Hi... yesterday was mostly healthy. The Halloween Party was so much fun. Oh my goodness.... what a spread of food. I ate some sub sandwich, veggies, pretzels and an unplanned tootsie roll. That tootsie roll gave me the urges to 'just go ahead and eat what you want thoughts' I pushed through it using my resistance techniques. I am grateful I was willing to use them. However, when I got home I ate an unplanned taco shell. Was able to step back and go to bed. I probably had about 200 or 300 hundred extra calories. I won't worry about it. I think I did fine.
I woke up today feeling horrible. A fever, chills, body aches, tired. Therefore our trip to see the grandkids for Halloween is off. Phooey. I don't want to give anyone my flu. I am feeling very sad, however.
Well - Best Buy says that my hardrive is toast. HP requires them to send my computer to their service center for them to replace it. I think HP wants to 'autopsy' my hardrive to figure out why it crashed after six months. I am glad it's under warrenty. However.... it will be 10 days to 3 weeks until I get mine back. Eek! This week - I'll check in from the library, I guess. Public Service Announcement: don't forget to back up your work on a regular basis. I had backed my up about five weeks ago and did lose a few things. I asked Best Buy to back it up for me while they had it, and they said they tried & couldn't retreive it. They said
they could send it to the HP center and it would cost me between $250 and $1500 to have HP 'find it all'. I've lost a few things. Thank goodness nothing too major. (except for some invoice copies from performances recently.) I can redo them, if necessary.
Spanky - I struggle with evenings, too. Here are some things that can be helpful.,
I go through 'The D's' in my head:
distance myself from the food,
drink water
deep breathing
use distractions
don't drive for food
Sometimes I'll go to bed early - just to get away from the food.
Every day, in my journal, I write down the D's and one other way to remember what to do when you feel like eating when not planned. I call is ISNIR.
Identify- why you want to eat - is it hunger, craving, desire, ect. Stand firm No choice = red light. You wouldn't go through a red light...because you have no choice. Imagine how you'll feel in ten minutes: if you resist that food you'll feel good. If you give in to the food you'll feel bad Remember why - read your Advantage list/cards
I write these techniques daily - however, for me, it comes down to willingness, too.
This past ten days saying to myself: "Stand firm!!" has helped.
I will try to check in soon, probably from the library.
I have a good friend coming to visit for the weekend. She's a vegetarian - so, I'll be switching menus up a bit.
While we are nowhere near the eastern seaboard of the US, I have been hearing that Ontario may get hit by Sandy, (which they haven't called a Frankenstorm lately. I think that's because it really looks like a serious storm o it needs a serious name and not a goofy one). I'm half-expecting our power to go out for a while. I don't know why I think that but I do. So I've taken a few minor precautions but it's been business as usual around here this weekend.
*credits
- weighing in today at 250.0
-making food from scratch
-planning better meals and trying out a new recipe
-bagging up 3 garbage bags of stuff for the diabetes association pick-up tomorrow. I am also donating a suitcase I brought back from Florida. We don't need it. I want to make sure I have dobated enough stuff to qualify for the vacation prize package and I think the suitcase will clinch it! Yes!
BTW *extra credit for getting donation stuff together at all as I was simply paralyzed and stopped in my tracks as I opened about 4 boxes and had no clue how to deal with what is in there. I just re-closed them and could have given up, but said NO CHOICE and decided to let go of clothes, linens and towels instead. I am better with that than books, pictures, jewelry, art stuff. I see I have much more work to do with decluttering and hanging onto stuff or simply knowing where to put what.
-credit also for not eating over the emotions this brought up
Food has been pretty good this weekend and I hope to keep at it as my goal this week is to bring the scale to 249 or less as on this birthday I turn 49 (eep. is that me? really?). By next birthday and that 50 year old milestone I want to be 149. But even being under 200 would be reason to celebrate. This week this is all on my mind.
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Food at meals was on plan, CREDIT moi, including a pot luck where I served myself a sane plate. Twice between meals I was inundated with food and nibbled much more than my allocated snacks. Both times were stressful; eating to make stress go away isn't joyous eating. Ouch.
Spent most of the day indoors with little exercise. We continued to hunker down for Hurricane Sandy - went so far as to watch The Weather Channel on TV last evening. My mind boggles that New York City shut down their entire public transportation system last night.
onebyone Yep, Kudos indeed for redirecting yourself when one avenue of eliminating stuff didn't work. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you to win that vacation to Florida since that place makes you so happy.
Joy (gardenerjoy) Sane consumption of those huge muffins was pretty neat. Estimated walk times in tourist areas always catch me by surprise also - in Appalachian Mountain Club hiking maps they fit my walking style pretty well.
Beverlyjoy Ouch for a toasted hard drive; Double Ouch for a computer sent back to HP for longer than desired. I like your set of "The D's."
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 8Stage 5The Motivation-for-Life Plan
Re-Motivation Plan
Consider whether you are eating too little. Dieting becomes harder than it needs to be if you are trying to sustain a calorie level that is too low for your appetite and life circumstances. It's fine to make the decision to go up to the next calorie level if your are struggling. You may gain a couple of pounds, but it may be a relief to be able to eat a little more. If you think this may be the case, it's probably worth at least trying the next calorie level. If you find it doesn't make a difference or you're too unhappy with the weight gain, you can always go back to your previous calorie level and the extra weight will come off.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pg 192.
Gardenerjoy and beverlyjoy--thank you both for really helpful tips for avoiding evening snacking. I'm on plan today, but the evening is always an issue. I particularly like 'stand firm' and 'no choice'.
Enjoyed homemade baba ganoush for dinner. It's fun to get a bit creative with veggies when avoiding carbs. Yum!
Looks like the Beck offices (like the stock exchange) must be closed for weather today........ there's no new tip. So, to keep up with a daily boost we all need, I went back to approximately this date last year and pulled one.
Quote:
Halloween is just around the corner. We advise our dieters to wait until the last minute to buy candy so they don’t have to put forth the effort to resist it every day unnecessarily and also to buy candy that they don’t particularly like. Anything you can do to reduce the struggle is worth it!
I was definitely Off Plan on Saturday, but will give myself credit for not diving into the birthday cake or other treats. All in all, it wasn't a bad effort. I had a .5 net loss for the week.
Bill, I'm thinking about you and other friends that live on the East Coast. Hope you still have electricity and internet and that you are high enough to avoid flooding from the surge. My daughter's crazy company still thinks she is going to be able to get to New Hampshire on Wednesday. Her flight connects in Philly -- which has been closed since last night. I seriously don't see that happening.
I'm posting from my iPad and its not easy to go back to see who it was that made specific posts. I really like both the "Ds" list and the stand firm list. Both have some really good reminders.
Beverlyjoy-- my husband repairs computers. I can't tell you how many times we have seen a hard drive crash. We use a continuous online backup called Carbonite. I believe it costs something like $50 per computer per year. It is so worth it. I never have to worry about losing anything and never have to remember to do a backup. As a teacher of three different courses, I have thousands of files. We have had drives crash in our own computers and have recovered everything. It only takes one tie of losing everything for us to convince customers they should have subscribed.
This was a good OP day . Made it to yoga tonight . Weighed and overall felt good about my efforts. Have a good Tuesday everyone.
* credit for weighing in: +3.1lbs today. O well. I put it down to the drop in barometric pressure playing havoc with the wii fit weights and pulleys. *credit also for no second helpings, and for cooking/eating from scratch.
I went out tonight to fold up the patio chairs and to take down the patio umbrella and I took the time to move the plants off the front porch in case they flew off somewhere and caused damage. It's really really windy out there and cold. There is an enormous weeping willow across the street, still with all its leaves, and I keep waiting for it to topple over or crack apart. The hydro transformer that supplies us with our electricity is on the lines that thread through that tree. I just can't get over that this wind we are getting tonight is Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy. Apparently a pedestrian in Toronto was killed by a flying sign tonight too. That's one big storm.
Billblueeyes I hope your sump pump is working and that you have been spared flooding of any kind.
I couldn't get to 3FC earlier today. Thanks to onebyone for being my diet buddy in another venue when I couldn't be here.
I didn't do as well yesterday, but got it back together today. Credit for grabbing the walking tours brochure for Eureka Springs. I did all of two tours and combined parts of the other four to see the things I wanted to see. Three hours total walking today and a lot of it was hills and stairs because Eureka Springs is built on the sides of mountains. Stairs connect some of the streets for pedestrians because a parallel street might be 100 feet higher in elevation than its neighbor.
Mostly, though, I wanted to send good wishes to everyone dealing with the effects of the storm tonight.
I know it isn't all about the numbers, but I'm 1 pound from 20 lbs total, and 2.5 pounds from 10% so I am using that as motivation to use all my Beck skills (including writing plans every morning) to stay on plan this week in hopes of results when I go home to the scale (and my family, of course!) this weekend.
My best evening snack avoidance strategy? 1)Keep it out of the house. 2) look forward to that 1 oz dark and delicious chocolate, served with a bit of ceremony
Diet Coaches/Buddies - We survived Hurricane Sandy! It's calm outside at this moment - as if it's over - but it's expected to continue through today. There's only a small amount of water in the basement - quite a surprise given the volume of rain. The rain was heavy for a few hours.
Eating was OK, CREDIT moi, given the tension of the day. It would be 100% if I'd avoided a larger afternoon snack since I couldn't use the toaster to make my chips from pita bread. Exercise was removing a downed tree limb and several excursions outside to view the damage. Even with rain gear we got super wet - Duh!
onebyone Kudos indeed for avoiding second helpings during all the tension of the hurricane. It is amazing that it was felt as far west as Toronto.
Joy (gardenerjoy) I'm so enjoying reading about your vacation. It's neat that you're getting to do so much walking while visiting museums and galleries.
Nature Girl Yay for gathering up your motivation for the last 20 pounds. Kudos for "served with a bit of ceremony" - taking food mindfully seems to be Beck's strategy for both enjoying and limiting.
Beverlyjoy Yay for healthy days.
TeachMe - I love baba ganoush but have never made it. Is that difficult?
HaleyJu - Not a surprise that Beck's offices shut down since they're outside of Philadelphia which was right on the path of Sandy. [I agree, seems unlikely that your DD will connect through Philadelphia today.]
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 8Stage 5The Motivation-for-Life Plan
Re-Motivation Plan
Check on your level of acceptance. Some dieters or maintainers get to the point where they ask, "You mean, I have to eat this way for the rest of my life!?" They may have understood intellectually from the beginning that they had to change their eating for good, but they didn't really grasp it on an emotional level, so they struggle. Remind yourself often that you can eat what you want, whenever you want, in any quantities you want - or you can be thinner. But you can't have it both ways. Also remember that it was easier before and it will get easier again. And when it is easier, there's probably no question in your mind that it's worth it.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), pgs 192-193.
I survived the Pope's Pizza Party and Candy Orgy without a hitch, even with the In-Laws present--no mean feat. I'd eaten a full meal ahead of time and was able to resist the whole menu. Sunday was spent at the lake, all OP.
Yesterday, though, I had what I suspect is some sort of blood sugar incident. My husband is a diabetic and told me it certainly looked like what he had experienced before he was diagnosed. So, waiting to hear from the Dr office as to my next move.
Here in Michigan, we're rooting for those on the East Coast in the wake of the storm. I pray that everyone here is managing as well as BillBE! Best to all y'all!
BBE-so glad you managed to come through the storm ok. must have been more than a little fraught.
As for baba ganoush, it is not hard at all. I put a whole eggplant and a couple cloves of unpeeled garlic in a 425ish oven till soft--maybe 30 mins. Squeeze out the garlic, pull the skin off the eggplant as soon as its not too hot. I put this in a food processor, but have also used a hand blender and once or twice just chopped as fine as I could with a knife then mushed it with a fork. I add 1 tablespoon of tahini and no more than 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Maybe a tablespoon of lemon juice and some salt. Mix all together. I put some finely chopped tomatoes on top. I think traditional recipes would have quite a bit more olive oil and tahini, but this tastes pretty good to me. I'm happy enough to eat it with a spoon and forego the cracker bread or pita
Looks like Beck is still out for business due to weather. Wednesday is generally sabatoging thought day, but I liked this one from just after Halloween a year ago. Maybe it will speak to you, too.
Quote:
Sabotaging Thought: Since its almost the holidays, I cant possibly lose weight at this time.
Response: Thats just a sabotaging thought. While it may be more difficult at this time of year with all of the extra treats around, Im ultimately in charge of every bite of food I eat so the holidays dont have to derail me.
This morning I was a pound down. I'll wait until Sunday to update the profile and sig line. Maybe it will be even more by then.
They are running jack hammers just down the hall from my room. It is definitely time to go home!!
Sunday Night
Monday
for not diving into the birthday cake or other treats. All in all, it wasn't a bad effort. I had a .5 net loss for the week. 
cold. There is an enormous weeping willow across the street, still with all its leaves, and I keep waiting for it to topple over or crack apart. The hydro transformer that supplies us with our electricity is on the lines that thread through that tree. I just can't get over that this wind we are getting tonight is Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy. Apparently a pedestrian in Toronto was killed by a flying sign tonight too. That's one big storm.
