Welcome to the discussion group, support group, Diet Coach group, Diet Buddy group relating to the two books by Dr. Judith S. Beck:and the first bookThe Beck Diet Solution is a psychological program, not a food plan. It provides a step-by-step program to learn specific techniques to stay on our diet, lose weight, and maintain our weight loss for life. The program is based on Dr. Beck's clinical research in Cognitive Therapy (CT).

The Complete Beck Diet for Life expands the earlier work and includes a food plan with suggested menus. From the cover:This is a place to discuss the Beck strategies and our daily efforts, to receive and provide support, and, for some of us, is where we serve as on-line diet buddy (coach) to each other.

If you’ve arrived from a search engine, you've landed at the site of 3 Fat Chicks (3FC), a remarkable place for those interested in a healthy life style, including mindful eating, exercise, and weight loss. More about the site, including how to register so that you can post, can be found here.

The books are available on Amazon through the 3FC store by clicking their names above; buying through 3FC helps to cover the costs of running this site.

You can find the list of previous (or more current) monthly Beck threads here on 3 Fat Chicks via:

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was a trip to the library. Well, not exactly to the library but to the off-hours return slot in the side of the library building. I got to watch the lucky folks queue - properly socially distanced and masked - at a table in front of the library where a librarian placed brown grocery bags with first names. I felt called to game the system by saying, "I'm Mary Elizabeth" to pick up whatever she had ordered. I stood down my fourteen-year-old self who has time in his mind to think of ways that are off path. The thought struck me that Mary Elizabeth might be into bodice slashers or neuro-surgery - neither of which would be my thing.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner on the patio dawdled in the (finally) cool part of the day. The chicken sausage that comprised the entree was 120 calories. By contrast, Krispy Kreme donuts had a special: buy a dozen and get a dozen chocolate covered donuts for only $2. That's 17 cents a donut! I was drooling. I checked calories: ranged from 190 to 400 calories a donut. And I would have to buy two dozen. Brain just couldn't compute. That's a lot of calories of donuts - especially when I have no gatherings available to bring them. In the good old days I could bring them to the office and fellow engineers would make them disappear quickly. Or happy hour on Sunday would see the teenagers gobble them up. Despite the obvious, I'll accept CREDIT moi for not buying 24 Krispy Kreme donuts.


onebyone - Congrats for getting your eyeballs all sealed and ready to go. Neat that you survived a restaurant meal with your DH - I'm not ready to try that yet.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Kudos for feeling good about yourself at your weight. I'm wrestling with the same issue. The distance between me and 'normal' weight is further than I'm inclined to want to travel. I've been that low and didn't stay there for long.

maryann - Fond memories of driving Highway 1 along the California coast. Neat that you gave yourself some time to remain sane.

Karen (karenrn) - Smart to focus on your plan instead of the scale numbers. Those 110 deg F days just boggle my mind.

Penny. - Congrats for your first tour on your stationary bike.

Readers -

Celebrating that I met my exercise goals in July! Despite some challenges of rain and heat.

Exercise +20, 1400/1400 minutes for July

It occurred to me this morning that I may have been exposed when I was at Paneras last sunday with manfriend. We ate inside and there was a little informal gathering going on with kids running around after awhile. We wore our masks for part of our time but of course you can't while you're eating, and then we got careless. Hmm-with our state opening up i'm getting a little more lax than I should be. Both of us are feeling fine thus far at least. I can't remember if adults were wearing masks or not.
I cleared some of the junk off a bedside table so step one in taking care of myself and surroundings better. I'm definitely in that a depression loop again, ugh.
I have consistently done my stretching exercises each morning and have used weights 3 x a week for about 2 weeks, including pushups. So I need to build on those habits.
Penny- I'm so impressed that you're at 135, that is awesome! What a long way you have come, you should be really proud of yourself.
Onebyone- that's great that your eye surgery went well, and teeth weren't so bad after all.
Maryann- DH and I drove around Carmel as part of our honeymoon- San Francisco, yosemite, etc. Lovely time.
Bill-I have to clamp down on my inner child/teenager too at times. Both my kids say my sense of humor can be a bit young/inappropriate
Karen- I just ordered some cooling towels and they are great. I guess expedia and trip advisor are just hotels. If you're going to a larger area, I wonder if chamber of commerce type thing might have ideas.
Gardenerjoy-great job on meeting the exercise goal!

Good morning!

Yesterday was way overbudget and weight is up.

I guess I'll confess my recent drama because it is definitely effecting my appetite and eating.

After 20 years of marriage, I came out as lesbian this last month. Dh is his usual awesome self and taking it well. We are rearranging things to have our own rooms, and plan to stay roommates until our two houses are paid off in three years.

Yesterday, I went on my first date. We were both introverts and it was a little low energy. I came home and ate to calm my nerves. I'll need to stop that behavior pronto.

Okay, there ya go. It was nice when I lost my appetite completely initially.

Bill, lol at the book stealing fantasy.

Joy, congrats on the successful month and weightloss progresss.

Maryann, the side trip sounds marvelous. And it's so healthy to have those boundaries with family.

Curly, the exposure risk is so scary. I'm still crossing my fingers nothing comes of the poorly distanced gathering I attended.

Karen, it is so unfair how few calories it takes for me to exist. 1950 calories yesterday and I jumped to 139. It was healthy food. Ugh.

Onebyone, yay for good doctors and a patched up eye.

Good morning coaches,

Food was on plan but dinner portion was too large and I added a drink. My plan is written for today and I'm praying I can stay on it and keep the portions smaller. Like all of us I'm tired of all of this. I am going to whine and say it is even more difficult when it's going to be over 110 again today. July 2020 was the hottest month on record for the Phoenix area with lows averaging 90 and the high averaging 110. Yuck!

Penny Yes I can see why your appetite has been effected with everything you have probably been thinking and feeling. I'm glad your husband is awesome and I hope you and the family all do fine.
Curlyjax It is really difficult to decide what is safe to do and what is not. In my state the numbers are so bad I don't feel safe doing much, but in the small towns where we were in Washington I felt safer.
GardenerJoy Congratulations on again meeting your exercise goal. I have nothing planned for today but will hike again tomorrow.
Bill I'm afraid two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts would not be safe with me. It seems like they are mostly air so would go down easily regardless of the calories.
Onebyone I'm glad the doctor could do the repair on your eye and that you don't have to go back too soon.
Maryann It sounds wonderful to be in Carmel. Good to know your limits.

Take care everybody!

So I got through today ok.
Scale said 181.1. Same as yesterday.

I went to my garden twice cause I forgot my hose the first time. I did remember my bamboo poles and my green rubber coated wire so I was able to tie up all the stray tomato branches and get them off the ground. I'd been meaning to do that for weeks.

I harvested my first tomatoes: a Wapole Peach tomato (yellow one) and a pinky red one called Rose de Berne. Both are heritage varieties. Plus I took some orange cherry tomatoes, a kholrabi, parsley and the jalapenos that were on the plant that mysteriously shriveled and died.

I did do my walk but it was across parking lots and in several big box stores. It was real walking so I am satisfied in my heart that I met my goal to walk today

Tonight I asked DH to watch the hockey game with me. It's the playoffs, postponed due to Covid-19 in the spring. I have never asked to watch the game before. I thoroughly enjoyed jt.

That's it for today. Unreal that we are in August.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Major advance in this post-CORVID world: I reserved a slot at the library to pick up a book that I'd reserved for which notice arrived just as I came home from the library returning books. Immediately thought, I'll go right back. Naive. The first available slot for pick up is this Thursday between 2:00 and 2:30 pm. "Don't come early. Stand away from the table until your name is called." Back in Middle School, LOL. Unfortunately, it's the book by Mary Trump that I reserved back in January so that I'd be at the head of the waiting list. My enthusiasm is low; hard to believe that there are any tidbits that I haven't already read in the newspapers. Then I did even better. I reserved slots at the Boston Children's Museum for this Wednesday when we have the DGD. Had to choose morning or afternoon; during the ninety minutes in between they sanitize the whole place. Made my reservations that required that I type in the barcode on my membership card. Not the Membership ID - the barcode that is never used by a member. A zillion digit number. Succeeded and jumped through more hoops to finally defeat them and get tickets. They're well protected against something.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Gazpacho on the patio in the cool evening air. DW suggested that I not add cukes to the green salad since Gazpacho is mostly blended cukes. Lovely, lovely, evening. After dinner I, fully masked, walked across the street to deliver a magazine that had arrived in our mail slot for the neighbor. It's my understand that I committed a Federal Crime by doing so; I'm only allowed to mark 'Wrong Address' on an item of mail and return it to the Post Office. Since it was a news weekly magazine (Economist), adding a week delay for the wheels of the Postal Office to grind it back wasn't a timely path forward. CREDIT moi for being a good neighbor - even if a criminal.


onebyone - So neat that you grow heirloom tomatoes. That Rose de Berne Tomato looks beyond yummy.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats, one more time, for meeting, one more time, your monthly exercise goal.

Karen (karenrn) - Kudos for having a written plan for today. Yuck indeed for those high temps.

curlyjax - Yep, it's easy to feel more lax defending against the virus as time goes on. Kudos for a small step in taking care of yourself with your bedside table.

Penny. - Bon Voyage on this next phase of your life; thanks for letting us know. Congrats for surviving a date; get to experience all the feeling from Middle School that we were so glad to have left behind. And Super Congrats for having chosen in your DH a man that is going to be helpful going forward.

Readers -

I'm cringing over something dumb I did: I've been kind of flirting with one of my mechanics (well, he and his family run the shop) for awhile and he's always very smiley. The other day he was definitely checking out my body so I slipped him a note telling him he's sexy. Geez, how middle school can you get! I just hope no one else noticed, I don't want anyone to be laughing at me. Hopefully it will be a long time before I need to go back there. But hey, he should be flattered. I was kind of hoping for a FWB thing but I doubt anything will come of it. The pandemic and my crazy hormones contributed to this!! Plus seeing all these couples eat outside, it looks so romantic. Manfriend clearly wants to be a friend only otherwise I wouldn't have done it.
A friend is coming to pick up extra boxes since she's moving, and hopefully we'll go for a walk too. Tonight is healthy salmon night.
Penny- wow, good for you!! We only have one life and now is the time to embrace it, and be true to yourself. Have you told your kids?
Onebyone-your harvest sounds lovely. Yay for a real walk.
Karen-I'm sure it is very hard in that kind of ongoing heat, whine away!
Bill- I forgot about the library reservation system, went to the library right away and fortunately they were able to give it to me anyhow. The system is kind of annoying since they're not open on the weekend and i'm sneaking over there when i'm supposed to be working I was going to try renting a kayak at my nearby place, but you have to reserve and pay for it ahead of time, and if the park fills up and you can't get in, I wonder if you lose your money. Plus there were no slots at all on a sunday, most were during the week. Again, some of us are working.

Good morning!

Yesterday was overbudget and weight is up again.

I went to the protest (I'm sure you have seen somewhere in the news) until after midnight and then came home and ate chips and hummus. I did get a six mile hike in.

I need to claw my way back to weightloss eating today.

Karen, that is hot hot weather. You'll be enjoying a beautiful fall and winter soon.

Onebyone, your garden sounds well taken care of. The tomatoes sound yummy.

Bill, that's a long time to have to wait for your library pick-up. My library has the same line up to pick up holds but recently opended it up to drop ins. No appointment needed.

Curly, that is exciting that you had the courage to pursue the mechanic. My kids and everyone know and took it well.

Good morning coaches,

Food was not on plan yesterday. I ate 2 protein bars (cause they were sweet) and another sweet treat in the afternoon while dh was at the golf course practicing (no witness to the eating). Even though it wasn't witnessed, the scale knew it and gave me a nice bump up this morning. I debated about getting on the scale, but figured I may as well. I did do a 4 1/2 mile hike with my friend just after 5 a.m. this morning. Again it was 90 or a little more, but I used my cooling towel and there was a little breeze part of the time. In any event I feel so much better to get my exercise. I was in such a funk yesterday about Covid, no plans, too hot etc. I think I have finally talked some sense in to myself and realize in a couple of months I will be able to hike longer and it will be more enjoyable and I will be the lucky one being here where I can be outdoors for hours. I'm going to try to use some of this hotter indoor time to get back to going through some closets again, etc. I really do think I'd like to talk dh in to moving, although no time soon, but I may as well have things in order for whenever that day comes.

Penny How was the protest? Of course I've seen so much about it on the news and read different things. Staying with the weightless way of eating is darned hard, but I must get back there also.
Curlyjax Holy night I am old. I had to look up what FWB even means. You go girl, I mean you go girl but be careful.
Bill Heck, I've been taking a neighbor their mail and packages for a long time. I didn't even know it wasn't okay. We live on North 83rd Street, but they live on North 83rd Way. It will be fun to take DGD to the Children's Museum. You'll have to let us know how it goes and how different it is from the way it used to be.
Onebyone The gardening sounds so enjoyable. I think because it's something we just don't do here and it means it isn't as hot. Glad you enjoyed the hockey. The only time I saw a game was in Vancouver BC at a work related function with my husband. It was fun and I remember leaving the stadium and walking in the snow back to our hotel. Snow sounds good too!
Waving to GardenerJoy and Maryann!

Our coronavirus cases are surging in Missouri, so I'm not feeling very lax at the moment. Most of the school districts in St. Louis County are going virtual-only for the first quarter (a change from their first announcements which gave an option for two days a week in person).

Exercise +35, 35/1400 minutes for July

Penny: That's a life stressor, for sure. It's positive for you in the long run, even if it causes a lot of drama, at first.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - At the BLM demonstration in the morning, we continued to feel out of the loop for all the issues facing the country right now because we're not directly suffering. We merely wore masks and socially spaced. Most passing cars honked their support. One obnoxiously loud motorcyclist gave us the finger instead - the first non-support that I've seen around here. The demo is small enough that there are no longer patrolling police. Walked, CREDIT moi, around Mount Auburn Cemetery in the afternoon with DW, DS, and his SO enjoying the glory of late summer foliage. Chipmunks were abundant. Saw one dead rabbit on the road and wondered why no Red-tailed Hawk had found it yet. Just nature being nature.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. The scale continues to move downward slowly in a realistic way and I continue to fret or cheer with each jitter two-pounds above or below the true moving average. I seem reluctant to accept that my body in front of the mirror will never be young-man attractive again regardless of weight. Dinner was eaten inside because of precious rain. A full half-inch fell in over an hour - serious rivulets running down the street. DW was elated. Our city recycling site directed us to toss out LED light bulbs with the trash; there are not recycled. Felt odd doing that. It's always felt good taking bulbs to a local hardware store that collected them for recycling.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Ouch for surging COVID-19 cases. Everywhere we read about is waffling and changing plans about this fall's schooling.

Karen (karenrn) - LOL that the scale witnessed the protein bars. Super smart to get you 'stuff' in order just to allow the thought of moving.

curlyjax - Congrats for continuing to find a way to live your life despite the pandemic. Ouch that every way we stick out our necks feels like Middle School. Neat that you beat the library system and got your book anyway, LOL.

Penny. - We do read about your protests in our news nonstop. Hope things are quieting down a bit.

Readers -

I logged off email and Facebook on Saturday afternoon and find that I'm a bit reluctant to log back on to see what's waiting for me there. I'm hoping that some other folks picked up the ball I dropped for them. If not, I have some work to do today! At least, I can do it from a calmer and more relaxed space.

Here's my reminder that food doesn't help me write one-pagers or corral volunteers or plan meetings.

Exercise +80, 115/1400 minutes for July

Good Morning, Coaches.

Sitting at home on my couch trying to catch up on life. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I am trying to get back into gratitude. Everybody around me is doing everything wrong. This of course violates my rule of three which is "if three or more people irritate me it is probably me."

Weight is three pounds from ticker and I am discouraged. This set point has baffled me for twenty plus years. I need to get serious about the food plan and get back to doing what I know works. In my case, this will start with staying home, no take out, and staying away from wheat. I was too cranky to walk this morning but I will garden and do lots of errands. Tomorrow I go back to school for professional development. Kids come back next week. Grrrrrrr. I hate this feeling of irritation at everything and everyone.

Penny: Best thoughts as you and your family move forward.
curleyjax: Credit for the courage of putting yourself out there with your true feelings. Nothing is gained if nothing is risked.
Karen: Talk about what would make me grumpy. That kind of heat is tough to live in.

Wave to BBE, gardenerjoy and onebyone.