Survived day 2!
 

Coaches I have completed another day of eating sitting down at the table. Woo hoo! It's amazing how that one small change can make a HUGE difference in my amounts of food I eat. I actually find eating without distraction to be quite boring! I did eat with distraction at work today. Couldn't really avoid it.

One of my big eating spots was in bed while reading or playing on my IPAD. I was thinking today "Hmmm, thin people probably don't do that" :D It's also funny how I get one day under my belt and I suddenly think I'm cured! :dizzy:

Well, credit me for a whole bunch of stuff! Thanks for reading :)

Hi all,

Other than being hungrier faster than normal, I'm back OP today food-wise. (I didn't eat earlier--I just noted my "I'm hungry" moments came earlier than the normal "eating time"--so I made myself wait)

Today makes day 27 (I thought yesterday was 27, but I know the even-7s happen on Tuesdays) of my streak of recording everything.

I haven't planned out this week's dinners yet. I think we have at least 4 more days of party leftovers before I have to cook. (And reasonable quantities of "real" food can be eaten OP.) Then I'll start in on divesting the freezers of their meals--we inventoried and there's a lot of food in there!

I brought all the leftover cookies to work--and so many people worked from home today because of the cold they were hardly touched. I expect that to change when everyone gets back to work!

Moebug: Big credits for eating sitting down at the table--that can be really hard!

Take care, all!

Down to Christmas weight. Fast day today and husband came home with turkey wraps so had to change food plan. I do a 4:3 fast and at about 800 calories.

Back on plan and moved ticker down.

Working on living with my hunger. I have a goal of a lb down by Friday. Have to start exercising this week and get with it.

Hope you are all well. Have a great night.

Hi Coaches

Credit for checking in
Credit for planning food for today and for working out part of tomorrow (lunch)
Credit for doing my steps
Credit for logging food into MFP
Credit for noting and stopping casual eating - standing up, not on plan etc

I had a standard day where I did standard things. I went to the market and ignored free food except for the sample of butchers food I had planned for. Exercise was walking around the market and shopping or at home cleaning and sorting. I caught myself eating at the sink when I was cutting celery - sneaky behaviour and difficult to extinguish. Otherwise food was on plan today.

I am going to lunch tomorrow and I have looked at the menu (Indonesian) and think I can cobble together reasonable choices. It will be nice to eat out.

Welcome AZtricia
 

:welcome: AZtricia :welcome:

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

How did you learn about the books by Dr. Judith Beck?

And how did you find this forum on the 3 Fat Chicks site?

Tuesday - Polar Vortex Day
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Streak to 48 by skipping all three snacks, CREDIT moi; food was on plan including a new lentil dish for dinner that made it a vegetarian day. I got home from a meeting later in the evening and had planned to have some mixed fruit that DW had made earlier in the day. But I skipped it when I had the thought that I didn't need to feed myself just thirty minutes before going to bed. Calories saved: ~50; Resistance Muscle exercised: priceless.

Walk, CREDIT moi, included the library to get a book I'd requested. It felt silly to pull up the windshield wipers on our cars up (to prevent freezing to the windshield) while it was warm and raining. It's 15 F here now. I wish all of you well who are enduring the Polar Vortex more directly.


onebyone – Good luck at your MRI today. Goodbye Aria scale - "seamless" doesn't count when it never starts.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – I do like the encouragement that a streak is forming a habit. I've read 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 9 weeks. All of those numbers make me happy since they're not 52 weeks.

CeeJay - Kudos for acceptance with, "Movin on...." Have a good two weeks.

Cheryl (seadwaters) – Checking the restaurant menu in advance is such a good idea, Kudos. I need help understanding "butchers food."

nationalparker – LOL at the buffet for your hawk combined with a grimace at the bit of truth in it. In any case, birds do get more exposed in cold weather. Hope you figure it out, " "Free" food is an issue for me and I'm not sure why." I used to believe that it was related to not having much money as a kid, but stopped believing that when I realized that I NEVER had any food-insecurity (the new measure of social hunger). Good luck getting your head ready for that cruise.

Beth (bethFromDayton) – Kudos for " leftover cookies to work." You got me on this, "I know the even-7s happen on Tuesdays." Is 7 ever even?

LoseToAll - Congrats on getting back to Christmas weight.

Maura (Moebug) - Super Kudos for " the ENTIRE day eating sitting down at the table!" Yep, it does change our attitude toward food. St. Kitts in February sounds fun. Eating without distraction is a strategy that I work only every now and then to remind myself to pay attention to my food. It works for me to read if I'm eating alone with effort made to taste the food and to eat mindfully.

AZtricia - It's great that you're off to a running start. Kudos for giving yourself credits for the steps you've taken. Would you care to share with us some of the Advantages you've written? Glad you've joined us.

Readers -

:carrot: Wow! That has to be my brightest welcome ever. I found both the book and 3FC by internet search. I've tried and failed at dieting enough times that I wanted to learn not to sabotage myself and give up. I asked my mom & sis to join me doing the pink book, but they must not be ready. Finally found a local lady willing but her life has been one stress after another this last few months so I've been lacking the unaccountably to stay on task and let things slide. I've owned the book well over a year now and need to just DO it!

I had surgery 8 weeks ago and the fast really taught the lessons on hunger and cravings, I have much less trouble with snacking and stopping with one serving. Actually, when I started recording my food again yesterday, I found that I was eating too little and that is why I've not lost weight over the last month. :dizzy:

My most difficult tasks are actually reading my response cards and exercise. I get sore easily and am slow so it is discouraging.

onebyone - hope your MRI went well and that your stress is down.

CeeJay Technology :dizzy: hope you can figure out your new cell phone.

Moebug Yeah for eating sitting down!. Credit+++

bethFromDayton Great on waiting to eat, and taking the cookies so they aren't such a temptation.


LoseToAll Hurray, for down to Christmas weight :D Best of luck of exercising!

seadwaters Great credits! I have trouble with not tasting vegies as I cut them, but give yourself credit that it is healthy food! Hope you have fun at the restaurant.

BillBlueEyes Great job on the resistance muscle, that is one of my favorite analogies! Brrrr, 15 degrees! I so don't miss living in the cold zone! Sending warm thoughts your direction.

My advantages:
I won't feel so self conscious.
My feet won't hurt and I will be less stiff.
I'll feel better physically.
I'll feel better emotionally.
I'll sleep better and have more energy.
I wont overheat as easily.
I'll look better
I'll be able to wear a smaller size.
I'll be in better health (was diagnosed with pre-diabetes and have already kicked that! :carrot:)
I'll be able to exercise w/o discomfort.
I'll feel more in control
I'll be able and willing to do more activities with my family.
I'll feel less guilty about food.

Good Morning, Coaches.

I bestow upon myself the Susie Homemaker Award for the Day. Determine to ignore that I was sick, I tried three new recipes - the split pea soup was fab with the homegrown bacon strips flavoring it; the no work bread was restaurant quality; and last night I made my first turkey sausage and bell pepper calzone - a Cooking Light Recipe. I also finished a DYI project creating a home charging station for our many phones from an elegant sushi plate box set I have never used. Really! I drilled holes in the back of the box and the phones fit beautifully on each of the plates. No kidding. THEN since the station was red and in my mudroom, I looked around at the incredibly faded and stained ironing board cover and decided to sew a beautiful new red one. I tossed the similarly discolored valance i had sewn and made a new one out of two beautiful, unused rooster dish towels from Williams and Sonoma I had been saving.

Wow! There are several ways to look at this burst of energy. As Beck urges, I found creative energy in non food interests. I was not hungry all day and was completely OP. Or you could surmise I am embracing Frugal January and using up what I have. You could also say I hate being sick and refuse to go down without a fight. Who knows.

The result is a OP day under my belt, a beautiful new room and a trip to the Doctor for antibiotics because I was noticeably worse last night. That is the good, the bad and the ugly of being little old human me.

bethfromdayton: What a powerful post about your party weekend. It takes a lot of courage to take responsibility for what is going in your mouth and then accepting the reality of 5,000 calories. I am guessing there are few of us on this blog that have not eaten the same amount repeatedly over our lives. How did I get to be over 200 pounds? Like Beck says, it was not "magic." Numbers don't lie. My best hope is for us to be kinder to ourselves. Credit for new resolve and back on track. This is a long race.

Welcome Aztricia.

nationalparker: Good Luck with that cold weather. I thought of you Eastern/Northerners in the 49ners/Green Bay game. Miserable. Don't worry about the cruise. There are lots of solutions for you when the time comes. Focus on today's healthy eating and it will all be fine. (I say to both you and me at the same time.)

City still asked to stay indoors for the most part with the -25 wind chills - was -15 when I got up this morning and has been rising - should be above zero with the regular temp here soon.

Finished shoveling out again - the winds moved our snow back onto the driveway and sidewalks/walkways, so got in some activity with that and digging a neighbor out who got stuck in his driveway. Waiting for another to return home from a trip to try to help him dig out - but if I get started before they get back, it'll likely drift back in so quickly.

After sister lost five more pounds on ww, I talked to DH about being a bit envious/excited for her and wished that I would see more success... what did he see that we needed to do? He said get rid of the sweets were a big thing for him. OK, what do I need to "hide"? I'm good with keeping them away and putting something small in his lunch now and then. He also mentioned that we eat too much bread. I immediately got panicky/defensive. No, we don't! We eat a few slices and the rest goes out for the birds!! Okay, well, he added it's the pasta and pizza and potatoes. To be completely honest in this forum, my brain started racing - NO, we DON'T ... we just don't eat enough veggies and other stuff ... My kneejerk reaction to possibly having these foods cut back even MORE was apparent to me. I feel like we've cut way back on the portions of pasta/bread products. Now and then I'll whip up something with a simple carb as the base (cappellini al aglio e olio or baked potato soup) but it's in limited quantity and not daily or weekly. This has me thinking I need to include him more in the meal planning. I'll give that a try today and see where we end up.

hi everybody!!
I'm doing very well, reading posts, but not posting myself.
just trying to simplying as I begin this new year.
after a rough December, my food is now in control, I feel really good and I'm in a good place.
I read posts here from time to time, keeping up with you all.

Question for Bill . . . where do you order your seeds from?
I would like to order seeds and would like a recommended source from somebody that knows.
also, do you plant your whole garden from seed?
do you plant the seeds in the ground or in small containers first and then transplant to ground?
WOW, I know planting time is not close, but just talking about it and planning for it feels so GOOD!!!

Lulu

Hello fellow "Coaches":

:welcome: back, lulu! You were missed and I thought of you often.

:welcome2: AZtricia . Glad you found this discussion group and online support. I enjoyed reading your Advantages. Yes, BDS is what is needed to stop sabotaging ourselves and start supporting ourselves through our thoughts then behavior. "Getting off the proverbial merry go round" is exactly what brought me to BDS.

losetoall: Congrats on the weight loss.

onebyone: Great Job on doing non-food activities which end result was great looking furniture and a 2 lbs weight loss. That is definitely fulfilling Day 41's "To Do List".

Thoughts and prayers go out to you for your MRI results.

bethfromdayton: thank you for sharing your struggles. I can guarantee you that this time next year you will be sharing with the group how "far" you come in this area. I believe 'self-knowledge' is empowering. Boy, sounds like you were preparing to feed a small army. I love leftovers and plan my future meals accordingly. I would have loved to have been the recipient of some of your "care packages". :p I know I would have made good use of them.

maryann: I too find that the best way to stay out of the kitchen and my hands out of food containers is to work on my "busy list". You are walking the walk. Thank you for sharing about the known allergens. It is also interesting that the first two are also "red flagged" for being GMOs and most altered food substances (corn and soy) in our "market basket". Also read: the cheaper the food, the more it has been damaged, altered and destroyed of most of the nutrients it started out with. Thank you for sharing.

:welcome2: moebug : Congrats on the decades of sobriety. To add my 2 cents worth in the ongoing conversation about what diet plan (maybe you have moved past this already, I don't know). I changed my food plans once since beginning using the BDS two years ago. I did this when I discovered that I was "pre-diabetic" but found that losing 40 lbs did not lower my FBG that much. I had to up my game and I have been following a restricted calorie and carb diabetes weight loss plan since last July.

My challenge at this point is to not eat more than 60 grams of carbs per meal. Last summer; I sat in on a diabetic online support group and realized that these are the folks who are really in the trenches daily because managing diabetes is all about monitoring food intake. I learned a massive amount from those people; many who had been doing it all their natural lives. I am grateful for last summer's lessons. I know they will serve well for many years to come.

nationalparker: I shouldn't say this but I did smile when you started saying "but I don't eat that much....". I have been there....and the t-shirt is worn out from years....you know what I mean! Now, I measure everything that I eat (have for the past 2 years now) and I used a meal recently to "teach" my DH about his portions. He fills a favorite serving bowl with my homemade chicken noodle soup. I put the same amount of soup (pre-measured 1 cup) in a bowl. I told him: "You routinely eat 4x the amount as suggested serving." :o Just saying, with much love and concern for him. :hug: The difference between small, medium and large produce is another area that requires a keen eye of observation. I haven't got it down pat but I am "learning".

BBE: I was just sharing with DH about your "story" about the orange before bedtime. I think it is moments like this that define what the BDS is all about. We go from being "automatic" eaters to eating more consciously and mindfully: Day 5 in pink book. Thank you both bethfromdayton and ForMyGirls also for sharing your "a-ha" moments as well.

I just had one today myself. I always eat the whole portion of almost everything but when I reviewed that my Diabetes weight loss food plan template shows a lot of 1/2 serving portion sizes. I realized that I had "always" assumed when I was pre-measuring that I should follow the label's instructions and eat one serving size. Well, one serving size can (and sometimes is) "too much": calories, carbs, sodium, whatever, "pick your poison." So, today I pre-measured yet another food item into 1/2 serving size. I am beginning to like this "mini" size now. My refrigerator is getting a lot of smaller containers of food but "someday" those mini-sized leftovers will translate into a "mini-sized" ME!:D I do like THAT "cause and effect."

Love your stories of cold hands but warm heart for your Northern birds. I wonder if they know we are viewing them. There was a great movie I saw this past fall (can't remember the name) where there was an annual competition to see a specific amount of birds but they were all over the world and this was a race so the whole movie about these "birders" chasing down these rare sightings of these specific birds. It is definitely a good 'watch' to behold.

seadwater: I am fascinated by your telling about fermented foods. I have been a big fan of daily yogurt and I turn to yogurt before I ever reach for the Tums (which I almost never need or use). I will have to look up those books. Yes, it is believed that most food-borne illnesses do start in the gut so that it is where we need to go to first to "fix the problem". My MIL has C-DIF which took her doctors almost two years to diagnose. Tough call for an 86 year old woman but now that she is following a gluten-free food plan, she is much better. She nearly died from this.

I love the quote about the Personal Capital. I too have realized almost everything is limited (except love and forgiveness) and we need to use our resources wisely and thoughtfully.

CeeJay: Congrats :bravo: on breaking the 290s. Keep up the good work!

vegan..rex: yes, a "clean slate". I have done a year end "review" for nearly 20 years plus now and this past year was no different. I love January now(used to hate it) because it is time to set the foundation for the year ahead. I hope yours (and everyone else here) is great!

gardenerjoy, lexxis and silverbirch: Hey y'all!

If I have missed anyone, I apologize. This group is expanding once again, which is good but it means learning new names, histories, etc. and that I am determined to do.:book2:

Credit: exercised every day since the beginning of this New Year. I had a routine that worked for me in 2013 so I dusted that off and I am back at it. Side benefit: I sleep more soundly. In fact, some nights I think I "died" but then I awake to the frigid air. :brr:

Credit: I really don't know if I should even mention this since this is an established habit of mine for nearly 2 1/2 years but I do log my food every day. I only miss it when I have the flu. However, since I am now getting extra credit for it in a former group that I rejoined I thought that I would mention it. Side benefit: when I discovered that diabetes was something in my life, I had already been logging my food so adding monitoring carbs was not 'that big of a deal' for me. It might have been otherwise if I hadn't.

Credit: Service. This is a "biggie" for me as a person of 18 1/2 years of 12 Steps recovery behind me. In fact, I am calling this the "Year of Service". I want to give back what has been given me. I am leading a weight loss challenge, mentoring a depressed, overweight woman as well as being a part of a core accountability group. I am spread all over the place. So far it is working. When it ceases to cause some ripples in my own efforts then I will have to re-evaluate at "what cost" it comes at. For now, A-OK.;) Side Benefit: I am gifting myself. The circle is unbroken...

Now, the toughie part of losing weight (for me anyway) is being patient to see that scales shows all of my efforts. :goodscale: I know that I am doing my best :frypan:but I so want to add a snow person on my "line up". Such tension. Such Drama! :rofl: Silly, silly me!


Love, Pam :comp: :coffee2:

fears. phooey.
 

Coaches

Well I now know what "getting an MRI" means. They gave me earplugs! The machine makes every noise I have ever heard in science fiction movies. I can't say I was fond of this experience. While not uncomfortable, and not painful in any way, being in a machine you can't get out of at will is unnerving. At times I was totally ok and relaxed but I had a couole of very small moments when I wanted out. I reminded myself how FORTUNATE I am to be able to have this test, which seems so science-fictiony (the tech told me the machine turns my body's atoms upside down and the machine also magnetizes me and so the machine can then read/photograph the patterns my magnetized flesh(imagine that) gives off. AT keast that's how I understand it. But once she said "turns my atoms upside down" I was floored.

*credit* for planning for the end of the fast. I placed a protein drink into the car's cupholder so I would drink that (hoping it wouldn't freeze in the meantime -it was ok) when I got out of the test. It was a good plan. I had been fasting since 9pm last night and was done at 1pm. The drink allowed me to further plan my food for tonight and to walk the aisles of Costco without even a thought at trying their samples. Why they had so many samples going on on a Tuesday afternoon is beyond me. Around every corner there were samples, including samples of Kirkland brand chocolate milk! What's that about? Do you think there are people who have never tasted that? It must be to set up a craving in the person who tastes it and then they go buy some. What was weird today though was that due to the extreme cold the store was pretty empty. NONE of the sample stations had people at them except for one: tilapia fish breaded with panko. SHe had a line up. Go figure.

Weighwise: I *credit* weighed in at 264.8! I made my 1st 5lb off goal. Now, I'm not so sure if it "counts" as it's not official weigh in day. What do you guys think?? I am so anxious to see 2 movies in a row at the theatre as my reward! I guess I have to see if it hold until Saturday, my official weighin. I am working on goal 2 - a repeat of goal 1: 5lbs and two movies!

Planned Exercise: I stopped by my gym this morning. I have arranged to have 2 personal training sessions with this great trainer there named Olyssea. I am going to work with her for 30min every other Monday. I can afford that and it is just often enough ti keep me *conscious* of having to eet her and having to answer whether I actually did my exercise or not. I need to be acountable and I need to take this seriously. I'm ready to accept this in my life. The MRI today reminded me I want to stave off the world of medicine for as long as I can. I am in no hurry to have a life defined by medical appointments. Not yet please.

Bye fir now!

My 100% OP streak count is 7.

We're shoveled out from our 10-inch snow of Sunday. A nephew came to help -- amazing how much snow a strong young man can move! Of course, he didn't leave it as clean as we would, so I assigned him the big jobs and just cleaned up after. For me, it was easier than a normal snow storm. He appreciated the applesauce bread pudding and cash. Everyone's happy.

I still struggled with the desire to overeat while snowed in yesterday, but it was better than the day before. Resisting one day made it easier to resist the next. That's good to know. Today was much easier, because I no longer felt snowed-in, even though we weren't done until nearly dark -- we had a plan to get shoveled out and apparently that was enough.

WI: NA kg, Exercise: +15 285/1400 minutes for January, Food: 100%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

LuLu01801: I like rareseeds.com but I'm kind of biased since it's a Missouri-based company. I like best the things from seeds that I can sow directly in the garden -- my best luck is with chard, kale, and zinnias. I start tomatoes from seed indoors. Most of the rest I grow from plants.

Having proclaimed that "this is just what I do" yesterday turned out to be a day in which being 100%OP was something I just DIDN'T DO. Got distracted in the morning so didn't do all my health tasks and only realised at half 5, but which time I just said "too bad" and accepted that my streak would go to 0. There was certainly time to get it done, so I recognise this was a choice I made and am accepting that imperfection.

What I am pleased about though is that a) I didn't use my decision to let the streak go as an excuse to go crazy and really blow it - in fact although I also forgot to track my food I am pretty confident it owuld have been within maintenance calories for the day, and possibly even within my weightloss limit. And b) as I made the decision to let the streak go back to 0 I also decided, almost effortlessly that I would be back on track today - and I am so. So thank you Beck for these skills. Credit to me for getting back on track and for limiting my off plan behaviour!

Before I forget - team total is now 125!

Did a bunch of thinking this morning about why I 'forgot' yesterday and I think there were a couple of factors: 1. I am really begrudging having to do work while I am on holidays. As work goes it is definitely at the funner end of the spectrum but I really like to keep the boundary clear when I am on leave. So I think that has gotten me into a bit of a "no fair" headspace. 2. I have been being slack about bedtime and took it to a whole new level the last 2 nights by staying up playing with a funky new app on my iPad until 1am and 3am. I keep making a vow to leave the iPad in the loungeroom when I go to bed. Perhaps as I restart my streak I should make that an essential component of 100% OP. Proper rest is SOOOO crucial to my wellbeing and when I am back at work I won't have time to recover from staying up late. Hmm - it has been useful to talk this through.

AZTricia Welcome! I hope that you will find that this board gives you the support space you have been trying to find for the last year. I find it incredibly helpful having people at some different stages telling their experiecnes. It is inspiring to be reminded of the essentials by people who are just starting - and at the same time so reassuring and empowering to see people reaching their goals, overcoming challenges and also to have a number of people on the forum who are in maintenance. It is SOOO helpful to know that people get there, and stay there even with hiccups along the way.

Moebug - I so hear you on the eating without distraction is boring. I have to confess I rarely do it as I find it excruicating! Though having said that maybe I will revert to it for my morning coffee. I did find it quite lovely to stop and really taste it and enjoy the warmth. And I think it was a good way to centre me in myself at the beginning of a day. Thanks for the inspiration

Maryann - congrats on the Susie Homemaker award! I am also enjoying the discovery that I can do stuff for free - though I think my home improvements lack the aesthetic of yours. I claim a genetic predisposition to privileging function over form as my excuse!

National Parker - what a great solution to include your DH in dinner planning - great to see you thinking that through here

Lulu - lovely to see your cheerful face and posts back amongst us

Pam - how wise you are to be reality checking whether your year of service is overloading you - you can't help others if you aren't helping yourself hey?