Diet Coaches/Buddies – Exercise was chase the DGD day, CREDIT moi. She's now enrolled in a "Thousand books before Kindergarten" program at the local library. That sounded like a big deal until the librarian pointed out that only three books a day for one year reached that goal. It's not 1000 different books; reading the same book multiple times counts. The canvas gift bag comes with Curious George Visits the Library; a new book is handed out for each 250 book milestone. By their way of counting, DGD was read ten books while at our house yesterday. A two year-old goes through a cardboard-paged book really fast, shouting "The End" as a triumph when slamming the last page.
Eating was good enough; DW asserted that 'pizza' was written on the week's menu, so that's what we had for our wedding anniversary. She was scheduled to go out to a gardener thing so suggested postponing my invitation to a nice restaurant until later. By serving the pizza inside onto plates taken out to the patio, I had exactly two eighth-pizza slices, CREDIT moi. That leaves me with two slices for lunch today. Knowing that cold pizza sits in my fridge is just the best.
Karen (karenrn) - Great that the knee might just be a temporary hit. I drool over your mention of The Pacific Coast Trail.
curlyjax - Yay for slowing increasing your exercises and stretches.
keengkong - It's great that you already know about CBT - a good start in accepting the simple steps of The Beck Program. Yes, indeed, guys are welcome at 3FC. Weight loss for guys tends to be easier than for females for reasons that aren't clear to me. But regain is just as easy - if not easier.
We treat each other as "Diet Coaches" on this forum. That tends to take the form of just responding to our reports. It's different than a professional coach - in some ways easier since we don't know each other in real life. For meal planning, Beck suggests (at the end of the book) creating a general plan. When I set out to do that, I found it easy because I gave myself wide leeway for what meals entailed. A plan can be about portion size for whatever is chosen. My evening meals are prepared by my DW, so my plan is to eat a sane portion of what's served. That was a big change from previously when I always had seconds of the meat item. Even last night's spontaneous pizza was already covered in my general plan to have only two slices whenever pizza was my dinner.
I really identify with your "I won't struggle over whether to eat something I know I shouldn't" - knowing that I'm not going to indulge in appetizers at a restaurant makes that decision easy for me.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3 How Thin People Think
characteristic 6 You Feel Helpless and Hopeless When You Gain Weight
You, however, may have constant sabotaging and demoralizing thoughts that undermine your confidence. When you overeat, you might believe that you'll never be able to control your eating.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 39.
I woke at 5.45am this morning and just got going. I've been able to spend five hours on my annual accounts at the office as a preliminary to my tax return so that is very good. I always do exercises at the office, one or two in each break from the computer. It's been on and off rain all day, and now I'm back home.
Bill, 'a sane portion' - that's a good expression. I'm still on the three sensible meals a day eating plan and it's broadly OK. I hear what you and maryann are saying about needing less food as you get older. Great to learn about the Lewis and Clark Expedition from you the other day. I hadn't heard of them and then they popped up again yesterday when I learnt that the expedition was enabled to keep going by eating camassia quamash bulbs. Lots of very interesting material about that. ‘Camassia’ comes from the native American Nez Percé name for this plant, and means ‘sweet’. The bulbs or qém’es were gathered and eaten boiled or roasted by the Nez Percé, Cree and Blackfoot native Americans. Apparently a bit like sweet potatoes.
karen, I'm so impressed that you're going to Crossfit.
keengkong, for what it's worth, if I don't plan meals ahead of time I am guaranteed to go off the rails. Planning makes all the difference. Nice reasons to lose weight! I should revisit mine.
curlyjax, I love it when I feel a bit more flexible.
to all. The SO is making tea tonight. I should go out and try to erect the sweet pea frame again which blew over in the first storm of the autumn. Equinoctial gales - they always come barrelling up from the SW.
I got on the scale and see that my efforts, even though not perfect, are keeping me where I need to be so I don't have to pay at WW. The weather man said our temps were going to slide down, they even had a slide on the news showing how the temps were going down. I think someone forgot to ship the slide to Scottsdale, cause it was still 83 this morning. It is saying on my phone that the morning temps will be in the lower 70's and then even down to the higher 60's. I won't hold my breath, but I am hopeful. I must get hiking so I'm in really good shape by the end of November. My friend's husband, Neil, is flying down from Seattle and will hike Flatiron with me just after Thanksgiving. My friend will fly down a day later and we'll do some easier hikes with her. I want to be able to hike it with ease. Hopefully I can get Hiking Suzanne to go with us. The three of us backpacked the Grand Canyon a year ago May.
Silverbirch Glad you had the time to work on your taxes. I get ours ready for the CPA just as soon as I have the information needed. I'm always wondering how much we're going to owe. Luckily we seem to be having enough withheld lately and it is not bad.
Bill I can just imagine DGD exclaiming "The End" at the end of her books. She is so lucky to have you and your wife. I am sure her parents appreciate all the love and attention she gets from the two of you.
Well I'm going to get moving. So far I have walked Otis and done the ironing, even with the breaker going off several times. I will be glad to get home. It's time to get ready to go to Costco and yoga.
This week has been both slow and speedy - seems like the evenings have just sped by. Weekend eve now, so looking forward to just one more workday. Still OP, so credit for that. Dinner tonight was chili lime chicken burgers with a pile of pico on them. Hit the spot! I am planning to tackle nothing project-wise tonight. Dishes are done and kitchen is clean and 'shut down'.
Bill - Great picture of your DGD flying through the book to reach the end. Good reminder to enjoy the process and not just always look for the ending point. Your sane portions is very wise.
Silverbirch - Credits for continuing to post despite busy days!
Karen - An acquaintance of mine is hiking the Grand Canyon next month - her husband is excited and while she enjoys hiking, she doesn't like camping. I wish she did because I think it'll be more fun to anticipate for her.
GardenerJoy - How has your midweek been going?
CurlyJax - Hope you and your friend were able to get out for a good walk yesterday. I want to find a couple of friends who are up for walks, even if just at work during lunch.
Last edited by nationalparker; 09-14-2017 at 09:32 PM.
Friday - Charles Darwin and the HMS Beagle reach Galapagos Islands (1835)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Dinner was a generous buffet with about a hundred old work buddies. It was just a great evening. It so enhances my mood to chat with folks with whom I've done some great engineering programs long ago. I worked at taking only one plate, skipping the rolls, and concentrating on fish (CREDIT moi for those), but the total was over plan. One by product of chatting with folks is that the volume of food goes unnoticed. I did get three raw oysters and three large shrimp - neither of which is served at home.
More classes to keep me thinking. Apparently, it became a big deal to try to merge Aristotle with Christianity when the universities of the thirteenth century were forming and scholars were generating opinions. We have to deal with Aristotle so we can get to Galileo - trying to figure out why Aristotelian philosophy blocked the notion of conducting scientific experiments to figure out how the world worked. There is no need to conduct experiments when all about the world is explained by Aether, fire, air, water, and earth. Q.E.D.
silverbirch – I like the simplicity of "three sensible meals a day eating plan." I had to confront a British friend yesterday. I complained that his people aren't consistent in the use of their language. I'd been set off by a BBC News headline, "U.K. Wants Bespoke Brexit." The problem is that you've helped me to understand the word 'bespoke'. But that headline implies that there are many Brexits executed by the unwashed that contrast with the U.K.'s desire for a bespoke one. Is it asking too much to want a consistent language?
nationalparker – LOL at "both slow and speedy." Yay for taking an occasional night off from your projects.
Karen (karenrn) - Love the goal of "don't have to pay at WW" - what a motivating concept. Breakers going off is a signal from the universe that you don't have to do ironing any more. Rumpled is the new thing.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3 How Thin People Think
characteristic 6 You Feel Helpless and Hopeless When You Gain Weight
The Beck Diet Solution
This program teaches you many techniques to prevent overeating. But, equally important, it also teaches you how to learn from your eating mistakes and to recommit yourself to your diet right away. When you do so, your confidence grows. You'll know that you can immediately recover from slips and control your eating and weight.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 39.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 09-16-2017 at 06:18 AM.
Hi Coaches! Yesterday I went to see a nutritionist. She said I should do about 1500 calories a day to lose weight, and talked about getting enough protein, veggies and fruits and a few servings of whole grains a day. I left feeling like, okay, I do know this stuff already, and I do have some good habits under my belt (eat breakfast, salads for many lunches). I did get a few more ideas for snacks, and will go back in about 6 weeks to see how I’m doing. So it was helpful to reinforce some of my thoughts and habits anyhow, and will provide some more external motivation.
So back to Beck for the rest of it! I’m making a new card- I get one treat a day and I have to eat it at home. If I want some of those free chocolates floating around, I will bring them home and eat them after dinner. I did not get into the muffins at work yesterday and I won’t today either!
St. Louis will likely be in the national news this weekend. The 60 seconds that they'll give the story will show any dramatic footage that they can get, but won't report the stresses of the last few days, the last few months, or the last few years. Pressure cooker. They will never report on the missed opportunities to create a better outcome.
I ate over it yesterday, but not a lot. Here's what I notice -- even small deviations from normal impact my sleep. I wake up in the wee hours of the morning feeling physically icky -- and, then, I worry about my health and, then, I worry about everything else.
I know that I can use my insomnia for motivation to eat better. It's why I haven't indulged in potato chips or salty snacks for years. It's why I've been able to avoid cakes and cookies that have way more sodium than it seems like they should.
What I'm noticing, right now, as I write this, is that the motivation to reduce insomnia has helped me avoid categories of food. I keep trying to use it as motivation to "do better." But that's clearly not how it works for me. So, adding to the list of things I avoid due to insomnia -- candy from bulk bins (I already avoid it in other forms for other reasons, but that's slipped through somehow) and white bread.
Welcome, keenkong! Yes, we serve as a kind of group coach -- collectively, we're brilliant at it!
Planning meals ahead of time was a breakthrough for me, so I do suggest giving it a shot. But not every one here does it, and even I don't do it all the time.
Speaking of which....okay, I just wrote my plan for today. It took all of about 30 seconds.
I so relate to feeling stupid about overeating -- Beck has helped with that, fortunately. Also, some things I learned about how the food industry is out to get us to eat more and more (The End of Overeating by David Kessler and Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss).
BillBlueEyes: I took a whole class once that explained why Christianity ended up more Greek than Hebrew. It's why there's a mismatch between the communal values in the Bible and the much more hierarchical structures that developed in the church and in our culture. We might have had a very different world if things had gone differently at the First Council of Nicaea in 325.
We finally got a morning temp that was in the mid 70's. Otis and I had a nice hour long walk. I also did my gym workout today and not much else. Otis had a groomer's appointment so I ran a couple of errands. We were out of the fig balsamic I use in our spinach salad dressing so I ran to Kierland Mall to get that. I always get a couple of bottles, but they aren't very big and they are expensive. It's one of those things that is delicious and healthy too. I'm looking forward to going to our house this weekend because they started painting and hung some light fixtures. My husband doesn't remember that we choose the ones over the kitchen island and thinks they are too shiny. There are two polished nickel chandeliers and one that is similar will go over the kitchen table. I hope I like them as much as I thought I would. He was less than impressed.
My food plan for the weekend is to try not to use all my extra weekly points on the weekend. We'll see how that goes. I'm hiking Bell Pass tomorrow in these cooler temps and maybe Sunday too. I need to get a few things done around here before dh gets home. Maybe personals later.
Surprised at how busy my workday was and stayed late to get things wrapped up before a work trip early next week. Quick dinner at home and then a run to Trader Joe's that was pretty pricey but picked up the oddball items we don't often buy, as well as food gifts for MIL gift basket to go along with her bday gift. DH beat me home by an hour or so after a long week. I was mentally bothered (I guess that's what I mean) that he just waits for me to get home to start dinner, to feed the pets, to walk the dog, to empty the dishwasher, what have you. I know he's tired. I am, too. But it bugged me- it just wasn't on his radar. I don't know why. Why is it on MY radar? I don't want to always be finding fault. Goodness knows, I have enough for someone to criticize. I indulged in a few spoonfuls of ice cream tonight. They had their pints of organic ice cream for $1.99. It was semi-melty by the time we got home - or as I call it, perfect ice cream consistency. I enjoyed a few and then put it back. I know DH will go through those pints quickly - it's his "can't leave alone" food - even though I asked him to keep the vanilla so I can make a mini peach cobbler again next weekend if I can find peaches. Or a plum crumble.
Better note tomorrow. Frazzled mind tonight. This is the last week of summer - I hate seeing it move along. CurlyJax - you're probably there with me. I think we're of the same mindset, as much as we love the other seasons...
Things were a little tough today. I didn't read my cards (actually, they're electronic--Evernote) until late in the day. But I did end up doing my reading/tasks. I've done everything that I'm supposed to do. I gave myself credit. While I'll list the things today, I don't plan on doing so everyday. However, I did commit, as my plan to remind myself to give myself credit, to write at least once a day for a month in Evernote some things I did that deserve credit. Here is what I have for today:
With the exception of a few times when I started eating before realizing I was breaking a rule, I ate while seated.
This kept me from eating during the middle of the night.
I brought a healthy lunch and ate a reasonably healthy breakfast.
My weight went down to 211.6.
I'm still working on things; I don't give up easily.
I'm still learning how to diet.
I didn't eat during the middle of the night; even though I wanted to, I wanted to eat during the middle of the night less when I realized that I'd make myself sit down to do it.
Saturday - Mayflower departs Plymouth, England (1620)
Diet Coaches/Buddies – Exercise time was spent washing my car! I can't believe that I did that. That's what rain is for. There's a show today for the 2018 Nissan LEAF and I've been asked to park my old LEAF in the display area for contrast. That made me realize that it needed to be washed; it's been fifteen months since I've bought it. So I paid the guy a handful of money and let them drag it through the car wash. Seems that I only paid for the 'basic' wash. What I remember as a 'car wash' is now called 'detailing' (when they get in and wipe off the dust accumulated on the dash board and vacuum the mats). I had to take a bottle of 409 Cleaner, a bucket of water, and a towel to finish the job at home. The neighbors stopped to stare at me. It did provide satisfaction as I watched the grime in the little crevices disappear. Naturally, I continued under the hood to shine the motor, DC-DC converter, and auxiliary battery, also. Under the hood of an electric car has none of the grime of a gasoline engine car - just the same collection of leaves and twigs that gather under the patio table.
Eating was OK. Dinner included yet another almost-the-last homegrown tomato. We were forced to eat indoors due to a slight rain.
Joy (gardenerjoy) – Sending supportive thoughts as you continue to struggle with the issues in the country that have become so visible in Saint Louis. As you predicted, the news is full of the story without and discussion of the five years that have been spent by a bunch of folks trying to address the underlying problems. [Thanks for reminding me that I need to go back to learn about the First Council of Nicaea in 325 to understand some of the basis for the odd parts of our beliefs for the last 1700 years.]
nationalparker – One of the barriers that keep me from walking down to the corner store for a pint of top shelf ice cream is that it's rock hard. It's just no fun scooping ice cream in slivers. Welcome to the weekend.
Karen (karenrn) - Have a comfortable Bell Pass hike today. Kudos for allowing yourself the treat of good fig balsamic vinegar.
curlyjax - 1500 calories is a comfortable day; those who diet at 1200 calories have to work terribly hard to stay that low. Kudos for adopting a new strategy with one treat at home instead of all the "free chocolates floating around."
keengkong - Yep, Kudos indeed for giving yourself credit. It blew my mind when Beck made me realize that I didn't give myself credit for the small steps each day that lead to living a sane life. Neat that thinking about sitting down helped you to avoid eating during the middle of the night.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 3 How Thin People Think
characteristic 7 You Focus on Issues of Unfairness
Are you surprised to learn that most thin people restrict their eating to some degree? They might be trying to maintain their weight or to stay healthy - or both. So they sometimes eat smaller portions than they would really like and choose healthy foods when they'd really prefer to eat something else. They accept these limitations without too much struggle. They just don't think about it very much.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), pg 39.
I am committed to out early and back for food shopping. I won't have my normal Monday hour run because I have a field trip with my seniors.
So a quick hello to KeengKong. We are neighbors! I am central Valley as well. I have found this site instrumental in keeping off the weight. I have been over 200 pounds twice in my life.
Scale is one pound below ticker.
I dusted off my fitbit and discovered I walk about 2 miles a day in my job. I need to add an additional two miles five days a week to meet my goal. Stretching and an elevation treadmill will be my break from correcting papers.
gardenerjoy: Thxs for reminding me that if I change night eating i might sleep better. curleyjax: I always get testy when nutritional "experts" tell me things everybody knows. Maybe I am just frustrated with myself for failing to always follow pretty simple rules.
This is going to be short cause otherwise it might be not at all.
Food is on plan and today I hiked Bell Pass. It was 71 degrees at the start of the hike at 5:45. A gal from the gym met me at the trailhead and we had a nice chat while hiking. She wants to do hiking and backpacking, so I need to cultivate this friendship . . plus I like her. At my age, 64 next Thursday, there aren't many who want to do what I want to do. I stopped at WW on the way home to weigh in and stay for a meeting. I think tracking, 3FC, WW meetings and all are going to help me stay at goal. Since I have the time I need to do it all because it is important to me.
I need to hit the shower before dh gets home. We're going to our house this afternoon to swim and take Otis to run around in the backyard. Only a few more weeks and we'll be home. Take care,
Another Saturday has come and gone - finishing up some office work at home and then hitting the sack. Busy day - tomorrow I'm going to make sure I set aside time to relax. I have "lounge music" playing now and the whole house is peaceful. Food was mostly OP except we took my MIL out to dinner for her birthday and her choice was Applebee's - so I went with soup and a chicken wonton appetizer trying to look at the ingredients and was OK with the oil as it's a higher fat day. I didn't get in enough veggies at dinner but I was veggie-heavy the rest of the day, so I'm good with the overall effort.
I need to pack up on Sunday - I forgot to wash a pair of black capris that I wanted to take with me, so that's first on the agenda in the morning since i want to hang them dry. My 10s are tighter than they should be and any drying makes them that much tighter.
Bill - One of my baseball players used to tell me all his tricks for detailing cars - toothbrushes, cloth around a screwdriver, etc. It was more commitment than I was prepared to make. A good vac and I was on my way
Keengkong - I think the credit list is good to get in the habit of doing. I'm hard on myself and that doesn't help me at all - I used to list everything I did wrong for the day - I slept in instead of getting up to walk (never mind that I still got the walk in, etc.) ... I think Beck's recommendation to give credit is wise. We make so, so many choices through the day that even just picking the right time to do something is credit-worthy.
Thursday - Luna 2 reaches the moon (1959)
A later check-in on Thursday
to all. The SO is making tea tonight. I should go out and try to erect the sweet pea frame again which blew over in the first storm of the autumn. Equinoctial gales - they always come barrelling up from the SW.
I think we're of the same mindset, as much as we love the other seasons...
