Beck Diet For Life/Solution – January 2019 – Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach
 

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:

Tuesday - Happy New Year (for those using the Gregorian calendar)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - We welcomed in the New Year early in the evening; didn't wait until midnight. I've grown to trust the mechanics of astronomy enough to believe that the earth will turn and will orbit the sun even without my supervision. It's fun to be reminded that we've only used the Gregorian (Pope Gregory) calendar since October, 1582. Before that we had used the Julian (Julius Caesar) calendar since 46 B.C. 'We' is selective since acceptance wasn't universal. England didn't switch to the Gregorian calendar until 1752 due to the fear that it was a Catholic plot since it was introduced by the Pope. Apparently, there were riots because the switch eliminated September 3 through September 14, demanding that the government “give us our 11 days.” It has also been suggested that the riots didn't happen and that the transition was smooth.

Life is simple. The big news is that the city picked up our Christmas tree from the curb already. A nearby town has a rule that the tree will only be picked up during the five days of the first full week after New Year's Day. If you miss, you have to haul it off yourself.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Researching baptisms in the 1840s is getting serious about your genealogy.

Karen (karenrn) - Yep, weekly plans work when our eating lives become predictable. The calories in mac and cheese are surprisingly high.

curlyjax - Kudos, indeed, for bringing home half of your lunch. A new dishwasher is a joy after an old one become hit or miss.

Penny. - By the standards your book suggests, I need to add a few inches as well as losing a few pounds, LOL.

Readers -

Happy New Year! I actually made a healthy meal of ferro, beans and veggies, and indulged in dessert because I was really hungry 45 minutes later. Okay, and I was also rationalizing, its the last few hours of 2018, may as well indulge. Today's fun plan includes finally seeing Bohemian Rhapsody with a friend. I also need to tackle some home chores and get groceries, I think most stores are open.
A new year and new resolutions! Aside from the obvious, I want to try doing something new once a month. I also want to slowly make the house neater, and maybe change furniture around etc-think about how to use the spaces in a new way. And frankly, although I will never stop missing my DH, I would like to date at some point. i miss the companionship of a man.Hopefully that's not TMI!
Karen- it is indeed easier to manage when your DH is in agreement about food, that is great. I'm sure the new year will bring many hiking adventures for you!
Penny- that is too funny about those weight ideas, that really sounds underweight to me. Not everyone is petitely framed!
Bill-yay for Christmas tree being gone. I'm ready to take down everything but DD wants it up a little longer.
Joy-so interesting about your genealogy!
Off to shower and weigh myself (sigh) for a starting point. This will be a much better year in many aspects, and I'm determined to make it so for health as well.

Yesterday's unpredictably meant that I swapped out a snack, but the new choice was at least as healthy as the original one, so I'm fine with that.

We had a successful adventure with microfilm at the library -- we found proof that my husband's 3x great-grandfather was the second of the three husbands of his 3x great-grandmother. The documents we found on-line were conflicting, but the baptism record on microfilm made it clear. That was very satisfying and it's easy to see why genealogy is so addictive.

And, because St. Louis is really a small town, I got to chat with someone I went to library school with who now runs the genealogy department for the county library.

Yesterday's summary
Made food plan: 100%
Implemented food plan: 80%
Exercise: +20, 1000/1000 minutes for December

Happy 2019, everyone!

Happy New Year, Coaches.

I am very excited that 2018 has been laid to rest. Although I had so much for which to be grateful this year, I am looking forward to moving beyond my mood disorder and other physical issues to greater peace. I woke up happy that we were all snug in our beds, off to breakfast and then off to church.

I have had some fun listening to Phit 'n Phat. As Karen said, the language is a little much and there is much with which I don't agree but I am happy to "take what I need and leave the rest" as we say in my 12th step program. Here is the nugget of truth that I found in yesterday's podcast ( which I listened to while sweeping out the garage.):

Don't do anything to lose weight that you aren't willing to do for the rest of your life because at some point you will just gain the weight back.

Now this makes total sense to me. As I age, I have discovered that everyday must be intentional with food and movement. It doesn't have to be perfect but I have to have structure or I am quickly swept away. I feel like I am in a swiftly moving river. If I am not actively swimming, I will easily be swept backward. So on this first day of the year, these are the things that I have proven I am willing to do for a lifetime. They work for me, maybe not anybody else but for me.

Weigh everyday.
Log my food into MFP
Five fruits and veggies a day
Get into motion somehow most days

I have my MFP weight/food logs back to 2012. I am three pounds less than I was then and was never outside plus or minus five in all these years. So these habits have been great maintenance tools. That is saying something for a girl who was over 200 pounds more than once in her life.

I would like to add "make a food plan and stick to it" and "sit while I eat." These are my New Year's resolutions.

BBE: I wouldn't put it past the Catholics to try and arrange time. I know since I am one of them :)
Curlyjax: Makes total sense to have a desire for male companionship. I am the same way. Certainly not TMI.
Penny: I read Eat to Live. I found the weight suggestion ridiculous for me. I also struggled with throwing out whole categories of food. I did make the veggie soup which was a good way to get all my veggies in.

Happy New Year!

Yesterday was on plan and weight is holding.

I finished that Eat to Live book and it marked the 34th book for 2018. It was my first year with a kindle and goodreads account that keeps track of everything. I had no idea how many books per year is average for me and when I signed up for the Goodreads annual reading challenge, I picked 12 for myself. It's fun keeping track!

Bill, the history of the calendar is interesting. I still haven't figured out that midnight will strike without me.

Curly, good 2019 goals!

Joy, a real history detective! That's very cool to have those records available.

Good afternoon coaches,

Just a quick post. I've been totally on plan the past two days. I did get a long walk yesterday, but today I just stayed home and took down Christmas and other things around the house. I'll hike in the morning tomorrow and seeing If Beale Street Could Talk in the afternoon.
I hope New Year's is starting out well for all of you. More tomorrow. Our college team is in the Rose Bowl, so even though they're losing I'm watching.

Another year for us all :)
 

Why, Hello Coaches!

I am re-joining the flock here. I need you guys to remind me I have a plan and long term goals. Not too much has changed I don't think since I was last here. Very appreciative of our long term practitioners of Beck.

I have been way way off course for a while. Not continuously but not consistently enough to make any progress down the scale. I feel up to doing something about that again and I have re-started my foodplan and taken some time to contemplate the direction of this new year. For this month I will experiment with three things 1) reading for an hour everyday 2) cleaning for an hour everyday 3) blogging for an hour/ doing digital things for my blog/online presence.

In addition I am working my foodplan incrementally, the way that I know I get myself back on track.

More later but for now Happy New Year!

Hi everyone!

So, it's January 1st, and like many people, I'm doing a reset. My eating has been completely out of control for several days, and for a large part of the time since Thanksgiving. My mind feels back in the groove, though, and even though I ate enough sweets to feel ill at multiple points this long weekend, I feel ready to be back on track--and have no strong temptations coming up that would derail me getting back to where I want to be.

I started a new wellness journal today. Food Journal & Fitness Diary with Daily Gratitude and Meal Planner for Healthy Living and Weight Loss Diet One of the women in my weight loss program recommended it and we're both doing it. She started yesterday; I started today. I did start today with goals and got through them--5 products, 38 minute walk (goal was 30), weighed, and checked my (out of control) sugar. I ought to spend less time restarting and more time holding steady, but restarting is better than continuing a relapse.

I'm going to update my ticker tomorrow--I won't like it but I'm going to update it--I've gained back 15+ lbs--and didn't want to face it or believe it or accept it. But facts is facts--and I've got to move forward from where I am now, which is still minus 56+ lbs. That's not the 75 I was down--but I want to get back there.

We had a weekend long holiday party with way too much food, including that my BFF and I did too much baking. However, almost NONE of it is left--I ruthlessly gave away almost all the sweets except for a few DH wanted to keep. There's some packaged candy left and I told DD she could take it to work for people or I'd toss it--it wasn't staying in the house. Because there was leftover "real" food as well, DH will have lots of leftover ham, pulled pork, and sloppy joes for the next few weeks--I froze it in small bags. That way if I do go back on full fast for a few months, he'll have some food already prepared. And he's a big boy--he can manage to feed himself for a while again :-) We have 4 house guests still (2 are leaving tomorrow; stepDD is leaving Thursday, and DD's girlfriend is staying through the week). Everything is organized and put away (or as much so as it can be with 4 house guests) and the cleaning service comes tomorrow, so the house will be completely back in order to start the new year.

New year, new plan--and I'm in a way better position than I was this time last year--I can build on that.

onebyone: Welcome back! The new year is a good time to refocus.

karenrn: Credit for walking and house clean up!

G'night all,

--Beth

Wednesday - US & Canada agree to preserve Niagara Falls (1929)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - New Year's Day bird walk saw an unexpected bunch of birds enjoying the bugs and berries available in unusual 60 degree F weather. Would have felt seriously overdressed except that a brisk wind kept us cool enough to continue. Three Red-tailed Hawks and a Cooper's Hawk were special sightings. Later we walked, CREDIT moi, to an afternoon concert with two friends - all enjoying the unseasonably warm and sunny day. At the concert during Vivaldi's Concerto in C Major for sopranino recorder, a burly guy came on stage to play the soloist sopranino recorder. It was so small, yet filled the auditorium. According to the conductor, orchestras usually just assign a piccolo to reach the high notes that this little instrument plays.

Eating was OK - except that FREE champagne and chocolates were offered. I skipped the champagne but had a few chocolates. The bad news is that they weren't particularly good; I wasted a snack on standard, Hershey-quality milk chocolate. My mind was all a-twitter with Bach's Brandenburg Concerto and such that I just expected celestial chocolates as well. That justifies the first one; the several that followed have no excuse whatsoever. I'm grateful to live in a society where there are folks who devote their lives to the performing arts.


onebyone - Yay for "I have a plan and long term goals." Yep, "incrementally" seems like a wise way forward.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - So neat that your microfilm excursion was a success.

maryann - Thanks for "Don't do anything to lose weight that you aren't willing to do for the rest of your life."Neat that you've made realistic resolutions.

Karen (karenrn) - Kudos for being totally on plan over two holidays.

curlyjax - Bohemian Rhapsody is on my list; reviews seems to be extremely positive or negative. Love the notion of something new once a month.

Beth (bethturnaround) - Your Wellness Planner sounds like a good helper. Kudos getting all that food out of your house.

Penny. - It's great that Goodreads keeps the record of your books for the year. 34 seems like a goodly number for a busy person.

Readers -

I did fairly well yesterday, lots of healthy foods, although I did get into the leftover kisses at the end of the day. Well, they're gone now! And I used the stationary bike,more for my hip than anything else, but still. I liked the movie Bohemian Rhapsody: and then after watching it of course i read up on everything they got wrong or right. I'm up early today because DS overslept- its back to school after the break. He has never missed the bus so I am quite happy to drive him today!
Onebyone-it's great to see you!! Your goals for the month sound great.
Beth- I've been over my ticker for awhile too but i really don't want to update it, you're not alone.
Bill- if you don't like the music of Queen, I'm not sure you would like the movie. But re-visiting the crazy styles of the 70s could be fun!

I skipped a snack in the afternoon, only to have a little something extra after supper. An afternoon snack is a habit that can work for me. A little something extra after supper has a very bad track record for me. So, I'll nip that in the bud.

I'll join the crowd of folks who need to confront the scale, never mind that it's going to be more than I want to see. Like maryann, I know that weighing every day works for me and I want to get back to that. I'm out of the habit, now, so that's going to take a bit to develop even after I've talked myself into being willing.

I gave myself a stair-climbing challenge for the new year: how many flights of stairs can I climb in 5 minutes? We have a two-story house plus a basement, so that's two flights up that I count and two flights down that I don't count. Yesterday, the answer was 14 flights. I'm hoping to get more through the year. It was a good way to get my heart-rate up! I won't want to do that every day, but if I can manage 2 or 3 times a week, I'll probably improve.

Yesterday's summary
Made food plan: 100%
Implemented food plan: 70%
Exercise: +30, 30/1100 minutes for January

Good morning!

Yesterday was on plan and weight is holding.

I am loving all the "new year, new me" energy online right now. I use the Youfood app to photo log my food (fabulous for cutting mindless eating) and people who have disappeared are back at it.

Maryann, I agree about the Eat to Live book. I have read 9 health/diet books this last year and the common infomercial format cracks me up but there is usually a few take-aways and a few eye roll moments.

Beth, hopefully it will get easier now that the holidays are over.

Onebyone, good luck with your goals!

Bill, LOL at the cheap chocolates!

Curly, my fav were the hershey hugs. That's good the temptation is out of the house now.

Joy, good idea with the stair climbing!

Karen, kudos for the stretch of days on plan!

Welcome back, onebyone

Yesterday was OP. 2 pounds up from ticker.

Today’s tip from a podcast was small changes make all the difference. My small change this week was to add truvia to the sugar bowl. I sweeten my coffee and I use a spoon to put the sugar in. With half sugar, half Truvia, I do not lick the spoon before I put it in the sink. Embarrassing to admit the straight sugar shots but there you have it. This has made a big difference in sugar consumption during coffee breaks.

Sat while I ate.
Made a food plan.

Off to pack a bathing suit because BBE says there is a heatwave.

Good afternoon coaches,

I have a few minutes before I leave for the Beall Street movie so I'll post so I don't forget. Food continues to be on plan. I am working on leaving a few bites on the plate (which sometimes means transferred to dh's plate), and only eating until I am satisfied. I have been so used to eating by the clock and eating all of what I figured I could based on MFP calories, that this is a change for me. I'm pretty much eating the same things I ate before, so not a huge deal, except a few bites less. This morning after walking Otis with my long underwear on under my pants, and then I hiked Sunrise with Hiking Suzanne also with the long underwear. Crazy. It is only 47 now at 12:30. I weight frequently and now have the digital scale and I'm using the Happy Scale Ap. I've gained 4/10's of a pound since 12/7. I'll take it! I am above ticker though because I did my gaining before the holiday season.

Maryann I agree that I don't really want to do things that I can't do forever. Believe me, I have done that plenty in the past though. I'm eating far less fruit than I used to because I ate so much of it and this month I'm doing a dry January. Now I'm not sure I'll do that forever, but I know it helps with my weight loss.
Penny The energy is everywhere. I love it too.
GardenerJoy Stair climbing is great exercise. I don't have any in my house, but luckily most of my hikes have a good amount of elevation gain.
CurlyJax Is the bike helpful for your hip, or just not causing more pain like walking might?
Bill Everyone I know that has seen Bohemian Rhapsody has loved it, even those who I thought might not. I love all kinds of music except maybe that head banging stuff . . so almost any movie with a lot of music is my cup of tea.
Beth Your journal sounds great and it's always nice when someone else is doing the same thing.
Onebyone It's so nice to see you back. Sounds like you have some good goals for the year. I just love me some good goals.

You all have a great day . . .I had better get out the door pronto.

Hi all,

Food was OP today (5 products) and I took a 30 minute walk at lunch time. That was a nice break. I won't be able to tomorrow, but I'm planning on investigating the indoor track at the middle school tomorrow night. I kept up with my journal today--consistency is going to be challenging but I think it's going to be helpful for a while. I also want to work harder at doing personals at least several days a week--I know it's helpful for me to read everyone's posts more carefully and I like it when others do personals :-)

I exchanged voice mails with my program's dietitian today and she thinks it's fine if I go back on full fast (which is what we call 5 products a day) for a while, so that is settled--I'll make a follow-up appointment with the doctor for later this month.

The house is quieter and I'm putting things back together--we're down to only two house guests :-).

karenrn: Sounds like a good approach to just eat a few bites less.

maryann: Truvia sounds like it's making a difference--it's amazing what tricks we can come up with to improve our choices.

penny: You are so right about New Year energy--the Optifast support facebook group is really hopping, as is a Mensa health support page I'm on. Support makes a huge difference--I know how much difference this forum makes for me. Now to keep that energy going!

joy: Credit for recognizing that afternoon snacks work for you and evening snacks don't. It's such a journey figuring things like that out--but you're catching and changing this one quickly.

curlyjax: Yay for kisses being gone. It's easier to make healthy choices when there are fewer unhealthy choices in the house.

BillBlueEyes: What is the trick for recognizing that a 'treat' isn't good enough to eat more of?

G'night all!

--Beth

Thursday - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine (1496)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was chase the (3 yo) DGD day, CREDIT moi. She did Boston's Children's Museum with enthusiasm, climbing the structure labeled "For children 5 and over" with ease, multiple times. Each adventure was done multiple times with the same enthusiasm. There's so much energy in that little package. When she was done, we put her in her stroller where she promptly fell asleep for the whole subway ride home. That meant that we carried the kid-stroller combo up and down stairs, on escalators (against the rules) and even on elevators that I've never used before. When she goes down, she down.

My lunch was cheese and crackers; I was surprised to learn when we got to their lunchroom that there was no peanut restriction. Concern about peanuts is so non-uniformly enforced. Dinner was leftovers - DW has no energy left after a grandmom day. By the standard candle, it was a good day for staying my eating plan, CREDIT moi.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Your stair climbing exercise sounds fun. I'd definitely count going down, though.

maryann - Yay for small changes.

Karen (karenrn) - It ruins my fantasy of Arizona to know that you guys even own base layers - thought that was a problem only for the far north, LOL.

curlyjax - Yay for a session on the bike to counter "leftover kisses" - which sounds like the title of a bodice-ripper novel.

Beth (bethturnaround) - Neat that you take a 30 minute break from work for a walk. Probably improves your productivity for the whole day. I wish that I knew the secret of halting the eating of a treat that's mediocre. It's a good clue after the fact that it wasn't rational eating.

Penny. - Like the thought of "new year, new me" energy.

Readers -

A couple of substitutions yesterday, based on DH's whims. The substitutions were reasonable, so I'm not too unhappy about that.

I weighed this morning -- credit! And, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.

Summary
Implemented food plan: 60%
Exercise: +35, 65/1100 minutes for January
Weigh-in: +0.65kg

Good Morning.

Packing this morning to visit Beth’s city, Chicago. (I think Beth lives In Chicago)Weather looks very nice. Hope BBE does something about the snow on Monday in Boston.

I have made 7 snack packs of our walnuts with cranberries and a little bit of chocolate. Breakfast every morning will be a protein bar I have packed. I also have seven little fizzy drinks for a afternoon pep up. My goal is to think about food less and enjoy family time more.

I packed sandwiches to eat on the plane.

Wave to all.

Good morning coaches,

Food remains on plan. I did have 2 dates yesterday that I hadn't written down ahead of time, but I do have an overall plan that says I can have 2 dates when I do a good hike which I had done. My weight was down 1.2 pounds and I'll take that. I've just walked Otis and it was very funny. First there was a truck picking up a dumpster that someone had in their driveway for remodel stuff. He's scares of big trucks, so off we go in the other direction. Then we ran into an ice covered sidewalk. He looked like a not very good ice skater sliding across that area. Lastly, on the way home we ran into the truck again who was at the end of the street adjusting the load. At that point I just had to carry my little chicken by so we could get home. I do so enjoy him. I'm heading out for a longer hike now. It's up a hill, down the other side and then turn around and come back. I've got some ambitious hikes coming up, so I want to be ready for them. I will take my long underwear off before I go.
An update on the baby: We got a video of him last evening with his mask off (for just a few minutes) He was squeaking a little and really moving around. His weight is up to 2 lbs 2 ounces. I think I saw a little more meat on his thighs.

Maryann Have a great trip! Sounds like you've done some planning to help you stay on plan.
GardenerJoy It's always good when the scale is better than we thought it would be.
Bill It sounds like you got your exercise yesterday. I really can't imagine how tired I would be after a day with a little one. So fun though! By the way, the long underwear I have is for backpacking. I have never worn it here before, but I'm glad I have it.
Beth I have a new journal too and I haven't been so good about it, I think I had better get started soon. I have all the stuff in my head but I need to put it on paper.

Well, heading out for my hike. Even though the afternoon temps may be nicer I'd probably talk myself out of going. You all have a great day.

Good morning!

Yesterday was on plan and weight is holding. The fridge has been completely cleaned up and reorganized. The food storage container cupboard has been cleaned out. There are a bunch of old plastic containers going to charity and replaced with a couple more sets of the pyrex from Costco.

The last book I read, Eat to Live, really inspired me to eat more fruit. I have a history of never caring much for fruit. I don't dislike it, I just never think to eat it.

My goal is to get at least two pieces of fruit in daily.

Beth, credit for another op day!

Maryann, have a nice trip! Kudos for food planning and prepping.

Bill, credit for another excellent grandparent outing day!

Joy, credit for meeting your weighing in goal.

Karen, lol about Otis. My weiner dog just refuses to walk at all around our block, which I can't figure out. I need to get them out in the dog stroller again.

Slow and steadyish
 

Coaches, good evening!

I am a bit wobbly but I am mostly on track with my three resolutions for January.

This being everyday I
-read for an hour
-clean for an hour
-do something towards my online presence for an hour

Thats three hours total. What seems to be naturally happening is that I do do some of everything on the list but it might be 40 min reading, 1.5hrs online stuff, 30min cleaning. Not sure how strict I should be? Can I fail this? I dont think so. But I will give myself credit for giving these areas attention and for already seeing changes. Its only 3 days after all.

Weight has dropped a bit as well as I begin eliminating snacks and sugars and adding time between my last meal and my first one the next day.

Yay.

Billblueyes: your talk of sandwiches dovetail exactly with this article I just read. Here's the link. It's actually very Beck.
http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/201...e-packed-lunch

Gardenerjoy: did you set a reading goal for yourself for 2019? Are you still blogging?

Maryann: hello! Good to see you. Great news about the weight ticker staying so consistent for so long now. That is a real accomplishment.

Must go. :wave:

Hi everyone!

Today was an OP food day, and I got in more water--by not letting myself have my lunch shake until I'd finished my water bottle and then the same for my afternoon snack. I was going to go to the indoor track at the local school tonight but instead decided to walk to Walgreen's and pick up some NyQuil (coming down with a cold). I made the route a little convoluted to make it be 15 minutes each way. The front part of my thighs is really feeling that I'm walking again--I feel them when I go up and down the stairs. My plan is to stay at 30 minutes for a while (week or two) and then increase it to 40, which was a really comfortable length of time. It's good to be moving again.

I haven't started reading my cards again but I can only do so many things and the journal does take some time--but I think it's going to be good for me for a while. One of the sections is to write down my daily affirmation. "I am nurturing myself with that which serves me". I updated my ticker--didn't want to. I like updating it when the number is going down but not so much when it's gone up. But I need to be honest with myself and all of you if I'm going to succeed.

We did some organizing in the basement tonight of boxes that need to be dealt with long-term. We intend to empty our storage unit this weekend, so that will be more boxes--but we'll finally have all of our stuff in one place again! DH will let his boxes pile up, but I'll organize my stuff in the next month or two. I am so looking forward to having access to all my things again--stuff has been in storage for 21 months! Some of it I probably don't need, but others of it, such as my sewing stuff, was in storage until we had a house to put it in!

onebyone: I think you should give yourself credit for giving attention to all of those things--they are hard.

penny: Your kitchen re-org is motivating!

karenrn: Otis sounds like a cutie--being scared of big trucks!

maryann: I do live in the Chicago area (about 7 miles west of O'hare). Hope you have a great trip--the weather this weekend is going to be quite mild (for a Chicago January)

joy: Credit for weighing! And yay for it not being as bad as you were afraid it would be!

BillBlueEyes: Your DGD sounds like such a bundle of joy and energy!

G'night all!

--Beth

Friday- Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist and father of modern science, born (1643)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was the UPS delivery of a stand to sit under DW's computer so that she can stand while working. It's to solve a (temporary?) issue with too much sitting. The stand is exactly as expected; it unpackaged easily; it lifts up and down easily; it's the right color. Every now and then an online purchase just works.

Eating was OKish. There was one serving of ice cream left in the container from Christmas dinner. It got assigned to me after dinner. I ate it. It wasn't necessary, but I enjoyed it and I'm happy to know that the freezer now only contains food. Eating rationally is easier for me when the unnecessary food isn't in the house.


onebyone - LOL at the Norwegian 'matpakke' for lunch. I do like the efficiency of it rather than the focus on fine dining. Thanks for the link. Kudos for charging forth even if feeling a bit wobbly.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for whims! And for reasonable choices.

maryann - Waving back toward the windy city. Hope you have time to visit the Museum of Science and Industry. Neat idea to think about food less.

Karen (karenrn) - Such good news about the baby. LOL at Otis being afraid of big trucks.

Beth (bethturnaround) - Getting all your stuff back into your own house sounds like a great step forward. Hope the unpacking goes well. Kudos for taking a convoluted path to increase your walking.

Penny. - Neat to substitute pyrex for plastic; I do like the feel of glass. After much googling, I once learned how to order a new blue plastic top to our favorite Pyrex container. Its price was reasonable - shipping was high. So I ordered two to reduce average shipping cost, LOL. I have no idea where the second top is now.

Readers -

Quick wave since I need to do an errand before work. I did well yesterday until the night when I fell into emotional eating. Still too many sweets in the house thanks to DD:) I made myself a new card; Pain Free (for my leg)- that is a good motivator.

I planned one snack yesterday but ate two. I was hungry. An advantage to weighing every day is that I can let that guide my plan. I'm sure that I can't eat two snacks (unless they're both salads) for long and keep getting a drop on the scale. But, I'll let the scale tell me when I need to make a change. I've planned two snacks for today and we'll see how that goes.

Summary
Implemented food plan: 70%
Exercise: +30, 95/1100 minutes for January
Weigh-in: -0.2kg

onebyone: I'm still blogging, but I don't review every book I read, any more. I record the books I read in Goodreads, which makes it easy to set a goal each year. I set my goal for 40 books in 2019. I've started off with a couple of middle-grade books, so I'm off to a fast start!

Good morning!

Yesterday was on plan and weight is holding.

Two days of increased veg and fruit has done a number on the gas situation. I'm hoping that calms down before work the next two days. :lol:

Onebyone, thanks for posting that article! I really enjoyed reading it.

Beth, you're on a roll now! Good luck with the unpacking and storage empty.

Bill, good to know about replacement lids for the Pyrex. Yay for clearing out the last of the ice cream.

Curly, good luck avoiding the siren call of candy today.

Joy, yay for the drop in weight!

Good afternoon coaches,

A quick post since dh will be home very soon. Staying on food plan and my exercise today was back to the gym for weights and 30 minutes on the elliptical. I actually went to the gym before I walked Otis cause it was still so cold this morning.
We went for a nice walk once I got home. Yesterday's hike was a little shorter than I planned. I don't know if it was in my head or real, but I felt like I was running out of gas. I did eat a 190 cal bar when I got to the top of the first hill, but then when I
went part way down the backside of the hill I just didn't feel that energetic and it's quite a hill to climb . . . so I only went half way down. I think I'll try to remember to hike closer to breakfast or go ahead and eat lunch early before I go in the future.
My iPhone health ap says I climbed 110 floors, so you know it's a good hill.

Personals tomorrow.

Took you guys along
 

Coaches!

Hello.

So I was reminded of the power of this group today. I was in the grocery store and wow was I tempted by absolutely everything. But! Since I knew I was going to be posting here I pictured telling all of you of my off plan food and the whole scene of me writing that here flashed through my brain and it was enough to get me out of the store without any obviously poor food choices in my basket. I am grateful for that right now but was feeling miffed about saying no to myself even though that is exactly what I did. I strayed though after the kitchen was closed at 7. I ate standing at the stove at 10pm as I put away leftovers. Ah. Solution: put leftovers away during my eating window. Then its not in my face later on when I dont need to be eating. I wasnt hungry. I just wanted more.

Also restart the idea of only eating when sitting down.

Today I spent about 3 hrs cleaning up my art studio. I also spent an hour or so editing some images which I printed out at the Staples store near the studio. The motivation to clean my space grows the closer I am to being ready to start a new painting. I am ready now. So the last clean up push will be the next time I am at my studio which will be Monday. As a result no cleaning at home was done. I will read a bit now. I expect 30min and then I'll be asleep. I spent a small amount of time devoted to online stuff. Enough to give me an idea of what overall direction to follow which is a pretty big deal. Credit for paying attention to the tasks for Jan.

Food is 90% on plan. Scale is at 277.2 down from Dec 31 high of 283.6.

Bye for now.

Hi all!

We went to the theater tonight and saw Beauty and the Beast. It was fun. At intermission, DH bought a piece of cake and got a fork for me and asked if I wanted a bite. I told him to take the offer back :-). I ate my meal replacement bar as planned, and then bought a bottle of water. I'm having a bit more water now but I'm going to bed a little hungry. It's a good decision, though--I'll be fine without additional food tonight. It's strange how much easier "can't eat anything but meal replacements" is than eating real food. I'm really going to have to work harder at transition when I attempt it again--I need a better approach.

Since we didn't go out to dinner, I took a convoluted walk to the drugstore again. I don't think I"ll try to make those trips efficient--it's much better for them to be inefficient and for me to get the walking in! It feels good to walk when there's somewhere I'm going. I will be trying the indoor track at the gym soon--the warmer (for Chicago) weather won't last forever!

His cake did look good--and I am having the sad conversation with myself that says "I may never be able to eat sweets again". I don't appear to be able to eat them in moderation or responsibly. Sure, lots of people can and do--I may just not be one of them and I may be better off with "never" than with "occasionally". A recovering sweetaholic.

onebyone: it is wonderful how a support group makes you want to live up to the expectations you set for yourself, isn't it? It sounds like you're making really good progress at the things you've set yourself to.

karenrn: Gym, dog walks, hikes--you've got exercise covered!

penny: What we eat sure can affect our digestive systems. I hope yours settles down.

joy: Looks like you're off to a good start to the month--reading, exercising, and weighing!

curlyjax: When DD goes back to school can you make sure all the treats disappear?

BillBlueEyes: I think it's easier to not eat treats that aren't in the house :-)

G'night all!

--Beth

Saturday - Davy Crockett arrives in Nacogdoches, Texas, to aid the revolution (1836)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Made the supermarket trip without bringing home stuff that I didn't want to eat - continuing the obvious notion that if it isn't here, I can't eat it. CREDIT moi only because the store, as usual, had sales on every conceivable pastry, candy, and junk food.

Dinner was chicken grilled on the patio. DW is taking this good weather stretch seriously. It's good weather by the metric that there's no snow. Maybe we're done with winters around here. All that snow in the U.S. deep South is drawing it away from us. Our condolences to our Southern neighbors, but I'm not missing it yet.


onebyone - Glad to have walked through the supermarket with you, LOL. The temptation while putting away leftovers is always a challenge.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Neat idea to use Goodreads to record your books for the year. I was using my library list for that but it has become overwhelmed with books for the DGD.

Karen (karenrn) - LOL that your hill is the equivalent of 110 floors. I do admire making a choice to adjust a hiking goal rather than blindly walk all the way down the hill just because that was the original plan.

curlyjax - Yep, "Pain Free" sounds like a good motivator.

Beth (bethturnaround) - Super Kudos for refusing the bite of cake with fork in hand. It probably wasn't good cake, anyway.

Penny. - Always Kudos for on plan. The GI tract isn't fond of change - even good change.

Readers -

We had an unexpected opportunity to stay with the DGNs for the evening so their parents could have a night out. The baby girl was put to bed before we had a chance to excite her too much, but we enjoyed playing with the toddler boy for a couple of hours before putting him to bed--I picked one of the three books to read at bed-time: Mixed. :-)

The unexpected nature of all this, of course, played havoc with my food plan. But I made pretty good choices under the circumstances.

I think this morning's bump up on the scale is telling me that the take-out food we grabbed for supper was too salty. I agree. Lots of water today!

Summary
Implemented food plan: 60%
Exercise: +20, 115/1100 minutes for January
Weigh-in: +0.2kg

Good morning!

Yesterday was on plan and weight is holding.

Onebyone, credit for the mindful grocery shopping!

Beth, credit for declining the cake offer!

Bill, I'm glad you and DW are enjoying a snow free winter so far.

Joy, I bet the babysitting was much appreciated.

Karen, hopefully your energy was just temporarily exhausted and will bounce back.

Good morning coaches,

Food is on plan and I just got back from hiking to Bell Pass and back. It was 2 1/2 hours of hiking so that's great. I has been my go to hike in the past. We're going out for burgers tonight so I'm glad to have had some good exercise. I'll have cole slaw with the burger and no beer.

Penny My energy was just low because the timing and amount of food I had eaten was not enough for how strenuous my hike was. Today I hiked right after breakfast and that was perfect. Glad you're doing so well staying on plan.
GardenerJoy What a fun time with the toddler. I'm already looking forward to seeing our little grand nephews at Christmas next year. There will be 2 one year olds and 1 who will be 2 1/2.
Bill It is so true that it's easier without the wrong foods in the house.
Beth This 24 hour plan that I'm doing is working well. You might want to try it when you transition back to food again. I just make the plan in the morning and stick to it. The good thing is I can plan whatever I want, but I must stick to it. Today I'm planning the burger cause we're going out, but there are no fries or beer on the plan. I also set three goals for the day that could be anything. The next day I assess how I did. Good job on passing on the cake.
Onebyone You're right, sometimes just knowing I have the group to report to stops me from going off plan. Eating sitting down is a habit I almost always abide by these days. I can't say I don't look at my phone or a magazine though.

You all have a great day.

Quick post tonight. We successfully emptied the storage unit—everything is now at the house and the Model T is in the garage. I cleaned the bookcases and emptied book boxes on to them—that was my major exercise for today. Food was OP —5 products. It was a bit of a challenge since I prepared lunch for DH while he was doing something I couldn’t do—and the sloppy joes smelled wonderful. And DD's homemade pizza tonight smelled wonderful too. But good smells doesn’t have to translate to eating—and it didn’t. More unpacking tomorrow!

G’night all!

—Beth

Sunday - Alfred Wegener presents theory of continental drift (1912, Frankfurt)
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Got an extra visit with the (3 yo) DGD when DD brought her by to have lunch at a local place that caters to families. It serves seriously good adult food including wines as well as kids' plates. And it has a marvelous little play area with lots of stuff for kids to bring back to their tables. We shared dinner with four toy dinosaurs, a tiger, and an odd mule. I gave the tiger and mule to a non-verbal passing toddler who didn't seem old enough to go over to the play area. He played with them for a while then brought them back with a smile. Babies were being nursed as if that was natural, LOL.

My lunch was a Grilled Chorizo sausage with pico de gallo on a fresh baguette. I substituted a green salad for the French fries. Then brought half of it home to become my lunch today, CREDIT moi. For fun I asked the DGD for one of her French fries. Her look was that of a wounded kid; they were her fries. She finally gave me one with a grin. No way was I going to go over calories from her plate, LOL.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for extra time with a three-year-old. Love that you read Mixed.

Karen (karenrn) - Cole slaw is a great addition to a burger rather than French fries.

Beth (bethturnaround) - Super Congrats for getting that storage unit emptied. Thanks for "good smells doesn’t have to translate to eating."

Penny. - On plan is always good.

Readers -

Yesterday, I followed my plan -- yay! Although, it was the Plan C plan for supper. That still counts.

Today, I think the scale is telling me that my current eating is a maintenance plan, not a weight loss plan. This is not a surprise. I will try lightening things up a bit today and work on timing so that I don't get too hungry. Also, remind myself that hunger is not an emergency.

Summary
Implemented food plan: 100%
Exercise: +40, 155/1100 minutes for January
Weigh-in: +0.05kg

Good morning coaches,

I'm quite proud of myself that I stayed on plan yesterday even dinner at the tavern. The coleslaw was extra good, because they put a little jalapeño pepper in it and very lightly dressed. I usually do order cole slaw, but I always take some of dh's fries and I didn't. It was kind of amazing how many he had left (most of them) without me getting into them. I've got a plan for today, but it will be a little larger dinner because I have a hike that is over 12 miles tomorrow with a climb in the middle with a group I haven't hiked with before. It's called Battleship and is in the Superstitions. After hiking five miles or so to get to the "Battleship", there is a bit of a technical route to get to the top and then walk the ridge to the other end where there is a log book to note that you've been there. I bet it's been six years since I hiked it and I'm hoping I am still as strong. I'll let you know. Today I'm taking it easy and getting the office in order and updating my photos of the baby that I've received in the past week to add to the video I'll make.

GardenerJoy I hate when the scale tells me my plan is a maintenance plan and that is pretty frequently these days. I know I don't remember so accurately all the time, but it does seem I used to eat quite a bit more. I keep thinking my activity will make up for my getting older, but I'm not so sure it does.
Bill The restaurant you went to yesterday sounds great. Good food and things for little ones to play with is a real bonus.
Beth That's so great that the storage unit is empty. It must be wonderful to be getting really settled. Does the Model T run? Are you in a club where you all drive places. I just love to see the old cars on the road. Speaking of old cars, if any of you ever get to Tacoma, Washington they have the LeMay Car Museum which is excellent.

Well, I guess I had better get going with my chores. Dh was not happy with how cluttered the office was getting (all my mess), so I'll get that finished first. Have a great Sunday and I'll post after the hike tomorrow and let you know how it went. Fingers crossed.

Good morning!

Yesterday was on plan and weight is holding.

I looked up the intestinal toot toot issue with increased veg and apparently it is normal and due to the major increase in fiber. The healthy fiber eating gut bacteria will increase and calm things down. I'm sure DH and the blanket-burrowing dog will both appreciate it when that happens too. :rofl:

Beth, kudos for getting the storage cleared and sticking to your 5.

Karen, amazing how just a few factors will affect the hike energy. Credit for all your exercise.

Bill, the restaurant sounds like a good one. Credit for swapping out the fries for salad.

Joy, good luck with your lighter fare today. I think I'm on day 6 or 7 of no loss. Sloooooow!

Afternoon, Coaches.

Phone check in. The Chicago trip has been fabulous. Weather is warmer than back home. We are staying at a beautifully restored boutique hotel a few blocks from the Obama residence and the U of Chicago. The diversity, culture and hospitality have been a treat. We hired a car to see Notre Dame U on Sat. What a difference! No diversity. DS wasn’t that impressed even though we are catholic.

Snacks have been nearly non existent since we have been on the run for four days. Credit. Also credit that although I have indulged in desserts all have been unique and homemade. Finally, there is a scale our hotel room. The walking has kept me fairly flat. Good enough. The boys are at the Bulls game. How fun for me to watch the Bear game with such devout followers.