[gardenerjoy]

Credit for going back to the fancy restaurant (it's next to the hotel, so most convenient) and deciding that two nights in a row made it decidedly not rare, so I needed to treat it like a normal restaurant meal. I went for a salad followed by a soup from the appetizer menu in place of an entree. I stole a bit more than usual from DH's plate, which was more than he wanted. No wine or dessert. My reward was that the soup (which I probably wouldn't have ordered in any other circumstance) was delicious.

Credit for taking an extra half hour walk from the hotel so I could match the previous day of two hours of walking. Still no penguins, BillBlueEyes, but during my walk I passed four goats, each with distinguishing markings. My favorite was the one with the white body, black head, three white legs and one black leg. Kind of a modern graphic art look.

Yesterday's adventure was touring around Fayetteville including the campus of the University of Arkansas (Go Hawgs!). Our favorite spot, though, was the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks.

luxy: woohoo for making it to the Beck group from my goal post. I'm so glad you found us!

[HaleyJu]

This is one that I am not guilty of doing......... I try to keep my calorie plan low enough that I would still be losing even if I don't make it to exercise. Credit for that!

Sabotaging Thought: It’s okay to eat this because I’m working out later and will burn it off.

Response: I can’t rely on “burning it off later” as an effective way to reduce calories because not only is it possible I’ll end up skipping my workout, but likely I also overestimate the number of calories I burn while exercising, anyway. If I want to lose weight and keep it off, I can’t use the prospect of future exercise as a reasonable excuse to eat something.

[HaleyJu]

Ok, so maybe I'm not guilty of today's sabotaging thought, but I am incredibly guilty of "maintainer's fatigue." I think I'll give myself credit for recognizing myself in that excerpt. I've done it over and over........ usually running in about 4-5 year cycles. I'm actually pretty good at losing weight and even at maintaining for a couple of years. Then I seem to let the weight creep get hold of me. I generally go another year or so before I can work up the momentum to do it again. I'm just about to email that post to myself so that it can be added to my phone notes along with my advantage response cards and the comment last week from the nutritionist about treating obesity like a disease. Thanks Bill for posting this. I need it now and will need it later. Maybe with the help of you all and continued interaction with this list I can finally overcome the yoyo that has been much of my adult life.

[onebyone]

Coaches

*credit* weighed in at 249.3lbs this morning This is the lowest weight I have seen in weeks. It was down 1.3lbs from the day before

Food is clean. It's still working for me to question myself as to whether my DH would eat the thing I am thinking of eating. I can tell things are moving forward, again, thank goodness, and the weight is a part of it. I can already see, again, still, always, that my problem lies in quantity of food. Good, bad, middling, all kinds of food call me in quantity. I always always always want lots I want to feel full to overfull. I feel/fear I will always be this way. Well, that's not 100% true. Sometimes I insist I will stop before I feel full Sometimes I make it a priority to go to bed feeling hungry, not full These days I want to wake up feeling hungry That feels like success to me right now because in general this is a change of behaviour.

So, one thing I want to do is to make a few plans for afternoon food for me. Since the change I made to the type of food I choose to eat I need to look at choices for snacks and for lunch. Anyway, my mind is clearing up and I am thinking much more clearly and calmly and feeling more optimistic. That my selling season and all my outside obligations are winding down and my studio is getting closer to being a reality, well I am feeling much better.

Thanks for listening
*credit* for posting

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - One more day on plan without extra snacks, CREDIT moi. Evening was easier since we were out to an early evening lecture and stopped at a small Japanese restaurant for dinner on the way home. I grabbed the opportunity to order mackerel since DW doesn't like it so it'll never show up at home. I ate everything except half of the bowl of rice and left feeling satisfied, but neither stuffed nor full. Naturally the scale this morning registers two pounds of soy sauce that'll take a few days to leak away.

Exercise was gym and the evening walk, CREDIT moi. It's fun to walk with DW and observe how well some houses are maintained - an unbounded money sink to be sure. I'm smarting because we found a small spot of rot in a window sill that needs to be patched before rain and snow creates a real problem. It was overlooked last summer. My next house is going to be all Kevlar.


onebyone – Congrats on breaking that huge 150 barrier. Yay for "thinking much more clearly and calmly and feeling more optimistic" - a great place from which to view the horizon.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Congrats for choosing a DW who will tolerate nibbling theft "more than he wanted." [Keep looking. Arkansas Penguin "is an Americanism, loosely applied to any type of feral pig, wild boar or cross in North America."]

HaleyJu - Yep, Kudos indeed for recognizing yourself. Tis a noble goal to overcome the yoyo.

Readers -

chapter 8 Stage 5 The Motivation-for-Life Plan

Re-Motivation Plan

When dieting or maintaining feels harder, and especially whenever your "It's not worth it" thoughts become overly strong, it's time to temporarily step up your motivation efforts with this Re-Motivation Plan.

The first set of techniques will help you figure out the duration, frequency, and sources of your difficult times.
. . .

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 191.

[TeachMe]

Stress of DH's upcoming angiogram couple with newly13 year old son's foray into wilful disobedience threw me a bit yesterday. I am happy to report I didn't overeat, but what I did eat was not helpful. Pringles and Reece's Pieces do not a healthy dinner make. Stayed firm against son's attempted coup and sorted myself by making butternut squash soup for today. Today DH has gone fishing, which will cheer him. Son is back in line and so it my eating.

BBE--how many times have I been thrown by sulking over the effects of soy sauce!!

Onebyone--well done on the loss! A couple of times I have said to myself 'what would onebyone's DH eat?' LOL--it hasn't worked as well on me as it does for you!

[HaleyJu]

oh yumo........ butternut squash soup sounds good.

October 25, 2012 - Think Thin Thursday Tip
Dieters make mistakes most often when they unexpectedly face a hard eating situation. You can limit this by thinking through your day as a whole and taking the time to figure out when dieting might be difficult that day. This way, if it does become difficult, you’ll be in a much better position to handle it because you’ll be prepared mentally.

Let's see, this could be me this weekend at granddaughter's birthday party. I need to think the day through.

[gardenerjoy]

Credit for carrying in supper from the deli and salad bar of a natural food store. Credit for walking the trails around Crystal Bridges again, for an hour total.

We went back to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art -- this time to actually see the collection. We were fully prepared to be underwhelmed but kept being surprised. Two George Washington portraits, a full-length portrait and a sculpted bust of Alexander Hamilton, plus a few other paintings that DH was familiar with from history books but didn't expect to see in Arkansas. There are two large collection of Native American portraits from different time periods. The Norman Rockwell painting of Rosie the Riveter was there. Looking at it, I realized I'd never seen a Rockwell painting -- only the prints.

My favorite was a Hudson School River painting by Asher Brown Durand called Kindred Spirits. I searched the web last night to figure out how Crystal Bridges came by these paintings (well, besides the obvious -- Walmart money). Crystal Bridges bought Kindred Spirits for 35 million dollars, a record for a painting by an American artist, from the New York Public Library. Apparently, I have expensive tastes in painting.

Still no penguins, BillBlueEyes, but there's a large collection of brilliantly-colored hummingbird paintings by Martin Johnson Heade.

[Lexxiss]

Hi Coaches!

I'm drinking my morning smoothie and catching up with everyone. I don't officially weigh when I'm here because they took my official scale out of the locker room and replaced it with something funky. I do step on it when I'm there but it's after eating and coffee.
I had food success until last eve when DH and I got into something emotional. I had some sugar then decided to cut my losses and just go to bed. It was a great distraction technique. credit.
I rode my bike about 6 miles yesterday...part right into the wind. credit. I was happy to find out I could still do it...it's been a summer without much biking.

Gotta run...take care everyone!

[Beverlyjoy]

DH is back... and I can use his computer! Hopefully, mine will be fixed soon.

I am so happy that I lost 3 pounds last week. I've been on plan for 8 days. I am in a good rhythm. - I am so grateful for all of these. I've had many credits in the past few days..... weighed, ate slower, planned/measured/logged food, stretches & strengthening, no seconds, left a bite, journalled, and ate only a few bites while standing.

We are scheduled to see my son & family (grandkids!) Sunday and stay thru Halloween. I really want to do well and have food sanity. I am scared. There will be so much candy, etc.

I have decided to go and do the cooking while there to be helpful. (If they don't mind... can't think they will.) That way we can have a healthy dinner and I'll have some control. I've been reading the info on traveling, eating out & special occaisions.

As soon as I get back home my best friend is coming for a four day visit. I haven't seen her in a long time. Again... it will be somewhat of a challenge.

It sounds like too many challenges....I'll take them a day at a time.

Take care now.

[onebyone]

Coaches

I got out of something I got myself into in the same way that all year I have been stepping up only to realize gee, you're doing too much, why did you do that again??. I don't what is up with me and this over-committing business. At least this one got dropped.

Food choices today were good but I did it all wrong. I skipped breakfast-I wanted to feel hunger and empty-and then at lunch I had seconds-which I, as a rule, try not to do. I had a few snacks during the day, and supper was really late. I don;t like eating after 7pm and the past two nights it's more like 9pm. DH gets home at 6:30 and then his sister called and then he's decompressing at the computer and I leave him alone and then it's 8, 9pm and I think gee, we haven't eaten yet better do something about that. On the plus side, I'm totally not in the grip of food obsession. On the negative side, well, my weigh-in was up this mornig (250.9) but down from last week's 255.5 so I'll take that success and attach it to the Piggyback Diet Plan I am following ie. diabetic low carb foodplan.

Today was the most gorgeous day out there! Like summer. I worked outside on my special commission project getting the 4 largest pieces completed. What a relief. Plus the finicky washers all coated with Tremclad paint. What horrid sticky stuff that is. Anyway, close close close to being done. It's hard to believe they are forecasting such poor cold rainy weather the next week. A "Frankenstorm" is supposed to form off the east coast. (Billblueeyes what's the word in Boston about it I wonder??)

Ok must go. I'm just prattling now. G'night!

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - All day on plan without extra snacks, CREDIT moi. Looking to build myself back to on plan day after day after day like it was during the period I was losing. Best mindful eating was at the food feast after a memorial service where I avoided all the sweet treats and cheeses only eating a reasonable amount that I called lunch - CREDIT moi for an event handled good enough. That's two memorial services in a week - hope this isn't the new trend in my life.

Exercise was walking the miles and miles in the big box Costco store. I had to go for one single thing but, of course, had to peruse the whole store because it fascinates me. Got a good price on a 2.5 pound bag of Starbucks dark roast coffee - I needed it and can use that much. Two pounds of strawberries for $3.99 was also a good price. I made their samples my afternoon snack so that was a wash - a good enough trade off. CREDIT moi for not purchasing the big bags of pecans and almonds; buying one pound bags at Trader Joe's as needed works better for me than having a giant bag in the pantry.


onebyone – Such a powerful observation, "I'm totally not in the grip of food obsession" - Kudos for the steps you're taking to get you there. Late dinners are a problem for me because I want to snack and then want to eat more as if I need it. [Not clear yet how strongly Hurricane Sandy is going to be felt in Boston, but it's expected here Monday.]

Joy (gardenerjoy) – If Walmart won't sell you that painting of Thomas Cole, perhaps you can just pick up something by Thomas Cole as a substitute, LOL. Kudos for the deli supper to recover from all the walking. [Keep looking. Penguins are black and white and easy to over look.]

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Yep, going to bed is a good way to complete the day - Kudos. Yay for biking.

Beverlyjoy – Love to read that you're going to see your DGS laugh therapist. Perhaps a pot of tea is the way to make it through Halloween evening.

TeachMe - Thirteen years old is such a difficult time for both a kid and his parents - Kudos for separating your food needs from your emotional survival needs.

HaleyJu - Good luck at your GDD's birthday party - worth remembering that she won't notice if you eat the cake or not.

Readers -

chapter 8 Stage 5 The Motivation-for-Life Plan

Re-Motivation Plan

. . .Add up the hard hours. Be careful not to let a few difficult hours color the whole week. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Does it seem too hard every hour of every day?
• When is it easier?
• How many hours was it really difficult?

These questions will help you put things in perspective. Although it may feel as if you have been struggling all day long, chances are that there are still some hours and days when it's actually only mildly difficult, if at all. Recognizing that sticking to your plan is actually pretty easy most of the time motivate you to persevere during the more difficult minutes or hours.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pgs 191-192.

[lase88]

Good morning all,

I have not been very good about checking in and I feel myself slipping. I need to let go of yesterday and focus on a new day.

I did weigh in this morning and lost 1/2 lb. I am grateful for that. Still struggling with the mindful eating.

I have been stuck on day 11. Day 12 ,proving I can tolerate hunger bring up anxiety. Logically I know I can do it, but I keep making excuses to not move on.

Glad to be back after a couple of weeks of not checking in.

Linda

[gardenerjoy]

Credit for shopping at the Farmers Market and natural foods store in Fayetteville before heading over to Eureka Springs. We have lodging with a kitchen here, but many fewer grocery options than a college town.

Credit for having the deli at the natural foods store fix us sandwiches for a picnic lunch, even though a storm front brought rain and cold so we ate our picnic in the car.

Credit for cooking our supper last night -- potatoes with roasted veggies, tomato sauce, topped by some cheese. Similar to what we would eat at home.

Credit for checking in here.

The rain messed up my exercise plan, but I did a bit of stretching. Today should be better.

Our adventure yesterday was Pea Ridge, site of the Civil War battle that preserved Missouri for the Union (thanks!). It's also considered the most intact battle site in the country. We took a nice drive around in the rain.

[Lexxiss]

Hi Coaches!

Yesterday was "pretty off". I had a major dental procedure and didn't really have a "plan" for after. I didn't cook dinner but instead had toast and nachos at our fav restaurant, after missing lunch. Not really bad, but I enjoy eating much healthier these days.

Exercise was water aerobics and test driving a bicycle which I ended up purchasing...great sales right now. This will be my Eastern Slope bike for the many warm and sunny days in Denver this winter. I'll leave my cruiser on the West side. I have a hard time spending money and looked long and hard. credit for "just doing it" and for adding a nice seat AND a cylcometer, which I really like on the other bike. It has really helped me to know just how far I can ride these days.