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:
Quote:
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 your 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:
Monday - Rosa Parks refuses to move to the back of the bus (1955, Montgomery)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - The (5 yo) DGD arrived in high spirits. We were her next event after three other activities. Some parts of the visit were great; others seem to be with a tired little girl who had little patience for the rest of humanity. We've been suspicious that part of her difficulty when visiting us late in the afternoon is simply hunger. So we had a (despicably wasteful) single serving cup of microwavable Kraft Mac & Cheese sitting on the counter. When she saw it, she immediately asked for it. Calmed things down. She did a passable job of coloring small shapes of paper sold just for such. The good news is that the product takes up small volume. Kid's art can easily overwhelm any household.
The only outside time was dragging bins to the curb for the city to pick up: trash, garbage, recyclables, and yard waste. Four different trucks will service us. Need to remember how easy this is when I pay our tax bill that we've just been notified will go up "ONLY" 8%. There's a four page explanation of why - blah, blah, blah, blah. It included the question "Why not just evaluate all the homes at half then we'd all pay only half the taxes?" Our education system fails us.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with snacks of almonds and also peanuts set out for our DS. We discuss whether Bitcoin is headed to $0 or $1M. Neither of us believe that it'll last at its stratospheric $90K level. He's convinced that it'll stay somewhat high since it serves so many nefarious usages.
ETA: Ooops ... I posted as if it were November 31st and curlyjax dutifully followed. I'll have to copy the curlyjax post over here.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yikes! That ice sheet guarantees that you're housebound. You're so fortunate that neither of you have to get to the office this morning.
maryann – Perhaps you should get a discount at the bowling alley since you caused such little wear on the pins, LOL. Now you have me feeling sorry for salmon who have to swim upstream.
curlyjax – LOL at the challenge of finding a new bassoonist. Yep, there's only one in an orchestra with a dozen violinists. Congrats for finding a Whole Foods to make an easy meal.
Readers -
Quote:
day 4Give Yourself Credit
When you give yourself credit every time you do something right, though, you can more easily see such slips as momentary mistakes, not earthshaking events, and head off a sense of hopelessness.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 74.
I treated myself to an egg, bacon and cheese bagel breakfast at my favorite bagel spot on the way to get groceries; its so filling I eat half of it then wait awhile for the other half. i treated myself to some beautiful flowers and passed by all the food treats. I ended up not going to BFF-hopefully tonight- and made a fabulous casserole of layered blue corn chips, cheese, corn, beans, spinach, onion, tomatoes and salsa. I'm still eating some of the turkey but this casserole will be for dinner a few nights. I saved a small baggie of corn chips, then tossed the rest so I wouldn't eat them. Salad and overnight oats made, dishes washed and two loads of laundry done. A good day of puttering.
Gardenerjoy-yikes for a driveway of ice. When you move hopefully you will get rid of that problem.
Maryann-sounds like a lovely day indeed. The house tour sounds fun.
Bill-great solution to a crabby kiddo, they do need snacks.
OP yesterday but the only exercise was hand stitching the border of the tee-shirt quilt I made for DS. I am beginning Dec. 1 with the firm goal of weighing in at 175 on January 2nd. . I know I can do it. I just have to make it my priority and relegate food to just food. Tracking is key for me. I can do that. I also need to value veggies over any other carb to preserve my health. Got it.
I sold three Dale Tiffany lampshades on EBAY. Today I will pack them up. I am sewing several items for Christmas so I will make a plan and schedule accordingly.
Joy: When we bought the cabin in Tahoe, DH insisted on a flat driveway. I am so thankful. BBE: Excellent job getting into the coloring. May I suggest at some point a white paper plate and paints to make a color wheel. Always very popular. Curly: What a nice day! I join you in food prep for the week. I am doing a great job emptying the freezer of bits and pieces.
Tuesday - The first Model A Ford sells for $385 (1927)`
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Watched the New England Patriots football game last night on my computer while I did other stuff. It's a great way to watch since I can use each two-minute timeout instead of watching the ads. Patriots were ahead at the half when I acknowledged that sleep was more important than watching the second half. Just checked: Patriots won. I'm a fair weather fan who gets excited when the season is going well.
Zoomed in to the last class on Faulkner. Sobering to read that Faulkner was part of the "Not so fast" crowd continuing to fight for segregation in 1962 even though the US Supreme Court ordered integrated schools in 1954. Reading the newspaper reports from those days reminds me how much the media can be part of the system to maintain the status quo.
Excitement was a boring trip to the supermarket to beat the predicted snow. Latest map shows us getting mostly rain throughout the day with possibly up to three inches of snow accumulating this evening. Methinks I'm preparing for an event that won't be much.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with some snacks. Dinner was salmon grilled on the deck with spinach, sweet potato, and my green salad.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - LOL at plowing through your to-do list while snowed in. Congrats for meeting your November exercise goal.
maryann – Neat to sell those lampshades on eBay; three more things out of your life. Do hope your DS appreciates his t-shirt quilt.
curlyjax – Such a neat vegetarian casserole after all the turkey. Congrats for tossing the extra corn chips. My weather map says that you might get the snow that's not dumping on us.
Readers -
Quote:
day 4Give Yourself Credit
Quote:
tip!
Create a "credit." For every positive behavior you acknowledge, drop a coin or dollar bill (whatever is handy) into a special container. After you follow your diet plan for a certain number of weeks (you decide how many), take the money out, add whatever extra amount is required, and buy something for yourself that you might normally pass up, such as tickets to a play or sporting event.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 74.
Quietish day at work which means I can fall into over eating, but I avoided the chocolate and had a bag of potato chips when I was actually hungry. I got up and walked around a bit-I'm so grateful I don't have to stay glued to my seat the whole day. At home I attended to one financial task, then off to BFF for a lovely dinner of pork tenderloin which I brought over as she is always feeding me, plus a broccoli cheese thing. I did get into some chocolate there, demerit. We watched some 20 year old Rick Steve videos of Ireland; we're thinking about going there in 2027. Hopefully it will happen-sometimes we talk about stuff that doesn't, but I told her I tend to latch on to stuff like this and run with it.
I'm waking up quite hungry for some reason so i'll have to be careful about not over eating. I should go workout today but am watching the weather.
Gardenerjoy-being snowed in is definitely a over eating trigger for me. And baking.
Maryann-good idea on shopping from the freezer, I need to get back to that. And food is food, i'll join you in that.
Bill-Sleep is definitely a priority over sports IMHO We may be getting just a little snow hopefully.
I have decided to make an "advent calendar" on my office desk calendar. My goal is to be 175 on Jan.2. I will write an advantage a day and cover it with painter's tape. Everyday I track my food I will unmask the tape. Today's advantage was avoid the diabetes both my parents have to deal with.
Today I weight train at the gym and dig into the Folk It painting kit I bought that comes with lessons online.
Curly: If I was to live anywhere outside the US it would be Ireland. BBE: Somber indeed to realize the power of propaganda.
With more snow yesterday on top of the ice, we paid to have our driveway plowed and salted. First time ever! I walked out to the mailbox a little bit ago and it wasn't quite as good as DH would have done it, but good enough to get to the grocery store tomorrow.
Today, I need some creativity to pull together a supper without all of the normal ingredients. One thing I do well is bread puddings and stuffings, so I'm pulling together some stuffing as our starch tonight with ingredients from the pantry and a recipe that I'm making up on the fly. Kind of fun!
Wednesday - Sir Thomas Harriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia (1586)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - 'Twas but a dusting of snow yesterday. Would have to clear the windshield if we drive away before sunrise, but no work to do on sidewalks, driveways, porches, or steps. Missed that bullet. I justify the angst because temperatures are predicted to plummet which will encapsulate anything.
Learned more about language happening in the human brain. It's great to learn the answers to questions that I hadn't thought to ask. Once again I leave the class proud to be a human with complex speech. Made a trip to the library in the rain being glad that underground parking was an option. Had to walk the fiction section to get a book for DW using my homo sapien knowledge of the alphabet. By dawdling, I had to put two quarters into the machine policing the lot. While standing dry and comfortable. Feeling pampered.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with snacks. Spent some quiet time with
by Thornton Wilder. Feels odd that it's so easy to be in Lima, Peru in 1714 as if I knew about that time and place. Was struck that Wilder used the word 'surprise' in a sentence that called for the word 'surmise'. Can't figure that one out since it comes from the master of the English language.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Glad you're no longer locked in by ice even though you had to use your first ever snow service.
maryann – A homemade Advent Calendar is terrific. Good luck with your goal.
curlyjax – Avoiding chocolate is a big deal, Kudos. Watching Rick Steve videos of Ireland makes a future trip sound serious.
Readers -
Quote:
day 4Give Yourself Credit
How and When to Give Yourself Credit
Giving yourself credit can take the forms of a word or brief phrase that say silently to yourself, such as:
Okay!
That was good.
Great!
Good going!
That deserves credit.
Yes!
I did it!
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 74.
The snow was light and slippery; a lot of accidents reported but I made it home fine thankfully. I had been dithering about whether to go to my workout, but they made the decision for me by cancelling; they probably figured no one would be attending. I made a soup of leftover roasted carrots and small potatoes-turned out a bit meh but hit the spot for warm food. We still have halloween candy at work and I brought a bit home thinking it would be a small treat for DD and I-and then I secretly ate it all, plus got into some homemade cookies my BIL sent. So much for the discipline that only lasted a day. Productivity was washing some new Hawaiian shirts i'm giving DS and my brother for xmas/birthday respectively- I need to send the latter in the mail pronto. He lives in a group home and I don't know how careful they are with laundry, so I figure if I wash it separately now it won't run on say his lighter clothing. Also working on the investment form again- the problem with online is it won't let you move to the next page unless you fill out everything, and some of the choices don't make sense to me.
then I gave up for the evening and watched a movie. It's a challenge when it feels like 10:00 at night but its only 6 or 7. too early for bed but my brain isn't convinced of that.
Gardenerjoy-stuffing is a very fun starch idea.
Maryann- I love that advent calendar idea!
Bill-awesome that coins are accepted at the library parking lot, and that it only takes two of them.
I produced the Ad- vantages Calendarhttps://ibb.co/nqJVV8Jq. I googled 50 advantages to losing weight mentally, physically, spiritually and superficially ( appearance). I chose 31 and covered them with stickered post its. If i track my food I get to remove a post it. Today's advantage: Sharper Memory!
I remember that to really stick to a food plan I must reduce activity in my external world. By afternoon, I asked ChatGPT if i had done "enough" for a retired 61 yo. "Chatty" was raving about a well rounded day. I especially received kudos for picking up a new AA sponsee at the woman's meeting last night. She is in a lock down rehab facility. She can receive sponsor visits once a week. This will be a new one for me but I am willing. She has 4 sons she wants to raise and can't until she gets some time sober. Also on the service side of retirement, I accepted a sub position for voice and piano at the Music Academy for Dec. 13.
Thursday-After 47 days, NY's MoMA re-hangs Matisse's "Le Bateau" right side up (1961)
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Picked up the (10 yo) DGD from 4th Grade. It was too cold for her to hang out with her friends. We offed to her house where she did water colors with DW. She's actually pretty good for her age. Their Christmas tree is up and decorated; I'm impressed. $100!!! I need to adjust my notion of the buying power of the dollar. Part of the rigamarole was to sneak out of their house with a new pair of boots for the DGD that our DD had ordered for us to give her for Christmas. Whatever.
Linguistics gift: Trying to define how to speak by dictating rules is sarcastically called prescriptivism. E.g. "Don't end a sentence with a preposition," which is commonly, and correctly, done in everyday speech. Best unfixable example of a sentence ending in violation of that rule: "A little boy, in bed upstairs, complained to his father, Daddy, why did you bring that book I didn't want to be read to out of up for?" Just as impressive to me is that it's quite possible for a little boy to both construct and understand that sentence.
Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi, with snacks. The first Christmas gift we've purchased was delivered by the US Postal Service at 7pm. We've started our Christmas shopping.
maryann – I really like the advantage: Sharper Memory! I need me some of that. You are generous to help a woman in a lock down facility - what a place where one could feel lost and abandoned.
curlyjax – So diligent for you to wash the new shirts you're giving as Christmas presents. "Meh" soup reminds me that every morsel of food doesn't have to be caviar.
Readers -
Quote:
day 4Give Yourself Credit
it's all in your mind
Giving yourself credit just takes a moment, but it's essential in your weight-loss efforts. To understand the importance of giving credit, consider these scenarios: . . .
Scenario 1
Sue is at a restaurant for a large family reunion. She sees bread - which is many dieters' downfall - on the table as soon as she sits down, but tells herself, I'm not going to eat it ... I can wait for my meal to come.
Judith S. Beck, Ph.D., The Beck Diet Solution (Pink book), Pg 74.
Work was quite busy with two meetings, one which was very annoying but I did get to sit next to a sweet service dog in training who was adorable. I also got a brief walk to the meeting as my car was in the shop. The mechanic showed me how to recalibrate my car tires which I need to do anytime I put air in; i had no clue. I spent time consoling/listening to DD who was feeling blue, and got a call back from my SIL whom I haven't spoken to in eons. A session with my therapist followed by dumping all the thanksgiving leftovers finally and washing all the pots and pans. And then frustrating time spent trying to upload the financial document-my scanner did it in 8 separate files instead of one, and then I couldn't upload that many files, etc. SO FRUSTRATING and I have to get this done before the end of the year. I dumped the pumpkin pie into my mouth after that.
Maryann- I LOVE that Advent calendar! What a creative idea, thanks for sharing.
Bill-thanks for the linguistics gift, fascinating stuff. Christmas trees are indeed pricey.
Today's Advantage: Pride in Consistency. I feel good about the food plan yesterday even though it resulted in a pound increase - mostly do to working out and chicken bone broth. So the ad-vantage calendar is working. It is a nice NSV reinforcement.
Saw the shrink yesterday. It had nearly been a year. I am doing so well I can start thinking about coming off the anti depressant. We agreed, however, that my lows are so low we need to be careful. I will stay on it another year and then make the decision.
BBE: I have also begun accumulating Christmas presents. I have much to sew. I need some things to come in the mail before I can attack the projects, though. The big decision is whether or not buy a new sewing machine. Curly: That scanning process is tough. Benn there, done that. You'll get it.
Beck Diet For Life/Solution - December 2025 - Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach
Monday - Rosa Parks refuses to move to the back of the bus (1955, Montgomery)
We may be getting just a little snow hopefully.
