[BillBlueEyes]

Welcome to the discussion group, support group, Diet Coach group, Diet Buddy group relating to the two books by Dr. Judith S. Beck:

The Complete Beck Diet for Life
and the first book
The Beck DIET solution: train your brain to think like a thin person.

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:

List of Monthly Beck Threads for Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Trip to the library solved two issues: returned the two books due; and picked up my friend's new book that I had reserved and had only arrived on the pick-up shelf an hour before I went. Close timing, that. Then off to the supermarket where I observed that the Valentine's Day candy just doesn't ring my bell. Good! I used to look forward to those little heart candies made of Necco Wafer stuff. Don't crave them anymore. The chocolate all looks like the cheapest; and I remember being reminded on this thread that it was made months ago. So it's stale, cheap chocolate. Nevertheless, for not buying any, CREDIT moi.

Dinner was a new type of salmon from Whole Foods - lightly smoked. It was specified to be grilled only on its skin side. This meant that it didn't have those desirable grill marks - just pink starting back at me. It was tasty, but probably not tasty enough to be willing to pay its steep price on a weekly basis. Does make me want to get back to Washington State for the real smoked salmon they do well out there.



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Neat solution to just not put out the trash and recycling for a week - a solution only available to those living a frugal life. And Yes, Kudos for meeting your January exercise goal a day early. Double Kudos for not accepting that as a reason to skip exercise for the day.

maryann - Keep the house cleaner even when you retire. We indulge in an every-two-weeks visit and both love that nooks and crannies just stay clean.

curlyjax - Kudos for not eating over the bureaucracy concerning money in your late DH's name. That's a new one for me that, because your DD's no longer a minor, you can't fix it - only she can. Hope that hip pain is just a passing thing.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

The Travel Calories Decision

And you will still have daily Bonus Calories. But it may be difficult to maintain this rule the entire time you are gone. If you might eat too much, it's better to have an extra Travel Calories rule than to violate a No Travel Calories rule that could lead to more mistakes.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 159.

[Wings123]

Good morning!

I started The Beck Program this week and am anxious to chat with like minded folks. Is this where I should post?

[curlyjax]

A little old lady who is a good baker handed me 3 cowboy cookies yesterday. I gobbled them up as dessert for lunch, boy they were good. I then got into the "well I messed up, what else can I eat" thinking. I had a good cry at my therapist, then came home and decided since my hip still hurt and I was so productive the day before, I could do nothing. I watched the movie " You People" on Netflix which was fun, and had leftover ribs and scalloped potatoes from lunch. Not a good eating day. Cold winter does make me want to eat carbs and sweets.
Gardenerjoy: good idea to avoid icy driveway. I'm impressed you can go a week without putting trash out.
Maryann: yay for stopping quickly with the candy bin. I hear you about mood swings.
Bill: great that the chocolate isn't calling to you. I do have fond memories of those little hearts with sayings on them but fortunately they don't call to me either.

[gardenerjoy]

I've been working with balance, on and off, for a couple of years and near daily for a couple of months. For the first time, today, I stood on my left foot for a count of 30 Mississippis. Yay! The next goal will to be to see if I can manage it again tomorrow. My observation has been that my ability varies wildly from day to day.

Our driveway is still covered! I'm assuming that it will clear off sometime this afternoon and definitely tomorrow. We came up with a plan to put off groceries for one more day. It will leave me a little shy of my normal consumption of vegetables, but I'll think of that as an exception that proves the rule that I'm a person who eats a lot of vegetables.

Exercise +45, 1760/1700 minutes for January

Wings123: You've definitely found the chatting place for the Beck books! Welcome!

[Wings123]

Hello and thank you for the welcome gardenjoy.

I have gained 20 pounds in the last 3 years because of Covid, a health issue, some medication side effects and a death in the family. I just coped with overeating and now need to get back to my normal weight. I bought the Beck pink book and workbook and the Diet Trap book. I'm working my way through all and am excited to find a plan that makes sense to me. I have a long ago psych degree in counseling that I never used for work but certainly understand CBT and think it's a perfect fit for my situation. I'm on Day 10 of the workbook and am reading my little cards throughout the day. I have good support from my husband who has really great eating habits and is happy to not have any temptations available.

I'm calling my chosen plan "Eat all my normal foods in smaller quantities." If I'm not successful I'll go with WW.

[maryann]

Welcome, Wings 123. I have found real help here. I was once over 200 pounds. Using this platform has allowed me to never go back there.Although still a bit from goal, I am much healthier.

It is good to have two plans at the ready. Mine are Dr. Greger's How not to Diet and Target 100.

As to that I have hit my target qoo ounces of water.
I will do 30 mins of yoga. i have made some lentil soup for lunches.

BBE:yes, conversation hearts aren't what they once were.
Joy: the baance is so critical for me with skiing.
Curly: Sorry today was tough.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Was 32 degrees F when we picked up the (7 yo) DGD from her 1st grade. Nevertheless, she and her buddy dropped their backpacks with us and raced to the playground. "They're nuts," her buddy's mom said, "let's give them ten minutes and call it quits." We agreed, shivering. The highlight came when the two girls had to pee; we marched around the building to the front door. We waited in the warm lobby while they trotted off down the hall - in familiar territory. It's been years since I stood outside the 'Office' of a grade school. It's constant movement. Not random, but constant. Occasionally, an adult would point a kid in a direction. Folks went in and out of the office like a ticket terminal. Everyone glanced at us; nailed us as grandparents waiting for kids and kept walking.

Had to put up with the attitude directed at old men with beards. For work being done across the street, a dump truck is parked on the street blocking half of our driveway. Not a problem; living in a city requires us all to share space. When I went to back out, I was wheeling my car around in a contorted manner so that I could loop around the dump truck with the rear of my car past it so I could go in the opposite direction. The young man associated with the truck knocked on my window, "You turn the steering wheel in the other direction to back out." Yes, of course, to back out going in the wrong direction. I was so annoyed that I just did that; backed up a few yards and turned around in a nearby driveway. Either way would have worked just fine. My annoyance was the disdain leveled at me by someone trying to tell me the obvious way to turn the steering wheel. I suspect that 'attitude' comes more often as one is perceived as 'old.'



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yep, I was taught to count time by "One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi..." Probably got to college before I found out that that wasn't universal.

maryann - Fun to make a batch of lentil soup for lunches. I'm a big fan of pre-made food in the fridge.

curlyjax - Good grief! Your cowboy cookies combine oatmeal, chocolate chip, pecan, cinnamon, and coconut. And they come with a political tale of a battle between Laura Bush verses Tipper Gore. I'm so old that I was alive during the Bush-Gore campaign and I missed that entirely. Do hope that your hip gets back into line.

Wings123 - Yes, exactly, this is the pace to post. Welcome! We've all read one (or more) of Dr. Beck's books and post here to support each other as Diet Coaches or Diet Buddies (different name in different books). Great that you're reading the pink book; I think it's the best place to start. You're starting well with support lined up with your DH; coming here; and having an Eating Plan and a Backup Eating Plan. Glad that you've joined us.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

The Travel Calories Decision

If you choose extra Travel Calories, you will have more choice of food and drink. But there are disadvantages. You will have to find out the calorie content of what you plan to have. More freedom puts you at risk for additional overeating and cravings while you are away.

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 159.

[curlyjax]

I went off plan yesterday- there were Valentine chocolates around and I got into them. After work I got the car inspected again and now have a current sticker on, yay. I paid two of my dad's bills and put them in the post office box, delighting in the fact that it was still light out at 5 pm. The days are slowly getting longer. I did some stationary bicyling and got some weights done. My hip is still hurting but hopefully back to its normal hurting soon, I don't know what I did to it. Tonight I'm going out to dinner with a few of my colleagues for a farewell for my buddy who is leaving. We are going to miss her so much, but she is going to be making much more money and working from home 3 days a week, so its good for her.
Wings123-welcome!
Bill-I didn't know about the political piece of the cookie, interesting. Yes, folks who are older definitely get treated a certain way by some people.
Karen- wave to you, can't wait to hear more about your trip!

[Wings123]

I've decided on an exercise plan. I had TKR in August so I'm working on that. I will walk 4 flights up and down in my condo building (pausing to stretch for ROM), ride the stationary bike for 10 minutes, do dynamic stretching for 5 minutes daily and try to walk outside often. I'll add more as I build up my strength and stamina.

Dr. Beck mentions that she has a "junk snack" everyday. I'm wondering about that. I was thinking about getting Nature Valley granola bars (95 cals) and having one with tea in the afternoon. Any opinions?

Maryann- Thanks so much for the warm welcome! I hope to have the same success as you with the support of the group.

Bill- Thanks so much for the warm welcome. LOL about the steering story. I assume the young man meant well, but I get it. As as old-ish lady people tend to open doors for me and call me Ma'am. Bittersweet.

[gardenerjoy]

I managed 30 Mississippis of balance on my left foot again this morning, but it was pretty wobbly! I'll see if I can keep this going for the month.

I have a weird day planned with an early-morning meeting, a long-awaited trip to the grocery store, and all the other errands for the week. I've declared a day off of writing so that I can enjoy this as a holiday (doesn't everyone celebrate Groundhog's Day?) without feeling pressured to put things into the day that just don't fit.

Exercise +60, 60/1600 minutes for February

BillBlueEyes: My bus ride to school was alongside the Mississippi on the Great River Road. There was no alternative to counting Mississippis. It was also one of the first words we learned to spell.

Wings123: I'd forgotten the junk snack idea. That's probably how I justified a bowl of cereal spiked with chocolate chips as my usual afternoon snack.
I keep 100 calorie granola bars for days when I get unexpectedly hungry and don't have a good piece of fruit in the house. Also, they're great to throw into a bag for day trips. A granola bar is enough to get me to forego fast food and come home for a late lunch instead.

[Wings123]

Just got back from Target and didn't buy the granola bars. Maybe tomorrow.

Do you all still read your Advantages Card? I think it's a great idea for me. Here's my list-

I want my clothes to fit and look good
I want my aches and pains to subside, knee to be less swollen, PAD to go away
I want my digestion to improve with better choices and less to process
I want to have more energy and stamina (to keep up with 5 grandchildren!)
I want to feel OK about weigh ins at the doctor

curlyjax- thanks for the warm welcome!

[maryann]

Good Afternoon , Everyone.

Did not eat the "Crack- Meth" Reeses given out as prizes. Yeah! I did have some sour balls which appear manageable. I had my serving of lentils. I went to the store and bought lots of healthy stuff for super cheap. Grocery outlet is a wonder. I followed Joy's rule of no eating in the car after grocery shopping.

My little expensive traveling umbrella arrived https://davekny.com/products/the-davek-mini and I am thrilled out of proportion. It fits in my elegant crossbody bag for day touring. My bigger backpack purse will stay in the room. Italy is two weeks away.

BBE: I wonder if you have approach a twenty something and tried to explain some intricacy of a historical science achievement and they roll their eyes. Just saying.
Curly: Maybe it time for some physical therapy on the hip. You deserve to feel better.
Wings123: I have a a list of red light, yellow and green light foods. Red light foods includes mass manufactured candy and snacks such as Sees, Reese, Oreos and Chips. These foods are designed to make me crave more rather than fill up. Any snack that is healthy and doesn't make me crave more is a green light food. Yellow light foods are foods that at times I can eat reasonably but I need to watch it. I currently bought those little "off the farm " fruit and veggie packs that babies eat and some very dark chocolate. That will hopefully work at school where I am surrounded by addictive "fun" things.

[karenrn]

Good morning coaches,

Actually it's not quite 2 a.m. in the morning. I've been home for just over 2 days and of course have jet lag. Fourteen time zones takes a bit of time to get over. My trip was low key but lots of good visiting with my son. We had a routine that worked for both of us. I got my exercise first thing in the morning with a good walk and he played badminton a couple of hours a day with a group that he plays with regularly. I practiced Mahjong on a computer program because I'd like to get back into that this year. I did see his s.o. once at dinner and I'm not sure what is going to happen there, but although I did give him some input I didn't go crazy. He will have to live with whatever decision he makes. His burger stand is doing well and provides him with a decent income and he has acquired plenty of savings to fill in for extra travel that it might not provide.

I took oatmeal with me and purchased frozen berries and plant milk there for my breakfast. I had a Thai rice and vegetable lunch most every day at a small market that we went to daily. We went out for dinner every day and had mostly Thai food. We went to one restaurant three times. We first found it last year and it's just delicious with beautiful presentation and still inexpensive. I stuck with no meat but did have dairy (ice cream) once and had eggs on the plane on the way over. I thought I was going to starve to death so I ate the omelette. I accidentally had pork in one dish that we called pineapple swans. I thought it was a desert and that the brown stuff was nuts. When I finally looked at the menu on our third trip to that restaurant, I saw I was eating pork. Oh well. I enjoyed lots of mango and pineapple and other fruit and probably a little too much peanut butter that I had in the fridge and used when I needed a little something. I came home with a one pound weight gain which I am happy with. Happy of course because it wasn't any more than that.

Ds lives on beach road with the ocean just across the street from his hamburger stand. They have "baht" buses for part of the public transportation. They are essentially small pickup trucks with a bench seat down each side of the bed. There is also a cover. The "baht" is their currency and you can ride quite a distance for 10 baht, about 30 cents. We rode to the big mall one day. I think it might be about 7 miles away. The mall was about 5 stories high with many of the stores we have. There is a very nice grocery store on the ground floor that rivals Whole Foods. The mall is arranged so that like things are on the same level, such as banking, clothing, electronics, etc. We also took the baht bus to dinner one night. Justin wants me to see how easy it is to get around for "when I move over there" which I would consider if I were widowed and enough older that I'm not hiking much.

Mostly I rode on the back of his motorcycle and loved it. He is a very good driver and I only worried about losing a leg a couple of times as we wove in between vehicles. I never did get up the courage to ask him how fast we went. I figured I don't want to know since I'll probably be on the back of the bike again next year. He picked me up at the airport and drove me back too. It's about an hour an a half from where he lives and last year he had a driver take me. Part of that is because I had to stay overnight at a hotel to quarantine until my covid test was back. None of that this year and boy is it busier. Pretty much every seat on the planes were full. It worked really well to fly non-stop from Vancouver B. C. I hope that flight is available again next year.

Ds will be over here in March hoping to sell some property he has in Oregon. He asked me to fly up there when he is there if it works out. I think he realizes we are all getting older and won't live forever. I lost my Mom when I was about his age. One thing that was kind of funny for me and probably not for him is that people thought I was his sister. Of course I kind of enjoyed that. He is heavy and had a short beard for part of the time I was there. He has a lot of grey in his beard and also some grey in his hair. Of course I have grey in my hair too, but there is still dark hair and I am 17 years older than he is.

Wednesday I got my laundry done and everything put away, trip to Costco and the regular grocery store. Yesterday I hiked in the morning and then did some batch cooking. Today I have coffee with friends in the morning and another friend coming to spend the night. She and her guy are here from Washington and he is having knee replacement surgery at a hospital near me. She was with me when I met my dh and was widowed almost 2 years ago. Luckily she has met a lovely new guy.

Anyway, it is a busy time of the year and I may not be on here regularly. There are a lot of friends in town, plans to backpack some of the Arizona trail and get back to a more regular "post covid" life. My plans for weight loss are to continue with the whole foods plant based diet. I feel good and I like the fact that by choosing nutrient dense lower calorie foods I can eat quite a bit and still lose weight or at least maintain at this lower weight.

Maryann Your Italy trip sounds just wonderful. I haven't been in years and hope to get back there one day.

Wings123 Welcome! Your advantages sound great. I will admit I don't read mine on any regular basis anymore. I'll have to write some new ones as I work to get these last 10 pounds off.

GardenerJoy Balance is always a good thing to be working on. I do balance exercises as I blow my hair dry. Probably not often enough.

Curlyjax It sounds like things are as busy as ever for you. Have you had your hip checked out by the doctor?

Bill I just checked the weather forecast for your area. Put on your long johns. It looks like it's going to do nothing but get colder as the day goes on. I can't even imagine your temps. When I flew through Vancouver B. C. on Tuesday there was snow on the ground and it was even cold in the airport. Our plane had to be de-iced before departing for Phoenix. We've had colder weather than normal here too, but it will be mid 70's the next few days. Yay!

Penny I'm thinking you are getting settled in your new place. I wish all good things for you.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Spent serious time reading about the Ancient Near East. It's becoming addictive. I'm beginning to catch on to the inconsistency of information: excruciating details from a mound here; little info from a mound there; only evidence of ancient grave robbers from a mound over there. Then bright minds go to work making up the big picture. If there's a large temple, there has to be well organized social structures to line up the labor, their food, and the supplies. They extract mind-boggling inferences from a single 'seal' that's been pressed into clay. I'm stuck wondering how they drew rough drafts of anything: on clay; in the sand; all in their minds? No pencil and paper to jot down ideas. Homo Sapiens are a pretty inventive species.

Eating was on plan for meals, CREDIT moi, but too many snacks. I do well when I live by my rule of no daytime snacks. That works best when I'm distracted out of the house - I don't tend to buy snacks when out doing stuff. Today is an ideal day to not leave the house since it's now 31 degrees F and predicted to plunge down to -10 by this evening. At temps that low, my old house works hard to stay warm. I become aware of every leaky door or window. But it's only for 24 hours. We'll survive.



Joy (gardenerjoy) - I like the notion of Groundhog Day as a national holiday. Makes more sense to me than "Superbowl Monday" as a national holiday (replacing Columbus Day) currently being pitched by a politician in Tennessee. Now I have to add traveling The Great River Road to my Bucket List.

maryann - Super neat to have a travel umbrella that floats your boat. That's a small one, alright.

Karen (karenrn) - What a fantastic trip. Love the youthful image of traveling about on the back of your DS's motorcycle. Congrats for looking like his sister. "Baht" buses sound fun.

curlyjax - Yes, we're done with that 4:15 darkness nonsense. Continue to wish you well with that hip.

Wings123 - Congrats for doing the exercise to recover from Total Knee Replacement (TKR). The small candy that Dr. Beck eats every day seems to help her avoid all the other temptations during the day. I tried that once but just kept upping the size of my "small" treat.

Readers -

Chapter 6 Stage 3 - The Challenging Situations Plan

The Travel Calories Decision

You may also have a difficult time getting back on track when you return and have to give up those extra calories. You will likely gain some weight (but once you return to normal eating, the weight will come off).

Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 159.