[karenrn]

Good afternoon coaches,

Food was totally on plan yesterday. It was cold again this morning, but I got out for a hike and warmed up quickly. By the time I was half way through I shed my light jacket and long sleeved fleece and was hiking in my tee shirt. I did have long pants on though. By the time I stopped at the store on the way home it was time for lunch. After lunch dh and I ate the hidden treats that were in the freezer. He didn't know they were there and was very glad to share them. I decided it was a much better move to eat them with him thereby having only half. It was a reasonable portion and also I was not trying to eat without anyone seeing it. It felt much more in control. Now they are gone.

Maryann I'm glad you're feeing better. I think it would be hard to stick with the 100 carbs and still get enough vegetables and fruit. You got a lot done yesterday. Hopefully you're able to take it a little easier today.

Curlyjax You're day yesterday sounds very nice. I hear you about the cards, but we left so many people that I still want to keep in touch with at least a bit. I also send to our family and want to send them our photo with Otis each year. The thing I am more likely to drop is the baking. Some years it seems like a lot of work to just make life for difficult for me.

Bill Your events sounds really nice. The pastries sounds great too. My cousin that I'm closest to was a kindergarten teacher and was always talking about Stone Soup and making it for her class. I've never even read the book, but the kids all seemed to like whatever she was doing.

GardenerJoy I'm a fan of Bob & Brad. The physical therapist I was going to said her education was based on the same theory they use, so that made me feel good that they are legitimate. Bob, is that the tall one?, has a neurological problem and in the more recent videos has difficulty with his speech. They explained it in one of the videos.

Waving to Penny!

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - The food wasn't FREE; I paid my way. But it was a buffet with repeated trips. It was a 'lunch' with old work friends from some fifty years ago. Even though it started at noon, the hotel served what it must have considered brunch. I'd been up quite a while and was startled to see hot trays of scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausages. Need to update my notion of what the next generation calls the weekend meals. Eating was above plan, but less than I was drawn to eat, CREDIT moi. On the up side, there was a monster tray of lox with capers that was being ignored. I did my best to compensate for the others, LOL.

Got reminded by a friend that Gene Cernan was the 12th, and last, astronaut to walk on the moon. Just before climbing the steps of the Lunar Lander he wrote with his gloved finger the initials of his only daughter, 9-year-old Teresa Dawn Cernan. Some future civilization will find the initials "TDC" in the lunar dust near the Apollo 17 discarded Lunar Module Descent Stage. Fun to be reminded that the astronauts were humans.

Drove home for an hour in what should have been a breezy fifteen mile, twenty minute trip because the temperature had dropped to 24 degrees F and light snow was falling hard as dark fell at 4 pm. Only an inch of snow, just enough to freeze on the surface of the road. Was driving at 4 and 10 mph on a major highway. Fortunately, everyone else responded to icy conditions by driving sanely. I have seen folks think that their car could go faster and end up in the ditch wondering how a tow truck was going to get them when the highway was jammed. Not a fun driving experience.


maryann - Really smart to recognize that you can choose when to deal with the dishwasher instead of feeling forced to jump to its schedule. I agree, washing a few dishes by hand is just not the world's worst problem.

Karen (karenrn) - Kudos for choosing a way to be in control of eating your treats - shared instead of alone trying to hide it. Love the image of you hiking in a tee-shirt while I'm typing about driving on an ice-slicked road.

curlyjax - Always drool over the thought of a Ruben sandwich - my favorite. Neat that you have a friend to share decorating your tree.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Memory Box Cards

The first time you stay in control at one of these events and find it meaningful, file that experience in your Memory Box.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 152.

[curlyjax]

My tree is up, yay! thanks to my 73 year old friend who is an inspiration to me health wise. I seem to be one of the few people who get a real tree-its a pain to put up, but I do love the smell. I will probably put up the lights on it tonight and enjoy it for a few days like that without decorations, which is my favorite. My other friend's mom decided she didn't want to hang out, so I got groceries instead, including a stop at a second store as Trader joe's was out of eggs due to bird flu. It had started to snow and was very slippery on the way home; my anti-lock brakes went on a few times. I made a microwave potato with ricotta, and baked chicken breasts for dinner, and chatted with my friend on the phone instead. Time to get out all the snow gear, ugh.I indulged myself in watching an old Call the Midwives Christmas special which I hadn't seen, and ordered a few things. A nice day. I ended up eating a PBJ sandwich late in the evening as I was really hungry; figured that was better than a microwave brownie.
Karen- I'm sure your friends are very glad to get the cards. Good idea to share the treats with DH in full view.
Maryann-sounds like a productive day. I hear you about the repairmen, I don't like having them in my house either.
Bill-yay for lox all to yourself. I feel like we all forget how to drive in the snow until the first snowfall.
I woke up way too early so am posting now and getting up.

[gardenerjoy]

I have a meeting at 9:30, which I'm worried that I'll forget just because it's Monday. So, I keep telling people and writing it down. That will probably work.

We walked yesterday, even though it was only 40 degrees. I'm slowly getting us acclimated to winter walks. CREDIT. I also did yoga yesterday and this morning. I intend to do strength-training today. My pause from those two things didn't seem to help my back, so I'm getting back to them while working on posture at my computer and stretches.

My eating is boring and boring is good for maintaining weight.

Exercise +75, 590/1700 minutes for December

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Even after having the cookies my weight is down this morning. Not a bunch, but in the right direction. It's been raining and is wet out so I'm not going to hike today. In fact I think I'm just going to putter around. I stripped the bed and then my husband reminded me that I just did it on Saturday. I guess I must have been pretty distracted on Saturday, but I there are worse things than having clean sheets. I'm in the office and did a little filing etc to keep it up.

GardenerJoy With all the writing you have been doing I would imagine it hasn't helped your upper back. Good posture is probably the very best thing to do.

Curlyjax I'm glad you have the tree up with plenty of time to enjoy it. I love the smell also, but I knew it would be a fire hazard here. I need to find a good smelling candle that might help.

Bill Good job for eating less than you would have liked to eat. That alone takes will power. Your drive home doesn't sound like any picnic. We have snow up at Flagstaff which is a couple of hours away. My little great niece? turned one on Saturday and my db and Sil couldn't get there because the pass from Wenatchee to Seattle was a mess. My Sil said they got 11 inches of snow overnight. That's the one problem with their three kids living in Seattle and them living in Wenatchee. They like Wenatchee though because the skies are blue much more often.

Waving to Maryann and Penny!

[maryann]

Good Evening, Coaches.

Long day. Just got home. I had two med appts. I left school early. I am still not feeling up to snuff. I took a COVID test and was negative. Looks like I'll be teaching the rest of the week. Drat! No fever but I just feel dragging. Some of it my be may neck and shoulders which have been aching since last week. The chiropractor did some heat, electrical stimulus, and trigger points. i don't want a neck adjustment. I feel better maybe 30%. I'll take it. Dentist was boring which is what I like.

Food was light because I don't feel well. Water was on Target. Not worrying about anything else.

Karen: I agree. it is always good to eat in company.
BBE, Joy and Curly: You remind me of why it is good to live in the Central Valley. I have never had a problem with ice in my town.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was walking outside in one inch of snow and low twenties F temperature. As if winter was approaching. Had to plug in my all-electric Nissan LEAF. Hardly worthy of noting as a task except for when I have to walk over snow to get to the outlet. The car itself is happy to charge in cold weather. It just does so more slowly. Car batteries don't like cold. My evening meeting was on Zoom; I was the conductor. Once again I am reminded that Zoom allows us to include folks way out on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and in far distant California. We take it for granted.

Learned from a friend that the 1975 movie (that I'd never heard of) Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles just got named Number 1 movie of all time in the Sight and Sound poll - replacing Vertigo which, itself, replaced Citizen Kane. It's three and a half hours long and is so slow that it makes My Dinner with Andre seem like an action flick. My friend has seen My Dinner with Andrew six times. He highly recommends Jeanne Dielman. Maybe. I was able to sit through the entire 52 second trailer linked above. Makes me want to go back and see Vertigo and Citizen Kane again. Three and a half hours could lead to a lot of popcorn, LOL.



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yes indeed, "boring is good for maintaining weight." Need to remember that over the holidays as I see seasonal treats offered.

maryann - Yay for a boring dentist visit. Apparently, this is boring day on the Beck forum at 3FC.

Karen (karenrn) - LOL at changing the sheets right after the last time. DW has a schedule by the day of week so we're safe from that. Eleven inches overnight is a bunch of snow.

curlyjax - Sobering that Trader Joe's was out of eggs due to bird flu. Hadn't seen that yet. Congrats for a successful first drive of the year on an icy road.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Memory Box Cards

For example, Laurie wrote:

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 152.

[curlyjax]

I was so tired at work because of not sleeping well but managed to get thru the day. I did get into the Lindt chocolates, ugh. Possibly some emotional eating; I love my colleagues but it gets tricky to share a job with one of them. Yesterday I was feeling a bit jealous as I feel she is busier than I am and dealing with some of my favorite clients. And she is very sensitive so I have to be careful if I want to do something about a new idea myself. It's a minor tension that exists. Ugh.Anyhow I am acknowledging the feeling and need to let it go, I love my job in so many ways. I came home yesterday to find the heat wasn't working, but the service guy came and fixed it. It's still a little sluggish and he says its overdue for a cleaning, but that may be booked out a few months at this point. I had long phone chats with DD and my dad, and watched another Christmas special of Call the midwives. I have a zoom call with my therapist today and I can barely remember from 3 weeks ago, so I'll need to prepare for that.
Bill: zoom is indeed awesome. I don't think I could sit thru that film, it looks really slow.
Maryann-nice to have a decent chiro visit. Interesting they do that other stuff too. I'm waiting until after Christmas to go back since my neck is feeling pretty good.
Karen- too funny about the clean sheets. I tried to move my tree a little farther away from the heater last night and it fell over so I'm going to cross my fingers. I don't leave the lights plugged in much anyhow.
Gardenerjoy-I have to laugh when you and Karen say only 40 degrees, that's pretty decent for winter around here.

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Food was on plan yesterday. I was tempted a few times to start looking for a snack, but reminded myself that I would feel so much better if I didn't and it's true. No big plans for the day. I'm sorting through some things to get rid of things I don't use.
Dh got a call yesterday to move his neurosurgeon appointment from 4/25 to 2/16, so we are both happy about that. Then a friend asked if I wanted her to try to get it moved even sooner. I didn't know she works in the same network. Fingers crossed, but we're so happy it is over two months sooner.

Curlyjax I'm sure glad you were able to get the repairman out quickly to fix the furnace. It would be awful to be without heat in your temperatures.

Bill I'm with Curlyjax, that movie looks a little too slow for me and too long also. Batteries don't like heat either. I don't know how electric car batteries do here, but regular car batteries don't last near as long as other places. You know I do the sheets on the weekend, but for some reason I was unsure if I had done them.

Maryann I'm hope you're feeling better today. I think I'd be afraid to have my neck adjusted. Actually I've never been to a chiropractor and kind of afraid of them. Luckily I haven't needed them . . . yet. I know for me neck and shoulder pain is always related to stress.

GardenerJoy Boring eating is best for me too. Actually I like the food I eat very much, so it isn't so boring as routine.

Waving to Penny!

[gardenerjoy]

I'm achieving more December calm than I was earlier this month. The current experiment is to put all my outward facing tasks and social media in the middle of the day. That way I can start my day with calm and, when the other chores are done, make my way back there. It worked yesterday -- so I'll try that again today.

One thing that new schedule has encouraged is morning yoga. My second morning in a row of that felt pretty good.

Exercise +70, 660/1700 minutes for December

karenrn: Yes -- routine is a better description of my food than boring. I have a repertoire of perfected dishes that I really like.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - My last class on Black authors covered Amiri Baraka - previously known as LeRoi Jones. Lots of rage. The guy was charismatic had a zillion friends. Guess I'll just have to accept that poets aren't my thing. It was useful to get those two names straight in my head since they were both in there and confused.

Trip to the supermarket was boring (our forum's new word). Everything was in its place. I did notice that the 8 oz chunk of "Seriously Sharp" cheddar cheese that I watch to go on sale at $2 from its normal $2.50, was now $2.69 and not looking like it'd ever go on sale again. I'm not that price sensitive, but happened to notice because of the game of watching for the sale each week and buying a few for the sheer joy of saving $0.50. Super glad that I'm not at that stage of life counting my remaining dollars until payday. Inflation is real.

Annoyance was missing a concert and dinner with DW because I had a Zoom meeting for a volunteer organization that matters to me. A friend of hers took my pace. I ate leftover spaghetti and meat balls at my computer trying not to splatter my shirt with spaghetti sauce that is capable of not washing out. Excitement was the arrival of a stack of dish towels that DW ordered to give DD for Christmas. Exciting because they arrived in a clear plastic envelope evacuated so thoroughly that the package was only one inch thick and stiff as a board. Since the envelope was clear, the dish towels were visible. Because it was so stiff, DW told me that some book I'd ordered had arrived - she never considered that the stiff envelope could be towels. Amusement for the evening was watching them expand when we relieved the vacuum. Maybe I need a life.



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Like the notion of "more December calm" - the month of joy sure seems to bring in its stack of tensions.

Karen (karenrn) - Super neat that your DH's appointment is moving closer - not further away. I have a friend whose DH's cardiologist appointment is far into the future who is trying to take solace in that they would have made it sooner if it'd been urgent.

curlyjax - Kudos for being a good in-between-generation person taking care of your DD and your dad in phone calls. And Super Congrats for getting a service person out so quickly.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

How wonderful it is to go to bed after a special
event or celebration and feel so good that you
followed your plan, when you could have easily
consumed thousands of extra calories.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 153.

[curlyjax]

I felt a bit dizzy/nauseous at work so I left a little early and took a nap. It came up from nowhere- i wonder if it was something I ate as i indulged in the "breakfast for lunch" we had at work, and had some homemade cookies. I felt better after the nap. I managed to tip over my tree trying to move it farther from the heater, and now there is probably water trapped under the rug and the tree lights got wet. I'm feeling very frustrated about it all. I guess I will wait until one of the kids can help me move it again and lift the rug and dry it out. This year the tree feels like a lot more work. Actually everything feels like work right now even though I don't have too much to do for Christmas. Later today I will pick up DD so this is the end of quiet for awhile I did have a nice phone conversation with my BIL to catch up, and I had phone conversations with and about my aunt with one of her friends who is managing her finances, so that was productive anyhow.
Karen- its a little scary to have your neck adjusted but my ROM is so much better after I've had that done. Yay for DH appt being closer.
Gardenerjoy- starting and ending the day calm sounds good.
Bill-too funny about the dish towels. I seem to be ruining shirts hither and yon which is quite annoying.

[maryann]

Hey Coaches,

Just got home. Another late day. I am fried. Long meeting after school about another suicidal youth. Thankfully this one has many eyes on him and a safety plan.

Food was good. Water on target. Sterps active yesterday.

I went and got my neck adjusted again. Just soft tissue therapy and it really feels better.

I have to go heat it and make dinner. Long post after my finals week is over.

Wave

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Walked, CREDIT moi, to the dentist despite being cold outside. I tried to talk myself out of it because of the cold temperature but ultimately reminded myself that walking keeps me warm and, since I own warm outerwear, cold isn't an excuse. Thunderstorms and blizzards are an excuse, but not temperature. In the dentist chair, it never fails: just as soon as my mouth is "Open wide" and full of the technician's instruments she tells me about the Bald Eagle she saw just north of Boston last week. I can't reply. The good news is that she found nothing new that needs attention. Of course she encouraged me to floss more. When trying to schedule my next appointment in three months, we faced that she's got a pretty full schedule. Tried a slot at 3 pm on a Wednesday - no can do on pick up DGD afternoon. Finally she asked, "Do you want me to schedule with another hygienist?" "Feels like divorce," I said, "but yes, I need the 8 am slot to be sure that I don't have to change it later."

Dinner was to include avocado toast after that had been suggested as a way to use an extra avocado a month ago. DW actually looked up the recipe: Ingredients: avocado and toast. Instructions: spread avocado on toast. OK, that's all there is to it. No butter or mayonnaise to hold the avocado down or anything. We had it as an appetizer. Nice touch especially since we had fresh Ciabatta to slice for the toast. Also had leftover Gnocchi from DW's Italian restaurant dinner out. I've always avoided Gnocchi because I never figured out what it was. Again, Chef Google to the rescue. It's potato, put together with much hand work. Was great especially since it came with sauteed mushrooms.


maryann - Such good news that your school has a plan in place to help a suicidal student - particularly just for recognizing that the kid was suicidal. Yay that neck adjustment works for you.

curlyjax - Good that your DD will be home so you don't have to tend to the Christmas tree problem by yourself. Do hope that dizzy feeling is just passing.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

Special Advice for Entertaining at Home

Some dieters find it easier to stick to their plan when they host a special event at home where they control what is served; some find it harder because they have to spend more time thinking about, shopping for preparing, serving, and clearing away the food.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 153.

[curlyjax]

I did not do well with food yesterday. emotional eating at work, and then DD asked me to make her a microwave brownie and i made myself one even though i wasn't craving it- mad at myself for doing that. We actually had a nice drive back from Boston-both of us had eaten which probably helped-and it was past rush hour so I zipped in and out. she has one more final next week which she is very nervous about but has passed her other classes so yay. I have to get some shopping done today and figure out what to make for dinner.
Bill-I love gnocchi, and I eat avocado toast often. It is very popular these days, and ooh would it be good on that bread. I know what you mean about the hygienist, I get attached to mine and was so bummed when my favorite one retired.
Maryann-interesting the chiro does soft tissue adjustment. mine has worked my hip tendon a bit which helped a little with pain, I never had one do that before. Great that eyes are on the troubled youth.