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

Diet Coaches/Buddies – The boring: I emptied all the stuff from the old car - ice scrapers, tire pressure gauge, $10.50 in quarters (for parking meters) - then removed the license plates. It's now ready to go to its next home, presumably a junk yard. The challenge was to avoid thinking that I could just fix this up and it'd be good as new. Or at least drivable. No. It's served its time.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, including dinner on the patio. Walk, CREDIT moi, included stopping at Whole Foods because the pint of Cole slaw that I'd bought the day before was rung up as "Sliced Honey Ham" at $13.99/pound. No wonder it cost so much, LOL. Whole Foods refunded the whole price that I'd paid. Made me feel good.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Neat that you could pause the race to enjoy pictures. Kudos for choosing to change things up.

maryann - Yay for the incentive of a public weigh-in at WW that can lead to FREE sessions. Kudos for an empty stomach.

nationalparker – Congrats for getting that garden finished. (You might gently suggest to your DH that there's a new Dale Carnegie course in town that he might want to take, LOL.)

Karen (karenrn) - Yep, it's the social engagements that challenge well made plans. [It's still light here around Boston in June at 8 pm. When visiting Tanzania which sits almost on the equator, my naivetι was shocked that light went from 6 am to 6 pm every day, every month. Duh!]

Readers -

Coaches.

Glad to turn the calendar page to June. I was up 5.1lbs in May and it felt like a long month and long time to be up. Ugh. Amazing how you can feel refreshed at the beginning of a new month.

Two challenges are on my plate for this month 1) the start of a new farmer's market on the 26th giving me two markets back to back until October.
2) a visit from my sister which I think will happen this month and may include a side trip to Ottawa for the interment of my father's ashes-which I also have to arrange this month.

This trip for the ashes was (okay I'm going to gripe now) completely avoidable. Last year the funeral home in Alberta could have sent his ashes forward to the cemetery in Ottawa but my sister intervened saying he'd be "lonely" and my cousin (met her once) agreed to keep ashes and paperwork for us so we could meet up "in the summer" at the cottage my aunt had in Quebec. I thought at the time hooboy. That's alot of socializing/time spent/catching up/emotional energy to be spent around all this when it will be hard enough meanwhile my sister was all "oh cousins' reunion! Let's catch up! Tell stories!" So i thought, hmmm... cottage, lake, swimming, cottage lake stories ok sounds ok. I may never have an invite to that cottage again. Now sister says "The last thing I want to do is spend time at a cottage with them. I can think of nothing worse. No we'll just be doing the interment and that's it. I have no time for anything else." I reminded her she was all "let's have a get together" last year and that's what the cousins are thinking. Ugh. And I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to swim in a lake at a cottage. That's my vent. I don't want to eat over this yet-to-be-decided event coming up so I am leaving it here and not carrying it until it is time to pick it up for real.

Foodwise. Getting back to strict rules and planning. Loosey-goosey foodplans and meals times and stuff do not cause me to lose weight. In the end I gain and lose hope! That's no good. So, my aim is to
1) lower the amount of protein I eat (I eat too much - borne out in my blood tests last week)
2) eat more greens: green juice included
3) drink a sufficient amount of water (also showed up in tests that I need to do that more)
4) continue (credit for doing this already!) with the exercise aiming for 150 min/week ideally parsed out at 30min/day

Careerwise. Time to put things together.
Artrepreneur will be over soon. I want to implement the online "bread and butter" (I hope!) sales portion of my business plan before the end of the month. And I don't want to lose sight of my larger Fine Art Goals so I need to make work when it is warm and the materials move easily vs. in the cold weather. So:
1) get pictures of stuff done and post online where I need to
2) continue to convert designs to lasercutting file format
3) get info on teaching courses
4) track down setting up a steam roller printmaking event here
5) complete my large woodblock and begin another
6) work on my own ceramics and my collaborations too

Decluttering
1) continue my to-do list
2) be ruthless. Really *really* get rid of stuff.

Happy June! (how did THAT happen!)

credits yesterday: Weighed and logged, food on plan. Survived the bakery

For the next 3 weeks as part of my job I have to go to a bakery each Tuesday and Friday. ACK! I used to get a scone or a pastry each time.

Good morning coaches,

Food just barely within calories yesterday, credit anyway. Hiked a 90 minute hike with Suzanne this morning at 5:30. It was 78 degrees when I got up at 4, but it did go down a couple degrees. Much of the hike was in the shade, so that helps a lot. I have made my food plan for the day and it's in MFP. No big plans today but I do think I'll try to find a new outfit for our social events. We'll see how that goes.

Have a great day everybody!

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walked, CREDIT moi, to an evening event - that had been cancelled! Ouch. But, it was a nice evening walk there and back. Now I have to figure out how I came to not know of the cancellation. Still waiting for the tow truck to take my car to the donation center. Seems that it's easier for them to tow cars than to have owners drive them to their location.

Food was on plan, CREDIT moi. I longed for snacks but limited myself to a few almonds. The Georgia peaches with breakfast were just superb. DW bought blueberries at $1.57 per pint. Life is good.


onebyone – Ouch for that flip by your sister - that swim in a lake sounds like it would have been lovely. Kudos for such a clear set of goals.

Karen (karenrn) - Good luck shopping for an outfit. Apparently, there are people in the world who would think that fun.

ennay - Seems to me that you're due 'hardship pay' for a mandatory trip to a bakery, LOL. Kudos for surviving your first trip.

Readers -

Apparently, I never learn ... but had better either learn to write in another window or stop mentioning that I lost a post. Wrote yesterday and didn't lose it but apparently never hit to post the quick reply, either. Slacker! Maybe that was good, though, because I waylaid my own plans and ended up with a highly non-nutritional, high-calorie dinner. Met DH in the driveway as he drove up, about five minutes after I did ... and suggested we go out for Mexican. Since he's up for anything, anytime, he was fine with that. We hit our local spot and I ordered queso to go with the chip - something I do every other year, maybe ... not sure why I did yesterday. Anyway my dinner was mainly chip/salsa/queso. We each brought home nearly all of our dinner. I ate a few pieces of the grilled chicken strips, but DH brought home his whole burrito. WHY did I sabotage myself? And then on the scale this morning, added to it because it was up about two pounds. Onward and forward. Up early this morning and in to work early, and will get off on time and enjoy tomorrow OFF. Deciding what days to take vacation this summer... I am ready to have a few good breaks.

DH's interview yesterday went well, but it was apparent that the job would not be a good fit for his skills/experience. They told him it was a good fit, and he said he'd discuss with me, but it is not, so he'll let them know quickly. Still keeping fingers crossed on the one that might come up in a few weeks - we'll see.

Bill - Kudos to you for the car donation! I did that with my old Toyota a number of years back ... the hard thing was deciding who to donate it to The tow-truck driver actually asked me if I wanted my picture with the car one last time - haha. (well, sure!) Then had a tax question the following spring and called the IRS and actually got a call back on a weekend about 15 minutes later. Seemed like the good vibes flowed all around that.

Karen - How did the outfit-shopping go? Tomorrow I'm going to go through my closet and try to find different outfits from what I have/matching things up a bit differently or noting what I especially could use (bright camisoles!). Easier when I'm home alone.

I am going to try to start a memorial stone for my cat that passed last year ... I never did it because I keep using the excuse that I need DH to make the cement for me to put in the mosaics. Well, tile pieces in a shape for her. I'm sure I can do it but just need to figure out the form So at least I can figure out my pattern, cut the tiles, etc. and get it ready to go. I need to stop making my own roadblocks.

Hi coaches!

Yesterday credits, weighed and logged, restarted weight lifting. In honor of June 1 I did the full panel of measurements - 3 types of BF% measurement. I am going to repeat those on the 1st(ish) of each month. I didnt last month, so I guess these are my starting numbers.

Ended up having a mostly physical binge (as opposed to emotional). I need to figure out some timing things with weightlifting apparently, although I lifted lightish because it was the first day back in about a year. I had a weird crash afterwards. Hypoglycemic maybe? So the first 500 calories were trying not to pass out. The other 350 may have been a bit of frustration overkill. Came in not too bad for the overall day despite having used up almost all of my calories before 1 pm. Ah well. Try again friday.

onebyone I let out a big heavy sigh of frustration on your behalf with dealing with your sister and the whole thing. Family can drive you batty. And you look like you are set up for an awesome June!

nationalparker at least you brought home most ofyour dinner. I tend to compound the chips/queso/guac with stuffing myself to the point of comatose. I hope dh's next job interview is a better fit!

karenrn - Good luck shopping! I do not envy your heat. I lived in texas for awhile, but I am a complete heat wimp. I think 68 is plenty warm if it is sunny.

Billblueeyes - I should get hazard pay...except then I would have extra cash for pastries. They added some new ones too, of the kind that is most tempting to me. Sweets aren't really my thing, but I am a sucker for not too sweet rich things.

It's good to just get rid of the car. Sometimes I think the hassle of sell them when they are that old is way way more than the car is worth. dh is selling one of his motorcycles right now and I am not looking forward to the parade of people who come not quite when they said they would.

Yes, I said one of his vehicles. Rarely a year goes by between some vehicle being added to his rotation. When we were house shopping I tried mightily to find a house with a 3 car garage but I am so glad now I did not because I think the only thing that limits the total kept at any one time is parking space. Right now it is 2 cars (NOT including mine) 2 motorcycles and a boat. Everytime he gets a vehicle he says this is the one he really loves and will keep for many years, and then a year or two later he buys something else (but it is so rare to find one of these used in this condition!!!) and eventually sells the first. His insurance agent might be his ICE number instead of me!

Good morning coaches,

Calories over plan yesterday I'm pretty sure. This morning I did a 4 mile walk with a friend. The pace was quick, but the terrain was flat. I enjoy her company so much that it is well worth it, but not enough exercise. We have happy hour tonight at Tommy Bahama's. I'll have to check the menu and see if there is something that is not too high calorie.

Yesterday's clothes shopping was a joke. Well, it might have been better if I had been willing to go to the mall. I ended up with one peach tee shirt. I just can't quite get in the mood to shop just now.

This morning I was debating about joining crossfit. Our niece and her husband and our nephew all do it and of course are super strong and fit. Of course they are 25 to 35 years younger than I am. Then I got down on the floor and attempted a few push ups. I realize it would be too much for me and I wish I could get inspired just to get back to the Y and take some classes. It will probably happen soon since it will be too hot to do much outdoors.

Ennay Good for you for getting back to weight lifting. Our niece had an eating plan with her that specified timing related to when they did their workouts. I'm sure it's important when doing really strenuous exercise.

Nationalparker Mexican sounds delicious. Good for you for bringing most of the meal home. I think what I need about now is Oprah's personal trainer and chef and no options. Of course I guess it didn't really work for her, did it?

Bill Good for you for donating your car. I did that once, but forgot to sign something and a few months later was called cause the car was in an accident. It all worked out all right, but be sure to sign whatever you're supposed to. My car was a Volvo with 230,000 miles on it. I loved that car but was going to change from hospital nursing to hospice and felt I should have something that would go in any terrain. I ended up with a Subaru which half of those in Washington drive. It finally was nearly totaled from a hail storm in Scottsdale and I had to change cars.

No big plans today. Coleen brought over a book which I started yesterday. I think the name of it is A Man Called Ove. It is by a Swedish author and so far I'm really liking it. I think quite a bit of it will likely get read today. I don't do that often as mostly I listen to books these days.

Until tomorrow,

Karen - I just finished reading Britt-Marie Was Here by that same author and LOVED it. I have the one you have on audiobook now. But BOY did I really enjoy the other - some of the lines cracked me UP. I wrote a few of them down, as well. It wasn't a "happy" funny book per se, but interesting at how we all see things. Fredrik Backman. I looked it up on amazon to get a copy and mail to my mom's best friend, with whom she used to share all of her books. But (I know this sounds terribly cheap), I'll wait for the paperback prices to drop from the same price as hardback...

Ennay - I have to say, we were looking at homes with parking spots for three vehicles, then I realized that would enable DH to get more. He is currently lusting after a sailboat ("We can go sailing all over the Mediterranean! We can to to the Bahamas!" when we retire in a decade or more... to which I have to say, "OR we can buy a home in Tuscany and live out our days there." Both are equally unappealing/unaffordable to the other. Well, I wouldn't mind sailing a bit, but not over large areas of water where there are pirates. YES, I can borrow trouble. Worrying about pirates when we don't have the boat HAHAH!)

Nationalparker dh still thinks that when the kids leave home he is going to be able to convince me to sell the house and go live on a sail boat in the Caribbean. Sailing from port to port with no home. Maybe we should send our husbands off to the Caribbean and I'll move to Tuscany with you.

Don't cave on the parking spaces. My MIL moved here a couple years ago and has RV parking so that's where the boat/4th car lives. We have 2 cars and 2 motorcycles in the 2 car garage (plus a whole host of other stuff, it's like Hermione's handbag in there) and one car in the street and one at MIL's 1/2 mile away. Technically street parking in our town is illegal if the car doesn't move every single day. Would it be wrong to call them on dh?

Coaches

Quick hello. Weighed and was down today. Will be up tomorrow I'll bet. I walked 30 min today. Ate better. Continuing to improve. Did most of my to-do list.but not the stuff. Tomorrow.

Good night.

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Today is National Donut Day. That means that I can get a FREE donut at three places within walking distance of my house and another dozen if I drive. It annoys me greatly that I spend 364 days a year without thinking of a donut and long for a FREE one. Despite this, food was on plan, CREDIT moi.

Today's the big day that I'm off to buy the car to replace my old Toyota. I'm psyched. I've got the certified bank check in my pocket; my insurance agent is briefed; the dealer selling me the car will register it and attach Massachusetts plates. If all goes as planned, I will drive it home.


onebyone – Congrats for a down scale reading. And Kudos for taking a big bite out of that to-do list.

nationalparker – Thanks for "I need to stop making my own roadblocks" - my own Sabotaging Thoughts are a bigger hindrance for me than anything others throw up.

Karen (karenrn) - "I just can't quite get in the mood to shop just now" - let me know when you figure out how to get in the mood to shop for clothes. Congrats for buying that one tee shirt.

ennay - Kudos for getting back into lifting weights with Double Kudos for taking some metrics at the starting point. LOL at a DH that keeps a rotation of vehicles. I have a friend who does that - it makes him so very happy.

Readers -

Coaches:

Good Morning. TGIF.
I have to say I am on pins and needles as to the resolution of the Me-First Mule trap. It seems to be always ok for me to feel unhappy but not anyone else. If it comes to a crunch I will bow out and wait my turn. I do that. Yesterday I was at a local take out place and was second in line. There was one server. She was with the young lady in front of me. It was *slow*. Burly guy comes in. Sees us. Assesses the slow. Announces to everyone supposed to be to me in a louder than needed voice that there should be more service here. This is not typical to be so pushy. His voice makes lady being served and server look at him. I ignore and look away. He says can I just get two coffees? I just want two coffees. I look at him. Server looks at lady customer. Lady customer nods yes. No one asks me. I am ahead of him but behind lady customer. He ignores me. Everyone ignores me. I think "do I want to say something here? Is this worth it?" I am *very* exhausted and feeling less-than for a few days now. (Less-than I guess means "I don't matter/what I do doesn't matter/nothing's working" type of feelings. Comes from frustration.) So server serves guy coffee who, only after he gets them, acknowledges me by trying to get me to agree they need more service help. I look away. No, I actually smiled and looked away. Now I really feel less-than. *sigh* I'm not always such a pushover. And all I need to do is start focusing on my larger work. That's what's bugging me is I am spending time on all these little things. I really want to make my large scale work. Soon.

Foodwise, got the scale rise I predicted yesterday. I think I will try not to eat the things that I know will do that as it is important for me to see scale drops this month. But now we have salty meats in the house. I didn't plan things right for myself.

Ok time to go. Enjoy your Friday.

nationalparker/ennay: I live in a house converted to three apartments. Next door is single family home. Small size. We have a shared driveway. Both houses have carved away part of their lawns to create an extra two parking spaces beyond the driveway space with extends, at both house, to the back of the house. Between the two houses there are 5 cars, 1 SUV, 2 pickup trucks, one trailer, one panel van, one minivan. My large scale print-in-progress is a drawing showing all these vehicles except for one. The print is called "Angela's not home. Her car's not there." And it wasn't on the day I took the photo. This is one of the MAJOR things that bugs me here. The amount of cars. Drives me nuts.

Good morning coaches,
Last night was happy hour and although portions were small I'm sure they weren't low cal. Weight is the same and I'm sure calories were over. This morning Suzanne and I did the Sunrise hike, 90 minutes, at 5:15. She leaves tomorrow and I'll miss her. She is such a trooper. She has invited me up to UT and I did visit her last summer, but I feel I should stay home more this summer since I will be gone for 6 weeks in the Fall.

Most of our hike was in the shade, but it was 78 degrees to start and the air was still. It's 7:49 a.m. here and now is 84 degrees. Well that beats the 117 degrees that is predicted for tomorrow and Sunday. I may take a couple of days off hiking and just do early morning walks for the hottest days. This sounds terrible, but I am glad to have one of the two social events over. I love the friends we met up with and they would be just fine for me to eat nothing and drink a diet soda, it is not their fault that I don't do that. The get together tomorrow is with former co-workers. The hosts have recently gotten to their WW goals. I'm sure Patrice lost 60 pounds or more and her husband just as much. I'm taking a fruit salad with no dressing and some bruschetta. There is always plenty of food, but no food pushers. I just feel like I need a start to a regimen with NO social events, and I will have that after tomorrow.

The floor guy will be here this morning to replace the hardwood floor in the hallway. It will probably be a bit stinky. I think my husband said today they will put an oil based coating on and tomorrow a water based coating. It's a very small area, so hopefully it dries quickly and doesn't smell too bad. Otherwise, we'll get out of the house.

Onebyone I know that "less-than feeling". Only I think of it as "am I invisible?" I'll be in a store and the associates are asking many if they need help except me. I don't know if it's because I don't look like I need help, or I don't look like I'll spend money. All I know is it's a bit irritating.

Bill I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from my hike. The guy behind me was taking a large box of donuts to work and said he was asked to stop and get them on his way in. I was glad I was almost out the door or I might have been tempted to go get one. By the way, what kind of car did you decide on?

Ennay I'm with you on not living on a sailboat. Heck, I don't even want to live over seas anymore, although I used to think it sounded great. I just like to go places to visit and then come home.

Nationalparker I have a hold on Britt Marie was here. I think there are quite a few people ahead of me, but I look forward to that one too.

GardenerJoy I have been thinking of you as I listen to a book called Less Doing, More Living, Make Everything in Life Easier by Ari Meisel. It must be very short because I am already 3/4 finished with it. He has many ways to streamline his emails, finances, appointments . . . well everything it seems. I have plenty of time, so I don't really need all this streamlining, but if you haven't heard or read it you may be interested in some of the ideas. I think I'd like to get the book from the library so I can easily write down the names of some of the sites he talks about. He does spell them, but I'm walking or driving and can't write them down.

Waving to Maryann, Sandy and Curlyjax. Maryann, yesterday I was talking with a friend on the phone and lamenting my poor follow through on eating how I should. She said, "What about WW?" I haven't been a member in such a long time. I know you have had some success here recently. What do you think? Has it helped you refocus? Is the meeting motivating?

Okay, that's it for now. Have a great Friday everyone.