Slogans?
 

Good Evening, Coaches,

We all aim to read our Cards. Do you Coaches read them just when things are quiet, when you have time, when you're not under stress? If so, then how do you respond, or react, to a sudden challenge? For instance, suppose - without warning - you're offered, or find yourselves looking at, a favourite delicacy. Do you reach for your pack, shuffle through it, find the appropriate card and recite it, like a charm to ward off evil? And, if so, does that work? Or do you have a different tactic? Do you perhaps pick from a memorised list of slogans? "NO CHOICE" would be an obvious one, but do you have any others?

:congrat: to all you North Americans who survived Thanksgiving. Hope you get some R&R in time for Christmas!

Mike

Good evening coaches

I almost didn't log on. I turned off the computer to get away from work and have to log in on my iPad. I have logged on 4 days straight -credit moi.

From tomorrow I will post in the morning because I think it will suit my lifestyle better.

Mike B - I use the cards to note important aspects of my program and approach. By reading my RC etc I am planting the seeds for desirable behaviour so that when I am confronted by a tricky situation I can call to mind a useful response - without having to drag out the actual cards. It will be interesting to see what others say to your question!

I am currently trying to abide by a fairly extreme version of my diet plan to entrench the behaviours again. I was reasonably successful today but found myself having a teaspoon of coconut sugar after dinner! Otherwise on plan.

Progress
Checked in 3 days in a row - credit
Weight
+.02(today) / -1.2 from tracker
Steps
6580/5000;
KM
4.4/3
Food
Planned food and ate 90% according to plan
Planned but didn't pack lunch for tomorrow. Am having a canteen lunch that I have planned for. Hamburger plus salad, no bun. Apple
Logged food for today and plan for tomorrow

Hello coaches,

I am back on the score board today. Giving myself lots of credit for doing my exercise even though it was 9pm before I was able to! I so couldn't face posting a zero streak AGAIN tonight.

Team total today is 42! I wonder if we'll crack 50 this week?

Maryann - I loved your driving a tractor milestone. Worth putting down as a "thing to do before 50" I reckon :-)

Pam - what you said about the "being on track" being important so resonated. While the number on the scale matters the reward of it is so transitory. The bit in this process where I get real contentment is when I know I am "in the zone".

MikeB - I try to read my cards every morning (it is one if the 'exercise and Wellbeing' tasks required to be OP for the day. Like Seadwaters - I don't physically pull out the cards when faced with tricky situations - but daily reminders of my responses means they pop into my brain more easily. Sometimes they do pop in as the words on the cards but more often it is something pretty generic (but crucial) like "this matters" or "you're worth it".

I have a work function tomorrow evening that requires "frocking up" - which is a rare occurrence in my life. Was nice this evening to pull out the few fancy clothes I have and discover I had options, rather than just one that fitted. My girls had fun helping me decide which one to wear (though I declined their recommendation to wear the red shoes (which they were right, look great, but are crippling)).

Tuesday
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – 13 day streak on plan, CREDIT moi. Also completed four straight days of left over turkey for both lunch and dinner! That was fun. I do love leftover turkey. Finished off about five containers from last Thursday; the fridge begins to look normal again. Afternoon and evening were the difficult times when I heard the cry for snacks. It was telling that the cry wasn't for a specific, small snack, but rather for my hand in DW's jar of tree nuts - the whole hand.

Exercise was a pair of walks, CREDIT moi, as well as a walk to the library to return David and Goliath. As I expected, I was annoyed with his redundant writing style as well as his know-it-all style. Perhaps I should take pleasure that his book reminded me that many people grow from adversity.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yay for seamlessly starting streaks over again.

Cheryl (seadwaters) – Kudos for trying different diet plans to find what you need. Neat that you can make eating out work, "Am having a canteen lunch that I have planned for."

Pam (pamaga) – Thanks for the thoughts about plate size - interesting that one goal is to learn what moderate portions look like on the plates we'll face outside our own homes.

maryann - LOL at don't "call it the "Magic Bullet"" at the airport - although it seems appropriate to take your Magic Bullet to the Magic Kingdom. Drooling at the thought of a pan of fresh dry roasted pecans. (Noting to myself that I'm not drooling for a moderate serving, but for a pan, LOL.)

nationalparker – Kudos for "ate 60% of it and left the rest" - stopping can be hard. Hope your mom's tests are going well.

ForMyGirls - Thanks for doing this collective streak thing. Perfectionism is a problem for me, also; particularly the point when I fall off the perfect path and then have to sheepishly step back on. Beck speaks eloquently about getting back on track; we call all read that if we get skunked by falling off our streaks. Hope you made it to sleep on time last night.

MikeB - It works for me to read my ARC's in the morning. When challenges arise, I have to work from memory. "NO CHOICE," and "Not About Me," are my weapons of choice.

LoseToAll - Back on track are, indeed, the magic words of success.

Readers -

My 100%OP Day makes my streak count = 8.

I wrote a Christmas treat on my plan for today, so we'll see how that goes.

I have an event tonight, but I'm going to pretend they aren't serving food. I love that I go to these things for something other than the food, now. That used to be the main event for me.

There's a big exciting, but currently under wraps, thing going on in my life right now. Credit for not eating over it. And for getting the work done when I tell people I'll do it.

WI: +0.15 kg, Exercise: +45 90/1400 minutes for December, Food: 100%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

MikeB: I read my cards every day and, over time, they have sunk into my brain so they come up at the odd moments I need them. It helps, too, to read how other people use these slogans in our group. Sometimes I'll have a moment that reminds me of what someone else experienced here and I'll remember that they said NO CHOICE or Hunger is Not an Emergency or That's Not About Me.

Hi Coaches!

I continue to read here daily, and most important, I continue to work my Beck program and stay as close as I can to OP. Not much advance planning these days, but I make it a priority to have our home stocked with healthy foods which makes the decision making process easier. I weigh everyday and stay within my maintenance range. credit. I continue to focus on Veganbefore6 and have noticed it has really curtailed unplanned snacking at work. I havent had a bite of any of the holiday goodies being brought in because I really "think" those items through. Yay!

I am enjoying following the progress of our "streakers" here. Credit to all.

Wednesday AM
 

Good morning coaches

This is a quick check in to switch posting to the mornings where I can report on the day before and plan for the day.

Credit for being back on the scoreboard FormyGirls. I will be pleased when I want to "frock up" again. That is a great streak that both GardenerJoy and BillBE have going. I need to keep focus and maintain consistency to get up a head of steam. Not sure I am aiming for a turkey streak though. That might send me to the nut jar as well.

Progress
Checked in 4 days in a row
Weight
-.4(today) / -1.8 from tracker
Steps
6580/5000;
KM
4.4/3 (same as last night);
Food
Planned food and ate 90% according to plan
Having a canteen lunch that I have planned for. Hamburger plus salad, no bun. Apple

Blast From The Past!!
 

hi there, does anybody remember me?
I pop in and read your posts from time to time.
enjoying seeing some of you putting perfect OP days together.
I wanna do it too!!
can I join you?
Lulu

p.s. just dusted off my pink book and I'm re-reading it.

Day Sixteen: Prevent Unplanned Eating
 

Day 16: Prevent Unplanned Eating: I see that Dr. Beck's food plan has a model of writing out your food plan first and then at the end of the day checking off the foods that you didn't eat and then adding in the foods that you did eat.

I don't do my food plan that way. Like many of us, I am a creature of habit so I pretty well know ahead of time what I will eat for most meals. However, when I depart from that to a certain extent is when I dine out. The way that I have learned to handle that is to frequent the same restaurants so I know their menus really well and I know exactly what I will eat prior to ordering. However, yesterday broke my streak. :( I had my food plan already configured and I went to a restaurant we have frequented for ten years.

Since we were eating between lunch and dinner menus, what I had pre-planned was not available for another hour so I had to make a change in my meal on the spot. It caused me to go over in my calories for the day. The primary reason being how the food was served and not having pre-configured the calories in them. I have been thinking today how I might have handled that differently since this BDS is also about problem-solving.

MikeB I do not physically read my ARC cards (from 18 months or so ago) simply because I have them memorized. I did reread them recently and nothing has changed in both my reasons for losing weight, the problems that I still encounter that are probably unique to me and how to go about losing the extra weight as well as maintaining that weight loss. I am sure that many here would echo that. I am "home alone" all day so I know enough to stay out of the kitchen unless it is meal or snack time. I have to create structure into my life because it is a blank page. I am semi-retired, which I love, but it does bring its own particular challenges.

Like many others here, I have a couple of chosen phrases as my "mantras" that I use. "No deep fried, no bread or rolls and no unplanned dessert items." is the one I use the most when scanning a menu. I now need to add, "no sauces or cheese." as well. Or I was thinking that maybe the four Bs " Baked, Broiled and Bare Bones." That should help make the food choices easy to make when in a pinch. So, this is (like so many things in life) a "work in progress".

My strategy is keeping myself on a "short lease". It is boring and sounds lackluster--no magic bullets here I am afraid. I once read a quote about war but I think it also applies to the "battle of the bulge" : "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom." I have accepted that this is something that I will do until my dying breathe although I may skip logging my food plan the day before my last day...we'll see..:D

So, ForMyGirls, I am back to square one with one point. I did do my free weight workouts while watching "Santa Clause" with Tim Allen last night.
I love to exercise, even sore muscles, and I got DH to join me since he too is now experiencing arthritis in his left knee. It is an occupational hazard I am sure.

All, great job on keeping on task, no matter what that might be.

Take care, Pam :comp:

P.S. :welcome3: Lulu. I too have returned after a long while. It now feels like home. Great group of Beck enthusiasts here. I too am re-reading the pink book. I am about 2 weeks in.

Hey LuLu - good to see your smiling face back here! Darn, I sure would have liked to be able to say I stuck with it and am close to my goal :) But still plugging away...

LONG workday today for me. Rushed home, scarfed down some leftovers from last night (did good at dinner, eating more than a third but less than half of my entree ... but in all honesty, it was LARGE) ... still have more leftovers remaining from the dinner, so will leave those for DH. Packing and doing laundry and worrying about my trip. Tomorrow looks fine but they're saying it's dicey getting out on Thursday due to the winter storm. I'm a big one on not borrowing worry, but boy oh boy I want to get home to my family in Florida. Mom was discharged yesterday evening and sounded okay when we spoke for a few minutes, then she got sick all of a sudden.

Flight is at 6 a.m., so alarm is set for 3:30 a.m. to get rolling and to the airport by 5, so just a brief note here.

+1 for me - stuck to my plan of leaving much of my entree last night - and today it's been a no-snacking day!

Good Evening, Coaches.

Well I proved two Beck principles this week. The first is that it DOES take tremendous amounts of time to eat healthy. I searched and searched the health food store to find my breakfasts and second meals for my trip to Disneyland. I literally bought an item, took it outside and tried it to decide if it was tolerable. I am hear to tell you, lots of "health" foods are yucky! Finally I found a terrific, airport friendly alternative to my usual breakfast: a travel pack of Justin's almond butter on top of a Kind bar - 10 grams of protein, fiber and tasty. Second meals will be nitrate free beef jerky, dark chocolate and homemade roasted pecans. It took me another hour to put everything in individual servings and then group in ziplocks. But it is done. Now I can relax and know two meals are already committed everyday. I can enjoy a fresh fruit snack and a restaurant meal everyday, as well.

Second Beck principle:The more you exercise your resistance muscle, the stronger it gets. I was desperate for sweets to take the edge off at work. But I resisted for hours. usually a craving will dissipate. Not this one. Five minutes before I left, I told myself "Well now you are leaving, you can take some with you." Good gravy. I did not and I can say I was OP today. No way would that have happened three months ago. I couldn't put two sweet-free days together.

Mike: I have my advantage cards typed in my reminder ap on my phone. They pop up everyday.
Pamatga: I like your other definition of Magic Bullet and agree there are none to be found with me and food.
LuLu: Of course we remember you. Welcome back.
Lexxiss: Huge credit for staying away from the ample holiday offerings being brought in.
BBE: Now, I find leftover turkey dry. What is your secret?
Formygirls: I bought a new "frocking" item and it is in my lowest size ever - fabulous silvery pants. Quite exciting.

Wednesday
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – 14 day streak on my eating plan, CREDIT moi. First day without leftover turkey since Thanksgiving. I miss it already. DW told me that Whole Foods had a sale on turkey parts, "Do you want any?" Of course not, for now. But I don't regret those four days of lunch and dinner of turkey. I only regret that we ran out of her homemade cranberry sauce - an uncooked variety made with an old hand grinder with whole oranges.

Did gym, CREDIT moi, including the exercise class with the Zumba instructor who tones it down for us non-Zumbanians. Can't believe that I don't tire of working out to 'Y-M-C-A' in the background; she makes the hand motions part of the movement.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Neat idea to "pretend they aren't serving food" - can't wait to hear how that goes.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – This planning thing seems to make a difference, per your, "I really "think" those items through."

Cheryl (seadwaters) – Kudos for four days in a row checking in as well as beating your steps goal of 5000 steps. Love reading, "Hamburger plus salad, no bun. Apple" after reading that as your published plan from the day before.

Pam (pamaga) – Thanks for "Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom" applied to our eating plan. LOL at "may skip logging my food plan the day before my last day" while wondering how you're going to manage to figure out when it's that day.

maryann - Just an amazing Sabotaging Thought after a day of sanity, "Well now you are leaving, you can take some with you." Blows my mind. Kudos for seeing through it. What a superb job of panning and constructing meals that will make your Disneyland trip an eating-plan success. [The secret is to grow fond of dry turkey, LOL.]

nationalparker – Waving toward your plane on its way to Florida. Glad to hear that your mom was discharged - hope that's the beginning of recovery. Kudos for leaving more than half of your entree.

Lulu (LuLu01801) – Of course you can join in. We particularly welcome your re-reading the Pink Book since we all benefit from fresh perspectives.

Readers -

My 100%OP Day streak count is back to 0. :( I probably should have known that we would go out to eat after the event no matter what I wrote on my plan. Lesson learned.

The event was our member night at the Missouri Botanical Garden annual Christmas show. New this year, they have lights out in the garden. So pretending there was no food was easy. I was out walking and playing with my camera, far away from the food.

WI: -0.4 kg, Exercise: +65 155/1400 minutes for December, Food: 80%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Welcome back, LuLu01801!

Thanks for the warm welcome back!!
I read chapter 1, The Key To Success.
and I took the following notes from that chapter:

• A slip is a temporary mistake, not a sign to give up.
  
• Expect rough patches, plan for them, and persevere.
  
• Challenges will gradually diminish until eating differently is just a way of life.
  
• I can learn how to talk back to my sabotaging thoughts convincingly.
  
• A cheat can be just a little unplanned eating that can be no big deal at all.​
  
• To use appropriate eating behaviors consistently and permanently, ya gotta change your thinking.
  
• Prepare for challenging moments and have "helpful thoughts" prepared ahead of time, written down, of thoughts I can think to myself when the challenge is here.

These are the things that jumped out at me as useful to have handy.
I hope they help you too!!

Lulu

Day Seventeen: End Overeating
 

Day 17: End Overeating As I said earlier that some of these days were going to be easier than others. The past three days in the pink book says it all about my whole reason for being here. For me, eating mindfully and slowly is easy. However, how I define "overeating" has changed quite a bit over the past several years, which makes me wonder if this is one area that I am going to have to tweak right up to my end goal weight as well as into maintenance. I am beginning to think so. So, I definitely like Dr. Beck's definitions at the time being because they can be taken into account the physical sensation of being full vs. a specific amount of calories. However, it really does mean being in touch constantly with your stomach, your appetite and your desire to continue to eating beyond the feeling of fullness. This is definitely about self-awareness in a way that many major diet plans do not even scratch the surface on.

I had a major meltdown yesterday regarding one of the darkest clouds that has been hanging over my life for the past six months and I had the most frightening realization that it may take longer than I had previously thought before it moves on. I was angry, scared and confused. Up until I rejoined this group, I had allowed this 'set of circumstances' derail me with my food plan. I love to exercise, in spite of my RA, and I kept that up for the majority of that time but my food plan was so hit and miss. I was really feeling demoralized when I arrived here. I had not lost a pound since mid-June although I also had not gained more than 2-3 lbs. either. Credit moi for that.

However, with this 'a-ha' moment last night, I realized that I am going to be in for the fight of my life regarding both my ability to hold it together and continue to lose weight as I both need and want to. So, I have also come to the acute realization that I need this BDS more than ever. :book2: I am exactly where I need to be. No doubt about it!

I credit myself for making a much better choice for dinner last night and doing my cardio later. So, ForMGirls, I now have 2 points since I had to re-start over this past Monday.

maryann You said it so well about how to both exercise your resistance muscle as well as the importance in doing so. I also belong to a couple other online weight loss support threads/groups and, time and time again, I keep coming back to those who "fail to plan, plan to fail." We can not allow ourselves to be like innocent sheep going to slaughter simply because we did not understand the significance of this concept. Those people who have successfully lost weight and kept it off know this deep in their bones.

Joy(gardenerjoy): Your night at the Botanical Gardens sounds just lovely. I so agree with what you said about just pretending the food doesn't exist. It is using "denial" in a positive way. I have done the same thing when faced with such insurmountable odds in my life that I thought I would never be able to overcome them. I call it putting "blinders on" (like how horses wear) and keeping my objective always in mind, looking forward, not back nor sideways.

Debbie R (lexxiss): It all starts in our mind; both the defeat as well as the success. Think. Believe. Act. You got it down. Good job!:yay:

Cheryl(seadwaters): Great Job on the stepping :running: as well as 4 days of OP.

lulu Thanks for all of the insights. I agree with BBE that all of you are both my peers as well as my teachers. :welcome: back again. I was here about two years ago, tried other things, learned some things, and ready to really push to my end goal weight: maintenance by Thanksgiving Day 2014.

Take care all, Pam :comp: