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:
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Eating was on plan with no snacks, CREDIT moi. Not even an evening snack but dinner was (planned) large. We had guests - brick-and-mortar guests! For real! Just like before the pandemic. We never get to speak in whole sentences to our (3 yo) DFGD's other grands (co-grandparents) because we only see them during a brouhaha event dominated by the tornado running happily from adult to adult. Invited them for a simple dinner - one whose preparations could be completed enough in advance so that DW would be part of all the conversations. When we have events with both adult kids, spouses, and little ones, she often misses out on a lot because she's running like crazy in the kitchen. It worked last night. Got to discuss the situation in Haiti because she's done volunteer medical service there. She wasn't hopeful. Apparently, Haiti has been owned and controlled forever by thirteen families who are still making money despite the country being overtaken by lawless gangs. It was an acceptable level of dangerous when she used to go there; it's impossibly dangerous now.
Dinner included the dessert that the guests brought. Despite Dr. Beck's reminder that my eating plan is more important than the feelings of my guests, I planned in advance to eat a small portion of whatever they arrived with. It was a good banana-something cake covered with walnuts. I loved that it looked homemade; she didn't fuss about making the icing perfect. With great negotiations, we got them to take half of the uneaten part home. But she's a pro; she also brought a package of breakfast rolls that just happen to contain a large amount of chocolate. Ouch! I can incorporate a breakfast roll with too much sugar, but chocolate for breakfast would likely set me off for the day. Have to work up a plan for those.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Such fun to be motivated to increase your "plant foraging" at the grocery store.
Silverbirch - Do listen to your knees even at the price of being less of a major weight lifter at the gym.
maryann - Had to peek at pictures of Palisades Tahoe - just breathtaking. Hard to see how you can ski instead of just gawking at the view.
curlyjax - Seems smart to combine house work and exercise. Yep, a friend coming to visit is great incentive to get stuff in order.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 7Stage 4 - The Think Thin Lifetime Eating Plan
Once you have learned to follow your plan in any situation, you are probably ready to learn how to be more flexible with your eating - if the following statements are true: . . .
You know, without question, that you can tolerate hunger and cravings.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 167.
I added a handful of spinach to my breakfast blender bowl mix and didn't even notice it was there. CREDIT for trying new things and for adding another plant to my daily routine.
I woke up this morning and lo, both knees were working beautifully. So, who knows why the R knee was so bad yesterday? Perhaps I was just overdoing it. Anyway, I went to the tip and offloaded all the glass and wood, did some shopping (including two types of mushroom, different potatoes, watercress) and then an acquaintance shouted at me from a car and we had a good chat. It must have been eight years or so since I saw her. Nice. This afternoon I potted up some succulents for the DD and to make the house look up-to-the-minute when it’s on the market and I’ve moved all the other houseplants away. Too much chocolate after shopping, unfortunately. I do allow myself something from the supermarket from time to time but this one doesn’t have anything I want to eat in a small size. So I make the mistake of buying something I do want to eat in a large size. And then I compound the mistake by eating the whole lot. There has to be an answer to this difficulty so I’ll try to find it and build it into my approach when I’m at this supermarket. I’d put it on my list, probably, and would just pick up the correct thing almost mindlessly.
Tonight: lamb sofrito, boiled potatoes, carrots and watercress. A small portion.
Bill, how wonderful to meet up with the co-grandparents in relative peace. Interesting to hear more about Haiti. My word, good luck with those chocolate breakfast rolls!
gardenerjoy, thank you for the spinach report! A great finding.
Sunday - Edgar Degas' "Little Dancer of Fourteen Years" shown (1881, Paris)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was getting annoyed at the repeated, insistent emails from my medical provider's data base asking for an evaluation of my last visit with my dermatologist. That visit is not a big deal on my mind: I have skin; he looks it over; declares me no worse than one would expect of a person of my age; I leave. So I took the easy path of filling in the "Only takes five minutes" form. Then I got really annoyed. The questions centered around everyone being "friendly" - the front desk admins, the technician/nurse, the doctor. And did the technician "show concern for my condition?" I grabbed the "Comments" section to tell them their questionnaire was just plain stupid. I'm not looking for a BFF. I'm looking for someone who can spot skin conditions that might lead to a problem of the "Why didn't you come to us with this sooner" type. I presume that any answer other than "Very Good" would be taken as a complaint. Don't know what they're trying to accomplish, but it seems to be a fail. I've probably set the bit in my record "Cantankerous old man," LOL.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with planned snacks that we have to get through. Afternoon snack was half of one the pastries with chocolate of the half-dozen in the container that our dinner guests left as a gift. By splitting one with DW we both felt we'd avoided a pot hole. Neither of us wants chocolate for breakfast. That means that we have five more days of those. Maybe they'll get uneatably stale sooner. A second snack was from the chunk of banana-something cake the guests also brought for the dinner's dessert. We managed to keep only the equivalent of two small pieces; last night we each had half of one piece. Only one more dip into that before it's gone. I do admire those of you who've reported dumping such calorie-wasting items in the trash. Maybe I'll learn how to do that someday.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Love that you're sneaking spinach into your blender bowl mix just like a parent would do to a child. Hope you continue to get away with it before you catch on, LOL.
Silverbirch - You caught my attention with "I potted up some succulents for the DD" because our DD absolutely adores succulents. Every nook and cranny in her yard has a succulent stuffed in. It's such an interesting notion to be staging one's own house instead of just living in it.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 7Stage 4 - The Think Thin Lifetime Eating Plan
Once you have learned to follow your plan in any situation, you are probably ready to learn how to be more flexible with your eating - if the following statements are true: . . .
You can have tempting food right in front of you and confidently tell yourself, No, I didn't plan to eat it, so I'm not going to have any.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 167.
I was in the middle of writing my post yesterday when I discovered that there was a morning yoga class at the Y starting in 30 minutes, so I threw my clothes on and zipped off to it. Thus I never posted. DD was doing a zoom class for four hours at home which meant I had to be super quiet, so the timing of the class worked out great. It's a big more vigorous than the yoga I do Sunday mornings, with a different instructor, but it was good to stretch in different ways too. Then I picked up some Panera for DD and myself on the way home.
I felt a bit off in the afternoon-very lethargic, which I also did friday afternoon, I really hope I'm not coming down with something. I have a busy week at work this week and some appointments, and hopefully the weight program is starting tomorrow. I'm going to push myself to get groceries on the way home and then take it easy the rest of the day. I've been very lucky with my health and haven't been sick in eons so fingers crossed.
Bill-its great that you got a civilized dinner in with the other grands I'm one of those folks who has no problem tossing food I don't want around-my problem is DD wants it and so the temptation stays.
Silverbirch- I know what you mean, I would just gobble the chocolate all too. I bought some Easter candy for the kiddos friday afternoon and did exactly that on the way home.Yay for both knees working beautifully.
Gardenerjoy-your adaptation of heaven on a spoon sounds great. Yay for continued variety of plant foods.
Maryann-glad you're having a great skiing weekend.
I'm driving out to meet Dear Niece for a drive, because she's resisted offers of walks and meals. So many worries.
One worry is that I seem to have volunteered to spend four hours of my day driving and I'm not at all sure that my body will handle that well. I'm going to do some yoga hip openers before I leave in the hope that will help me tolerate it better. Here's a thought. Just because she won't walk with me doesn't mean that I can't go for a walk after I drop her off. That could work.
More though, I'm fretting that I have no good answers for her and no plan to help her get to a better place. I'm working on accepting that it's enough to show up and want to be there for her.
There's a logistic problem that I suspect needs to be solved between her and her estranged mother, but I have little hope that it's going to be handled in the way that my computer science and librarian trained self handles logistic problems. There's going to be way more drama involved and I'll be right in the middle attempting to handle what is, at its core, a logistic problem. Wish me luck.
And, just because, I have a fun story about Degas. When one of our nephews was about 7, I took him to the Art Museum to see exhibits and attend a talk by one of my favorite children's book illustrators, Tomie DePaola. It became pretty clear pretty quickly that I selected an activity that was more in my wheelhouse than his. I saved the day by getting really focused on words that began with D, because we'd had a good time at breakfast learning the song "State Fair" and discussing the meaning of "dollars to donuts." The hit art piece of the day, then, was Degas' dancer (double d words) statue. That led us to the gift shop where we looked through an art book of Degas, with me forgetting that, besides dancers, Degas' other specialty was nude women bathing. Oops. Fortunately, in those days, no one fired an aunt for showing a 7-year-old nude art.
Exercise +35, 35/1600 minutes for April
BillBlueEyes: A marketing friend clued me in on this. Those surveys are about marketing. They just want to get us to say that we had excellent service to get it it stuck in our brains that we had excellent service so that we'll go back. I don't have time to market to myself, so with that new information, I ignore all surveys. The worst offenders used to be auto service places but, now, like for you, it's our medical provider system.
curlyjax: I'm in the midst of my spring lethargy that I get when the trees are being promiscuous. It helps, a little, to be able to predict and to plan the sort of projects that might get around the lethargy. Usually, those are really mundane chores that are too boring to do on days when I have more energy. Or the opposite. The things that I can get really dug into because they are so interesting that they blast through the lethargy.
silverbirch: That's good to know that knees can have spontaneous recovery.
I carried on demolishing the wood shelter and breaking it into pieces that will fit in the back of the car. After the gymn tomorrow, I plan to collect more logs and fill the car with rotten wood in a smooth, seamless in-out movement with the wheelbarrow. Let’s see how that goes. I’ve also worked on a few crossword puzzles with the SO, although he’s been making food for the week and doing a bit of work too. There’s a cold wind from the NE so I’ve been bundled up and I lit the fire early. I’ve eaten more than I’d have liked. Not sure why but possibly caused by the cold and the slightly challenging shed activity. I took my new sandals on their first outing and the elastic broke, so that’s another thing to sort out.
Bill, I’m happy to join you in the “cantakerous old man” department after my similar experience with the car manufacturer. Like you, I just wanted a straightforward time. In my case, to buy a car. The most bonkers question on their (very poorly designed) questionnaire was “Did the salesperson use the iPad?” For heaven’s sake! Re the calorie-wasting items, I’m pretty sure that it’s maryann who’s a strong advocate of putting washing-up liquid (dish soap?) on them and putting them in the bin. I should think about that as a potential strategy for me. Funny about the succulents. Indoor ones seem to be very fashionable (and here, at least, very sensible for people who rent and have to move home a bit too often).
curlyjax, credit for just zipping off to the other yoga class. Perhaps that’s what made you a bit tired in the afternoon, if it was a bit more vigorous than your usual one. Did you do that one this morning as well?
gardenerjoy, credit for going to see Dear Niece. I do recognise “no good answers and no plan to get her to a better place”. Hard. I wish you very good luck with the potentially dramatic logistics problems. That’s a funny story about Degas and it’s nice to be reminded about easier times. (I’ve heard about Michaelangelo’s David and Florida recently …) And thank you for that marketing insight. Ridiculous.
Last edited by silverbirch; 04-02-2023 at 01:55 PM.
Reason: Weird appearance of "Spoiler" at beginning of my post
I've no idea about the "spoiler" at the beginning of my post and I don't have time to fiddle about with it any more.
I can exclusively reveal that the spoiler includes a report of my Sunday. Avert your eyes if you feel it would be too much.
Friend and I were out with skiing this morning as planed. 20 mph skiing for so-so snow was not tempting enough. We thought of other things to do like shopping and movies but nothing would ge me back to the cabin midday. I dropped her at her hotel and am happily sitting beside my fire contemplating if I leave tonite or tomorrow. A good visit. I feel good that i set out to make new active buddies two years ago in Machu Pichu and achieved it. two more gals are coming to hike in summer. Ta-da.
There is a possibility of x country today but I am going to putter and see how i feel. Food has been healthy and non compulsive. good.
Monday - Pony Express starts mail between St Joseph, MO and Sacramento, CA (1860)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Excitement was chasing the visiting (3 yo) DFGD around our own house; it was too windy to go outside. Was reminded that I am the funniest human being alive. I counted along with her the five remaining slices of Clementine waiting for her to eat, "One, two, three, four, five" touching the Clementine slices, "and SIX" touching her nose. She'd fall to the ground giggling - the funniest thing ever said. Then pop up and say, "Again." And we'd repeat, with the other adults grinning at the display. New behavior was for her to spend several minutes alone in the next room in a "Tommy The Train" tent playing with the two Cabbage Patch dolls that live here. DS has to fight getting a tear in his eye since one of them was his beloved doll from forty years ago. DS is a known foodie so he won attention by announcing "I've learned to make chocolate pudding. Empty the box and whole milk in a bowl and stir for EXACTLY two minutes." Apparently, fatherhood can reduce one's aspiration from excellent cooking to survival food prep.
Success was sending them home with two of the homemade pastries that we'd been gifted the other night. DIL was happy to take them since they'd been made by her mom. I'm super happy to get them out of my life without eating them. It's easy for me to give food away; makes me feel great. But dumping it in the trash is still hard.
The other success was, finally, giving the DFGD the hooded towel that had been mis-delivered twice before we finally received the third one. Kinda neat. A kid sized towel with a hood in the center so that it will stay on a moving kid as a cape for the semblance of modesty when changing at the beach. It's design is of a turtle. The kiddo loved it; wore it home instead of the jacket our DIL was trying to impose.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Sending supportive thoughts for your long drive to be with your niece. Do understand the pain that the logistics problem can't be treated as a logistics problem instead of family drama. Love your story of Degas. For sure, if you live in some states, you'd be fired as an Aunt these days. And thanks for the tip that the stupid surveys aren't looking for information, just trying to wrap my mind to keep coming back.
Silverbirch -
Spoiler
If one clicks the box with a "+" that's in the row of symbols starting with B for Bold and ending in 'Source', you encase a set of text into the Spoiler box.
But it's so much fun to click 'Show' and get to see the hidden text; then click 'Hide' and make it disappear. The only way that I know to remove it is to select 'Source' and delete the prefix [ Spoiler ] and postfix [ /Spoiler]. Congrats for discovering a secret. Live is exciting when one gets to take new sandals for a walk.
maryann - Congrats for setting out to make new buddies and then doing it. Kudos, indeed, for "Food has been healthy and non compulsive."
curlyjax - You win Good Mother award for tiptoeing around your own house for four hours so that your DD can do a Zoom class. That one wasn't listed in the how-to-mother courses back when your DD was a toddler, LOL.
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 7Stage 4 - The Think Thin Lifetime Eating Plan
Once you have learned to follow your plan in any situation, you are probably ready to learn how to be more flexible with your eating - if the following statements are true: . . .
You can enjoy reasonable amounts of any food without losing control.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 167.
Last edited by BillBlueEyes; 04-04-2023 at 06:27 AM.
Reason: Typo
I did go to yoga class, then got some powerful coffee afterwards, got groceries and took a nap. Spent most of the day in bed. I felt a bit better in the early evening, so hopefully this tiredness is passing. 2 negative covid tests and no fever. I was supposed to see an ob gyn doc this morning but they just called and pushed the appt out for 2 more weeks. Its for the cramping that is a lot better now but I'll still go as there is a possibility of adenomyosis. Or I could still be in menopause. The female body is very complicated with all its hormones etc!
The weight program at the y was cancelled due to lack of participants- I don't think they did a good job of publicizing it, but oh well. I'll just have to push myself.
Silverbirch- that is too funny about your spoiler.I suspect most of us live rather unspoilerish lives! 2 different yoga classes with 2 different teachers-I think they actually gave me a bit of energy. Its more a feeling of about to get the flu type of thing.
Maryann- great that you set out to make active buddy friends and did it.
Bill-yay for the pastries finding a happy home, and a fun time with DFGD.
Gardenerjoy- so nice of you to driver so far for DN. Too funny about you showing your nephew nude art.
Somehow, I didn’t get enough sleep. Ironically, it may be because the SO has decided to get up even earlier to do some yoga with a bit of entanglement with my indigestion. Today I went to the gymn, collected logs and finished off taking the wood shelter apart. I’m now quite tired so I’m hoping for a good night’s sleep. Food has been OK, mainly because I’ve opted out of any food after about 4pm. That’s because I’ve eaten enough for all meals today as I’ve been so tired. I don’t want to get into this vicious circle but I do want to be able to undertake physical exercise without keeling over a few hours later.
maryann, it’s lovely to hear about your adventures in Tahoe. And also to hear that you’re puttering which I remember you really enjoy.
Bill, that sounds like a great visit to your house by DGFD et al. How wonderful to be able to move the homemade pastries along to a good destination.
Spoiler
Thank you for the spoiler information. I had wondered whether I’d unwittingly imported some code from Notion, the software I use to draft my post but it looks as though my fingers just did it of their own accord.
ETA, the SO is always saying things like "I'd have to look at the source code" or "We'll look at the source code. Do you want to drive?" It makes me laugh every time.
curlyjax, how true that the female body is a complicated thing! And that’s a blow about the weight loss programme. I fear I may be in the same boat with the Latin class I’ve signed up for (only two of us so far).
The visit with Dear Niece went reasonably well, all things considered.
The logistical problem that I thought needed to be addressed hasn't surfaced yet, so I can put that off for a while.
She really hates where she lives but says she doesn't have the energy to move. My instinct is to address the first part of that, but I'm realizing, this morning, that I need to pay attention to the second part of it. Otherwise, I'm going to have to somehow provide all the energy required to get another adult to move, who may have periods of active resistance to the process. That's not an act of caring for either one of us.
CREDIT for finding a place to park instead of driving the whole two and half hours that we were together. I happened to drive past a Missouri of Department of Conversation sign, so we turned down the road to explore that. It ended in a parking lot next to a fishing lake. Missouri doesn't have the prettiest lakes, but it's a reasonably pleasant place to watch water, boats, and people fishing.
CREDIT for taking a walk after I dropped off DN and before I headed home. Even without driving the whole time, I sat way too long. The walk helped.
On a better topic, my weight went below my red line for the first time in months. Yay! I'm crediting my new breakfast. I'm observing that I spent a lot of time during those months with unhelpful self-talk. "I don't know why I weigh five pounds over what I want. I didn't change anything and it's not fair. I don't want to change anything." Then, I changed my breakfast and lost five pounds in less than two weeks. Sheesh. Next time, I'll see if I can move more quickly from whining to experimenting to see what might work.
Tuesday - Announcement of gold discovery in Yukon (1896)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Became a believer! Our discussions here led me to listen to a Zoom lecture about our microbiome - "the eighty trillion collection of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that live in our gut, on our skin, in our eyes, in our mouth." What got to me was that my major contribution to feeding a healthy diversity in there is to consume fiber. I've known that I'm supposed to eat fiber but I only thought it was for bulk in making stools. The speaker said that 'fiber' is a term for all carbo-hydrates that our body doesn't consume that's avail to feed our gut microbiome. Whole wheat bread is feeding the good guys in my gut! Also feeding the bad guys in my gut but they have to fight that battle among themselves. Said that there were some 600-1000 species. About the same number of little guys in the microbiome as cells in our body. One of the few things known for sure is that healthy diversity wards off some diseases and supports healthier bodies. As for all the probiotics sold everywhere? No evidence that what's on the market makes an impact. Not sure how, other than working harder to get fiber, I can change my diet to improve microbiome health. Not gonna take up sauerkraut or kimchi since I don't like them - except for sauerkraut on a Reuben sandwich that isn't otherwise particularly healthy.
Eating was on plan with a fat evening snack, CREDIT moi. The evening snack included the last sliver of banana-something cake brought for dessert with guests for dinner on Friday. It's all gone now. Only a small half-portion of the pastry with chocolate remains. Dinner was the last dip from the pot of 13-bean chili which gave me a self-righteous feeling of doing wonders in the fiber department along with tortilla chips which consist of fiber, salt, fat, calories, and calories. DW likes that she pairs corn chips with bean chili tweaking the old amino acid matching of the sixties.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Clever idea to find a place to chat without having to drive all the while. I do admire how you are trying to find a way to help that doesn't put you in the middle as the resented energy source. And thanks for the reminder that experimenting is more useful than whining.
Silverbirch - A bitter-sweet moment to complete the dismantling of your 20-year-old wood shelter. Congrats for being able to shut down food after 4 pm. LMAO at, "We'll look at the source code. Do you want to drive?"
curlyjax - Do hope that your tiredness was just a passing thing. Thanks for the reminder, "The female body is very complicated".
Readers -
Quote:
Chapter 7Stage 4 - The Think Thin Lifetime Eating Plan
If you meet these criteria, congratulations! You now have the self-control to start varying what (and perhaps when) you eat.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Green book), Pg 167.
Beck Diet For Life/Solution – April 2023 – Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach
Saturday - April Fool's Day
I'm one of those folks who has no problem tossing food I don't want around-my problem is DD wants it and so the temptation stays.
