Just a quick note. I am still in Washington for another week. Exercise has been good but I can't say that for the eating portion. First few days were with husband's family where I am always stressed. No excuses for the next few days. I leave for a few days with another friend today. She is always working hard at maintaining so I'm hopeful that I can follow her lead and get back on track, otherwise I will really hate to get on the scale when I get home.
My husband flew back to Scottsdale on Saturday and I'm sure he was glad to be there so we didn't have to worry about the rain out our house. We had about 3 inches, far less than some and no problems.
Just read all your posts and I am glad to see so many doing so well. Can't wait for some routine time at home soon.
Part of the reason is that I've been a bit busier at work (which is my main posting time, lol) but another part is that I haven't been 100% on plan.
So I'm drawing a "line in the sand" and just moving on. I wrote a good plan for today of foods I plan to eat, and at the bottom of it I also wrote what I would NOT eat today, lol.
So far, 100% on plan, and am giving myself a credit for not eating all of my early morning mini meal...just wasn't that hungry.
I also had a great little victory yesterday as I was eating 1 spoonful of chocolate hazelnut butter which was written on the plan, but there wasn't much left after that and I started to take another spoonful, then stopped as I was scooping it and put dish soap in instead. Have to say, I did miss the bit I didn't eat, but the victory was so satisfying.
Another great credit was getting on my new exercise bike and pedaling even longer than I planned. Wasn't much longer, but it was longer.
I'm still reading my daily chapter, reviewing my advantages (and have even added a few more), and doing the homework (okay, I've skipped some of the activities that do not seem to apply to me).
Days have been busy and lack of internet prevails. I've managed to stick pretty close to plan by using my Beck toolbox. Credit. My days off from work arrive and we're crossing the Great Divide to meet up with pool friends, and sis, who arrives with her vehicle late tonight or early tomorrow. First, a trek into Denver to take pup to sexy cardiologist and stop at antique plumbing store to scope out shower modification to clawfoot tub in rental which vacates next Monday. Reminded of last year's adventure I told my "crew" I want to go in and restore this bathroom and be out again during my 4 days off. I think it's doable.
I realized I needed to "think" our lunch. I have gift cards to a healthy, organic pizza place right near where we are heading. That is my 1st choice...they have the greatest organic and local salad EVER! 2nd choice...I will think through while I'm getting dressed. It might be too late for us by the time we get back to that end of town. Credit for thinking! LOL
Nationalparker, Happy Birthday! I hope your day is enjoyable and that you did take the day off. Sending you hugs for opening your birthday card from your folks. What thoughtfulness and love they had for you!
Donna(new2me2), glad you're back, drawing that proverbial line in the sand. When I've had an off day (or days) I do the same: write a plan for food to eat and at the bottom I also write what I will NOT eat. It really seems to help to remind myself.
Karenrn, kudos for "no excuses"! Yes, I can relate, family situations can be stressful.
Silverbirch, always great to hear from you!
BillBlueEyes, yay for a successful trip to Tjoes! I was thinking about your moonbeam the other morning .wondering if shes coming back to visit this year. Love your line, "Beck type strategies work so easily when I just use them." LOL Seems so simple ..
Nuxmaga, credit for tracking food and for rejoining your choir. Singing is such a stress relief, especially when you love singing with a choir!
CeeJay, kudos for a new plan after sitting quietly. You can get right back on track and I hope you post again today.
Onebyone, big kudos and lots of cyber hugs for you. I do agree with your strategy to skip the bus tour this year. 3 weeks OP is such a great success yet I can say from my own experience that a day where you have no available exit could be a very difficult time. Much different from a potluck or social where you could just "leave early". Kudos, too, for coming up with an event for yourself that day...I was going to suggest that.
Apo9, thanks for great suggestions! Are you going to join us?
Curlypudge, resisting dessert is a great way to move forward! Credit!
Hello, all! I did take a vacation day from work today and wasn't too productive. Up at 5 a.m. when DH left and then had trouble falling back to sleep for a while - mind racing on a few things. Had a lot of plans of things to do today, and only ran one errand.
We're under a tornado watch now - weather is supposed to get nasty - not a warning yet, though, so just keeping an eye out until DH gets home.
A coworker asked if I'd do him a favor - bake a cake for his girlfriend who just moved here a few months ago from halfway across the country. She and her sister always make each other a specific cake and he didn't want to tackle it. I'll make it tomorrow night. Three layers ... I hope it comes out well.
I've slacked seriously on personals and I realize that. Some days it's an achievement to just post. My apologies.
Another tough day today. I ate on plan until after dinner and then ate unplanned food for the second night in a row. Not huge amounts but enough to make me too full and discouraged. I forced myself to go outside and sit in the backyard and relax. What hit me is that I have been trying to ignore how rotten I am feeling. I am feeling really sad and that is where I am at. I don't need to ignore it, deny it, or even worry about it. It is a passing emotion based on feeling bad about my aunt, feeling sad about my holidays being over and feeling tired and unmotivated at work. Truth is, usually I just plow through (eat through) negative feelings. So instead I am going to try to do other things than eat. Tonight I am sitting going to go to bed. Tomorrow I have a night in the hotel and am going to go out to dinner with friends. Friday night I am going to come home and have a fire in the firepit. And if I feel bad, that's OK.
I hope I don't sound too self-absorbed- it is really helpful to spell it out and to be accountable for my behaviour somewhere. Thanks to you all.
Will check in Friday night and plan to have two onplan days to report EVEN if I still feel sad.
Hi All,
Weighed today, down 4 pounds - yay! Tracked my food, credit. Walked for coffee with DH - credit. Lots of time in the studio, credit. Feeling some family stress - between one parent filing for divorce from step parent, and the other with major surgery.
I am frequently at a deficit for fruits and veggies - haven't figured how to maintain any change with that. Raw fruit makes my lips swell at times so I avoid it, and acidic fruits aren't good for my stomach. I get veggies at dinner, but not much else. Many a carrot stick and salad mix has gone forgotten in the fridge. . .Any suggestions appreciated!
Proud of myself for borrowing GosfordGirl's 5:2 plan for the last two days of my week. The fast-like days put me under the limit and I earned my angel. Yeah for practicing Hunger is not an Emergency and promising myself a treat today. Delayed gratification. Treat is logged for today and weight is one pound under ticker.
Ceejay: Like the idea of doing one good thing for yourself after a little demoralization.
Nuxmaga: The Vitamix Blender has changed our life in this household. We blend lots of veggies and eat a whole lot more veggies than we used to eat. Example: carrot, sweet potato, cinnamon or celery, melon and cukes with ginger. Ice goes with all.
I was feeling super sad today. I think I am grieving for my brother again but not sure. Ceejay I totally relate. I didn't eat over it and will continue to feel my feelings and then let them pass. A guy I knew used to say "Either your face your stuff, or you stuff your face." That keeps rolling around in my head today.
I completed my resin casting experiments tonight Not bad! REALLY promising for something like I need another project! Hello?!
I managed to get my image ready to transfer to my piece of birch and on closer inspection my birch has some holes in between the layers (does all plywood have this now? Has it always been this way??) AND I have a crack on the top side as well as the underside. Geez. If this isn't proof that our natural resources are dwindling I don't know what is. And BillBlueEyes my birch plywood sheet wasn't cheap: $39.99 but I did get about 6 different sized blocks from it. So that does make it quite cheap.
So no image transfer today that will happen tomorrow and carving will start Friday. I should be done by the middle of next week I think as I won't be doing much on it on Saturday and part of Sunday. I just don't feel as pressured as I did for the last show but that will change!
So foodwise still a good day. Grateful for every day I have where I do not feel driven to eat down the house. Thanks for reading.
Diet Coaches/Buddies 100% on plan eating day, CREDIT moi, for the 13th day in a row. Afternoon snack was blueberries; I've started the mourning process by having a few extra. Watched my mind work funny: When I stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts to buy packaged coffee, I saw their sign that AARP members get a free donut with an XL coffee. I felt this strong urge to get me that! Had to slowly tell my urge that I don't buy brewed coffee (I'm quite happy with the morning coffee I brew at home), and that, even if FREE, a donut doesn't easily squeeze into my plan for the day. Nevertheless, I studied their list of donuts and chose five that I'd have for my FREE one, LOL, including blueberry since that's on my mind.
Did gym, CREDIT moi, and took a copy of their class schedule that starts next week. They have some 6am classes that would break up my normal morning routine. I'm guessing it would be like a private instruction since it's hard to imagine that there are other people who'd want to do a gym class at 6am. My evening walk to an event had me enjoying the night at 9:30pm - just cool enough to be glad that I was wearing a sport coat. Sooooo nice.
onebyone Thanks for the reminder, "Either your face your stuff, or you stuff your face." Sending supportive thoughts as you remember your brother.
Joy (gardenerjoy) Waving toward Stonehenge and all the sites in the BBC article that silverbirch posted.
CeeJay - Kudos for facing the sad and making choices to move through it. I love the vision of making a fire in the firepit without letting the sad block you.
Debbie (Lexxiss) A whole bathroom in four days! You keep the bar high. Look forward to hearing the details on how you do this.
silverbirch So exciting to read the BBC article that those nearby monuments were built some 6000 years ago - 300 to 500 years before Stonehenge.
maryann - Kudos for "promising myself a treat today. Delayed gratification" - good to be reminded that we can do that.
Donna (new2me2) - Kudos for extending your time on the exercise bike. Neat to specifically write down the foods that you weren't going to eat.
nationalparker Hope you survive the predicted "nasty" weather. Good luck making that cake for your friend, remembering that licking isn't necessary.
Karen (karenrn) - Glad to hear that you weren't hurt by Arizona's three inches of rain in four hours - that's Noah's flood style rain, LOL. Know that many of us feel stressed visiting family. Keep the faith.
Margaret (Nuxmaga) - Congrats on those four pounds gone forever. Ouch for the family stress - it's so hard to see family pain when there's nothing that can be done about it. Raw veggies with lunch help me to keep up a healthy veggie load.
Readers -
Quote:
Week 4Respond to Sabotaging Thoughts
...Even though you now have many new skills
to fight sabotaging thoughts and to increase your ...confidence, you should expect to face times . . . . . . . .of doubt and disappointment.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 178.
Good morning coaches!
Had a day off yesterday which was great. Decided to go bike riding to break out of my walking rut and use some other muscles. I did indeed! Forgot how hilly it is at the local state park- funny how you don't notice those "mild" inclines when you're driving. Also forgot to park at the bottom of the hill rather than the top, so you can coast at the end of the ride instead of giving up and walking Had some unexpected company as ants kept crawling out of my handlebars-ick! Like a clown car for ants! Still, a nice ride and I felt smug to do something different in the middle of the week, instead of waiting for the weekend.
Had fast food for lunch because I didn't plan for being out a long time, but avoided the sugar anyhow.
Ceejay- kudos for realizing "I am sad and that is where I am at". Sometimes we just have to accept these feelings, they come and they will go. I have to remind myself of that at times when I am depressed; sometimes you just have to sit with it and let it happen. Nuxmega-are apples acidic? if not, you can core one and microwave it, it is a great treat. Also would work with a pear. Or maybe heating up canned pumpkin and mix with spices or sweetener-I read about that somewhere on 3FC, maybe on this loop even !
Yesterday finished with 100% on plan! I've been rewarded by my first weight drop in quite a while, so I'm very happy, lol.
Today is also 100% on plan so far. I did the same thing I did yesterday with writing down the things I will NOT eat for today. That seems to work. There are only two things on the list, but it feels very good to actually achieve that goal.
Did well yesterday and so far, I've not been 100% OP today since someone gave me a box of a few chocolates and I enjoyed one for 100 calories. Need to ensure dinner (taco salad with turkey meat, no shell of course) is within a reasonable range. I have ample lettuce, tomato and onion and will build it up with that.
The fella at work seems excited about the cake for his girlfriend. I'll bake it when I get home and then frost it before bed. I've never been a taster/licker when making meals or baking, so no challenge for me there. Eating while sitting down is my norm, but wish I weren't challenged by other aspects, that seem to not bother others (coming home from the market and wanting to try things I bought!)
Day 5 on my challenge - floor exercises and pilates at home.
here tonight. I think the growing season is over for my watermelnos. May they ripen just a bit more.
OP today. *credit* had a bit of a snag this morning as I waited to be picked up by my friend. She was superlate so I opted to eat 1/2 protein bar to tide me over. I was feeling woozy. Then I got a breakfast sandwich at the very local coffee shop we go to. I could have waited and not had the bar--but not really. Oh well. still ok. 3 meals and one snack kind of day.
Diet Coaches/Buddies Did a 14th day on-plan, CREDIT moi. We ate dinner inside; pumpkin soup is a dish signaling that the cool fall is here - we never eat it outside. My job is to watch for when the canned pumpkin goes on sale and buy a bunch for the winter. I'm so glad that that stuff is sold in cans. DW finds peeling a pumpkin difficult and wouldn't otherwise make soup.
Ticked my monthly counter, CREDIT moi. It's fun to realize that I'm nine years into my new journey. I'm motivated to get back down to my goal weight for my tenth anniversary next year.
onebyone Yep, waiting when I don't know how long it'll be is a challenge for me, also. It's easy to judge that the snack wasn't necessary after it's all over. Your cold weather will drift down here next.
Donna (new2me2) - Congrats on that weight drop with Kudos for continuing to write down your NOT eat list.
nationalparker Stopping at one chocolate is worth Kudos. Good luck with your cake project.
curlypudge - LOL at, "Like a clown car for ants!" - That must have been a sight. Kudos for avoiding the sugar at lunch.
Readers -
Quote:
Week 4Respond to Sabotaging Thoughts
You'll also learn how to identify and respond to sabotaging thoughts, which is one of the most important skills you'll learn in this program. By week's end, you'll be much better equipped to think like a thin person.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 179.
Hi coaches-
This week has been pretty good and its so helpful to have a place to check in, so thanks to all that make this an active forum!
The weekend will be a challenge. We have plans with friends both days which I'm psyched about (because some weekends there is nothing going on and it can get kind of depressing when you imagine everyone else in the world having a great time!) but it will bring some challenges for sure. social activities =food, but I will do my best, and plan to be okay with one treat a day.
We have to make something for a church bake sale, so will try to steer DS into cupcakes with store bought white frosting which I can resist! But Sunday also brings an outing where a teenage girl is making dessert for us, and I don't want to say no to her. I will plan the rest of my eating around that.
BBE: I'm with you on the canned pumpkin, it is awesome stuff! I remember a few years ago there was a shortage- I guess a bad year for pumpkins?- so good idea to stock up. And congrats on the 9 years, that is awesome!! You seem like such a pro at this, you will definitely make it for your 10th anniversary! Nationalparker- I'm impressed that you're not a taster/licker, that is beyond me currently. That can save a lot of calories in the long run. Lexiss- I admire your beautiful photo each time I visit here. Colorado seems like such an amazing place, I hope to visit someday.
weeks x 3 + 1 day
like I need another project! Hello?!
Had some unexpected company as ants kept crawling out of my handlebars-ick! Like a clown car for ants! Still, a nice ride and I felt smug to do something different in the middle of the week, instead of waiting for the weekend.
here tonight. I think the growing season is over for my watermelnos. May they ripen just a bit more.