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 our 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 - Excitement was returning two books to the library. Not actually, of course. I merely walked to the front door where the librarian stood guard in front of a table and a book cart with self-leveling float tray for returning books. I've always been fascinated by those self-leveling bottoms. The same thing exists in food service places under stacks of dishes.
Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was reheated red lentils with garlic sauteed spinach, green salad, and a baguette. A warm meal was welcome because of unusually high winds - walking about wasn't pleasant. I spent a bunch of time digging for a piece of paper for my accountant for our taxes. She claims via email that I left out a notice. I'm still digging. It's my job this morning to resolve this. Paperwork just isn't my favorite thing.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for a shower for a step forward.
Karen (karenrn) - Like the notion of a "zero" on a through hike - some days are like that for me, LOL. Congrats for taking a downpour in stride.
curlyjax - That was considerate of you to accept the mothball-reeking gift from the client who really wanted you to have it.
Readers -
Quote:
Success Skill 4Give Yourself Credit
Yes, You Do Deserve Credit
Some dieters struggle with the notion of praising themselves. They say, I don't deserve credit for eating slowly ... I should already have been doing that ... I shouldn't give myself credit for reading my Response Cards - that should be easy ... I should only give myself credit if I lose all of the weight I need to.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 67.
Eating wasn’t great yesterday, but credit for only eating ⅓ pound of a steak instead of much more. That’s all I bought- very pricey but excellent, and I paired it with swiss chard. Once in awhile I crave red meat. Tonights dinner will be salmon and possibly salad. I’m planning on getting my weights in. This morning I’ve been sitting in bed thinking about what I want to spend my time and energy on, and I’ve decided I will forgo a garden this year. I didn’t take care of it last year, and I want to focus on being active away from the house, like kayaking. Bill- boo for continued paperwork. That dinner sounds great and super healthy. Gardenerjoy- the first shower after surgery is the best! Karen-camping/hiking in the rain does not sound fun, you are my shero The job is similar to what i’m doing, working with low income elders to help them find resources such as food stamps etc, only i’ll be in one place instead of traveling. I’m in flux for this month, training for the new one and keeping tabs on the old. It’s getting late, time to get up and at em!
I'm celebrating that I met my exercise goal in April with a good plan for a sunny May Day walk.
I'm unexpectedly enjoying this May Day playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/78...7e2a28f3a04453 I don't think of myself as someone who enjoys medieval or folk music, but these tunes suit the mood of the day.
Up in Tahoe. So glad to be here. It has been a rough week with another medical problem for me that is a mystery and needs attention. I am sorry to go into it with our resident Dude BBE but I know he is a compassionate guy. I have started bleeding inexplicably - which is a concern since I have been out of menopause for four years. Now we need to decipher the problem. OB-GYN and Shrink have to work it out. If it doesn't stop Monday I have to go in. Sigh - will anything be normal? I can't wait for June. Then at least I can take the variable of school off the plate.
Time for a gratitude list:
DH had a another set of tests which put his cancer in the low risk category with a 1% mortality rate. That is the second lowest of 5.
I had a good week at school with the kids despite all the changes and my one behavior problem has been minding his manner and coming to school
I get to go hiking in the beautiful mountains today.
I woke up to the smell of pine.
DS is home and doing great with a buddy spending a couple of nights with him.
Food is OP
Karen: I think we are looking at the Aug 23. August 16 is the first full week of school and I can't take it off. However, just throwing it out there, I am seriously considering the Machu Pichu trip July 10 this year if you are interested. It would be great to go with someone i know. Also, I whipped through Center's two next books which are equally great What to Save in a Fire and What you Wish for. Now I went an older Happiness for beginners and it is set in hiking territory. Awesome BBE: Our library is being totally overhauled during this. There is a silver lining. Penny: Hard to regret anytime at the beach even if you go over budget.
Food was over plan yesterday. I had snacks that I wouldn't ordinarily have, but I think I was tired, bored, and wondering about what dh is thinking about retiring. He was so annoyed with work that I figured he might be at the end of his rope. Not yet. Weight was holding today and then I think, "if I just had stayed on plan I would have a loss". I seem to be about the best maintainer a person could be although I have lost almost all the weight I gained. Today I got up and hiked early with my early morning friend and I've been to Costco and the regular grocery store, gotten gas and a car wash. So far a productive day.
Maryann I hope the health issue is nothing. I've hiked to Machu Pichu. Dh and I went five years ago for his 60th birthday. We did a hut to hut hike on the Salkantay trail with Mountain Lodges of Peru. It was a really wonderful trip. Enjoy your time in Tahoe. GardenerJoy You are so good about your exercise goal. Has there ever been a month when you didn't make it? Curlyjax Sounds like a good idea to forego the garden this year. It is probably hard enough to find the time for the activities you want to get out and do without having another thing that needs your attention. Bill Good luck finding what you need for the accountant. I guess I should be grateful that my taxes aren't very complicated.
Waving to Penny.
Have a great Saturday. It's warm here today so I may go in the pool this afternoon, but it's kind of cloudy so it doesn't seem as appealing.
Sunday - President Bill Clinton allows accurate GPS access to civilian use (2000)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Adventure was to drive out West (from our point of view) with DW to get some plants and cow manure. Always fun to poke about in the suburban countryside: Acton, Westford, Littleton. Only 30 miles from Boston but a different world where there are farms here and about. Among the farms are large condo complexes - a rather efficient use of the land where people consume a small footprint but have the advantage of seeing open space. A non-profit group was selling some hard-to-find native plants at good prices worth the long drive. The cow manure was just the cherry on top. We bought three forty-pound bags; stopped at two friends' houses when we got back to civilization to drop them off. Felt like a trip since we haven't been out much since isolation began. Resistance exercise for the day was lifting cow poop in and out of the trunk of the car.
Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Pork chops for dinner with grilled asparagus, beans, and green salad. Pork chops have grown so large that DW was unable to buy them at a size that is right for us; she had to just buy the largest ones and serve us each half a pork chop. Plenty of meat for a meal. Don't know what to do with the memory of having two pork chops for dinner. Maybe that was a dream.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Congrats for making your April exercise goal - one more time.
maryann - Congrats to your DH for testing in the bottom 1% - a great place to be. Sending supportive thoughts for your own medical issue. Yay for the joy of having DS at home.
Karen (karenrn) - Yay for a productive day. Wish your DH well on figuring out when to retire; I found making that decision tough since I had a whole lot of my image of myself tied up in my work. But I've never regretted it. There is life after retirement.
curlyjax - Kudos for buying the red meat that you crave - in a reasonable portion. And Congrats for making a decision about using your time.
Readers -
Quote:
Success Skill 4Give Yourself Credit
Yes, You Do Deserve Credit
Janet told me that she gave herself credit but quickly negated it every time with the words yes and but.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 67.
I got my roof rack on. It was quite pricey but now I have one. I'm going to look at kayaks again with a friend today, which will be much more fun than doing it myself. Still need to problem solve getting it on the car, and two heads are better than one. Yesterday I got a walk in with manfriend while the rack was assembled. I ended up sobbing afterwards; I'm having a hard time letting go of what was, and I wish we could have a relationship. Partly because there just aren't that many decent single men in their fifties who have similar viewpoint/lifestyle to me, unlike 25 years ago, and I'm so lonely for that.
But I did NOT eat over it. I got my weights in, and had salmon, quinoa and cauliflower, with a little cereal after since I was still hungry.
Today is grocery shopping and then later the kayak outing which will be fun. Thank goodness for my friends! And for the morning, when life always seems manageable again. Bill- that area is indeed pretty. Fun to have a bit of a productive outing for sure. Karen- maintaining is a lot better than gaining for sure, and yay for losing most of the gained weight. It will be interesting to see what DH ultimately decides for retiring. Maryann- hope you get the medical issue straightened out soon, its always better to know whats going on. Yay for DH having good test results.
I had my first training hike for the possible Machu Pichu trip. I really don't know what I am doing but I put two dumbbells in my daypack equaling 12 pounds and hiked 4 miles with a 1000 foot elevation gain. It felt fun to start training on May 1st. Food was OP. I love bringing my food up here instead of having to go to the store. I brought the final two grain bowls from last week's Instapot cooking and also the last of the Taco Soup from same said miracle appliance. I added extra black beans to the soup. So, as BBE would say, I was a vegetarian for the day. i was listening to an audiobook Girl Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis, I guess it was a big seller. It was a little too preachy for me but I would listen to anything while climbing a mountain carrying dumbbells She referenced the Beck idea of building resistance muscles. By keeping promises to yourself like staying OP or exercising you create muscle memory. Good reminder. It has help so much to be off red light foods for a year, to drink the water, and to meet my step goals now every month since January. Interesting about the author, I looked her up and she is now divorced and under fire for elitism. I tell you I wouldn't want to be in the public eye for anything.
Curelyjax: Credit for not eating through the emotions. Karen: I try not to take maintaining for granted. The alternative of gaining is so demoralizing. Plus the real reason I am intentional about my weight is to be able to do the things I want to do. It always sounds like you can meet any challenge at the weight you are. Still I know the feeling of wanting off that extra 7 - 10 pounds.
Food was on plan yesterday. I made fish tacos with some halibut and they were really good. Dh doesn't like fish much, but he liked these. I bought the fish at Costco, wild caught and frozen. There are six pieces, so I think we will probably have fish tacos a couple more times in the next couple of months. I got up early today and did a strenuous but short hike with Amy, my early morning friend. We were at the trailhead when it opened at 5:09. There are automatic gates and the time changes every two weeks. After I got home I put up my larger camping tent to be sure it is still fine. I haven't used it in two years. On Wednesday my backpacking buddy and I are heading to the Grand Canyon. We'll camp at a campground on the rim for 3 nights. It will be 32 to 38 degrees on the nights we're staying. Our longest hike will be Thursday when we hike down South Kaibab, into Phantom Ranch and then up the Bright Angel Trail. It will probably be about 17 miles. It will be warm at the bottom (similar to Phoenix temps), so hopefully we can get on the first hiker bus to the trailhead, which would get us there at 5 a.m. Wednesday and Friday we'll do something fairly moderate and Saturday we're meeting a group we belong to and hike Kendrick Peak in Flagstaff before we head home.
Maryann Good job on the training hike. The only suggestion I have is that I use water for my weight when I train. That way if it gets to be too much for any reason it's easy to dump it out. I haven't every poured it out, but at least it's an option. It is motivating to have a goal for sure. You might enjoy the podcast called "Backpacker Radio" by The Trek. They have lots of different guests and I think it's fun to hear about all their trips and tips.
Curlyjax Yay for the roof rack. I see on YouTube there are lots of videos about how to get the kayak on top of the car alone. One was even putting a small rubber backed rug at the top of the back of the car and sliding the kayak up from there. Anyway, they might be helpful.
Bill Your drive into the countryside sounds really nice. I think I would want to do that kind of regularly. Do you have to mix a lot of soil in with the manure so it doesn't burn the plants? I think part of the reason dh doesn't want to retire is that he's afraid of all the things I might want to do with him like driving trips. He is such a darned homebody. For that reason I will continue doing my thing.
I'm checking in late today, just because I got going on a project and never stopped to do my usual things. But life goes better if I do my usual things, so I'm working through them now.
Exercise +45, 45/1400 minutes for May
maryann: I hope your doctors figure out what's going on quickly.
karenrn: I rarely miss my minutes goal for exercise in a month. I often miss my sub-goals, so I'm very happy with April since my exercise included daily stretching, eight strength-training sessions, and 12 yoga workouts -- meeting all of those goals.
Monday - World Press Freedom Day (since 1993, UN General Assembly)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan with no unscheduled daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Did eat the (planned) small bowl of blueberries served when our DS dropped by for a cup of tea in the afternoon. Tea on our patio - for just a few minutes - as we waited for the rain that cancelled our walk. We sat and chatted for two hours waiting for that rain; missing the walk for naught. Did catch up on the mind and affairs of the DS. They're deeply into getting new granite counter tops - their first time to go to stone yards that sell sheets of granite in an amazing array of patterns and even more amazing array of prices. So much fun to watch them getting into where on their slab each section that they need should be cut.
Excitement was a small group meeting on Zoom in the late afternoon. Folks are trying to assess how and when to resume in-person meetings. There's a state limit of 25 people who can gather in one enclosed space now; it's expected to be raised to 60 in a month or so. We might hold 'hybrid' meetings in the future so that elderly and distanced folks can join on Zoom while others who choose can gather in person. The world isn't going to settle back down in the same place as before.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Neat that you get that engaged in your project. Assume that no mention of your DH means that he's just chugging along in his healing.
maryann - Yay for building your resistance muscles while building your mountain climbing muscles. Kudos for bringing your food up to you cabin to make staying your plan easier.
Karen (karenrn) - Your Grand Canyon hike sounds terrific. Your Thursday hike all the way down to Phantom Ranch and all the way back up should be a full day. Glad that you're comfortable tenting in 32 to 38 degrees F temps. [Yes, DW mixes the aged cow manure with other soil. One scoop went into the spot for each of our tomato plants. I reminded her that the New England tradition is to put a Cod Fish under each plant. She reminded me what Cod Fish cost these days, LOL.]
curlyjax - Congrats for the milestone of an installed (pricey) roof rack. There's no way to stop you from getting a kayak now. Ouch for the challenge of dating as a grownup.
Readers -
Quote:
Success Skill 4Give Yourself Credit
Yes, You Do Deserve Credit
She would tell herself, Yes, it's good that I sat down to eat, but it shouldn't have been such a struggle, and, Yes, I ate dinner sitting down, but I forgot and popped some carrots into my mouth as I was making the salad.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 67.
The kayak perusing outing was so much better with a friend. We went to two sporting goods stores;the selection was better at the first. I discovered I can hoist the the front of the kayak, and that would be enough to be able to prop it up on the end of the car and push it on, I think. I googled as you did Karen and indeed people use a bathmat or blanket to put it on. It was nice to see women doing this too. One young woman had an ingenious way of using pool noodles as a substitute for a car rack, and she danced around, stating she would show us how to do this alone even wearing a dress. Youtube is awesome! So I'm going to have DS go with me on mothers day and buy one. I am investigating the best straps to tie down etc. It's fun to have a project and makes me feel empowered.
Today the handyman is coming to move the shelves so I can hopefully get a bigger refrig, if they still have any left in stock. I'm spending a lot these days but this is it for the big stuff, and its things I've been thinking about for awhile. Food yesterday was 70% OP so not too bad. Gardenerjoy-yay for getting all your subgoals done too! Karen-I echo that your trip sounds awesome! Many women seem to travel with other friends if their spouses don't want to, I think its a great thing to do. Maryann-great job training. I have one of the Dr. Gregor's cookbooks from the library and some recipes do look quite good. Bill-our church is thinking about buying video equipment so folks can indeed watch at home as well. I think evening meetings on zoom in the winter is a great thing.
I've let my weight creep up without fully realizing it. I'd hoped that I lost my ability to be in denial about how much I'm eating and what it's doing to my body. But apparently not. The best tool I've ever found for that is from Beck: weigh daily. So, I'm going to re-establish that habit, now, while it's a 5-pound gain before it turns into a 20-pound gain.
DH's catheter comes out tomorrow. That's going to be a big leap in recovery, I think. But, he's already eliminated pain medication and increased activity.
Exercise +40, 85/1400 minutes for May
BillBlueEyes: I'm hoping that I'm not the person who has to decide when meetings resume in person. In the case of our book group, the library will have a lot to say. They took over the meeting room for their curbside service, so as long as people prefer curbside, the library won't be hosting meetings. I wonder if the technology is good enough for hybrid. I've seen it happen in small ways and it always seemed to cause problems. Maybe the supply will step to meet the demand, because I'm sure some of our book group members who are over 70 have decided that staying home for evening meetings is the best thing.
Tuesday - Star Wars Day - May the 4th be with you (since 1977)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was a trip to the local tire garage to have them fix a slow leak. They did - and didn't charge me since they had charged me a month ago for the same fix. This time it was the valve stem. May all my problems in life have such simple solutions. Waiting wasn't an issue because I had a book to read. Got to eavesdrop on their customer relations: "Just need an alignment; car is shaking." After looking at the tires on their car, "Sir, we'll be glad to do an alignment, but your car will still be shaking because all four of your tires are shot; the thread is visible and bumps have formed. We'll have to charge you for an alignment again when you come back for the tires that you need." Guy ends up a customer for four new tires.
Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was large because I served myself and just got lost when serving the Spanish-seasoned rice. Then the correct portion of beans had to go over that and then the taco-flavored meat sauce. My eyeball just isn't that good at estimating volumes of food.
The sleeves for our 4"x3" COVID-19 vaccination forms arrived. They'll do until we think of a solution to having cards too large for a wallet. A friend took hers to Staples to be laminated but that has the problem that it can't be written on for booster shots. They certainly created a clumsy system. I do hope that all this is temporary.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Kudos for moving to solve the weight gain immediately. Yep, making a 'hybrid' meeting work is going to be a challenge. They're planning an "Owl" microphone that will rotate to point to a speaker physically in the meeting and use a fixed full room field-of-view camera. The at-home attendees will be projected on a screen. Maybe. We'll see.
curlyjax - LOL at a YouTube video of a woman loading a Kayak while wearing a dress. Congrats for figuring out that you can load the kayak by yourself. However dressed.
Readers -
Quote:
Success Skill 4Give Yourself Credit
Yes, You Do Deserve Credit
Janet had the unrealistic expectation that she would be able to master all of the Success Skills overnight. She didn't realize that everyone struggles with them to varying degrees.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 67.
Beck Diet For Life/Solution – May 2021 – Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach
Saturday - May Day (since ancient times)
The job is similar to what i’m doing, working with low income elders to help them find resources such as food stamps etc, only i’ll be in one place instead of traveling. I’m in flux for this month, training for the new one and keeping tabs on the old. 
