[CattHill]

Hi everyone
I've been reading and following the Beck habits and have planned food for 4 days now and stayed OP. It's easier when I know what I'm going to eat.
I'm off this morning for a 4 day retreat that has furnished food. I will eat food I'm given in moderate amounts, skip dessert and took apples and relishes and cheese sticks for snacks. Plan is to come home at same weight as today.
I did plan the morning breakfast and Thursday supper. It would be soooo easy to come home and say "I'm tired" and overeat that night.
I finally lost another 1/2# after staying same for 4 days. But I'm not actually on diet yet. I plan to reinforce habits for 3 days when back, go grocery shopping, then start diet on Monday the 4th.
exercise habit is not going so well. I'm thinking of gym membership so I can get up and do first thing in morning. It's cold outside in AM but when I wait to walk, I too often skip it.
See you all later in the week.

[ForMyGirls]

Lightening fast post as 1 minute to bed time and bed time is the linchpin upon which all other successes hang.

So - 100% OP. Woefully off track on mediation, stretches, well being etc. did do lights out last night. So closer to on track than I have been for a week or so. Here's to moving a step closer again tomorrow.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies – I woke up too late to see my moonbeam this morning - stayed up past midnight to watch the end of the World Series game. I do hope she's not angry with me. Some women have a problem with guys who put watching sports on TV ahead of relationships.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, including guests for dinner where the chicken cooked with olives, lemons, and garlic was passed around for seconds. The breast pieces were whole so I'd cut one in half for my serving - separate CREDIT moi for a reasonable portion size. And I served myself seconds of the green salad to make sure that my satisfied sensors were triggered. Among the "green" things in the salad were feta cheese, pecans, and avocados so it didn't go down calorie free, LOL.


onebyone – Waving. Voted today. Three votes to go.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – This: "while reminding myself that I have never gone hungry in my life." There should be another word so that we're not using the word with true meaning in some developing countries. [Glad your brother is getting back into life after his loss. Wish he'd gone to a game that didn't end "in a whimper" as the last two have.]

silverbirch – Kudos for being able to see that France is "quite lovely" despite your discomforts.

nationalparker – It's terrific that I Love Lucy just keeps playing and playing. I know about "DH's plan of subliminal persuasion" - neat that you can recognize it.

VioletDolphin83 – Short term losses aren't a problem since all losses contain an unknown amount of water. The winning idea is "hope to eat on plan today."

Beth (bethFromDayton) – I wish you good luck finding a teacher who can make you comfortable singing. I paid for one-on-one lessons a few years ago and didn't make the progress I'd hoped for. A banana is psychologically better than most snacks in my opinion.

Rosebud170 – Serious progress that you "KNOW that the preplanning for attacking sabotaging thoughts has helped me!" [Thanks for the kind words. Maintenance was rock solid for some six years but has been bending my red-lines over the last two as I've developed snackitis, which is why I'm so pleased with myself for simple on-plan days lately.]

ForMyGirls - One of the worst Sabotaging Thoughts is your succinctly stated "f%#^ it" space rather than "off track" so Kudos for getting past that.

Nancy (CattHill) - Have a good retreat. Super Kudos for planning your first meal after returning.

Ilene - Kudos for "reading and re-reading" your ARC - just pound them into your neurons.

anakin - Hats off to teaching college biology at a time that the text books need to be rewritten at least once a year. I just read how the biosphere's production of oxygen affected the production of the minerals necessary for granite and other rocks, so now even geologists have to learn their biology. Kudos for the neat recognition that planning is better when "more than 5 minutes before I eat it."

Readers -

day 7 Arrange Your Environment

Changes at Work
At the office where Donna worked, they served chocolate chip cookies every Tuesday afternoon during a meeting. She decided that she would wrap up one cookie each time, take it home, and eat it for her evening snack in place of the fruit that her eating plan recommended.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 93.

[CeeJay]

Good morning all:

Yesterday was 100%. I needed that.

Today I will:

ride exercise bike in morning done
ride exercise bike in eveningdone
do strength exercises for arms/shoulders done
weigh myself done
make lunch for Tuesdaydone
check in here later to track progressdone
read advantage and response cards done
record progress at Spark's P. done
eat on plan done

[gardenerjoy]

Yesterday, I exercised for my 100th day in a row!

WI: -0.3 kg, Exercise: +30 1245/1400 minutes for October, Food: 90% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

BillBlueEyes: Two good games with endings too abrupt to make a completely satisfying story. One of the things that I like about baseball is that there's always something new and with stats over more than a hundred years to prove it's new. In two nights we got to see the first World Series game that ended in an obstruction call and the first World Series game that ended in a pick-off. I don't know why that pleases me so much since those are mighty rare in the regular season so it makes sense, but I still like it.

[maryann]

Good Morning, Coaches.

Fall was beautiful for our camping weekend and super credit for sticking to my plan of smoothies. The only diversion was one, than two, than four Oreos I ate when we were packing up to head out. They were at the ranch office. I don't keep that stuff here at home and they seem to jump in my mouth, no kidding. Credit for getting back OP and not using it as an excuse to binge. It was a great reminder of how addictive those processed foods are. I still have firmly in my mind the review on "Sugar, Salt and Fat" (something like that) that gardenerjoy wrote. The Phillip Morris company which owns Kraft (and cigarettes) spent millions of dollars on research to produce the MOST addictive combination of cr** possible. It is nearly impossible to eat one.

With that still in my mind(and my recent Oreo experience), I am more grateful than ever to be off processed foods for nearly two months.

Silverbirch: I have been following the "Virgin Diet." you take out the seven most allergenic foods for three weeks and then add them back one by one to check your body reaction. Although I have found it shocking how little I must eat to continue losing, I have been release from the cravings. (Cravings is a sign of food sensitivities.)

nationalparker: I spent my twenties and thirties hiking, often by myself. It was the most calming experience in the world.

Anakin: How great to teach biology. I am also heavily involved in the research regarding teaching and learning. fascinating stuff.

[sparks17]

Hey everyone!

Making this all about me for a bit - I had an endoscopy yesterday and they found a hiatal hernia, which means a GERD diet. I am NOT HAPPY about having to watch spicy foods and onions!!! Several of the other things are not a big deal to me - soda and fried foods and citrus and mint I can live without. Chocolate...well, less often would be good for me, but I don't like never! And tea, well, thankfully 2 cups a day is within their realm of "moderation" so I will be ok there!!

They also took some biopsies, testing me for the two conditions my daughter has, eosinophilic esophagitis and Celiac Disease, as well as Barrett's Esophagus. Not too worried becasue it is what it is....but I did not like reading that Barrett's can lead to cancer....ok, I guess I am worried!!!

[anakin]

BillBlueEyes - I don't teach from a textbook - they're useful as references, but what I really want my students to be able to do when they finish my course is read a graph, make an argument using evidence (not their opinions), evaluate others' claims, and work cooperatively on complex problems. You know, like life! We use papers from scientific journals (that I pre-read, to make sure they are "accessible" to beginning science students) and from reputable sources like Science Daily, Scientific American, that sort of thing.

They are typically interested in two topics: the science of food and nutrition, and cancer. I can pretty much hit every major concept in biology, from evolution to ecology to populations and organisms and cells, using either one of those for starters. They are shocked to hear that about 40% of them will get cancer in their lifetimes and 25% will die from it - but that's largely because we're all living longer. Interestingly, with the food and nutrition, they come in with all sorts of wild claims and ideas they've heard. (Not calling anyone out, but I see them all over even these boards too.) What they want to know at first is "is it true that _______?" (sugar is evil, fat is bad for you, Splenda causes cancer, kale causes abortions, eating chili peppers burns fat…). I use their questions to drive our investigation centered on, how do we decide? Which leads nicely into how science is driven by evidence, not anecdotes or authority. By the end of the class, if I've done my job, they no longer ask "Is sugar bad for you?" but "How would I find out whether sugar is bad for me? How do scientists tell?"

Anyway, it's a lot of fun.

I am surprised how uncomplicated this has been so far. Stick to the plan, and - fast or slow - the needle goes down. I remember when I did this before that I was more interested in longer-term, like week-to-week changes, although I am still weighing myself daily. I find that it's just another piece of information now, like my height, and I'm not ashamed of my height, it just…is.

Tomorrow is a super-long day on a slightly new schedule. I think I had better plan a snack into my afternoon so I don't come home ready to eat the wallpaper.

Oh, and I am a huge baseball fan. Because, as you all well know, this is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.

Cheers, all.

[bethFromDayton]

Hi everyone,

Today's been OP foodwise. I did all my grocery planning last night--planned meals, entered my list into ourgroceries. But, instead of shopping after work I went to the Minute Clinic at the local CVS. I came home with antibiotics and nasal junk and got into my pjs. (Stopped at Wendy's for dinner for me and DH since there's no food in the house, but followed my known and accepted option there)

Tonight is going to be a do-nothing lounge-around day. Last week's cold has apparently turned into a sinus infection.

[Rosebud170]

OP today...no big temptations or anything. I do much better when at work...the structure is good for me and I am pretty regimented with my eating and exercise. Zumba was great tonight and now I am just winding down and getting ready to rest up for more tomorrow! We were working on a colleague to join our Healthywage team and today she said yes. I am excited since the whole team is wanting to get together once in awhile, share recipes, walk, etc.... Lots of support at work is great!

Funny story...I am a teacher and there was a moment where my team and I were helping some fifth graders practice a thing for an assembly and the rest of the students were finished with lunch and officially needed to be with their teachers. I left my teammates and approached my principal to tell him I would take over and was going to lead them in a game until my teammates could come get them in a few minutes. He went all gung-ho and led them in a raucous rendition of my Bonney Lies over the ocean where you sit down or stand up on all B words..so it was a lot of up and down and laughter, etc...this was on Friday...he came to my classroom today and told me he was sore from all the squats during the song! I had a moment of appreciation that the Zumba instructor has us do squats and I wasn't at all sore..

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Apparently, moonbeam and I are no longer an item. She was definitely a no show this morning. Here's hoping that I'll remember to be interested in a few weeks when she returns.

Eating was on plan all day, CREDIT moi. I pushed my boundaries at a Mexican restaurant when the basket of chips sat in front of me. I need to learn how to have a few then send the basket back - which would have been awkward since we were eating with friends. I walked, CREDIT moi, to the library for some books on hold and grabbed a Dan Brown mystery from the NEW shelf because my brain was screaming, you know about this book. That was because I'd already read it, LOL. Fortunately, that gives me an excuse to walk back to return it.


onebyone – Waving. Voted today. Only two votes left until November.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – 100 Kudos for a hundred contiguous days of exercise. I had to jump out of bed early to see last night's World Series results since I'd wimped out about half way through. Looking forward to seeing your guys at Fenway.

CeeJay - Lots of good exercise on your 100% day.

maryann - Oreos are evil. They should be banned. They were a significant part of my years of weight gain.

Beth (bethFromDayton) – Kudos for having an option in your pocket for a trip to Wendy's.

Rosebud170 – Kudos for having done enough squats that you weren't sore. Yay for a bunch of fifth graders who'll do a silly game at school with the principal.

sparks17 – Ouch for the news that'll send you to an un-spicy diet. Here's hoping that the GERD diet will calm it down. Sending supportive thoughts as you wait for biopsy results.

anakin - Love, love, LOVE your approach to teaching science instead of teaching facts. I have a friend who told me that she'd take her freshmen on an orientation field trip. Have them collect leaves. Then tell them, "Classify them." They'd beg her to tell them how, which she wouldn't, until they finally settled down and do a great job of LOOKING at the leaves to make up ways to classify them. Wish I'd had you or her for a science teacher. Good thought for many parts of life, "Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains."

Readers -

day 7 Arrange Your Environment

Changes at Work

...Consider a compromise, such as taking
a small portion of food and saving it for later
or eating a small portion at a time when you
. . . . .won't be tempted to eat more.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 93.

[ForMyGirls]

Hello coaches,

Did pretty good today. Food 95% OP. Exercise, Wellbeing etc about 50%. Think it made sense to be relaxed about that today after 3 really punishing weeks of no room to breather in life. I have some time to myself tomorrow so will be able to get in some good exercise then.

Sparks17 - sorry to hear of your health dramas. Hope the results are OK.

[anakin]

Down another chunk this morning! I know this isn't going to last, so I'll take it now and be grateful. Snack is in the backpack and dinner is planned.

I can't take credit for the quote about baseball - it's from Bull Durham, the best baseball movie ever.

Rosebud, I would LOVE to have seen your principal leading your fifth-graders in song! He sounds like a good guy, at least from that story!

Oh, and gardenerjoy, your activity goal for October is very ambitious! I'm impressed.

I also decided I'm setting two small goals: 5 pounds by end of November, and 10 pounds by end of 2013.

[gardenerjoy]

Today's challenge is no time in my schedule for supper. Fortunately, we have a good selection of leftovers right now so I'll be able to come up with something that is normal for me.

WI: +0.05 kg, Exercise: +45 1290/1400 minutes for October, Food: 100% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

BillBlueEyes: Good game from your Red Sox last night with stellar pitching.

maryann: did you see the recent study on rats that showed Oreos and cocaine acting in the same way? I wrote about it on my blog: http://www.joyweesemoll.com/2013/10/...research-news/

[CeeJay]

Good morning everyone,

Working from home today. Always a good day when I don't have to drive. Seem to accomplish a lot in peace and quiet.

Looking for a third day at 100%.

Today I will:

ride exercise bike in morning done
ride exercise bike in eveningnot doing- leg too sore
make lunch for Wednesdaydone
check in here later to track progressdone
read advantage and response cards done
record progress at Spark's P. done
eat on plan done

Hope everyone has a great day!