Yesterday's lunch out at a sports bar was a success, ordering salad and soup. Buoyed by that success, I did well throughout the rest of the day, which was a key, because other times, I've thought, "Oh, I went light at lunch, I can have this." Instead of, "Oh, I stayed on plan at lunch and I'm going to continue that this evening." Credits.
Could not get warm last night despite sitting, oh, about 6" from a space heater that I guiltily turned on and hogged. DH is a furnace, he just emanates heat. He says I'm two steps from rigor mortis, as I'm always so cold. So I made a hot cup of tea and relaxed and thumbed through an Acorn catalog, making a reminder list of the BBC dvd sets I want to check out from the library ... instead of tackling any of the 101 things to do on my list. It felt good to just unplug a bit and relax.
No activity on my end, though - we both agreed it was just miserable outside - the cold damp wind just tore through me yesterday. I COULD have pulled out a yoga dvd or done pilates, or gotten on the treadmill. I did not and the only reason was laziness. Embarrassed to say.
I wasn't able to post yesterday due to internet woes but I weighed anyway. I'm extremely busy (actually crazybusy) but am trying to remembering that my food plan is important. I resisted ordering pizza last night to cheer up DH who has the winter blues right now recognizing that I was not in the frame of mind to eat in a sane manner. credit. Instead, I went through the effort to make our planned dinner.
I'm off to Denver to take mom to an appt. then back to take DH over the hill to his friends...and hopefully a respite from the winter doldrums.
Hi all! My name is Jo and I'm new to this site but not so new to the Beck solution - the only problem is I have a lot of sabatoging thoughts that are stopping me from getting through all the steps. Does anyone else struggle with this. Has anyone else started a diet before completing the first two weeks?
I have an excellent diet coach which has made a lot of difference but I fele like I needed to jump into my chosen diet without just waiting around because I would lose focus without the concreteness of my diet structure.
Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and express how excited I am to find others who are using this wonderful resource. Is it appropriate for me to check in with how I'm doing on each of the steps on a daily basis or is that not an appropriate use of the forum?
veganasaurusrex: Welcome!
Checking in with your daily steps is encouraged here. I've done it at least twice! I find it so useful when other people do it because it's a great review for me.
People have definitely started their diet before completing the two weeks and still managed. But those first steps in those two weeks are pretty concrete and structured and very important. What if you applied all your focus on those steps as much as you would to a diet? Beck promises that if you get those first few steps implemented well, that the diet part will come much easier than anything you've tried in the past -- and that matches my experience.
For the second day in a row, someone brought donuts to our daily meeting. (Bringing donuts is the "punishment" for being late the day before.) Yesterday was easy, since the box wasn't opened until the meeting was over and I couldn't see or smell them.
Today, J opened the box when he placed it on the table. I could smell the donuts.
Yes, donuts, you smell good, but I don't have to eat you.
If I have a donut, I will be more unhappy about it than I'll enjoy eating it.
After this meeting, it's lunch time, and I packed the chicken leftovers and they were good.
I resisted the donuts yesterday. I can resist them again today.
I promised myself a donut at the RG (a March event I do). I don't need a donut now.
I will feel better about not eating the donut than I would about eating it.
And as I left the room
I feel good about not eating a donut.
Since my previous method was to have one donut when the box was placed, and a second as the meeting broke up, this is a huge step for me. Credits!
Having the right tools and right words to talk to myself really made a difference. That was, perhaps, too much angst for a silly donut, but it's what I needed to do--and it worked!
And my salad with the leftover chicken was good, and I am still glad I didn't eat a donut and instead at the salad and .
I spent some time on the phone with some family that understands and I’m making an appointment with a counselor so I’m pulling back together. I still don’t feel like eating but I don’t think one day of fewer calories is going to destroy my metabolism. Anything I eat will be off my plan.
IBelieveInMe2-Thank you for your very kind thought and the hugs. Your words and thoughts mean a lot to me. I’m pretty excited about your clean kitchen island too! It must feel so good. Keep the positive feelings going and remember, it takes time! I always want things done now! Then I get discouraged when it’s not all fixed at once. I still haven’t done day one.
NationalParker: your name makes me imagine you as Anna Pidgeon from the national park series of books. I don’t think you’ve ever referred to yourself as a ranger but in my mind, you are a park ranger,silly huh? Great Job at the sports bar lunch and having that success carry throughout the day. I’m right with ya on being cold, I had a hard time warming up last night. Your evening sounds perfect! We all deserve to unplug.
Lexxiss : sounds like you have a ton of things today. Good for you for having a plan. I’m following your 1-2-3! It doesn’t show but It will soon! Good job avoiding the pizza.
Vegan/Jo- welcome. I am pretty new here but I have found lots of support and advice from smart experienced people. They are all so willing to help with suggestions and applaud your successes. What you asked is exactly how the board is used. (oh, listen to me, newbie, acting like I know what’s going on, Sorry established members) I’ve started my weight loss plan and am resisting getting started doing the steps too. I REALLY believe it will be the key to success.
Gardnerjoy: you are one of the first people I read on this site, you are an inspiration to me!
Ann: I hope you are feeling better and having a good day.
Booted Kitty: Thank you for the explanation of NLP. I think there are studies that prove the techniques work. It’s not an area that I know a lot about though.
Beth: So envious of your ambition to cook all that food ahead of time! I need to catch up with you on the steps!
BillBE: Kudos on “just say no” to the “pushers”!
Future Fit Chick: I assume that the quotes around “ski trip” meant that you were along for a trip away. I love your avator and have noticied it before.
Maryann: JC food is OK, some of it is kinda mushy but it tastes Ok. It’s kind of pricey so I am going to do straight JC food for a few weeks then doing a few menus of “real food”. My JC counselor is really willing to be flexible with helping me do that. Let me know if/when you want more info.
JuliaWithAPlanToGetOutOfThePain
(edited to add this this is one mess of a post)
Hello everyone,
Julia I hope you are doing better. hugs to you. I too have reached out to a counselor. We will get through this with a little help from our friends.
Thank you all for being here.
Today I walked and am trying to eat healthy. I realize I just have to accept things happen and I need to plan to make sure I don't slip off that wagon,
onebyone, jump back on this wagon, we can do this.
Hello to everyone, I hope you all have a great day.
Take Care
Ann
Hi all! Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm super excited to find other folks who understand what I'm talking about when I mention the Beck solution.
I'm planning to try and use this to give myself credit. Today I read my ARC three times, I sat to eat all meals and I am giving myself credit . I also went to the gym even though I was tired and I finished up week 2 of couch to 5 k (for any who are familiar). I didn't eat anything outlandish and didn't succumb to the temptation of fast food.
Tomorrow is eating slowly and mindfully. Does anyone have any tips for doing that easily? I'm usually so distracted when I eat that I know it'll be a struggle. What practical tips work well for you?
veganasaurusrex, I'm still working on eating mindfully. I think I'm doing well for just being a few days into it (credit!), but it does take remembering. My target is to chew and swallow my food completely before prepping my fork with the next bite. I hadn't realized how much I was just shoveling it in. I didn't have to try any of the suggestions Dr. Beck has made (change something on the table, for example); I seem to be doing well just reminding myself, although I've had to snatch my hand back from my fork a lot. I give myself credit for that, too--I'm catching myself in the act and correcting it!
Day 8, Creating Time and Energy is coming along. My days are too uneven (home and work) to slot things into specific hours, but I'm working on them relative to other things (when I get dressed, after lunch, after dinner). After dinner tonight, I made tomorrow's lunch and prepped all the veggies and fruits we'll need for the next couple of days. I also made myself a prosciutto and melon snack for tomorrow afternoon. DH and I even brainstormed about how we're going to make time for healthful meals when our big push for the event we run starts.
For me, I think the key is going to scheduling and success is to do several days worth of cutting and chopping either while making dinner, or immediately afterwards. It requires that I make my lunch the night before, and chop anything that needs to be chopped for breakfast.
Day 9: The starting exercise day was easy :-), since I started last Monday and have walked at least 16 minutes every day as planned exercise and have increased the spontaneous exercise, especially stairs. Credit. Credit. I am going to reassess exercise on a monthly basis.
Not eating standing up (while preparing food) is going to take training. I had a finger in my mouth after measuring out stuffing before I even realized it. I did refrain from sampling any of the veggies or fruits I was chopping. When there was a tiny piece of chicken left after I weighed and chopped the part I was taking for lunch, I consciously thought, "I would normally eat that. But I'm not going to." And I didn't. So, one slip before I realized it, and several credits.
julia & newlifestyle, I'm glad to hear you're both taking care of yourselves. Loss and grief are hard and seeking help shows real strength. You two are both in my thoughts.
One more credit--I am reading my response cards daily. My ARC is on my dresser under my ring holder, so I read it every morning when I put on my rings. I have all my cards typed in, so I read them on my phone in the middle of the afternoon.
Thanks, everyone--I feel more confident about this path than I ever have before.
Struggling but I stayed at today: reading my cards, not OP but close to it, and mostly eating mindfully. Today is the kind of day that reminds me of when I was a runner. Tough run, I felt every step, plodded along, didn't break any personal bests, maybe a personal worst, but I made it through.
Hi All, a quick check in before bed. I've stayed pretty close to plan the last couple of days. Finally got to the gym tonight, did 45 minutes with the weights and took the dogs for another romp through the snow for 40 minutes. We also had a lot of ice to deal with, guess that can be some "core" work! Lots of people here love the chinooks as our temps can change 30+ degrees in a couple of hours. Me, I hate the mess of snow and melt, snow and melt and repeat and repeat.
I've been tracking everything I eat and it's helping. I have to really consider if I want it before I open my mouth. And if I think I do then it has to go on the plan. Tomorrow's meals are planned in my head for now, it's a start.
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Finished reading the book for my book club before we met last night, CREDIT moi. I wouldn't have been the only one to show up with the book half read, but I avoided that. Was fun to hear others point out things that I entirely missed and to find that a small group can have such differing opinions about a read.
Unfortunately, there were treats siting on the table all evening. I didn't do so well with some brownies that had been cut in two. I recognize a whole brownie as something off my plan, but the fragment slipped under my radar. More than once. Ouch. Seems this is exactly what I posted a few days ago - should have seen it coming.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Tired is your body's way of thanking you for a busy day.
Debbie (Lexxiss) – Ouch for "crazybusy" with Kudos for remembering your eating plan anyway.
Tazzy - Kudos for gym and dog romp both. I'm with you, cold is good and warm is good, but constantly switching is too much muck.
Ann (Newlifestyle) - All in a nutshell, "I need to plan to make sure I don't slip off that wagon."
BigchiefDavid – The mark of a good day, "but I made it through."
nationalparker – So neat that you took a success as a basis for another success instead of an excuse to now eat - Kudos.
Beth (bethFromDayton) – Such neat responses to that d*rn donut. I particularly like, "I promised myself a donut at the RG (a March event I do). I don't need a donut now." It's always hits me when I realize that this isn't the last chance for the rest of my life for a certain food. Neat placement of your ARC for a morning read.
Julia (Julia150) – Kudos for the awareness that you can take steps to move forward from an awful time, "JuliaWithAPlanToGetOutOfThePain."
Jo (veganasaurusrex) – Oh Yes, as others have said, checking in with your progress along the steps of the program is a terrific idea. Kudos for having arranged for a real-life Diet Coach - you can use all the folks on this forum as your backups. By the by, 3FC has a Vegetarian and a vegan forum that might also interest you.
You're ahead of the game to already recognize your Sabotaging Thoughts; it's possible to devise Helpful Responses when you see the target. Beck emphasizes working the basic skills for two weeks before starting a diet because the enthusiasm for the early losses can block awareness that the skills haven't been incorporated - and it's these skills that keep us going when the challenges appear. Eating mindfully was a big one for me; I tried to describe the tastes of each bite to get my head around eating rather than just shoveling it down. Glad you've joined us.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 2 What Really Makes You Eat
A Great Example of Helpful Thinking
Emma also positively reinforced herself every time she refrained from eating the sticky buns. She didn't say, Darn, I wish I could eat them. She said, That's great that I didn't eat them. In this way, she strengthened her resistance muscle and weakened her giving-in muscle.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 31.
Hi coaches/friends - I am checking in. I've had a very busy couple of days. My performances on Tuesday and yesterday went very well. Folks were so nice about helping me bring my things in and out of the school. I was able to get through the back pain with nsaids and arthritis tylenol. I didn't take my muscle relaxant before my performances times. (that wouldn't have been good ) I am up a few pounds. It's a combination of the medicine (I retain water I take it) and I have been eating extra. I have not yet learned to deal with physical pain without eating extra food. The good thing is that I got on the scale. Credit!
I will come back for personals. I have to scoot and take my mom several places.
Treat yourself kindly today. (and every day)
This came through on my Facebook today: Timely thoughts for me:
"Think Thin Thursday Tip: For many people, eating is a powerful coping mechanism for negative emotions because they give it power. They tell themselves, “Eating will help me feel better,” and then it does (in the short term). Instead, remind yourself that eating will ultimately ALWAYS make you feel worse, and then try giving something else power, like drinking hot tea or taking a walk."
This is another thing I need to tatoo on my brain!
Last edited by Beverlyjoy; 01-17-2013 at 02:12 PM.
I'm extremely busy (actually crazybusy) but am trying to remembering that my food plan is important. I resisted ordering pizza last night to cheer up DH who has the winter blues right now recognizing that I was not in the frame of mind to eat in a sane manner. credit. Instead, I went through the effort to make our planned dinner. 
.
. I also went to the gym even though I was tired and I finished up week 2 of couch to 5 k (for any who are familiar). I didn't eat anything outlandish and didn't succumb to the temptation of fast food. 
Welcome Jo (veganasaurusrex)
) I am up a few pounds. It's a combination of the medicine (I retain water I take it) and I have been eating extra. I have not yet learned to deal with physical pain without eating extra food. The good thing is that I got on the scale. Credit!
