After months of half-hearted vows, I’ve actually restarted. That plateau weight of +18, topped out at +19 and is now +17. That’s the first edge downward in a long while. But more important is that my behaviors are “back to Beck”, eg. OP eating. Rereading advantages. Logging every bite. and exercise. That’s a big difference. Experimenting with alternative ways to get in motion. Exercise youtubes. Climbing the steep hill in the woods behind my house. And even an hour at water aerobics.
Some strength training. I was embarrassed to say I can’t even do ONE pushup. So I googled that and learned of several options for progressing, including wall pushaways; pushup against kitchen counter; pushup on stairs with your hands 5 steps higher than you feet; knee pushups. So those combined with leg exercises on videos and from my pt…
.I’ve been watching so many exercise videos in the past week and one instructor keeps reminding us to “engage the abs”. So that word “engage” is becoming a sort of mantra, one I try to remember when walking, or even when simply sitting or driving.
Bill: All your walks in town continue to inspire me. Great idea and for short distances, anyway, something my pooch could do. Ha. You mention the Astro. Another breakdown yesterday evening as my BF returned home. Thanks goodness we have towing on our insurance.
MaryAnn: Thanks for the many ideas. I LOVE Zumba, so I’ll have to order some DVD’s. (Do you like the DVD’s?). And yes, walks, hikes, pilates, all great ideas. I’ll have to check out the “cozy mysteries”. Thanks for the recommends.
Karen: Kudos on your decluttering. Something I need to do a lot more of. Some friends (of mature years) recently got married and on the wedding invite said “No gifts please. Anyone who brings a gift will have to take a bag of Goodwill donations home with them” haha. Cute. p.s. Those ants sound awful!
One by One: I love your 30/30/30… It’s really helpful to me to have shorthand ways of remembering good ideas and that’s one of them.
Curly Jax: Your UK trips sounds so exciting. I have such fond memory of trips there. Every year for many years, my mom and I used to take a trip there. She has been gone now …22 years it’s been… and I still have such memories. Have a great trip. And thanks for the additional book recommends.
National Parker: I’m glad to hear your brother’s health is looking positive. That topic is near and dear to my heart. A couple years ago, I flew into Albuquerque to spend time with MY brother who was scheduled for heart surgery. He had a 100% blocked artery and they were going to try a brand new heart cath surgery where they go at it from 2 directions at once. If it hadn’t worked, it’d been open heart… Thankfully it did work, so no open heart. Your brother’s good news must really relieve you stress.
Thursday - W.E.B. DuBois elected to National Institute of Letters (1943)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Wednesday chase-the-DGD day, CREDIT moi. Her new thing is boldness on climbing structures. I can see it coming; she stares intently at another kid climbing something she's previously avoided, then goes after it. At one park, a group of fifth and sixth graders descended onto the climbing structures. She didn't back down - in fact a teacher came over and asked us to keep her away from the older kids. We did, although she accepted being a bit jostled because she got to be near the bigger kids. In the evening we did a Summer Solstice bird walk - one that attracts many new birders who don't yet know that early morning is the best time to see birds out for a morning meal.
Did an unexpected morning snack. The fifth and sixth grade kids were each given an ice cream bar. The teacher then walked around the park offering the remaining ones to anyone who'd take one. "They're just going to melt," she said. Under the pretext of taking it for the DGD, I accepted one. DGD took one bite and spit it out. It turned out to be pretty good. My contribution to dinner was to walk to the corner store and bring home a Baguette.
maryann - Kudos for reaching out from your own issues to talk to a boy with 8 days of sobriety. Hope your garage door isn't a major deal to fix.
nationalparker – That Cooper Chapel is striking - thanks for the link. Super news from your brother.
Karen (karenrn) - That Thermador Induction Cooktop sounds intriguing - never used one, except to watch it in a store. Good luck getting your phone App to work for your needs.
curlyjax - Thanks for the reminder that 'vegan' doesn't guarantee 'healthy' - insidious sugar permeates all diets. Congrats for working the details of your UK trip in advance so your kids can do their social media without breaking the bank.
Ani (dailypractice) - Congrats on that "the first edge downward in a long while" - there's nothing like a wink from the scale to help us go forward. Neat that you're experimenting with alternate ways to get in motion.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 1 The Key to Success
No Lost Causes
The Beck Diet Solution is based on the same plan that I use with my patients who want to lose weight. It works, regardless of your unique psychological makeup, lifestyle, and family circumstances. Whether you're depressed or content, a stay-at-home or working parent, a binge eater or social eater, a dieting novice or dieting pro, this program can help you.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 22.
Phone check in today because I left my computer at the ranch.
Yesterday used up many points on sugar and was hungry. Lesson learned. Today is gym then more appts. - vision and PT
Author I chose was Josephine Tey. Daughter of Time. Definitely quality writing but a little Over my head in its focus on English history. Silverbirch will have to give me the summary of the War of the Roses. Voted one of all time best mysteries. I'll review it for all of you later.
maryann, fantastic choice of Daughter of Time! An important book. I'll give you a summary of the Wars of the Roses in the next few days. It will be good for me to get it straight.
I'm still at my mother's where things are going well. The DB and I are replacing rotten panelling in the garage and learning a lot. We are at the very beginning of our journey towards becoming cabinet-makers. We're at the rough carpentry stage. Such fun. Food not so good as I am badly fatigued and am using sugar to get through. You all know how that's not a great idea. Had a lovely walk round a garden with a friend today.
A late post for me. Food is on plan. Exercise today was a walk with Otis that started at 4:50 a.m. and 87 degrees and then yoga with a few weights before that at the Y. I really do like the yoga also and especially like visiting with some of the ladies before the class. With this heat and summer, my friends are gone and I don't get out much. The socialization is about as important as the exercise.
This afternoon the dog trainer was over for a training session. Otis was very cool to him since he pulled him in to the pool two sessions ago. We are very tender with our little guy, so he just isn't used to that kind of interaction. The trainer was wondering if it was his infection or something and had he been that way with others. "Well, gee no he hasn't." He even cozied up to the kitchen contractor. I felt a little bad for the trainer, but Otis was definitely snugged up to Mama. He did well with the training though, which is "Place".
Silverbirch I'm impressed with your construction activity. Sounds like good exercise as you get the project done. The walk around the garden sounds wonderful too.
Maryann Oh, sugar. I know when I stay away from it I am so much better off. I have cherries for dessert tonight and they will be delicious. I do love sweets, but they always say "Have more" to me.
Bill Your little DGD sounds a bit like my 3 brothers were as youngsters. One of them was always needing to go to the ER for stitches or something. In fact when my son was born, I thought that was what happened to all boys and luckily it wasn't that way for him. I hope it doesn't turn out that way for DGD either.
Ani I can't do push ups either. I use a bar that is a couple of feet off the ground and do them so it is easier. At the gym I go to they call it "scaling". Whatever exercises we are currently unable to do they "scale" so that we get the movement and same muscles are involved and then we work up from there. My goal is push ups and pull ups. I think the push ups will come along much sooner than the pull ups. I flexed for dh this evening and he said he can tell the difference in my biceps and triceps already. I have watched some amazing YouTube videos of women my age who gained a ton of strength even with a late start. We do plenty for the abs, but I also do planks at home and at a free time in my yoga class.
Nationalparker I'm so glad your brother got good news and I'm hoping he is feeling good for your visit. Enjoy your time in Florida!
Well...where I lived the longest growing up, so still home. Great time spent with my brother and, as nearly always happens when I travel alone, I met the most interesting woman on my flight. I chose the middle seat so I didn't have to move later to let someone in the row...and that invited this woman to join our row. Our conversation will stay with me and I want to journal about it, too. She taught creative writing and err just really hit it off. Good karma!
Healthy lunch and dinner. Credit.
I have a feeling this week will fly by. My brother looks very different but very much the same. Same smile, laugh, voice, eyes. Just a bit diminished in body.
Frustrating and difficult situation to handle at work when I return. Will rough out my points in down time here.
Friday - Christopher Sholes patents ''Type-Writer'' (1865, Milwaukee)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Success with a bureaucrat day! Spent the day on the phone with the bureaucrats who had sent me the form that had taken three trips to the bank to notarize. Yep, they'd received it back but had just ignored it because it was the wrong form. "When did you intend to tell me that you were ignoring me?" met with, "Do you want me to find a solution or to keep yelling at us?" I went with the solution; they emailed the correct form; DW made her fourth trip to the bank for notarization; I emailed back; and, as a special bonus, they escalated my case to 'Customer Service' where the three day wait to get money transferred from hither to yon was reduced to three minutes! CREDIT moi for following up to be sure that action was being taken. I braced myself for the next task of getting a copy of a check written in May. Much to my delight, the bank's web site had anticipated that task so that only a few clicks created a PDF file of the front and back of the cancelled check ready to be emailed. That's the first advantage I've encountered on the policy these years of not returning cancelled checks - just a miniaturized copy of them. To all the bureaucrats whose reputations I've besmirched, my apologies.
Eating was OK enough. I didn't snack through the travails, CREDIT moi, since I was too annoyed to think that peanuts would make it work better. The day ended, yet again, with dinner on the patio enjoying a breeze.
silverbirch – Thanks for the pictures of Barrington Court - what I've assume all UK houses are like since I watched Downton Abbey. Kudos for advancing in carpentry skills with your DB.
maryann - Yep, sugar makes me hungry, also. Even though I've seen the TV ads showing all problems going away if one eat a Snickers bar. Presumably, they couldn't say that on TV if it weren't true. [/Tongue-in-cheek]
nationalparker – Kudos for "Healthy lunch and dinner" even while traveling. Neat that you see the ways that your brother is still the same.
Karen (karenrn) - Neat that you're willing to start out so early to get in a walk before the heat descends.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 1 The Key to Success
No Lost Causes
In the past, you may have been able to make short-term changes in your eating habits to help you lose weight. But when the going got tough, you abandoned those changes because you didn't know how to talk back to such sabotaging thoughts as:
Dieting is too hard!
I have to eat this. I have no self-control.
I don't want to hurt her feelings, so I'll eat what she made.
I can't diet when I'm stressed.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 23.
Food on plan and exercise is completed for the day, a walk with Otis and my Crossfit class. Boy was the last part ever hard today. It was extremely strenuous and included jumping rope at the beginning and the end. I'm sure I'm getting stronger, but it is still a challenge for sure.
No big plans for the day other than a run to Costco, probably after lunch. I can't get too excited about meal preparation in this heat (which will last for months). I'm thinking we are soon moving on to mostly salads with some protein on top. I'm kind of toying with adding a few more healthy fats to my diet. I still double track in WW and My Fitness Pal and I'm a bit high on protein and low on fat. I would most likely use nuts and avocado, even though I really would prefer butter, butter and more butter.
Bill Glad you finally had some success with your banking dilemma. Dinner on the patio sounds great. I'm supposed to start doing Otis's training outside and waited too long today. He basically said forget it when it was 90 degrees at 6:40. I'll try a little earlier tomorrow.
Nationalparker I'm so glad your trip has started out well. Enjoy your week and just think about Florida and family.
Well I guess I've cooled off enough to take a tepid shower, so off I go to do that.
Good news. The garage fix was $86.00. I was much more dismal in my forecast. Weight at ticker. Food yesterday tracked. I put my gym clothes on immediately this morning even though I wanted to lounge around in comfy cothes. Now I have to go there at some point.
Under Beck Heading "Make time for healthy eating," I took a half hour to run the Weight Watcher Points on new food items at Target. Specifically searching for items to take with me on my Monterey conference next week. I found a non refrigerated protein drink I can stand for only 3 points. I can't do whey, soy or a bunch of fake sugars. This has the pea protein I use in my Vitamix smoothies and stevia which I can tolerate. I also found PB2 which is a powdered peanut butter. It is only 1 pt. per serving as compared to 6 points of the real stuff. I had it on a delicious apple this morning and it was quite tasty. Although, I have decided in my life to eat real food for the most part (I know that sounds funny,) I am comprising a little bit to accommodate an extremely busy life. I will be facing three prepaid cafeteria meals a day for five days. i can not eat three meals a day without gaining. The solution for me will be to bring the protein drink and NOT go into the cafeteria for one of the meals. I will bring apples to have the PB2 on in case of no appropriate snacks. I will also bring my scale.
Along these lines, I read a fascinating Time's article on current dieting research. To sum up crudely: After billions of dollars of research, scientists have come to the following conclusions:
1. No diet works for everyone. In fact there are as many successful food plans as dieters. Researchers don't know why plans must be so individualized but two people can literally be eating the exact same thing and only one will lose.
2. People who have dieted in their lifetime are not kidding when they say they are eating almost nothing compared to what they use to eat and still they won't lose. Research has proven that metabolisms become extremely inefficient with every weight variation even if the weight was lost very slowly. Biggest Loser contestants burned 700 calories less at resting than given the same circumstances before they went on the program. They gained back 66% of their weight back on average.
Not much of a silver lining but here were the commonalities of successful dieters:
1 hour of exercise on average a day
journaling or coaching (like us)
many trials and errors to find the individualized plan that worked
weighing at least weekly if not daily
watch less than ten hours of tv a week
Without these points in place, the average person gained back weight at about 2- 4 pounds a year.
This is what I took away from it. I am doing all the right things ( if I increase my exercise a bit) and it is not easy for anyone.
Anywhoooooo. . . I thought you folks might find it interesting. On to more chores. Wave to all.
A good day - I would love so many more good days with family! A treat for many and I appreciate what my DB and I have ... and with SIL as well. Healthy eating. He and I ate out at a new-to-us lunch spot that my nephew had selected - wonderfully healthy and fresh. Looking forward to taking DH there in a month or so. Nephew's wife joined up as well, a nice surprise!
Karen - I can't even with your temps! Hang in there and hope you get to sleep early if you're up a few hours before dawn!
Bill - I had to LOL because I can't imagine you yelling at someone on the phone! Relief that it's handled and moving along the right channels. I forgot about ever receiving copies of cancelled checks! Seems like ages ago, now...
Last edited by nationalparker; 06-23-2017 at 10:45 PM.
Saturday - King Philip’s War begins (1675, Swansea, MA)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Walk, CREDIT moi, found five books at a book cart outside a retirement home that I've already read and loved. I couldn't walk away because I kept thinking that someone had my reading taste and I'd find a stack of books that I hadn't read. Alas, it was as if my DW had secretly emptied my own bookshelf. I walked home with none.
Eating was on plan - except for larger snacks. DW had asked me to help her trim some high vines in the afternoon. When I went down to help, the skies opened up with a downpour. A downpour of (measured exactly) 2/100ths of an inch. OK, a short downpour. Within the hour all was dry enough to go do the trimming.
maryann - Good news, indeed, on the low cost to fix the garage. Prepaid meals for five days will be a challenge. Kudos for making a plan in advance.
nationalparker – Neat that it's a happy visit with your DB. I love a new restaurant.
Karen (karenrn) - Yay for a Crossfit class that's pushing your limits. Hope Otis is surviving the heat.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 1 The Key to Success
No Lost Causes
The set of psychological strategies in this book will help you in many ways. You'll learn how to resist the urge to overeat when you're confronted with cravings, hunger, stress, social pressures, and myriad other problems. You'll learn how to follow your diet and exercise programs no matter what happens. You'll learn how to think like a thin person. These strategies take practice, but in time they'll become automatic.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 23.
hi coaches-
School is finally over for the kiddies, and my son has been doing non stop hanging out with buddies, which is great, especially since its not here. One of these days we will have to make this a better place to hang out with more than one kid, but it is rather small and i’m secretly relieved that we aren’t hosting 8 teenagers
DH and I have been figuring out the British rail system and how to buy tickets in advance, to make it a lot cheaper. This has involved a bit of cursing at the laptop etc but finally we have that chore done. Still much to do but hopefully more fun stuff like narrowing down how many castles etc we want to see.
Maryann- interesting article, thanks for sharing and summing up. I guess the tv part is because folks tend to snack during it? Good plan for tackling the cafeteria! Silverbirch- thought of you during a Midsomer Murder Dvd as part of it took place in Wales and I heard the lovely Welsh accent- or at least one, maybe it differs depending what part you’re in? Anyhow I wish we had time to get there, but hopefully another trip! you are doing great renovations for your mom! Karenrn- thanks for feedback on whats app. your kitchen is moving along, it sounds so exciting! I think salad plus protein plan is great for the summer, i am thinking that way too, now that the kids eat salad. Dailypractice- great job getting restarted! Good reminder to engage the abs, I need to work on that too. Bill-good job on leaving those books! yikes for dealing with bureaucrats, that stuff can make one crazy! nationalparker-so glad you’re having a nice time with brother and family! enjoy every minute of it. Onebyone-I like the 30/30/30, great idea. i should create my own pattern with stretching in there.
Food on plan. Down .2 at @WW this morning. I'm below my goal, but glad to stay there and don't mind slowly going down. Otis and I walked at 5 a.m. and I just got finished doing his training. We are still doing it in the house cause by the time I got home from WW it's too hot outdoors. Dh is going to move some of the outdoor furniture to give us more space and tomorrow we will do the training right after our walk. He is doing pretty well, but I know it will be an adjustment to be outdoors with more distractions. At that time of day probably just the birds.
OMG I had the best time entertaining myself with an ap I put on the phone yesterday called My Talking Pet. (OK I know you will really see how boring it gets here when it's this hot.) Anyway, I saw it when a friend had her dog sing happy birthday on FB. Anyway, I used a photo of Otis and then with the ap you mark certain points on the face, then record a message and low or high tone and then record. It was hilarious. I sent dh a text from Otis asking when he was coming home. As you can see, I get my jollies easily.
Curlyjax Your trip planning sounds great. Most years I have some trip planning going on. It is so much easier with the internet compared to how it used to be. I always think the enjoyment of a trip is 1/3 planning, 1/3 taking the trip, and 1/3 reminiscing about the trip.
Bill Good job coming home with no books. Did I tell you mangos are 3 for $1 here. Darn I purchased mine when they were 2 for $1 but maybe I can eat those up before the ad is over.
Nationalparker So glad to hear you are enjoying your trip. I really enjoy my youngest brother and his wife so much. I'm sure I've mentioned her grown kids and grandkids live here, so I see her even more than him. She's going to retire later this summer and I can't wait. Db will probably be a year off or more, but he has more vacation than she does. Anyway, I'm so glad to have some family I like so well. Oh and don't worry about me getting enough sleep; I am an early to bed, early to rise person.
Maryann What a pleasant surprise on the garage door repair! The Time's article is interesting and right in line what I think most of us are trying to do. Many of us have different food plans, but they work for us. I'm with you on mostly eating real food, but even though I have never been much of a peanut butter eater, I love the PB2 in plain Chobani yogurt with some sweetener. I usually eat it right after I've mixed it, after the gym, but I think it would taste like peanut butter pie if it were frozen. It's one of my new kicks. We're going to happy hour with a friend tonight, so if I have some extra calories, it will be today. Enjoy the weekend!
Credit for spending more time on combined Pantry Challenge and Beck Food Prep Time. I have about five pounds of sorghum DH brought me about two years ago. We grow it periodically. I FINALLY used up the 25 pounds of oats I bought in a moment of frugal insanity three years ago. If anyone wants to know, yes it keeps that long but barely. So oats was on my shopping list. Then I found the sorghum in the pantry. Research says it has much more protein than oatmeal and antioxidants blah blah. It also has an extremely long cooking time. This morning I tackled a batch in my pressure cooker. After trial and error cooking with some mathematics involved in point calculation, I came up with a pretty tasty 7 pt breakfast with maple syrup, cooked apples, cinnamon and pecans. I am doing experiment on the best method to store single servings because I am NOT taking 3 hours to cook breakfast everyday I froze some with my Foodsaver, used tupperware for a few and had 1 cute small Bell's jar. If this works out I'll have healthy breakfasts for pennies when I get super busy during school.
I'm the proverbial Dog and the Butterfly. Once I started researching making smaller bags from my Foodsaver, I became obsessed with backpacking uses, recipes, using regular ziplock bags, etc. . . it was a youtube frenzy. Now it is past noon and I better let it go. Perhaps the gym.
Weight is at ticker. Exercise last night was light swimming at the pool with DS. Super fun.
BBE: Someone reads like you. A doppelganger. Wouldn't it be fun to meet him/her face to face?
KarenRN: Great tip on PB2 and youghurt. I'll have to try it.
nationalparker: I'm so glad you can go visit DB.
Cureyjax: I feel guilty admitting it, but I hate when the teen friends are here even though my house is big. I am pretty introverted by nature and like things one on one in my private life. Of course, in my professional life I am use to groups of 35. Maybe one is the reason for the other.
A day well-spent on this end. A lot of remembering along with just trying to remember, which takes even longer with the sidebars. Went to DB's grand daughter's dance recital tonight - LONG. VERY long. I thought it a bit inane that some of the parents took part as well. Your day in the sun is over - leave it behind. I'm hard on that. If it was a recital, would they have sung? I hope not. But all in all, enjoyable, even if it was a 4+ hour event. Last night my brother put on a dvr-d Grantchester, a Christmas episode, that we really enjoyed. I'd not seen all of the episodes up to this one, so I have a season, i think, to catch up on. This piqued my interest to find out how things came to be. Maybe something to put on while on the exercise bike.
Have found a time to meet a best friend who lives here after DB's chemo on Tuesday. He doesn't typically feel too well, and I think a quiet house might fit in with his plans then.
Maryann - I think I'm with you - friends used to ask me if I hated living alone. No - I traveled with teams of 15-35 people weekly for more than a decade and coming home was always a refuge. Many of the athletes would stop by and then hang in my office so I was never lonely there I do like my refuge.
Bill - Did you check your bookshelf when you got home, just to make sure DW hadn't sneakily cleared it? That sounds like it's going to be the start of a funny story when you realize they WERE your books! haha
Karen - Too funny on the app. I was thinking today my brother's house seems quiet when we came home - his last dog passed a couple of years ago and I still miss her. It seems the emptiest when you first arrive home. Hope happy hour was fun!
CurlyJax - Great job on figuring out the ticketing system and getting set there! Sounds like your preparations are coming together! The neighbors all played at our home, but my brother's friends were also sent over to get haircuts from my dad on weekends if he was not working.
Back on track
, it’d been open heart… Thankfully it did work, so no open heart. Your brother’s good news must really relieve you stress.
Thursday - W.E.B. DuBois elected to National Institute of Letters (1943)
to all.
I do like my refuge. 