The Beck Diet Solution is a psychological program, not a food plan. It provides a step-by-step program to learn specific techniques to stay on our diet, lose weight, and maintain our weight loss for life. The program is based on Dr. Beck's clinical research in Cognitive Therapy (CT).
The Complete Beck Diet for Life expands the earlier work and includes a food plan with suggested menus. From the cover:
With The Complete Beck Diet for Life you'll discover the 5 stages of successful dieting and maintenance. You'll learn how to motivate yourself, give yourself credit for every change you make, create time and energy for dieting, and handle hunger and cravings. Dr. Beck eases you into changing one step at a time. You'll master one task before moving on to the next. And you'll learn techniques to deal with challenging situations, such as sticking with ou plan at celebrations and dealing with "food pushers." With Dr. Beck's skills, you'll achieve a lifetime of healthful eating and lifelong motivation.
This is a place to discuss the Beck strategies and our daily efforts, to receive and provide support, and, for some of us, is where we serve as on-line diet buddy (coach) to each other.
If you’ve arrived from a search engine, you've landed at the site of 3 Fat Chicks (3FC), a remarkable place for those interested in a healthy life style, including mindful eating, exercise, and weight loss. More about the site, including how to register so that you can post, can be found here.
The books are available on Amazon through the 3FC store by clicking their names above; buying through 3FC helps to cover the costs of running this site.
You can find the list of previous (or more current) monthly Beck threads here on 3 Fat Chicks via:
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Yet another theft of the New York Times from our front porch before I could get it. Ouch! Somebody knows that the Tuesday Times has the Science Week section - a favorite. DW insisted that one of us had to go buy one. And she wasn't available. We looked around and that left me as the only candidate. The walk to the corner store was a simple pleasure. I wore hat and gloves. I carried the amount I thought it'd cost in my gloved hand. I got their last copy. "That's 50 cents too much," the guy responded to the money I put on the counter. I didn't want to take it back because my mind had already spent it. It'd be contaminated money if I brought it home. "Put it in the tip jar," I asked him. OK, first world problem to be sure. Don't have many real problems locked in my house all day.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi. Grilled salmon for dinner that was just slightly smaller than usual. I can live with that. It's a goal to get used to slightly smaller portions.
onebyone - Kudos, indeed, for "Less eating. More time between meals. No snacks." Glad that videos work for you.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats for meeting your March exercise goals.
maryann - Kudos for two weeks away from sugar. As well as for that three mile walk.
curlyjax - Neat that you have access to the software from home. I like the idea of remembering that someone has touched the wrapped chocolates.
Penny. - Seems to me that the transmission is only happening from asymptomatic folks. Those with symptoms are home in bed. Hope you get supplied adequate PPE soon.
CJZee - Neat that you have pre-stocked masks and gloves. I suspect we'll all do that when CORVID-19 winds down.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 12 How to Stay at Your New Weight
The first thing I want you to do when you reach your Lowest Maintainable Weight is give yourself lost of credit. It's wonderful for you to get to this point! Did you think when you first picked up this book that you'd really get here? Well, you have! It's a major accomplishment - you should be very proud of yourself.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 279.
I guess I didn't post yesterday so I'll get on here early this morning. Food has been on plan, but I did add a couple of White Claw drinks yesterday. In spite of that my weight is back down to the lowest it's been in a couple of months due to good food choices. I keep thinking if I control those things I can it will be helpful to my mental outlook and there are quite a few things I can control including my diet. Like you I am trying to reach out to people during this time. Yesterday it was sad to listen to my Tucson friend cry on the phone. I also walked with another friend whose husband is 20 some years older and I know she is having a tough time. Today's plan is to walk Otis for exercise, do some house work and listen to some podcasts to keep me in a good weight loss frame of mind. I also need to get some cards in the mail and a few more phone calls.
Bill Salmon sounds good. I think I still have a piece in the freezer that I probably should have. Glad you and dw are doing well. Onebyone I think everybody I know is cleaning house and decluttering right now. Good job to keep moving on it. Great that you're out moving. Penny It seems crazy that your employer is recommending no mask for those patients who are asymptomatic. It seems like the news says so many are asymptomatic that are then diagnosed with the virus. Maryann Congratulations on no sugar for two weeks. That is really an accomplishment. I do so well for a chunk of time and then off the rails. I know I feel better without it. CJZee I hope your hip/leg get better if you do the full course of exercises at home. I'm going to try some sort of home exercises soon. GardenerJoy I think I'll check out your challenge threads. I've got to assess what all I'm committing to with my PNP and not add too much though. Congratulations on getting back to onederland! Curlyjax I'm glad you now have access to your agencies network. It will be interesting to see what mix of work you figure out to do. Hopefully some of it is from home.
So nice to sleep in an extra hour today that i would have spent commuting, since i’m working at home today. I didn’t feel great last night - no fever or cough, but draggy like a cold. I think my body is reacting to all this stress. I’m going to make sure I drink a lot of water today.
I’m going to work at home 3 days a week starting next week. It will be good to avoid more people.
Some people at my agency are definitely not taking this seriously- I don’t know why they are allowing college kids to come in and do some part time work, they are not essential. Including the director’s own kid! And college kids are the worst at taking social distancing seriously.
Today I have a team meeting scheduled, and hopefully the exterminator won’t be here at the same time, but at least its only on the phone, not zoom. Penny-that is unbelievable about the masks, coming from a home care agency. I think we all may be recommended to wear homemade masks soon when out in public. Maryann- great job on two weeks abstinence! Especially during all this, i am impressed! CJZee- the stretching has definitely helped me, good idea to do the full set. Bill-Geez, who is out and about so early stealing newspapers! You could set up one of those cam things and catch the sucker. Onebyone- I forgot about Leslie Sansone too, great idea! Gardenerjoy- great job on making your goal! Karen-so glad Barrett is doing well. Such a nice thing to see, babies are so wonderful!
Yesterday was a struggle. I ate more than my food plan allowed and the sugar called to me. I got busy and went for a walk. Then I came down to the ranch, loaded wood for Mom and listened to an OA speaker. I was able to avoid any of the ice cream or baked goods. Not perfect but credit. My weight is down a little from when I started my abstinence so that is good for now. I will continue with my writing my steps and listening to OA tapes. I plan another walk today.
I have to take Mom's heart monitor back to the hospital. I am not looking forward to it. I have a mask and I'm sure the hospital has a protocol.
One of the reasons abstinence was difficult was because I was back in the world with school. I had to go in and accomplish a few tasks during a specific window. There is controversy in the district between the union and admin and it drives me crazy. I need to stay in my lane and do my job.
Credit to everybody getting things done. Clearing off desks, hiking, arranging to work from home - all these things help keep the insanity at bay.
I'm very grateful that I found myself in the midst of a stretch of good habits when this all started. I tend to double down on whatever I'm doing, in times of stress. I feel lucky when it's good habits, rather than bad ones, that are present to be doubled.
I want to shop as infrequently as possible and touch as few things as possible when I do shop. This is helping me reduce my food intake, even during a moment of abundance of food in the house. The only abundance that matters to me, right now, is how long it will last.
Yesterday was not so bad and weight is holding. Today I need to restock the prepared foods in the fridge and bake bread.
Tomorrow will be a week since shopping day and I'm hoping to make it another week. That means no avocados for breakfast (my usual) and no fun packaged snacks. But I'll make cookies again.
My hospital sent out another PPE update and now we are to mask with every patient but wear the same (standard surgical) one all day, storing it in a bag when we need to remove it. I, of course, will be wearing a n95 mask and goggles with every patient. Luckily I am in the home setting and can delay confrontation.
In the home setting, I was squeezed into a small living room with the patient, her husband, and an interpretter. Then find out the grandson who normally interprets couldn't be there because he is sick with possible covid 19. Yeah, I'm not going to risk it for bad policy.
I'm glad you all are doing well. Maryann, it sounds like a lot you have to deal with lately. Are you going to have to do online teaching? Our elementary school handed out laptops. I'm not sure what they will do about lack of internet service.
Food was on plan today. Credit. Scale dipped overnight so that was a welcome surprise. I walked to the youtube lady today and that was good especially since it was late and I tried to talk myself out of it. Originally I wanted to walk at noon but instead I went to grocery store. I had both latex gloves (I use them sometimes when printmaking so I have some around) and a surgical mask (purchased as a precaution last fall when MIL was so ill). I wore the gloves as its been drilled in me now that grocery cart handles are the worst in terms of germiness, but I just couldn't wear the mask. I'm getting pretty good at not touching my face now too. It was stressful in the store. And I was very stressed driving there. We didn't quarantine our food very well once I got home. I seem to do really well with some aspects of dealing with the viral threat and then fall apart on other parts. And not always the same parts either. While the news here in Canada is bad all of you south of the border have me on edge. I was deeply dismayed to read we will be distancing and practicing these guidlines to the end of May. May! I had heard August suggested a few weeks ago as well. It may well be August. Canadians are going to go bonkers. We may be locked down through our short summer only emerge in the winter right when its time to hibernate again. Ah well. It's truly a day at a time. We'll all get through.
Thursday - Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen born (1805, Odense, Denmark)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi. Dinner was the leftover vegetable lasagna. Each of us had .875 servings from the original pan of 3.5 servings. I made a bigger green salad than usual, but left dinner barely satisfied instead of full. A good exercise for me.
Did two Zoom meetings with the (4.5 yo) DGD. First time her mom called because the DGD wanted to talk to us NOW. DW wasn't home so I talked. Went OK; it's hard to entertain a little squirt over the phone. Later when DW came home, we did it again. DW can hold a conversation between the DGD and a Cabbage Patch Doll that lives here and is called "Baby." Best was when the DGD explained to Baby that she couldn't get the virus because she wasn't real even though she was real enough to talk to her. So delightful to see the workings of that little brain.
onebyone - Yay for a little scale dip for good feelies. Will be a bummer if this quarantine sits on your brief Canadian summer - hadn't thought of that.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yep, this shopping business continues to take up a bunch of our thinking here also. We figured out a way for me to delay my weekly Friday trip until Monday to avoid the April 1, 2, and 3 that folks are asked to stay away so that the WIC refreshed accounts can be spent. Many convolutions.
maryann - Ouch for having to run an errand to the hospital. I'd hate to go anywhere near one of those places right now. Yay for loading wood for exercise.
Karen (karenrn) - Does sound tough consoling your friend over the phone. Kudos for being a good friend and trying.
curlyjax - Don't know how we can get college kids to take social distancing more seriously. The scenes from the Florida beaches just blew my mind.
Penny. - Ouch for having to come so close to (possible) COVID-19 patients. Yay for having your own N95 mask. Makes me sad to think of you losing your avocados.
Readers -
Quote:
chapter 12How to Stay at Your New Weight
Okay, now you need to learn how to stay there: . . .
Continue to weight yourself between once a day and once a week. All the maintainers I've worked with found that they needed to be vigilant about their weight. The only surefire method is to habitually use the scale. Those who stopped weighing themselves usually did fine for a period of time (months to years), but eventually they started gaining again.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 279.
The hospital met me at the curb to pick up Mom’s things. Mom and DB are doing well and I will check in on them again Saturday. This prompted a spontaneous visit to Tahoe until then. The boys are busy and I can work from here. I want to try xc skiing while there is snow.
I listened to podcasts from OA and really identified so much with the idea that I have a two fold illness as a compulsive sugar addict. I have an “allergy” of the body that can not eat just a little sugar without obsessively eating till I’m sick. ( This is proven in mice with the same genetic makeup.) This is coupled with a mental twist that doesn’t allow me to remember all the horrible ramifications of my eating that first bite of candy. I have proven this to myself for 50 years. Herein lies the insanity.
I am 14 days off sugar and was OP yesterday. It is very strange to not eat to overfilled or remorseful. But I know there is freedom to be had on this path.
I learned a great deal about distance instruction through webinairs and I will start formal “school” on April 16. I’m very sad at the news California schools will be closed until June 1. But I’m powerless over it.
Working from home is kind of funny. i ended up doing a call in our tiny mudroom because one kid was on a zoom school class and claimed I talk too loudly and everyone could hear me. I very much doubt that but I did it to keep the peace. I ended up sitting a lot more than i thought, but i also was able to quietly use the exercise bike while talking to a client, so that was helpful. Even with all the disturbances i feel safer and calmer at home.
For dinner I ended up buying take out from a place that had 10 dollar specials, and left a big tip like we're supposed to do to help the waiters. I'm feeling less creeped out about getting the virus from takeout, so i'm splurging about once or twice a week.
Suprisingly it helps me to talk to elders for my work, since i have to be cheerful with them, and they are happy to hear me. Even the 90 year olds are stir crazy That's what makes this bearable, is that we are indeed ALL in it together. Penny- I'm glad you are standing your ground and protecting yourself. Although there is a lot of good will around, the lack of concern for workers in many areas boggles the mind.
Working on motivation to work my to-do list. Among many good reasons to do the things I planned: I tend to wonder what's in the kitchen when I'm not doing fun, creative work. I feel like it shouldn't be that hard to get myself to do fun, creative work -- but, of course, the resistance comes from other directions. Especially, "Will it be good enough?" In most cases, that's of no relevance and I want to embrace it as a learning experience. In others, there's no point in doing the thing if I don't share it. So, it either has to be good enough or I have to declare it to be good enough -- which I want to get better at.
So, it's all good and I'm going to tackle that list now.
Gardenerjoy: If a rose blooms and no one sees it, is it still beautiful? What was that poem? You made me think of it with your creative work. I believe nothing beautiful and true is ever lost. Curleyjax: Credit for navigating working at home. I bet you are a ray of sunshine for the elderly. Penny: Our district is providing laptops and cheap internet for two months for low income families.
I had trouble sleeping last night which is unusual. I went back down around 4:00 and woke up late. I adjusted my food plan accordingly. Work Zoom this morning and then I am heading out to xc country ski. Best to all.
I'm just back from a hike at Tom's Thumb and then walking Otis after I got home. I had some anxiety this morning, but it might have been because the friend I was meeting is very nice, but a bit neurotic and I guess makes me a little nervous. That and of course all the other things going on in the world. I was on plan with my food yesterday and have a good plan in place for today. My other plan for today includes making myself a couple of face masks with some 100% cotton quilting fabric that I have. There seem to be plenty of patterns available on line, so I'm sure I can figure it out. I'm not sure I have any elastic, but I'll figure something out. Last evening I learned about the phone ap "Houseparty" I guess some of the young kids are using it. My husband and I visited with his brother and wife, two nieces (and saw Barrett) and our niece's husband who is living in their travel trailer at the fire station. It was kind of fun. I can see why the kids would like it. Now I have it on my phone.
Maryann I'm so glad you were able to get away. Enjoy the cross country skiing. I'm glad the hospital drop off worked well too. GardenerJoy I'm working on getting some of that motivation too. It seems so many people are getting things done around there home, not so much here. Curlyjax It is so interesting to hear how things are going at your home with you working from home and your children having things they need to do. I'm sure it's like that in many households. It is so interesting to see how so many folks have had challenges and they ways they are overcoming them. Bill I'm glad DGD is getting used to the visit with new technology. I just love hearing about her. Onebyone When you talk about Canadians having their summer shortened by the lockdown it's kind of the reverse for us in Arizona. I just hope we can keep some of the trails open now. When it really is summer it's too hot to go. This morning people were very respectful of one another and there were fewer folks overall too. Penny I'm glad you have your mask and goggles. Enjoy your days off.
I hope you all are doing okay and staying healthy. Enjoy your day.
Late check-in because I jumped right into food prep, wrecking the kitchen up.
Yesterday was fine and weight is holding. I made bread and had three slices. That took me from low cal to maintenance.
So far I have made bread, hummus, and a HUGE batch of pasta/veg/cashew alfredo. It's such a big batch the kids are laughing in shock when they round the corner into the kitchen.
I still want to make roasted potatoes, apple crisp, and cookies. Stress cooking much? I work again tomorrow and am trying not to think about it.
Bill, credit for the small portion. I have yet to Zoom. Am I even quarantining? lol
Curly, lol at hiding in the mud room. I'd have to hide from the barking dogs.
Maryann, cross country skiing sounds so refreshing right now. Fingers crossed the online teaching transition is a smooth one.
Karen, the masks can be made with ties instead of elastic. Sorry about the anxiety. It's a global condition right now, it seems.
Joy, good luck tackeling the to-do list!
Onebyone, credit for the weightloss! I hear you about not doing thing perfectly with the covid19 precautions. I messed up removing my mask the first day, because I'd never used that type before. We're learning.
Beck Diet For Life/Solution – April 2020 – Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach
Wednesday - April Fools Day
That's what makes this bearable, is that we are indeed ALL in it together.
