although the last few days I haven't been too hot with the writing food down. I actually don't know where my little notebook is. I got to stick with that because every time I get off a plan, it's when I stop tracking.
My husband is finally better and he wanted to celebrate eating real food by going to Denny's. I didn't mind. I had a plan and I knew they had healthy options. No matter what I go, I was determined to eat a salad before the food. They screwed up my order twice but the salad was good!
My husband was so happy when I was expressing how I love my pseudo calorie counting because I'm not condemning myself for eating healthier options even at a restaurant. The way I was successful with WW was by making that plan my own plan. Yet every time I go on WW or calorie counting strictly I get so obsessed with the numbers. That's why I'm so happy. I know I'm fueling my body with about 75% good foods. I'm not chewing a bazillion fiber one bars and all that.
Although this night hasn't been super successful. I don't know why but I haven't felt hungry for the foods I've been lovely lately. So, I ate crappy but if you technically look at the calories, I ate under my limit. I did stop when I was full. Credit. But then I finished it later when I was hungry again. I think that is why I'm also more tired. I did better on my last set of tabatas on Friday but I just couldn't do it today. I felt wiped with my circuit workout (I add the tabatas on at the end).
Today will be my "review day" which is the day I figure out what was successful and what wasn't. And it's my weigh in day. I weigh in every day but only count Mondays. I track it on google15.
va1erie-yay at not a lot of the bad stuff! BillBlueEyes-I agree with you on that "rare" food. The same day of the Christmas dinner, I had some baklava that someone brought in and I hadn't had it in forever. So I ate a few pieces.
Quote:
Does your signature or your ticker better represent your weight loss journey?
Actually neither. Right now, my weight is 267(?) according to last official weigh in. According to my daily weigh in, I'm 260. According to the Google15 moving weight, 263. It doesn't matter to me as long as I'm under 270!
onebyone- I know how you mean. I was reading my old weight loss journals and WW trackers. I never ate all my points. I had too many. Remember, I am also obsessive about low points but I would really feel completely full on a 3-5 point meal I'd make. I'd average 23-25 points when I was supposed to eat 30. I wrote in one of my journals, "I've made WW for me because I eat till I'm full and satisfied. I don't eat to my WW points most of the time because I'd most likely be binging and that's the opposite of what I need."
pamatga-
Quote:
Is that you in the hoop video? Where on earth did you ever hear about something like that? It is clearly fascinating! Have you ever thought about introducing the rest of the world via a show like "America's Got Talent"?
Most of the videos under MrsDaimere is me. There have been hoopdancers on America's Got Talent. Most of them don't make it all the way to win. I'm currently taking a BodyHoops certification class but do you realize how hard it is to find space in the winter? Bad timing! I've been racking my head on how I can expose hooping to my area. I need at least some feedback to even finish my cert. I'm at this point about to tape it and let people test it online and email me the feedback.
Just checking in briefly...I am on the no eating betw. breakfast and dinner, so give me strength. Anything I can put in my mouth right now is tempting. Give me strength!
About to go visit someone in the hospital more to distract myself than anything else. I'll check in later or tomorrow.
Hi Friends/coaches/beckies.... I have had about a week of healthy days.. I am so, so grateful for the willingness.
I have utterly amazed myself with all this Christmas food and goodies around. I had to bag up cookies to give at our Cousin's party. I didn't eat one cookie. At the party I had a piece of delish ham on half a bun and one cookie. I bypassed all the family favorites, It's like a miracle LOL. (it helped that it was a casual buffet and not a sit down dinner where everyone could see I wasn’t eating their dish - no explanations)When I got home and I wrote down and logged my food I realized I had not eaten much for the whole day. So I had a healthy snack. I started to eat one of the cookies.... but, put it down after a couple of bites and put dish soap on the other half. am grateful for the willingness to stop.
Really - I think I scared myself with the sharp pains where my gallbladder is (the pains only lasted a minute). Then I got my lab numbers from my physical... my triglycerides are high and they must come down. A reality check… I am hoping my reserve to eat healthfully can get me through the next week of nonstop food holiday food really right in my face.
Billbe - pineapple glop is delicious (however, it’s made of white bread, sugar, eggs, & pineapple) It just has to be tasty. Aren’t you glad the extra eating of the Swedish goodies are over and in the past. Hop right back on you plan and you’ll be OK.
Map/lover - good idea putting the Beck info on your I-phone. Please feel free to make a response card for my ‘three sentences’ or anything we say here that sounds helpful!
Lexxiss/Debbie - sorry you are facing some challenges with things… CREDIT for using No Choice and pushing through.
Onebyone - credit! - saying no choice to more stew.
Valerie - kudo’s for your exercise walking around campus. Good that you made a healthy salad - even if you ate a bit too fast.
Daimere - kudo’s for planning in some Beck reading time where you can fit it in! Glad you hopped back on your plan when you got back home - I call home my ‘food comfort zone’. (unless my DH brings home lots of candy.
Hoping everyone is doing well.
Last edited by Beverlyjoy; 12-19-2011 at 02:12 PM.
GD everyone! I have spent about an hour reading from the last time I posted, C/Ping some of your individual comments and that is what I am going to "respond to". Again, I will probably be "in and out" for the rest of the week and possibly spilling over into the week after Christmas depending on how I can manage my time.
Today was the final day of the Team Challenge that I had been hosting since October 17th. The "Biggest Loser" and winner, Blanche from PA, lost 15.8 lbs since October 17th. There was nothing that I could "challenge" her with that she did not (hands down) accept and make it her own. She had a great attitude throughout the entire Team Challenge. She was and is a "total inspiration" to me. She lost weight amidst shots for bad knees, a bad head cold, two birthdays in her honor, Halloween, Thanksgiving and even through the pre-Christmas holidays. I am so incredibly proud of her!! Her post today said it all, "C'mon, everyone, there is 6 days to Christmas, let's not gain any weight before we start the New Year's Challenge!" What's not to love about her??
I am immensely humbled and excited about having 18 people (besides myself) who have "signed up" for my New Year's group. Wednesday, I have arranged an informal "shop talk" around 12 noon EST, just to get to know everyone! I am so glad that I now have a group that devoted to one thing and one thing only: working on a Buddy Challenge. It has been my dream and desire since this past fall and now it is coming to fruition.
Bill I am half Scandinavian heritage (I took 3 years of Norwegian language in college-only three universities in the U.S. offer the Scandinavian languages as part of their curriculum) so I do know what you are talking about. I had to smile about the special part of certain sweet breads. Paul and I went to a 3-7 open house Christmas party yesterday. The couple are Italian-American (hailing from Brooklyn). In a specialty shop I was in on Saturday, I saw an Italian sweet bread pannetone (spelling?) which I brought. I asked the hostess if she would cut into it so I could have a slice. (I know her very well so this wasn't being too precocious). It was delicious but you know, it really wasn't that much different than stollen (German-I'm half German) or julekake (Swedish). P.S. My DH, Paul, is crazy about all things Dickensian so I am going to try my hand at making "figgy pudding" for our Christmas dinner.
Credit: Speaking of which that was our last Christmas party until a New Year's one. Paul and I had a hot meal around 1:30 p.m. simply because that is when we usually eat on the weekends. So, when I arrived I truly wasn't hungry. None of the food (and there was lots) did not appeal to me. I did however have a slice of turkey along with that slice of sweet bread. I had a two glasses of wine though that really irritated my stomach (I am trying to allow an old bleeding ulcer to heal and I forgot ).
Credit: Instead of focusing on the food (this woman is known for being a great cook as well), I focused on meeting up with a lot of friends whom I hadn't seen for a couple of months. The conversations were varied and lively. Employing one of my "tried and true" techniques of sitting as far away from all of the food as possible (I do this at buffets all the time) worked beautifully here as well.
Credit: IMO, one of the best Beck's suggestions to counteract when a person goes off plan is to just forget it, move on and get right back on plan asap. It has really been one of the better suggestions for me since it stops all of that "well, as long as I blew it, I might as well allow myself this extra piece of food,etc." It doesn't allow a slip to become a skid to become a fall to become "down for the count".
To me, it also "signals" to my cognitive being that I never really go off my plan totally (as I used to either be on a diet or off one-which always famously started either on the first day of the month or a Monday) but that I had a bump in the road, which I recovered as quickly as I could by following through on resuming where I "left off:.
onebyone I am not sure which book you have but one thing that I have really found extremely helpful from the pink book is the Day that is devoted to "Enriching Your Life". As you can see I am very busy these days with a lot of non-food activities. I am psyched about getting this new group off the ground, I am transferring my old entries into my 3FC diet blog, I have finally finished all of my Christmas shopping (and now to wrap it) and I have caught up with lots of phone calls to friends and family the past couple of days.
In other words, my life by itself (without the additional food) is becoming increasingly more full every day. I have felt the most empty when I was lonely, hurting emotionally or overwhelmed by some obstacle that seemed insurmountable. You have mentioned a few times about feeling so lonely and isolated where you are currently living. It is always hard to relocate and start over from scratch. You mentioned that you were attending WW meetings. Have you been able to make any new friends there? I know your work engages you quite a bit. How supportive are the artists who are in your current guild?
daimere If you need someone to give feedback, just let me know and I will do my best. I do not know anything about hooping except that I didn't even knew that it existed so I am not sure my opinion would carry that much weight except that I do think it sounds really neat and unique.
valerie depending on how long you stay here in Atlanta, I would recommend the Cafe Sunflower, located on Hammond Drive and Roswell Rd. It is Atlanta's premier vegetarian restaurant. Try any of the Flying Biscuit too. They are all organic although they do have some free range meat products. There are also a lot of very healthy places to eat in the Five Points area (rather bohemian). Atlanta is a very cosmopolitan city even though it is in the Deep South. Think of New York with a "ya'll" behind it. You can eat both authentic ethnic and very healthy while you are here. Believe me!
Beverlyjoy I am so hoping that your sister never has to go through any more of these back surgeries. I know someone else who had similar surgeries. She is in my prayers.
maryann My heart goes out to you as you are struggling with some of these "hurts". We are always here for you. We love you.
A good thread of discussion about whether eating a whole bag of carrots constitutes unhealthy eating or not. For my own purposes, I have defined "unhealthy eating" as eating for any other reason than to sustain my life. Therefore, if I were eating a whole bag of carrots because I was trying to avoid something emotionally, in my definition, I would be binging and eating "unhealthy", in spite of the food. As a person who is recovering from food addiction in general: this is my line that I draw and the gauge in which I measure how well my current behavior is from my past addictive behavior.
gardenerjoy I agree with you that there is a huge difference between someone who has less than 25 lbs to lose and someone who is morbidly obese. If anyone here has ever watched a few episodes of "The Biggest Loser" you can see exactly what I am talking about. Not only does it make a difference how much you have to lose but also how long you have been obese and "practicing" maladaptive behavior towards food.
Fast forward to today, nine and a half months from the time I first cracked open the pink book and began working it seriously, and I can tell you that this process is like peeling away layer upon layer of self-destructive (what she refers to as sabotaging) "coping" behavior. Like anything else in life, everyone of us has a different learning curve. Some people "get it" almost immediately, but I think most of us have to apply one skill, get a good handle on that and then move onto another one. It does take time, patience and a consistent practicing to achieve lasting results.
I have often said that by being as large as I am, I will have actually been practicing "maintenance" almost simultaneously as I am losing weight simply because of how much I have to keep going over and over the same ground with the same skills, sharpening those skills along the way. This is why I feel confident enough to say that when I have lost 100-150+ lbs I believe that as long as I continue to practice the skills that helped me to lose the weight, I will keep it off. I have never felt that confident ever in the past with any diet program I was on. I feel that I am in charge and I am empowered as a result of that.
I feel that this Beck CT skill set is what has set "this time" apart from the other efforts. In fact, I will even say that I doubt whether I would have sustained the weight loss that I have had I not been working this "program" (albeit rather sloppy at times) at all. Now, that I know what works, it is just a matter of working it.
It's been too long and so I won't even attempt to catch up. The aim is to be in the moment in order to continue getting on track. Every day this is the commitment I make.
Semester reflection: Well, I made it through with only a mild weight gain (average of seven lbs.), holding on to the bare minimum of Beck skills. In considering the Beck book section on maintaining, I interpret part of the gain to be due to my shift to maintenance, rather than loss. The other vacillating part of the gain is due to emotional and stress eating. I struggle with my emotions around this gain, so to help with the struggle, I view it as factually as possible: I have been eating more calories and exercising less, so of course there's going to be a bit of a gain. My increase in eating has been due to stress and to emotions, but I recognize this every day, and every day get back on track. In other words, I resist the vicious cycle, so major kudos to me.
Holiday goals: To take this brief increase in free-time to get back in touch with the skills of resistance (more than I have been), with food tracking, and with checking in here. But NOT to lose sight of the dissertation! This WILL continue to be my priority.
Weekend eating: Way too much in the way of standing-eating, and over-eating 'special' holiday foods. Chugging water today in order to cleanse myself of salt. Will exercise, even if it comes late tonight.
Thanks for always being here. And thanks for the idea of making A&R cards on my iPhone! Not sure who suggested it, but it stuck firm after my skimming of this thread.
Good Afternoon,
More chores accomplished today putting me more securely into VACATION and less into work. Credit for OP day yesterday. I did have one extra Rees cup(my usual evening snack) but am thrilled that the choice did not lead to a binge. That is so new that it gives me hope and reassurance that there is food sanity. So I gave myself a star because - because I think it is great.
Tomorrow is my bday. I have a terrific day planned. Last day left of my "single" life. I am up early to hit Macy's day and SCORE BIG with my gift card. I am a BIG GAME Hunter for bargains in clothes. It is a hobby and so much more fun now that the clothes are a smaller size - sometimes single digit! Then I meet DH and DS in SF. We have a babysitter arranged and DH and I go to a little b&B with swing music and dinner, then a movie. Whoo Hoo!
My plan is to stick to what I have written down - add a bday cupcake and whatever I want for dinner - leaving a bite.
Pamatga: I agree that any eating for emotional reasons (or I guess not eating but I never had that problem) is letting the opportunity of "Facing life on life's terms" slip by. It is not what I am eating but how I am eating it. Maplover: Strength to you for between meals. This stuff is hard and it takes courage. Beverleyjoy, BBE, Daimere, Oh I guess everyone: You are absolutely right. I am amazed at the Extreme amount of good looking holiday food.Has it always been this way? Each time I say no strengthens my resistance muscle. I really want to end this season with a no gain. That is my Xmas wish. Valerie: Enjoy Atlanta!
Short post b/c posting on phone. Laid up still with back injury. Only got about 1 hour of work done today, which isn't enough. Made plan today, but had to deviate b/c too painful to cook, so DH made pasta with marinara. Ran into cookie dough with a spoon attached to my hand. Credit for not finishing whole thing though. Really want to feel better to take advantage of my teaching-free time. Ouch!
Last edited by FutureFitChick; 12-19-2011 at 11:10 PM.
If anyone has recipes that use rosemary (preferably by the cup), let me know! (see my note to va1erie for the reason).
WI: NC in kgs, Exercise:+40 820/1300 minutes for December, Food: 85%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes
va1erie: We potted up three large rosemary plants -- one for my sister-in-law and two for our sunroom, since rosemary doesn't reliably overwinter here (I'm leaving two plants outdoors to test that theory). In the potting process, we did a lot of trimming of the plants, so I had a small mountain of rosemary to wash, trim, and put the sprigs in water. They can be treated like cut flowers and will last for several weeks on the counter. I also chopped the trimmings, made two rosemary marinades and one rosemary salad dressing, and stored a bunch more cut rosemary in the refrigerator. For supper tonight, we had paninis made with rosemary-tuna salad on rosemary-olive oil bread and a salad with that rosemary salad dressing.
pamatga: you said "as long as I continue to practice the skills that helped me to lose the weight, I will keep it off. I have never felt that confident ever in the past with any diet program I was on. I feel that I am in charge and I am empowered as a result of that." Yep. That was exactly my experience from the beginning of Beck, too. As it turned out, I did kind of bounce into maintenance at the end, but I never doubted that I would figure it out, with the help of the people here.
Yesterday as I was walking down the stairs to head to work my brain must have been thinking Beck as I planned ahead for my food day. *click* I already knew I'd have my blueberry/banana/almond butter combo for lunch *credit* for sticking with my plan and resisting many tempting foods at work. Planned exercise was work, spontaneous exercise was tearing out the carpet in the dining room revealing a 125 year old original maple floor.
FutureFitChick, I hope you are feeling better soon!
I read lots of successes (even getting right back on track) as we walk together through this busy and food filled holiday season.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Stayed on plan, CREDIT moi, without external offerings, so it was easy. But, big food spreads and social gatherings are coming and I need to get my head better focused on my plan. Feel that I've been drifting away more often of late. In the past, the eating season has worked well for me because I've remained uber focused and had the benefit of avoiding all the excess. Gotta get back there.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Just love the smell of rosemary; I'm drooling over your dinner. Only thing I know that can use that much rosemary is an infusion in, say, olive oil.
Debbie (Lexxiss) – Can't help but like your "blueberry/banana/almond butter combo for lunch." Congrats on finding that wonderful old maple floor.
Beverlyjoy – Now this is impressive, "I didn't eat one cookie" - Kudos for keeping the focus. [Well, pineapple glop sure has all the addictive ingredients - no wonder it's delicious.]
FutureFitChick – Ouch for that back messing up your thesis schedule. Kudos for a prompt recovery from the attack of the cookie dough. A good Helpful Response toward raw cookie dough is "Salmonella, Salmonella, Salmonella," LOL.
Mary (MaryContrary) – Congrats for making it through another semester, and Kudos for getting back on track despite stress and emotions.
Pam (pamaga) – Congrats on the success of your Team Challenge - sounds very supportive. [Yep, the Italian panettone and the German stollen call to me each year as if I've never had a sweet bread before.]
maryann - Happy Birthday!!! Hope you score at Macy's and have a joyful evening in San Francisco. And Kudos for avoiding an opportunity for a binge.
Val (va1erie) – Good choices at the salad bar - I also have that problem that feeling starved when I start a meal leads me to eating quickly, and thus too much.
maplover – Hope the lunch skipping exercise went well.
Daimere – Kudos for working on tailoring your eating plan to what works for you. You made me google "tabatas" - that's an intensive four minutes.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 4Stage 1The Success Skills Plan Success Skill 7Plan and Monitor Your Eating
reality check If you are thinking:I don't want to restrict my freedom. I want to choose my food in the moment. Face reality: You will need to give up the freedom of spontaneous eating if you want to reach your goal of permanent weight loss But isn't it worth it to reach this extremely important goal?
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 90.
report: read my cards, weighed (4 under goal), ate slowly and mindfully even though on the road, though when I got home I did eat some fudge that a neighbor had dropped by. That's the downside to our neighborhood having a tradition of delivering handmade treats! Got a ton of spontaneous exercise walking all over Emory's campus but nothing else as I was driving for 8 hours for the second day in a row. Contacted my diet buddy.
Daimere -- good for you for going right back to healthy eating! That's the most important thing, not whether you follow the plan perfectly 24/7/365.
maplover -- credit to you for working the program!
beverlyjoy -- good for you for resisting all the food! Beck says studies show that health issues provide very effective motivation.
Pam -- good for you for focusing on friends instead of food! We actually did end up at Flying Biscuit on Piedmont and were disappointed after we'd ordered to discover it was a chain. A local small chain, which is better than a national chain, but we dislike chains on principal. Flying Biscuit fooled us because it didn't LOOK like a chain -- I guess we were in their 2nd shop, probably opened before they started thinking about franchising, and it definitely looked mom-and-poppy rather than chain-y. We'd wanted to go to the Highlander in Virgina Highlands area as they'd been featured on an episode of Diners Drive-ins and Dives, but discovered they're 21-and-up. I was surprised -- even at LUNCH they can't allow a kid in with her parent?
FFC -- best wishes for the back injury healing fast!
gardenerjoy -- wow, the rosemary plants sound cool! I'm afraid the most I've ever seen in a recipe is a T of cracked dried rosemary!
Debbie -- yay for sticking to plan and starting to automatically use your Beck skills!
BBE -- I've got some big food spreads coming, too -- one Thursday, one Friday, one Saturday, one Sunday. After that I'm hoping life starts to normalize again.
MaryContrary -- good to see you! Credit for checking in here!
FutureFitChick: Oh no, walking up stairs would wind me at my highest. This fitness thing has been as a result, and to promote, weight loss. Now that I have a goal, it’s much easier but the scheduling lately has been hellish! Looking to getting back on track in January.
Bill: you mean the SureKillCrawlWay?
Still nuts here and these last few pounds to 50% are still messing with me! We leave for our home town on Thursday and will be gone through the new year so lots of nuttiness getting everyone ready to get out the door. I was hoping to ride today but we'll see. Since it's pitch black at 6pm, my ride time is greatly diminished and the kids have needed me around for various reasons too.
Things have been going well for me. Weight down 1.2 so have adjusted ticker. Need to update the pedometer steps again, forgot to wear it on the weekend so am giving myself a low number of 3000 steps each day. Saturday I did get to the pool and surprised myself with 20 lengths. Had a very nice relaxing day on Sunday and really needed that.
I've started on a new plan called the P.I.N.K. Method. Saw it on Dr Phil and ordered it mainly for the workout DVD's. It also has a nutrional component and the claim is that it removes the CRAP (caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol and processed foods) from your diet. The first couple of days were hard but now I'm amazed at the amount of energy I have and how I no longer feel sluggish. I'm sure that's from the lack of white sugar and flour coarsing through my body! Whatever it is I'll take it. It's also made me really consider (along with my Beck skills) any of the treats that have come into the office and I can proudly say that I have not had one single chocolate and don't want one. We are going to have a nice quiet family Christmas dinner for the 4 of us, I'm not doing any baking either and am feeling quite stress free about it! I want to get through this holiday season without gaining. Maintaining I will be fine with.
Again it seems like everyone is having success on their plans. Keep up the good work.
Credits: checking in here; weighing in; downloading an app on my iPhone to create digital A&R cards; bought new, heavier walking weights; putting down my fork; limiting late-night eating.
Needs work: exercise; food measuring and tracking; eliminating late-night heavy snacks.
Today's objectives: gather materials for current diss chapter; exercise; create four A&R cards on my iPhone. Measure food portions. Put myself and dissertation first, no matter what is going on with the DP. Continue to exercise my right to say no or Now is not a good time, and NOT feel guilty about it.
Although I'd probably have at least tried one bite of it just to see if it really WAS different. 
I had a plan to pick small portions, sit and all that smart stuff. I wound up going back to the dip numerous times (omg love cheese beef salsa dip!) and scarfing down three cookies while standing! I was stuffed and felt icky physically. I've mostly been eating salads with some chicken and other healthy stuff and that was a wang bang on my system.
). 
Tuesday
