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:
Tuesday - National Freedom Day (since 1948, President Harry Truman)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - The postman brought a book for a six-week course that doesn't start for eight weeks, Neutron Stars: The Quest to Understand the Zombies of the Cosmos. That are imagined to look like this. I've never understood them; just grabbed onto the word 'Pulsars' as if that explained anything. I have many things on my list, but it's hard not to peek ahead at a book that might help me understand something that quixotic. Really excited to get into this book. To save my marriage, I agreed to remove two books from the kitchen table that I wasn't reading. Just thought that was a nice place for them to sit so I would occasionally notice that I wasn't reading them. I finished one rather quickly - I was really already done - and I've added the other to the pile in my office that I wish I was reading. Unfortunately, a tall pile.
Eating was on plan at meals, CREDIT moi, but extra snacks. I do have to get this snacking under control. The good news is that I didn't get into the snickerdoodles. But I know they're still there. The bad news is that a friend sent over two small pieces of a cake - like a fruit cake made with dried figs. So good. So very glad that only two small pieces arrived. And now they're gone. If I lived in a house where baking occurred on a regular basis, I'd be a blimp.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Love the notion of giving yourself a long relaxing yoga session. Not as a "must do" but as a gift.
maryann - Kudos for restricting yourself to one serving of freshly made pineapple upside down cake. Love reading your comfort using the latest technology to help survive teaching.
Karen (karenrn) - Such amazing food for such reasonable prices. You'll certainly appreciate the dry air of Arizona after this trip.
curlyjax - Yep, watch carefully for falling iguanas. With global warming, don't know when they'll be right here in Massachusetts. Yay for good neighbors.
Penny. - Congrats for those three pounds down for the month. And Super Congrats to your son for getting the job at Whole Foods.
Ann (AnnC123) - Now I have to add Minnesota to my Bucket List just to get Sasquatch sandwiches. What a gas! Neat that the cool encouraged you to walk more quickly.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 5Stage 2 - The Think Thin Initial Eating Plan
Food Preparation Guidelines
Use cooking spray. This option save lots of calories. If you'd like to cook with butter or oil, use your Add-On or Bonus Calories.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 114.
Today was very busy day at work which was good, and things feel very good between myself and my colleague which is wonderful . We have a new staff member who seems very nice too. There’s been a gradual turnover of the old guard who was there forever, so there is a new energy now. Foodwise though I didn’t do so well- there were extra cookies and I took a bunch home, ate some and felt ill afterwards. TODAY is a new day, I keep saying to myself. I did get the tuition paid and figured out some more financial stuff, so yay for that. Penny- so glad about DS job. Hopefully at some point he’ll be able to carpool with your other son. Yay for the pounds down. Maryann-I wonder if being confronted by technology helped some older teachers make the decision to retire at some point, the world changes so quickly. Karen-I have a friend who talks about spending time in Thailand for just that reason, the low cost of living (plus he loves the food).
I still didn't manage the long relaxing yoga routine. I hope to do that in the next few days.
About the time that I would have done the yoga, my brother stopped by, and we had a long, masked visit in the driveway. We should have been doing that more often the last couple of years.
Then, a school board member called, asking for my librarianly opinion about what to do about a handful of parents in our district that want books banned from school libraries. That was kind of thrilling. It would never have happened a few years ago before I made it a mission to get to know school board members and administrators to make sure that they knew that I was one of many community members who cared about equity.
Anyway, none of that left me in the sort of mood that worked well for yoga. Instead, I found some YouTube videos with dance routines to Encanto songs and finished my exercise up with that.
We're going to have really warm temperatures today. I may try to get another walk in before the rain starts. Then, it's rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow. In that order. But a whole lot of uncertainty about when the transitions happen. If the transition to snow happens quickly, we may get 6 inches. If we stick with the freezing rain and sleet longer, we could get the kind of icing event that leads to massive power outages with freezing days. I'd rather have the snow. But it's all a bit tense, since DH is responsible for plowing for ourselves and our neighbors. And, of course, power outages have all the concerns about how we keep ourselves and our water pipes warm enough in very cold temperatures.
Here's my reminder that food is not a fix for tension. It's also not necessary that I consume more or different foods just because it's snowing -- even if that's something that was a feature of my childhood. I can have hot tea instead of hot chocolate. I don't need to bake anything. What I do want to do is to consume the large amount of produce that I bought at Whole Foods yesterday.
Exercise +70, 1600/1600 minutes for January
maryann: You might want to add this to your travel bookmarks -- HF Holidays. They were the source for all my travel fantasies in December. They specialize in stays at British country houses and guided walks in the area. It looks like a great way to see some sites that aren't normally accessible without a car. And a great way to safely hike in a foreign country. Reasonably priced, too.
Yesterday was on plan and I had a nice drop back into the decade I wanted to be in by the end of January.
Last month I had the excruciating pain and fever with my monthly and yesterday I got it again. So strange that I feel perfectly fine outside of the few days of issues. I guess I'd better make an appointment to have it investigated. I'm going to Tylenol up and try and work through it today and then I'm off a couple days.
DH made it through the MRI. I webmd up again trying to decipher the results I get on the hospital ap. The Dr that called DH was "not a people person" and gave no context for anything. There is a biopsy scheduled for April but that is almost a given since we KNOW he has cancer and it is just to seek out changes. I did read an interesting article that said men with DH "Gleeson 6 number" (don't ask me to explain) can arguable put into the non cancer category since there is a huge likelyhood that it wouldn't be problematic for 40 years. All in all, we are glad we choose attentive watchfulness instead of action. We seem to be able to tolerate the inaction very well - almost forget it until the check up time comes.
Food was off with two large cookies being used to reward my hospital visit. Oh Well. Today has been good and I have followed my pledge to eat a salad a day. It was tasty and as always makes me less hungry.
Joy: I addesdthe bookmark. Exciting. Oh you have to spill the beans on the books they wanted banned.
Penny: Congrats on the drop in the scale.
It's my last day here. Last evening we went out to dinner with a friend of dil. It was a traditional Thai restaurant out of the touristy area and the food was excellent. None of us drank, but there were four of us with lots of different dishes for under $50. I'll want to go back to that one for sure. I wanted to take photos of the food but her friend is a respectable older gentleman and I didn't feel like it was appropriate.
This morning I got up to find a rash around my tick ? bite. The bite is on my breast so socks and long pants wouldn't have helped. I looked on Dr. Google and it doesn't look like Lyme disease is prevalent here, but I had purchased Amoxicillin and will take it three times a day until I can check with my doctor after I get home. I feel just fine, but I don't want to overlook it. I purchased more Amoxicillin cause it says to take 500 mg three times a day for 2 weeks. It's really cheap here and no need for a prescription. I got my covid test for the trip home and have a letter from the clinic showing I tested negative. I came home and have done most of my packing cause I really am ready to be going, even though it's been a very nice trip.
Maryann Glad your dh has had his MRI and Gleason 6 score. I looked it up too. Hopefully continued watching will be all he needs.
Penny Glad you had a nice weight drop. Always feels so good. I'm sure I'll need one when I get home.
GardenerJoy Of course you met your exercise goal. Glad you had a nice visit with your brother. I met friends for lengthy outside visits and it was much nicer than just on the phone.
Curlyjax I'm so glad things are smoothed out with your co-worker. I know sometimes those ruffles feel like they won't smooth out again but luckily they often do. Glad you finished more financial stuff too.
Bill Moving books from the table seems like a pretty easy thing to do to save your marriage. I had some tasty cake yesterday too. Dil's friend loves to bake and made a tasty orange cake. Today I'm sticking to bland food that are out of a packages, other than a little fruit. I haven't had any problems, but I sure don't want them when I'll be on a plane for about 20 hours. I figure I have had plenty of tasty Thai food by now.
Wednesday - Groundhog Day (Punxsutawney Phil predicting since 1887)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan at meals, CREDIT moi, but with extra snacking during the day. Just thinking about getting started on taxes makes me cringe a bit. Alas, food does not fend off the IRS.
The supermarket was loaded with Valentine candy, Valentine cakes, Valentine this'es, and Valentine that's. Apparently, sugar is the universal expression of love. Sugar and large mylar balloons. Mylar balloons last forever - so perhaps that is a valid symbol of love. Sugar tends to sink onto the hip and last almost forever. On the other hand, curmudgeons just should quit writing about Valentine's Day, LOL.
Despite the shortages I've experienced at the supermarket in previous trips, everything on my list was there. Bought a bright red Red Bell Pepper that wasn't on my list just because it looked so good. Slices will go atop our green salad each dinner. The man checking out in front of me had twelve quart clams of strawberries, twelve of blueberries, and assorted fruit. Nothing else. I thought about asking what he was doing, but couldn't think of a reason. Someone is getting a honking big fruit bowl. Or he's distilling fruit whiskey. Or selling strawberries to minors. The register girl was named Rose and the bagging guy was named Alan. Methinks I'm suffering from cabin fever.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Kudos for the extra effort to make your January exercise goal. You've been so consistently good at that. Is there anything one citizen can do about this book-banning trend? It's driving me nuts. A very tiny group of loud folks asserts that they represent all the parents. I get fired up at the notion that withholding information from kids makes their life better. I'm a big fan of trusting the teachers and librarians; they see more kids than the average parent sees. [/Rant]
maryann - Thanks for sending me off to track down "Gleason 6 number". That's in my future and I have much to learn. Kudos to you both for your equanimity.
Karen (karenrn) - Ouch for a departing gift of a rash. It's so unintuitive to me that Amoxicillin is over-the-counter. You seem well prepared for your trip home.
curlyjax - Yep, Kudos, indeed, for getting some financial stuff done. Nice to hear that work is going smoothly.
Penny. - Congrats for making your month's decade goal. Wish you well chasing down the pain.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 5Stage 2 - The Think Thin Initial Eating Plan
Food Preparation Guidelines
Measure every portion. For now, use a food scale and measuring cups and spoons whenever you are preparing a meal or snack. Don't estimate! Eventually you will get good at eyeballing your portions, but first you need to develop your eye.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 114.
I had to sit thru a really annoying 90 minute workshop yesterday, where the speaker calls on you. He's a bit full of himself and you could tell some other folks in the workshop weren't happy to be there either. I did manage to push myself to only eat some orange slices and coffee until 11:30, skipping breakfast, as I'm trying the "eat within a certain window" thing. The orange slices do count, but it was a good exercise in tolerating hunger anyhow.
Not much done yesterday other than a checkin with my dad, and I made a dish of butternut squash, spinach, black beans, canned tomatoes and motz cheese, because i had to use up some of the ingrediants before they got too old. It turned out pretty good and I will eat it tonight too. I haven't been getting my salads in but at least i'm getting other veggies in another way.
Gardenerjoy- good luck with the storm, I find it unsettling until its over. Thanks for the holiday bookmark, those trips look wonderful!
Penny- yay for the drop. I wonder if you're perimenopausal, as I've heard cramps can intensify then.
Maryann- glad DH is doing well and you're able to just monitor.
Karen- interesting about the rash. I'm sure you are ready to go home. It's great to travel and great to come back home.
Bill-yes, there is candy all around. Not sure what the next holiday is with sugar- maybe Easter? So hopefully we'll have a break in the stores. Too funny about the loads of fruit.
When I got up around 5am, ice was falling out of the sky and the deck was a sheet of ice. Since then, though, we've been getting more textured frozen material, accumulating the sort of winter mix that doesn't stick to trees or power lines and can be shoveled. That's a relief.
Exercise +60, 1400/1600 minutes for February
maryann: The book-banning in our school district is kept a little quieter than in neighboring districts. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison got banned in a nearby district -- although I heard later that it was just moved from the middle school library to the high school one, which isn't quite so bad. It looks like our district is going to go with some sort of parental notification rather than banning books outright.
BillBlueEyes: The school board member said that it's a dozen families causing the ruckus in our district. Which made him inclined toward a much less drastic solution. Very amenable to the notion that parents can have some influence on what their kids read but none on what other kids read.
Yesterday was on plan and weight came back up. My body must have heard me celebrating and felt I needed some humbling.
My yummy corn chowder is gone and I wish I had the ingredients to make the Mexican bean and corn salad again. That was so good! I'll make more boring bean soup for me and my son will be making pizza for them. Almost through week two of my three weeks of tight budgeting.
Bill, love your grocery store observations. Ha! People watching is good entertainment sometimes. Penn Jillettte's weightloss book talks about his snack of a monster sized bowl of berries sprinkled with cayenne pepper and cocoa powder (I think). Maybe they're going on that diet.
Karen, that is really cool you were able to have an antibiotic available. Safe travels home!
Maryann, I never thought to snap a photo of a report in the diagnostic imaging room. Sneaky sneaky! I hope the feedback is even better than you hope.
Joy, I'm glad to know kids are still using the library at schools. One of my teacher friends is a language arts teacher and brought up a 2013 FB memory of one of her 13yo students bringing in a 50 Shades of Gray book for his independent reading. Since her students now don't seem to care at all about reading, she was wondering if she should add 50 Shades to her class library (joking). lol
Curly, ugh the workshops. I keep reminding myself how much I'm getting paid to be there if it's particularly boring and repeat information.
Karen: Drat about the bite. I would be careful, as well.
Penny: dDat that scale. Mine floated up as well. It demands constant vigilance.
Curleyjax: Penny is right about getting paid for sitting. i should be grateful but it just makes me so mad to waste time.
The packaged salad strategy is totally working. I am less hungry and getting my veggies. I will repeat it again next week. the extra cost is totally worth not having to prep. I get variety and no clean up. I am committed tpo the gym and climbing machine tonite. I have an audiobook I want to finish. tomorrow I have the second heart test. It is a treadmill. Does this count for Beck's "Try new things"
I'm coming here to vent which I should have done right after my scale reading on Sunday
I stepped on the scale and saw a rise of 0.8lbs from last week and it threw me.off.everything. I knew I'd see a rise. I was taunting it really; eating salty things and daring it to happen. And so I saw the number rise.
At the same time my sister was ready to try losing weight again and she was bugging me to rejoin the.fasting pgm I had been in before. I was already humming along and.finding my way back by other means, but I listened to her and followed her lead, mostly because I thought I would.miss out on something important. There's no direction in the new site. I can't even really navigate it very well and I'm neither doing what was working two weeks ago or doing something new. I'm in limbo. I've started teaching and stressing about finding time for my own personal work again and that tension always makes me want to eat as well as Caesar Cat's health which is stable but can cycle.low.from time to time.
Anyway my food has been a free for all culminating with baking cookies from a mix and eating KFC. I stood on the scale at.midday yesterday to see it up a further 7lbs.
Is this where I am.now going to stay now at this very high number? Always bouncing back.to the top number or more? sabotaging thoughts galore in that statement.
But...why did I listen to.my sister and change what worked for me?
Tomorrow I'll restart what I was doing before. I'll follow-through with the other program to see what's there then cancel after the.month is done.
SIGH
Also, I'm really upset about the truckers in Ottawa. Several.of my friends.and my sister.live where the "freedom convoy" are using their airhorns nonstop. Nonstop! It's so depressing. If you're curious look up freedom convoy Ottawa. Sigh.
Bye for now. Better days ahead as my.mother would say. sending everyone a hug.
Thursday-The Day the Music Died(1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, & The Big Bopper)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Pick up the (6 yo) DGD from Kindergarten day. She excitedly showed us the latest missing tooth - her fifth. Came with a long dog-and-pony tale of how it was discovered, how her mom hadn't noticed, and exactly how the crust of a baguette did her in. Love hearing these stories - all very similar. The Tooth Fairy left an origami-folded dollar under her pillow which she proudly took to school. So fun to be reminded that childhood has so many milestones to pass. Was also touched to note how heartfelt they sound saying "Goodbye" to each other in the driveway - even though they've just spent the entire day together. It's their social ritual. She read the word 'Atomic' on her mom's downhill skis. I miss that I don't get to watch her reading advance every week.
Reluctantly made an appointment with my cardiologist for a checkup. It's been years since he's seen me in person. The last appointment was by Zoom - truly unsatisfying. We have a mixed marriage: one of us thinks that any discomfort warrants calling 911; the other thinks that if one is able to use the phone, it couldn't be that bad. And one of us thinks that the other exaggerates greatly. An office appointment is the compromise.
onebyone - Kudos for taking a direction, "Tomorrow I'll restart what I was doing before." Ouch for the wandering about in order to get there. Your "freedom convoy" saddens me because it's so well organized and well executed. I wish it was using all that diesel fuel and tonnage moving ability to deliver needed goods to some under-served corners of the globe.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for icy weather that isn't sticking to tree limbs and power lines to cause power outages. Re banning books: Just read that one family in Texas wants to ban a children's book about Michelle Obama so her kid won't feel bad. Can't understand why that made national news.
maryann - LOL that a treadmill test is "Trying New Things." I certainly think so. Fun to have an audio book that you want to finish as motivation for time on the climbing machine.
Karen (karenrn) - Waving - possibly toward an airplane over the Pacific Ocean.
curlyjax - Ouch for having to endure a poorly done 90 minute workshop. But Kudos for not using it as a reason to eat.
Penny. - Neat that your scale is sufficiently anthropomorphized as to cause you humbling. Cheaper than a psychiatrist, that's for sure. Yay for a DS who makes pizza for the family.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 5Stage 2 - The Think Thin Initial Eating Plan
Food Preparation Guidelines
When Greg began to measure his food, he realized that he had been serving himself considerably more food - especially meat and chips - than he had planned. No wonder he wasn't losing weight! I want to make sure this doesn't happen to you.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 114.
I had a huge craving for dessert at work and gave in. I’m falling into that “its free” thing- if I had to pay 5.00 for a cupcake I wouldn’t eat it. My motivation has gone. DD is coming home for the weekend and asked me to buy cake mix. I’ll have to tell myself “it’s only sheet cake!” and not worth the calories. I was able to put off eating until 11 am other than coffee with milk, so continuing with that experiment. But I’m feeling content otherwise, so at least i’m on even keel emotionally. I did two “duty” phone calls last night which I had been putting off. I seem to have misplaced a library book-ironically its called “I can make you thin”. I guess not if I can’t find it! Onebyone- I feel you, I’ve been sabotaging myself. Ugh. We can do this. Better days ahead is a good motto. Maryann- I’m a huge fan of packaged salads too for just those reasons. Too funny about trying new things! Gardenerjoy- interesting about the book banning stuff going on. Penny- good point about being paid to sit thru it, I just find the guy patronizing and annoying. Too funny about the 50 shades of grey! Bill-So fun to relive things like the tooth fairy with the next generation. The medical profession can be over cautious at times- but better safe than sorry when it comes to your heart.
Beck Diet For Life/Solution – February 2022 – Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach
Tuesday - National Freedom Day (since 1948, President Harry Truman)
sabotaging thoughts galore in that statement.
sending everyone a hug.