Hi Coaches!

Only a moment for checking in....still important. credit. Twists and turns continue....one coworker is off for a week for 50th class reunion and another has a family member with hospice in final days. It means a fast regroup at work. Counting this previous Saturday I'll work 9 of 11 days. My food was "off" yesterday, not totally unacceptable but unplanned. This morning the brain clicked back in and I have a response card:
This week will be super busy but I have the Beck tools to let this week work to my advantage:Plan.

So I will plan my meals, continue to exercise at home and watch my wallet grow. lol. On that last note, I'll take the checkbook to work today and give the heating guy a large check so he can start on the heating for the "project". It will move forward while I'm busy.

BBE, credit for only the healthiest of foods with friends....It is a very strong marker of the lifestyle change we have made.

MaryAnn, super kudos for your dedication to your elimination diet AND a giant drop on the scale!

onebyone, I already voted today.

gardenerjoy, your report on your event(s) was really thought provoking for me, especially right now. My project is separate from my work and I've decided I need to have a plan...one day at a time.

ForMyGirls, great that you are rethinking your element of time. It's a great success strategy. I have to keep seeking balance.

Quick check in here as a busy workday. I'm looking forward to catching up on posts, hopefully tomorrow. The trip was beautiful, even without access to the national parks, but a US Hwy runs through Zion NP and so we were able to take and the views were stunning. Visited a few state parks; no major hikes but some shorter ones and one with rock scrambling which I do not enjoy as I get older. What was fun at 14 seems fraught with danger now :)

Food, surprisingly, was pretty darned good as we didn't eat out much and my brother is an inordinately healthy/conscious eater, which borders on extreme at times and so that is a bit frustrating, but it does rub off for good when on the long drives when I'd be tempted to munch. Plus trying to not spend too much money helped as well.

Read Geneen Roth's Book, "When you Eat at the Refrigerator, Pull up a Chair" or something that sounds like that. Interesting reading and thought processes, much of which blended well with Beck's CBT. I like learning additional support techniques.

A day on plan had good results for me!

WI: -0.45 kg, Exercise: +30 310/1400 minutes for October, Food: 100% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Good morning,

Pleased to report that I am keeping up with exercising. This feels huge for me. And I am seeing progress. Yesterday I walked around shopping for over 3 hours and, with the help of some Tylenol Arthritis, I was not feeling too badly afterwards. Grateful to feel less pain.

Food wise- I have not been doing so great. I am determined that this week I am going to do much better at eating healthy. I need to make a concrete plan for dinners. I do fantastic (on plan and healthy) almost every day until dinner and then things fall apart. Then I tend to eat food with too many calories- love cheesy casserole dishes that are hard to calorie count, and then I eat too much. I also have a fairly ingrained issue with evening snacking.

Did any of you see The Fifth Estate last night? Very good show about sugar research. If you want to check any of it out- the link is:
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/

Have a good day!
:grouphug:

Hi all I haven't disappeared, I have just been super busy. We are on vacation for the week so I may not get to check in. I have been on plan with eating and exercising. It is a struggle some days.
Hopefully work will settle down once I get back. I realize that even though I have been offered the chance to work whenever I want I end up working whenever I am needed, this doesn't always work well because then me time goes away. I need to find the balance.
I will check in if possible while on vacation.
Take Care
Ann

hola
 

Coaches, Hello.

I've been involved in a blog writing challenge and for the first time ina few years I feel as though I am actually "writing again". I intend to write prose, but it comes out as prose/poetry. I'm not asking any questions, just happy to see words spill forth when needed.

Foodwise I am turning the corner and can feel the *desire* to do better return. I am filled with fear and trepidation though. At the end of August when we went for our big physicals I got a prescription for cholesterol meds. I haven't filled it yet. I am doing that today. I will now be taking 2 pills (cholesterol and bp) each day and facing this is hard. Basically, I did this to myself, or rather, I have not helped myself as much as I could/can/will. This is the exact opposite thing I want to see myself doing.

I also need to get an orbital xray, to see if there is any metal lodged in my body as I need to get an MRI (MRI's use powerful magnets so metal in the body could be pulled out causing big trouble!) to have a look at my liver which had an area they couldn't read on the ultrasound I had during the same medical day. My Dr. at the clinic doesn't expect it to be anything, just that it couldn't be read clearly, and the mandate at that clinic is to be very proactive and I thought to myself, well, why not? right after I asked her if I would fit into the machine. She assured me I would.

So on the agenda this week is the xray as well. For tomorrow I think.

I put all of this off due to my mother's move. Now I need to face things.

Wish me strength. Bye for now.

Good Afternoon, Coaches.

My day off but it is chockful of errands and to dos. Grateful that some of them can be done at my computer. More grateful about my MAC pro my dh bought me two Christmases ago. What would I do without it?

This week I am putting a little gluten back into my diet. What
i have discovered is it makes me crave sugar much more — to the tune of dipping my spoon into the sugar jar repeatedly (embarrassing but that is the truth.) One more day of gluten then I get off it again for three days. I wonder if the cravings will go away.

Weight at ticker. Credit for step class.

Ceejay: looking back to when I was over 200 pounds, I remember that all I could do for a long while was exercise. It was my first weightloss and I dipped below the 200 mark pretty quickly. This is a long race about health. Give yourself credit.
Onebyone: The only writing I have done since graduation is right here. It has kept the creative juices flowing until I can put pen to paper with fiction.
Lexxiss: We are still trying to get projects cleaned up. Patience I guess is the key.
NewLifeStyle: Here's to balance. Just because we can do something doesn't mean we have to. I learned this about work these last few years.

Tuesday
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – My walk to class and back, CREDIT moi, required rain jacket and umbrella - but I did it anyway. I'm perfectly capable of not walking just because of a little rain.

Unplanned evening snacks didn't happen, CREDIT moi, by the simple expediency that I wasn't here. There's nothing like being at a meeting with no food to prevent eating - the ultimate of cleaning up our environment is to move ourselves physically into a food free environment.


onebyone – Voted today. Yay for poetry flowing on its own. My DW once had to get an x-ray before an MRI because she had worked in a shop so the possibility of small metal shavings in her body was the concern. Wishing you strength.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yay for when on-plan yields good results.

CeeJay - Kudos for three hours of walking about. I didn't click on your sugar link yet - it's such an addictive substance that I happy to not even read about it.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Neat Response Card: "This week will be super busy but I have the Beck tools to let this week work to my advantage:Plan."

maryann - I've heard of carbs causing sugar cravings, but it's new to me to hear of gluten doing that. Have I mentioned that I like your America's Cup avatar?

Ann (Newlifestyle) - Have a fun vacation. Working "to find the balance" is one great challenge.

nationalparker – Ah, Yes, remembering that old 14 year old fearlessness. There's some physical stuff I remember from 14 that I wish would return, but fearlessness doesn't appeal to me so much anyone.

Readers -

I had several substitutes from my written plan yesterday, but a couple were better than what I wrote, so I'm giving myself a 90% grade for the day.

Today is going to be odd. We got tapped, yesterday, to take MiL to two doctor appointments today (someone else in the family was going to take of it but plans changed). I have a written plan, but the lunch isn't as good as I would like and the dinner is a question mark. Still, better than no plan. I've also written down just one snack since the meals are unlikely to be up to par. We'll see if that helps.

WI: -0.5 kg, Exercise: +55 365/1400 minutes for October, Food: 90% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Good day, Becksters! It was nice to be able to relax yesterday evening, knowing that the chores would wait for me for tonight. Nothing major. DH did laundry and still plodded along on my trip clothes, and washed/dried jeans that shouldn't be dried or I can't fit into them. My mind went negative when I saw them folded and thought, THIS will be what I want to work toward, as well...to be able to wash/dry all pants and not worry about them shrinking too much to be comfortable. Or even to button. So then I can be more appreciative of these little things. But now I'm thinking, I'd better try them on right away when i get home, and get them back in the laundry to be able to stretch out a bit when washed again. Crazy thoughts.

Scale was down a few pounds now after the trip - would love to see another mini drop (who am I fooling, I'd LOVE to see a large one, but haven't worked for that lately). :)

Goal to be under 170 by Halloween. I can do that. 169.x ...

In Geneen Roth's book, she challenges us, when we want to eat but are not hungry, but rather stress eating, to take a "beautiful break" ... stop and look for something that is beautiful and really appreciate it - a flower, bird, pet, family photo, line of architecture, ANYTHING, and fill our soul, rather than fill our stomach. I liked that and have challenged a friend and myself to do just that this week and see how it works. It seems like it'll help me get my mind off just the stress eating.

Have put a 15-minute limit on surfing the net in the evenings on myself, as well. ... I was noticing that I'd spend an hour or more just checking out this and that. Now I should open up time to learn to sew, learn to do mosaics (is there a good guide to this somewhere, onebyone?), learn better navigation skills, etc.

Hi Coaches!

Update:
My material world has taken a yucky spin in the past few days. My mom had a renter move out after 30 years...The details aren't important and the work to get it rerented is immense. Additionally, my DH found that a huge stash of wood he had in a garage has been damaged by both packrats and all the rain we had....the visual of the combination is not pretty. Anyway, yesterday after work I nearly had a meltdown....DH was majorly agitated. I went through my cards and settled on the distraction technique of an AA meeting. The hour pulled me out of my dispair and today DH is in a better mood, too. I almost find it hard to believe, but I underate yesterday. credit. I'm going to take baby steps here, just as I did with decluttering. I have two days off in a row and I think I'll focus on clean up at the rental (they had cats). Once we get an initial clean it will probably feel a bit healthier. So, I will continue to check in when I can, and will continue to keep my Beck program a #1 priority. I'm 2# above ticker and weighing daily. credit.

I need to find a roll off dumpster....but am going to take a trip to the library first. I need a new book I can curl up in bed with.
nationalparker, I am going to request Geneen Roth's book. Thanks for sharing with us.

Lexxiss - Hang in there and MAJOR credits to you to have gone through your cards for a touchpoint. I have to confess I didn't know that a true "packrat" existed; I never thought of what the name might have come from. At times it'd be nice to live close by to one another to lend a hand, but on the other hand, I love hearing about the different parts of the wide world we call home - whether it's gorgeous Colorado, Canada, California, the East Coast, the midwest, the U.K., Australia, etc. :)

Hello to all:

What do you know? A completely on plan eating day today for me. Breakfast was egg whites and oatmeal, lunch was tuna, chick peas and a big honking salad, afternoon snack was yogurt and berries, dinner was fish, quinoa and green beans, and evening snack will be a small bowl of cottage cheese and some grapes. So, all in all, a very healthy day. Also rode exercise bike in the morning and read advantage and response cards. Lunch is packed for tomorrow and dinner is planned. I am on a quest to go to bed much earlier so will be turning in soon.

Funny how much better I feel after a day like this than I feel all the days I mindlessly overeat unhealthy food. It is one of the great puzzles of my life that despite feeling 150% better on days like these, I still have to struggle through them. :shrug:

Wishing everyone a great day tomorrow.

:grouphug:

Wedneday - Leif Erikson Day
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Did gym with exercise class by the Zumba teacher, CREDIT moi. There were two students; I don't know how long my gym will allow this class to continue with so few of us but I'm having a gas. It's kinda campy - when the background music is YMCA, we interrupt whatever exercise routine we're doing to make the Y, M, C, A motions with our arms. That exercises some muscles, I suppose.

Evening had no snacks because I went to bed early with a headache. I must get a headache about once every two years so I have no complaint. Early to bed does create that rested feeling.


onebyone – Waving. Voted today.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Shuffling someone to a doctor's appointment is just plain tiring. I recently took a friend and suffered quite out of proportion to the inconvenience when the doctor was running late.

CeeJay - Yep, Kudos for a 100% day. Such a contradiction, "despite feeling 150% better on days like these, I still have to struggle through them" - wish I knew why.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Kudos for using a distraction technique for getting through a rough spot. I had to google 'packrats' - I didn't know that they were a real animal.

nationalparker – Love the notion of a "beautiful break."

Readers -

Hi Coaches!

We are an educational group here, for sure! Yep-packrats exist and there's some scientific name for them, too. My further research last eve indicated that if you have to get rid of the nest because if you just get rid of the lil critter that another one will move into the old nest within 48 hours...they like old cars...etc etc. They do seem to collect stuff, too...initial survey saw nuts and bolts....arg.

BBE, speaking of educational....I didn't realize that ZUMBA/YMCA went together....I thought the music was a little more ??current?? lol Kudos again for continuing to give it a "whirl".

CeeJay, yay for 100% op, yep, the body sure does feel better! I guess I think of the word addiction when I wonder why stray off course, despite my knowledge.

onebyone, I voted today.

nationalparker, yes, I too, enjoy all the collective info we share here. Thx for the cyber-offer to pitch in. It cheered my spirit.

gardenerjoy, neat when the substitute plan is better than the original....a Beck brain at work!

Ok, another tough day....DH's mood is a rollercoaster. He's currently out in his shop (which had a packrat last year). I know I don't tend to do well with my food choices when he's this way yet I also know I can really be vigilant and power through. credit
I am going to meet a lady friend who will do the sheetrock/electrical at the rental. I am committed to doing the "first clean" so that DH won't grumble about the cat hair/dust/trash/etc. I think I will try to extricate the "nest" so we can put new visqueen over the wood. I need to be really careful...kinda toxic. Ouch.
My food is planned. This is a good thing. OP yesterday, too. credit.