[BillBlueEyes]

Welcome to the discussion group, support group, Diet Coach group, Diet Buddy group relating to the two books by Dr. Judith S. Beck:

The Complete Beck Diet for Life

and the first book

The Beck DIET solution: train your brain to think like a thin person.

The Beck Diet Solution is a psychological program, not a food plan. It provides a step-by-step program to learn specific techniques to stay on our diet, lose weight, and maintain our weight loss for life. The program is based on Dr. Beck's clinical research in Cognitive Therapy (CT).

The Complete Beck Diet for Life expands the earlier work and includes a food plan with suggested menus. From the cover:

With The Complete Beck Diet for Life you'll discover the 5 stages of successful dieting and maintenance. You'll learn how to motivate yourself, give yourself credit for every change you make, create time and energy for dieting, and handle hunger and cravings. Dr. Beck eases you into changing one step at a time. You'll master one task before moving on to the next. And you'll learn techniques to deal with challenging situations, such as sticking with ou plan at celebrations and dealing with "food pushers." With Dr. Beck's skills, you'll achieve a lifetime of healthful eating and lifelong motivation.

This is a place to discuss the Beck strategies and our daily efforts, to receive and provide support, and, for some of us, is where we serve as on-line diet buddy (coach) to each other.

If you’ve arrived from a search engine, you’ve landed at the site of 3 Fat Chicks (3FC), a remarkable place for those interested in a healthy life style, including mindful eating, exercise, and weight loss. More about the site, including how to register so that you can post, can be found here.

The books are available on Amazon through the 3FC store by clicking their names above; buying through 3FC helps to cover the costs of running this site.

You can find the list of previous (or more current) monthly Beck threads here on 3 Fat Chicks via:

List of Monthly Beck Threads for Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Third day 100% on-plan, CREDIT moi. As happens from time to time, it was also a vegetarian day - a day of rest and recovery for my arteries, I presume. Big deal was to skip all snacks offered from a snack table, including, "Want one bite," from DW from her slice of a leftover wedding cake that had appeared. "Nope," I said nobly, reminding myself that sugar desserts are trigger foods for me.

Standard Sunday walk, CREDIT moi, included passing by a box of FREE books on the curb from which I took none. I don't need more books right now; I'm deep into King Philip's War: The History and Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict that curdles the blood confronting the atrocities between the English Colonists and the American Indians in early Massachusetts Bay Colony. 1676 wasn't a good year to be hanging around these parts.


onebyone – Goldrush Apple is new to me also - but looks yummy. LOL at pleasing the cat by clearing off the chaise lounge.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Yay for technology to distract.

CeeJay - Yay for three pounds off the scale in one day with Kudos for recognizing that it's just a number.

Cheryl (GosfordGirl) – 12000 steps is a bunch - Kudos. Love hearing that herbs and lettuce are being planted as I mourn that my veggies are ending their season.

Donna (new2me2) - Kudos for "some decluttering" as well as for threading your way through the farmers' market with limited damage at Starbucks.

nationalparker – Leaving some dessert is Kudos worthy. Getting dressed up occasionally is fun.

Karen (karenrn) - Yep, Kudos for the elliptical and HIIT training. That mac n' cheese is a challenge to keep to a sane portion.

Margaret (Nuxmaga) - Passing on "mediocre cookies" is just the best feeling since it's a double pain to eat them. I wish that the pounds I put on were from fine dining instead of mediocre cookies and the like.

Readers -

day 21 Get Ready to Weigh In

If it turns out that you've gained weight, ask yourself the following questions:

What would I tell a close friend in the same situation? Would I like her less? Would I view her as bad or less worthy or as a failure? Remind yourself that your weight is not a reflection of who you are inside.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 175.

[ForMyGirls]

Hello coaches,

The busy week finally got the better of me and I have had a couple of days that weren't planned. I feel like I stayed on program though and made good choices so credit to me for that. And credit to me for getting straight back into planning, reading etc today.

Lots of temptations today as it was my daughter's birthday. But i got through it 99% successfully - resisted licking cake bowls, seconds of delicious dinner and stuck to the portion of dessert i had planned for. I did cave in and have some of the candy her cake was being decorated with when we were making them. So credit for making lots of good choices.

Heading off on a short road trip holiday tomorrow. It will be impossible to plan my meals so I will just have to make good choices along the way.

Today was Day 24 on the reboot - identifying sabotaging thoughts. I think this one deserves a bit of time to notice so my plan is to do it while I am on holidays and keep going with the book after our holiday.

[gardenerjoy]

I found myself entering the calories in the MFP app before I ate them. That strikes me as a good habit. I'm imagining sitting down to tea and letting my estimates and the app tell me whether to have one or two of those small sandwiches, probably half of a scone, and, yes, one of those tiny cakes....

[nationalparker]

Zip went the weekend! Today was errands and marketing and lunner out at 5 ... I worried about being hungry - ACTUALLY WORRIED - what is wrong with me. That bugged me - we ate breakfast at 9:30 or so and headed out over lunch, planning on a late one ... but I worried about missing it. Good grief. Ate a smidge over half of my dinner at the cajun spot, so at least didn't overeat. Honestly, if the two "halves" I had chosen were equally as good, I probably would have. But I picked the best one that was hot/spicy and saved the chicken chili for tomorrow as it gets hotter as it sits.

Dreading work tomorrow. Looking ahead to appreciate payday on Friday, a short-workweek. Thinking we'll plan something fun each evening as DH is on his vacation from work this week...initially we'd planned to go camping out west, but now I didn't want to miss too much work after being out several weeks in June and again in July.

DH worked hard to mow and trim this evening. I didn't get outside to help at all this time. I owe him big. Perhaps a nice massage after he showers and before I hit the sack. He deserves it - a hot and muggy night here. No rain ANY of the weekend days here enough to water anything. We skipped camping because of the severe storms forecasted. I can't say I'm frustrated by missing it, though. My heart isn't in it right now.

Did you even check out the books in the Free stack, Bill? Was temptation even there? Kudos to leave them for those who are needing a read now

Joy - How much longer until your trip lures you across the ocean? I'm excited for you!

ForMyGirls - Hope you're able to come up for air for awhile on your vacation! WOW on how close you are to your next goal! Love it! Have a wonderful time.

GosfordGirl - I keep missing leaving you a note and not sure why - but hope you had a wonderful weekend and wishing you some better wintry days - are you closing in on spring weather-wise yet?

Lexxiss - Hope your day was a good one and keep up with the strong, smart choices. I have been thinking of days when a lot gets accomplished as Lexxiss Days... You wear me out

Waving hello to all, without the little cute fellah...

[Nuxmaga]

Hi All,
Walked to the diner for breakfast - we are lucky it is 20 minutes away so we get exercise.

Had an 1/2 cup of ice cream for lunch - not the best lunch, but breakfast was big. DH concocted a dish of farmers market cauliflower, rotel, white beans and garlic. Wow, it was good!

Onebyone - pleasing the cat is a credit!

Nationalparker - leaving any amount of dessert is a great feat!

[onebyone]

Coaches

Checking in with the phone so nothing fancy.

Credit for an OP day. #13. Very grateful to have had some relief from the inner turmoil. So glad to feel better with only minor food thoughts bothering me now and again.

Tomorrow my regular routine starts to take shape again as my friends with kids are free again to come out and make things in the ceramic studio once more. Our first day back will be tomorrow morning. Yay!

Have a good night.

[GosfordGirl]

Hi Coaches

I have been sticking to plan for many days / weeks but some of my habits have been slipping. Munching at the sink when I am preparing food being the worst. I don't think it is putting me over calories but if it remains unchecked it will. Bad habit not to get rid of. I am making an effort this week on eating standing up and writing a plan before I eat. Today's food is all logged and planned - all I have to do is eat it. Lots of steps and active minutes today.

I really want to go on a 'pilgrimage' in January with the Buddhist group I am involved with - it will be 14 days from 10 to 24 January and start in Delhi and finish in Kathmandu while visiting all the usual sites important to Buddhists. The Geshe (master) who will be doing the teachings is great and would make it come alive - and doing it with this group is a safe way to go. I have reservations because of my mobility and the fact I use a CPAP machine at night (continuous positive air pressure) because I am overweight and obstruct while I am lying down at night. Some of the places we would stay (monasteries) turn off the electricity at night! The CPAP won't work so well under those conditions . Anyway the trip would be a brilliant start to my long service leave year and it might motivate me to make heroic efforts to get fit and lose weight so I am less likely to obstruct. Still thinking about it

Today:
- 193.8 pounds [no change]
- Logged my food
- Under 40g CHO net
- Under 1500
- Went to Gym

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Fourth day 100% on-plan, CREDIT moi. I resisted the temptation to go buy a Portuguese sausage to plop on the grill for Labor Day, particularly since my reason for wanting it was to overindulge. For lunch I had tuna fish on toast to use up the last can of tuna sitting on its 'Best Use By' date. I get into something like tuna; buy a stack; then get into something else. I was inspired by all the pantry cleaning going on around here.

Did gym, CREDIT moi, walking past the many piles of junk emptied out of apartments as the rental market turns over on September 1st. The pull of FREE meets the push of junk-left-behind, LOL. Ikea furniture gets stacked up demonstrating that much of it is one-use quality - the kind that when its particle board gets a bad ding, it doesn't recover well. I did take a pair of brand new, PVC coated, waterproof gloves still in the cardboard from the local paint store marked $8.99. Seems like every chemical I encounter these days says to wear gloves.


onebyone – Thirteen Kudos for that many days OP. Welcome regular routine returning.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Calories entered before is the best I've ever heard. Is there even such a thing as a ha'scone?

Cheryl (GosfordGirl) – Your pilgrimage sounds exciting - I hope you find that it's the right thing for you to go. I have to remind myself that India is a lot closer to Australia than it is to here. Kudos for the thought, "Bad habit not to get rid of."

nationalparker – Happy Chicken chili Day, LOL. Kudos for recognizing that you were "worried about being hungry." Yep, our minds aren't rational about food. [Yes indeed I checked out every single book in the boxes on the curb. Sometimes I enjoy the pleasure of the memory, I really enjoyed reading that. And sometimes the smug, I'd never read that.]

ForMyGirls - Happy Birthday to your DD, and Happy "identifying sabotaging thoughts" Day to you as you motor about.

Margaret (Nuxmaga) - Drooling over "a dish of farmers market cauliflower, rotel, white beans and garlic." There are parts of the country that don't use the word rotel as a food item. I just learned it a few years ago, myself.

Readers -

day 21 Get Ready to Weigh In

If it turns out that you've gained weight, ask yourself the following questions:

What makes me think that I'll lose weight every week? Most people lose some weight, reach a plateau, lose a little more, gain a little back, lose some more, reach another plateau, and so on. Why should I be any different?

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 175.

[Lexxiss]

Hi coaches
No Internet with busy weekend I have lots going on making great effort to be mindful with food. Came up with distraction project working on a quilt I started 15 years ago. Gotta make smoothie and head to work. Reading and thinking of you all.

[new2me2]

I'm reading along as well, but that nauseated feeling from Sunday turned into another kind of not wellness, lol. Let's just say the bathroom has been my friend. I'm actually home again today because every time I stand up, I start sweating and the bathroom has been my friend a few times already this morning.

Eating was a little off plan. I think I've discovered what triggered it and will be more cautious in the future.

I think today would be an excellent day to practice hunger. That was Sunday's chapter and I needed to pick a day, so I think today might be a good day. That will also let my system calm down a bit. I see lots of water in my future today!

There will be a cut back in coffee today as I discovered that the sugar free syrup I bought was actually regular flavored syrup. I only used it yesterday, but do not want to awaken the sugar dragon... and that may also be the reason for my current "condition" lol.

I did a little shopping yesterday and got a nice credit for going to the mall 30 minutes early and walking around...slowly, but still more than I would have done.

[gardenerjoy]

I changed how I'm tracking exercise for September. My goal is 8000 steps and/or 15 minutes of stretching every day. My real goal, is both nearly every day. Yesterday, I did my stretching and walked 8005 steps!

nationalparker: We leave in one week!

GosfordGirl: that does sound like a wonderful trip -- I hope you can work it out!

new2me2: hope you're feeling better soon!

[maryann]

Good Morning, Coaches.

Big day! New month and I changed my ticker downward. I also earned another angel. I needed the boost. I haven't slept much the past few days. I don't know why I keep waking up at 2:30 a.m. and not falling back to sleep until 5:00 or never. It is killing me. I have a day off today, so I guess the sleep disorder research begins.

Today I make two commitments: to be gentle with myself and not expect too much because I am running on so little sleep and to not nibble while standing up from this moment till I go to bed. I was cutting up about 5 honeydew melons that were getting too ripe this morning and I ate pieces the whole time telling myself "it is fruit how can it be bad for me."

Super credit for making my supermarket runs for the month. Stocked WAY up on coffee and yoghurt. I feel super plush.

Big decision about my goal. Reading different literature, I decided that at my height and body frame 154 is reasonable. At that weight all my new clothes look great. It is a healthy BMI. I can always float three to four pounds below - like that ever happens Beck says goals maintenance are about trial and error. I have been working on this for about three years and 154 seems stable for me.

Posts are a little behind because I was on vacation but better late than never.

Nuxmaga: I consistently am amazed when I weigh my food. I am at the resignation stage. If I am home eating, I try to measure.

onebyone: a good apple is tough to beat. My favorite is pink lady.

nationalparker: On my work days I try to dress up. Right now my work pants are about 3 pounds away from fitting as I like them to fit. A good reminder to stay OP because these are my dream pants and I am not buying new ones.

GosfordGirl: Nibbling while cooking is my current nemesis. Since I make so much from homemade, I am always in the kitchen it seems. I think I will buy more gum. If a piece of sugar free gum is in my mouth, I won't nibble.

BBE: Trying to reinstitute Meatless Mondays in our family menu.

ForMyGirls: Wouldn't it be great to have an APP for the seven question/ sabotaging thoughts stuff in Beck. You could just work through it on the phone.

gardenerjoy: That is exactly how I use MFP/ Can I afford to eat one or two?

[nationalparker]

It's sad how much less active I am when at work. I would like to start setting a reminder to get up and walk each hour - even if just on the inside stairs.

Odd that I'm excited for dinner tonight, but I'm making homemade sundried tomato hummus with some pesto/parm flatbread and hope it comes out tasty. Forgot a lemon and will stop for that and maybe tahini paste.

Today's conversation ... Me: I have a great idea! DH: Uh oh, what now? Me: WHAT? That's a bit insulting. DH: All your ideas involve work for me. Well, I found a weekend in October that he's off without having to take vacation and I can get away for two work days, and we're going to drive out to Niagara Falls. He's already "in" and booked a fun little motel that someone is super duper ranked high with travelers instead of a highrise with a view, and we'll roll with however it turns out. He always worries and I'm like, "we're on VACATION - how bad can anything be?" He's like, oh, yeah

Bill - Okay, that makes me feel better that you did check them out ... Now and then I talk myself into books that I later release without having read them. AND I forgot that I had the leftover chicken chili - wonder if DH snacked on it.

Joy - My anticipation level would be OFF the charts, leaving in one week! Downloaded any Rick Steves free podcasts? We did for some things in Italy and it was nice to have him guiding us.

Maryann - Credits on logically thinking about your goal and not arbitrarily picking a number that doesn't work well for you. My method when I wake and cannot fall back asleep is to start thinking of oddball things - what cars begin with a "P" ... airplane engine manufacturers... fruit/veg for every letter of the alphabet ... cities I'd live in, in preference order, not affordability. Such random things keeps me from worrying about anything.

New2Me2 - Funny - it's the sugar-free items with subs for me that send me running to the bathroom - sorbitol, etc. Hope you're feeling much better soon! How did the practice hunger go today?

GosfordGirl - That pilgrimage sounds just so enriching! Any battery-operated CPAPs? Or by then perhaps you'd be down more and not need it? My sister used hers nightly for years, but now following her weight loss, is off it. A third of a year away... how exciting to be thinking about it. DH worked for six months in India and he's anxious to share it with me one day.

Tomorrow I'm rounding up a few coworkers to hit the downtown Farmer's Market at lunch. We'll eat there and as much as I say I'll try something new, the best there is a slice of super duper thin crust cheese pizza. GOAL - not to get talked into the combo deal with breadsticks that everyone goes for.

Today is Day 4 of my 100 Day Challenge to myself because I forgot about it a few days on the weekend and didn't go offtrack, but didn't challenge myself in any way.

[CeeJay]

Hi everyone,

Well I wrote a post yesterday but I see it is not here. I think it was a case of previewing the post and then forgetting I did not post it. Not doing that tonight.

Yesterday and today I was on plan. I did planned and spontaneous exercise. I read advantage and response cards. I weighed myself and wrote in food journal. I have tomorrow's food planned. I am so happy with how things are going.

I was really hungry on the way home from work. I went to the grocery store to get eggs and started thinking I needed to buy something (read- off plan and likely high calorie) and then remembered that just because I was hungry, there was no emergency. Instead I could just go home and cook dinner as planned. And I did. Credit.

nationalparker- your dinner sounds excellent. A nice October getaway is good planning- it is good to have fun to look forward to.

maryann - yay for a ticker change and another angel. Hope you get a better night's sleep tonight.

gardenerjoy- your commitment to exercise and your follow-through is inspiring.

new2me2- hope you are feeling better.

Lexxiss - quilting should be good to keep your hands busy and not reaching for food.

BillBlueEyes- yay for 4 days onplan.

GosfordGirl - kuddos for recognizing bad habits should be worked on even if they are not adding extra calories (yet). A pilgrimage to Indian sounds wonderful.

onebyone- huge congratulations for 13 days on plan. I am glad to hear you are feeling better.

Nuxmaga- nice to have a DH who cooks you healthy meals.

ForMyGirls-hope your daughter had a wonderful birthday.