Hi coaches

I am checking in late having driven to my sisters where I will stay for the next few days. I won't have a lot of control over what is offered and my main food rules for the next few days were not to overeat, stay away from wheat, and decided that there was wisdom in logging all food.

Today I achieved the first. I didn't stop at a service station / fast food place on the drive down but took some cheese with me. Packed up all the chips and sweets and nuts in the motel and stuck them in the back of a cupboard. At my sisters I avoided all snacks and party fare and I felt good about it. I ate sensibly at dinner which was also my nephews 30th birthday. And then I had a piece of chocolate birthday cake so broke the second rule. I am irritated that it was wheat but I don't feel bad about it really as I think I did pretty well so not beating myself up. I will finish logging my food in MCP. I hope tomorrow (Christmas Eve) goes so well (minus the cake).

Safe journeys and happy preparations for the holidays coaches

Monday - Festivus - It's for the Rest of Us!
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Good Karma continues with food. At the social hour at noon I faced heaping platters of cookies warm from the oven as well as bowls of chopped fruit and whole apples and oranges. I had coffee, CREDIT moi. The cookies were fresh from the oven, but rather standard Christmas cookies. At an afternoon event, I had planned to have 'one something' to be called my afternoon snack. With good luck, I was offered a cup of mulled cider which I grabbed and then ignored an overflowing table of Middle Eastern appetizers (stuffed grape leaves, hummus, etc.) and a table of desserts. It was made easy since the cider was served in a cup with saucer so both hands were occupied. CREDIT moi for sticking to my plan, with thanks to all of you for being this support group so I could wallow in my happy about reporting that my streak increments to 33.

Exercise was a nice walk, CREDIT moi, with DW in that kind of misty weather that almost leaves damp on the clothing. I was smart enough to wear my Gore-Tex so wasn't concerned. Also carried in the Christmas tree; it was a weak shadow of a muscle workout but a good back workout as I distorted myself with tree from the back yard to the basement, from the basement to the porch onto a tarp, and then in the tarp from the porch to the living room and up into the stand. Cleanup has been so much easier since we've started carrying the tree in and out only when lying in a tarp.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – I've told several people about your MIL's diet; no one has heard of a 'diet doctor.'

Cheryl (seadwaters) – Yep, it's worth Kudos for giving yourself CREDIT for a good day despite it not being 100%. I'm capable of sabotaging myself for not hitting the last corner of my plan while forgetting that I did the huge part of it.

Pam (pamatga) – Happy 100th anniversary Mr. Crossword puzzle - I'm one of those who doesn't do them well. Kudos for getting back into that group that you've been successful with before.

maryann - Yay for basketball and a walk in the mountains in December. Your six ice-cream sandwich tale reminds me of Weight Watcher 'zero calorie soup.' When I heard of that, I knew that I couldn't do WW since my first thought was to ponder how long I had to wait until I had the next bowl and still stay at zero points.

nationalparker – Waving toward Florida; may you have a good trip. LOL at "something that tastes better must be getting me off track" - I have that problem, too. Usually it's true when it comes from a platter of brownies.

Beth (bethFromDayton) – Hello Pegasus - welcome to 3FC. A friend of Beth's is a friend of ours. Kudos for your streak of "recording everything in MFP." (Your body doesn't judge the reason you take a walk, it'll just be happy, LOL.)

Readers - 

My 100% OP streak count is 4.

I think the diet doctor's other title is "bariatric surgeon." But we were told that, these days, they have other options besides weight loss surgery. We didn't imagine that anyone would want to do surgery on a woman in her late 70s. Maybe we were wrong and a difficult diet without support is the way they get you to think that surgery would be a better alternative.

I was imagining that she would get someone like Yoni Freedhoff who writes a terrific blog about our eating environment and realistic measures to take to maintain a healthy weight: http://www.weightymatters.ca/
Here's the sort of thing he writes that I find so useful -- a piece about whether or not 3500 calories really equals a pound of weight: http://www.weightymatters.ca/2013/12...dont-make.html

WI: +0.6 in kg, Exercise: +50 1035/1400 minutes for December, Food: 100%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Hello coaches,

Late check in for me. Went out to a movie last night with some free tickets a friend handed on which she wasn't going to be able to use before they expired. Saw American Hustle. It was entertaining in parts but I am glad I didn't spend money on it!

89 team points this morning :-) will I jinx us if I ponder when we will hit 100?

18 points for me. It was a bit of a "white knuckle day" yesterday (thanks for the expression Pam). Haven't had one of them for a while but today I know why as I have woken with a bad head cold. Bummer. Explains why I was so resistant to riding my bike to work yesterday (but I did it anyway) and why it kept feeling like burying myself in a pile of chocolate was what I NEEDED to do (but I didn't). I give myself particular credit for not taking any money with me when I went to the movies specifically so I couldn't buy anything to eat while I was there and had a yummy on plan yoghurt when I got home.

It is clear though that today some adjustments to my usual plan are warranted. So an OP point for my streak will be earned without doing my exercises or stretches - but food needs to still be on plan for the day. We are doing our Christmas meal tonight (it is Christmas Eve here now). It is a pretty low key and healthy affair - turkey, ham, salads and Christmas pudding so it won't be hard to stay on track. I will give myself an extra calorie allowance, though with the head cold I might not actually feel like eating too much anyway. Looking forward to experiencing the Santa Clause excitement tomorrow morning. It has been a long time since I have had my kids with me on Christmas Eve so it has an extra level of excitement to it (for me at least).

Maryann - thanks for sharing how you approach healthy eating with your son. Your "have you eaten 5 fruit and veg" sounds like a great simple way to do it. I think I shall try and adopt that! I think you are also so right that it is a long race. The point at which I made peace with the situation is when I remembered that I am developing good eating habits at 40 - so even if I can't make this happen for her at 9, it doesn't mean it will never happen for her. So I will do what I can to make her living environment healthy and see how it goes.

Hi all!

Today is Day 13 of recording everything in MFP. We went out to dinner tonight--I steered the choice away from a buffet, knowing that would be very hard for me. I ordered well and also separated out what was an acceptable portion size and left what wasn't.

Tomorrow is our Christmas dinner day--I'm going to enjoy the meal but am committed to recording everything and making my streak 2 weeks!

Hello, can I join? I'm currently working through the Beck book and I've got to the day where we find a diet coach ... and I know doing this online is the best way to work this for me!

Christmas Eve and all was quiet...
 

Good evening coaches

I came in under calories today, logged all I ate, but still ate a little chocolate cake. Given there was quite a bit of high drama today in the family I think that was pretty good. Christmas can be a tricky time for families but we will get through it - but not with food. I am glad that I decided this year to stay in a motel rather than with family I am glad I have this bolt hole to escape to if I need it.

I had to rethink what I would do for breakfast because the motel told me that they were only doing a "continental" breakfast on Christmas morning - all carbohydrates basically. Irritating but manageable.

Systemsaddict - WELCOME :sunny: - anyone who is following Beck can join. The list moderator will add more tomorrow but just spend time reading the posts and getting a feel for the discussions. It is a little unusual at the moment because of the holidays but take your time, don't feel the need to post personals, and work the program. I ended up here like you because I had come to the day where I needed a diet coach and likely that is how others came to this list

Merry Christmas to all and I will check in tomorrow from my trusty iPad

Welcome systemsaddict
 

:welcome: systemsaddict :welcome:

And, on the occasion of your first post, :wel3fc:

How did you discover the books by Dr. Judith Beck?

And how did you find our Beck forum here on 3 Fat Chicks?

Tuesday - Christmas Eve
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Eating continues on plan, CREDIT moi. The challenge was a long party with old friends and Christmas carols. I managed OK with the food partially because I have a generous party food plan, but more because I ignore desserts. I used a fork to take two nibbles from DW's dessert plate and nothing more - that meant ignoring a long table of homemade options. That keeps my snacks on plan for the day so that streak increments to 34. I ignored the dishes with pasta, including lasagna's, and heaped my plate with a fresh greens salad.

Exercise was worrying about a heating system that had to get working before Christmas dawned which causes a humongous surcharge for plumbing service. Possibly successful as measured that heat is working now. Don't think that many calories are burned through worry.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Thanks for the link to such wisdom as, "If weight's your concern, more important than anything else is finding a life that you enjoy that contains fewer calories than before."

Cheryl (seadwaters) – Had to look it up: "bolt-hole - a hole through which an animal may bolt when pursued into its burrow or den" - therefore a safe place. Thanks - a new phrase for me. Kudos for recognizing that family drama doesn't mean that you have to participate.

Beth (bethFromDayton) – Kudos for continuing to record everything even when on the road.

ForMyGirls - Always Kudos for recognizing that "chocolate was what I NEEDED" is just a Sabotaging Thought. Yay for the excitement that kids bring to Christmas. It seems kinda unfair that your girls get Santa half a day early down there in Terra Australis Incognita.

systemsaddict - Yep, you are most welcome here. This forum thrives on the energy of new folks striving to see how the Beck strategies work for them. Most of us use this forum as our Diet Coach - only a few have a real-life Diet Coach on the Side. As seadwaters just noted, it's easiest to slip in if you don't attempt to do personals right away. And when you're ready, note that many people only do a few each day - it can be an overwhelming thought to do everybody. Glad you've joined us.

Readers -

Hello coaches,

First up - welcome systems addict! I have been doing Beck for about 6 months and find this group of diet coaches incredibly supportive and motivating. I hope that you will too.

By way of explanation of one aspect of our posts at the moment - we have been running a "streak challenge" through the holiday period. Not everyone is doing it but those who are having chosen something they want to try and stick to (for some it is being 100% on plan for the day, for others it is recording everything they eat, for others it is not snacking beyond planned snacks. So each day we report in on how we did - if we achieved it again that day we increase our streak by one - if we didn't achieve it we go back to zero. I am adding up the total streak count for the group. So it is kind of a personal challenge and a group challenge all rolled into one.

I imagine you will have enough on your plate right now with working through the Beck book so don't feel even a tiny bit obliged to join in. I just wanted to explain so you know what we're on about when we talk about streaks.

So - on that note - my personal streak clocks up to 19. Our total streak count as a group is .... 91!

Credit to me today for staying OP on the day of our Christmas meal (just finishing up Christmas Eve here in Aus). I amended my usual plan for today to allow for Christmas tucker and stayed within that limit - basically maintenance calories. Interesting to note how that felt after such a long time of eating less than maintenance calories. I probably had a mouthful or two of Christmas pudding beyond "full" - which was not perfect, but was OK. Nice to realise what a long long time it is since I felt more than full - and indeed how acclimatised I am to being a little bit hungry.

Also giving myself credit for not indulging in comfort foods to deal with the head cold. It was very clear to me that on a day where there would be treats for dinner there absolutely could not be treats during the day.

And finally - have had such a happy night with my kids. It is quite a few years since I have been with them on Christmas Eve so I have been treasuring their excitement and anticipation.

Hi all. Staying on plan. Have a dinner tonight, and a lunch tomorrow, but my plan allows two celebration meals a week, so i will be alright. Tonight, the theme is italian food. Pasta is a bit of a carb overload, so i cooked some healthy eggplant parmesan from the Moosewood vegetarian cookbook to bring. I will eat a lot of protein before i go. I will only have the desserts that look too good to miss out on.

Tomorrow is traditional xmas fare, and i will focus on turkey, veg, bit of potatoes, and lots of pie, because that is what i want. Credit to me for planning my celebration meals,and Merry Christmas to all!

My 100% OP streak count is 5.

Merry Christmas Eve to all who are celebrating. We have a quiet day today. I'll be making cranberry applesauce to contribute to tomorrow's festivities. It's from one of Jane Brody's cookbooks. The cranberries give it a jewel color without changing the flavor much.

WI: -0.7 in kg, Exercise: +45 1080/1400 minutes for December, Food: 100%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Welcome, systemsaddict! This group makes a great diet coach for me -- the collected wisdom is astounding and it's available 24/7 from the comfort of my home.

ForMyGirls: thanks for modeling a great way of dealing with the main Christmas meal. 24 hours until mine, but I'm going to keep your example in mind.

Valkyrie: I love the Moosewood cookbook. Eggplant Parmesan is a great addition to an Italian supper. Yep -- good job with planning the treats! That's worked really well for me the last couple of months.

Good Morning, Coaches.

Back at 0 elevation. Yesterday I took advantage of DS at work with DH to play Santa. I completed the illusion with different wrapping paper now safely hidden in a pillow case in my closet. DH will creep around in the small hours and morning will find DS verifying that Santa did indeed come this year. DS is eleven. He is in the brief,shadowy time of knowing there is no Santa but wanting us to sustain the magic of possibility.

As for food, I have exercised the resistance muscle several times using my favorite, old standby: look at the clock. I look at the clock when I want to "nibble" on something. Then I tell myself it is only an hour and a half to lunch. No big deal to wait. This worked 50% of the time yesterday. I had to make up the 50% failure with cutting dinner to two hard boil eggs with carrots. This is not my ideal regime. Still I am weighing everyday and maintaining a weight less than two pounds from ticker. An additional credit is the the treats have been minimally processed.

I have four party days looming in the future and then a New Year's trip to the beach. OK! I just got overwhelmed. I'll start with today, Christmas Eve. Walnuts before Pilates' workout. Afterwards, to Starbucks for a low cal/high protein spinach wrap and Americano (that is my treat for the day). I am forcing myself to go back to the grocery store to get the greens I forgot (don't want to) and have a berry/green smoothie for lunch. Take some more of the greens to Mom's house to eat with a skinless KFC breast for dinner.

My plan is to focus on the time with family and not the food I am missing.

ForMyGirls: I am searching for a "Financial Challenge 2014 blog" on the web in which I can participate. This is my next mountain to climb: simplify my life by spending less. Although not in "Desperate Straits (spelling?)" I want to be free of impulsive spending. I found one blog in Europe but everybody's money gab is in Euros.

Pamatga: Looking forward to witnessing your successes in weightloss this year.

BBE: You have a social calendar that rivals Princess Kate. I don't know how you do it.

For all those Christmas Traveling: Keep checking in and, if you can't, know that we are pulling for you.

Well, after committing to checking in daily, I missed yesterday, but not for lack of trying. I had a post written on my tablet, hit the backspace key and the tablet locked up for ages, until I was finally able to stop the beeping and get it shut down. Day was as OP as I could make it while traveling and visiting, with exception of half cup of peppermint ice cream. Dinner was half portion of Thai food. Ate remainder for lunch, and was okay with the heavier than normal lunch because it'll keep me from snacking today. Planned dinner tonight is pizza from a local fave of the family's ... and I am going to enjoy two slices and be okay with that. Through the year, I get salad when we go here, and tonight, I'm savoring. I could eat pizza daily, but DH and I order it rarely, and then it's from a restaurant, not a fast food pizza joint.

Family dynamic is TOUGH now - mom is fading and dad is furious at everyone, including her. Yelling, tears, everything is a major intrusion or insult to him and I'm frustrated, but go in the bathroom and cry and come out and life goes on. Very hard. He is yelling about so much - he was disgusted with me for opening my mom's floral delivery and getting it all put together, watered, candles in it, because it was addressed to HER and I ruined the surprise. I said she is just so wiped out when she comes home from dialysis, that I thought she'd appreciate seeing it out, not something that sat in a box for a day without water. He looks at me and shakes his head like I'm an idiot. I just know she can't set that up, and it's not like I"m opening her gifts under the tree... oh well. Thanks for listening. I am struggling with this and alternating between tears and anger myself. He is turning her last months into an angry interaction. And I want to comfort myself with treats.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!!!

Grateful for all the support of this wonderful group of wise ladies and special thanks to our fearless leader BillBlueEyes.

:grouphug: