To be consistent, I went ahead and made the new thread for August. Welcome to all.
Liannie has been so busy that I thought I'd save her the trouble.

So hello to a new month and a fresh, new month to achieve our hearts' desires.

I'm on day 4 of ACTUALLY following my food plan. It has gotten easier every day. Phew...I don't think I could have read my cards every hour for more than a couple of days. Today is the day when I get rid of my self-delusions around dieting, such as "it's OK to eat this one bite off plan," etc....

girly

Girly,
I am on day 3 of following my own program. You are right...it does get easier. you know what else...it actually feels better!

Happy August Everyone!

Michelle
day 3 w/o ice cream

Thanks for starting the new thread girly. And good to hear the food plan is going well!

michelle, good job on the ice cream!

I was finally down another pound this morning. I was stalled out for about a week. After being aware of what I've been eating for awhile I wonder if I don't have a slight wheat allergy. Any ideas for the meals that don't include wheat? I've always been a big carb person, I swear I've had cereal every day for breakfast for the last 5 years. I'm going to be lost without it!

Hey Everybody!

Thanks Girly for starting the new thread, and congrats on 4 straight days! I like the idea of a fresh new thread, a new month and a new beginning. And I'm with you on those self-deluding thoughts. That was exactly the chapter I reread this morning. "I'm upset and I don't care" is my biggest self-deluding thought. The fact that I made it through the day without eating sweets was like divine intervention. I was stressed out and craving candy so bad, I was nearly drooling this afternoon! But I made it.

MichelleChristine, 3 days without ice cream. YOU GO GIRL! That's one of my major comfort foods, but it really opens the floodgates. I have to make peace with it someday but right now I had to leave it behind too. It's great to have that sense of control, isn't it? And make sure to congratulate yourself. Your doing MAHVELOUS dahling!

Stacy, its funny you say that about wheat. I was thinking the same thing, so I got a food allergies blood test about 2 weeks ago. I'm not allergic, just addicted. Have you tried granola for breakfast? I think its all oats, no wheat. The South Beach section of 3FC has a lot of meal ideas without wheat. Go to the Fat Chicks on the Beach section and check under Phase 1 Menus. "Nessa's Oatmeal Bars" are really popular for breakfast. I haven't made them yet but others love them.

As for me, I'm on Day 5 of calorie counting again. I'm staying somewhat Beachy in my eating habits (lower carbs, lower fat) but not cooking as much as a hardcore South Beach dieter would have to do. I just don't have time for it at the moment. With the 2 closings and the move just 2 weeks away, I'm running around like a headless chicken.

And this is totally off-topic but....you want to hear something really stupid that has my butt just burning? The mailman put a "dangerous dog alert" card in my mailbox today saying they weren't going to deliver any more mail. Problem is, he's afraid of the local cat! I feed a big old Persian tom who sleeps in a chair a lot on my front porch. I guess I'll leave some glasses on the porch so the mailman can see!

See you tomorrow,
L

Stacy,
sorry....I do think wheat allergies are actually pretty common. My symptoms have gotten more dramatic over the last few years. If I were you, I'd not eat it for 2 or 3 weeks, and then reintroduce it (eat it a lot when you reintroduce it) and note if you have symptoms. THat way you'll know for sure, and won't be having to avoid it unless it's totally necessary. It can take a while for the symptoms to disappear, so it's best to eliminate it totally for a few weeks before reintro.

I'm still getting the hang of it. I found out not long ago that nearly every dish at Panda Express has wheat in it...there is wheat in most soy sauce, and in many sauces and thickeners. The ethnic foods, like Mexican, are the hardest for me because so many of them are wheat based.

I like eggs with salsa for breakfast. I used to love eating yogurt with berries and slivered almonds. There are some cereals, like puffed rice, esp. more available at health food stores.

THe great thing is that with eating a healthy diet, you can focus on meats and veggies and fruits, and avoid the bread and butter and cheesy type stuff anyway that might be with the bready stuff.

I have been eating on my plan for the last 4 days, which means no wheat, and I've felt horrible. I'm pretty sure it's just my body detoxing, maybe connected to the wheat.

girly

Good Morning Everyone!

Stacy- I think the health food section of our grocery chain has wheat free carb products. I am a huge carb fan too. I never met a carb I didn't like.

Liannie - In the winter, if we don't shovel out just so around the mailbox (lots of snow here in upstate NY) the mailman will not deliver either. It isn't like the mailbox is unreachable or anything. Our mailman is just a fusspot!

Go, Girly, Go! You are going strong.

My biggest sabotaging thoughts are "This isn't worth it....this is too much work" and "I don't want to have to do this....it isn't fair."

I am debating whether I should weigh myself weekly this time around. I wonder if I should just wait a month or something. Weighing myself often leads to the sabotaging thoughts....as in "I am not going to work this hard to lose one pound! I'd rather just enjoy life." But of course, when I am sticking to things, I do have that desire to weigh myself. It does easily derail me though. I am in a positive place and if I see NO loss, well, I am going to be annoyed.

I didn't get to squeeze in exercise yesterday and I notice it makes it harder to get backinto it today. I think it helps me when I do it every single day like clockwork. The problem is that is hard to do with a busy life. I do manage 5 days a week though.

I hope everyone has a positive, committed day.

Michelle
day four w/o the ice cream

Thanks for the responses ladies but after this morning I don't think it's wheat! I had a banana with peanut butter and a glass of milk and I'm getting the familiar upper abdominal pain and bloat/full feeling. I wonder if it's more of a sugar intolerance? That takes out sooo much, including fruit! Liannie, you mentioned a blood test, what all can they check for?

Hey Ladies,

Stacy, the test I had was called immunoCAP from Quest labs. It checks for allergies to Clams, Cod Fish, Corn, Egg whites, Milk, Peanuts, Scallops, Shrimp, Soybeans, Walnuts, and Wheat (according to their website). I came up negative for all. I really thought the bloaty gassy thing was an allergy but I guess it's the enormous quantities of food I usualy consume along with wheat. Upper abdominal pain and bloat after fatty foods (like PB) can be a sign of gallstones or acid reflux as well.

Girly, I felt crappy for the first couple of days detoxing on South Beach as well. I tried to modulate it by adding extra fat but I still went through it. And I'm sad to hear about all the wheaty foods in Panda Express! I love that place. I used to eat there every week when I worked across the street from one. Oh, the orange chicken!

MichelleChristine, I hear ya regarding the need to weigh when dieting. I want to be rewarded by the scale for all the minor suffering I put myself through. For every time I avoid immediate gratification with food, I want it on the scale. Someone on the South Beach thread said a while back that she forgets this is a "lifestyle change" and longs to be "done". I struggle with that too, and keep looking at the scale to find out "are we there yet?"

As for me, I made it 6 consecutive days under 1500 calories and without eating sweets. I'm going to TGIF for beers with a girlfriend tomorrow night so I know my count will go up, but I'm really going to try not to eat as stupidly high-caloric as last Friday. Having beers instead of frozen sweet drinks is the first smart step; I just hope I can pass up the Jack Daniels wings! I need to practice Dr. Beck's method of planning what I'll have and sticking to the plan. I've already decided about drinking, and I'm doing it.

Hey Sue and Karina, I hope you find us over here soon!

Keep kickin' fat the curb, chicks!
L

HI Everyone,

Girlythin and Michelle-great your are mastering your goals.
Liannie all that stress and staying under 1500 Yes!! On Friday try ordering lite beer-the most disgusting stuff I have ever had-it makes water taste better. I got a notice from the post office years ago when one of my kid's friend's 100 yr old dog followed him over and slept in our front yard. Now where we live we don't get home mail delivery-only mail delivered to "abandoned" P. O. boxes at the grocery store.
Stacy-hope you figure out what is causing the bloating feel after breakfast. I love coffee-just black and then one day I had to add milk to it and cut out orange juice-just could start the day with much acid types of food.
My favorite breakfast is low fat cottage cheese, frozen blueberries and a bit of splenda. I'm sort of south beachy also-I get my carbs from fruit and veggies and eat no processed carbs.-Then I don't excercise like you do. What is the right amount of carbs for athletes?

Back from three fun days in San Fran. Had a great time and really curtailed alot of over eating. I was able to watch my old habits crop up and really want to sabotage me. I have favorite treat places on the entire ride-Here to get coffe and sweet roll, next place-best ice cream, next lunch with fried foods. Really got the sense of the need to break old habits. I feel like I was one of Pavlov dog's. I am in this town, time for this snack at this place.

I ate more darn salads and had more grilled fish than I have ever had on a trip. It worked. 2 fish dinners were outstanding. I still had a blast. I do feel I can walk a bit better with the weight loss and every time I wanted the cruddy stuff, I said yep you can have it, but it will increase your difficulty in walking.

I understand that feeling after a really difficult day of resisting so much food, I am intitled to lose a lot of weight. The scales never work that way for me. I have so much weight to lose and at my age it comes off so slowly that I really focus on changing my mind set. May not even weigh tomarrow as my red snapper for lunch was grilled with a salty cajun mix on it, I bet I'll have a water gain.

not easy, but this beck stuff can work with those sabotaging thoughts
sue

Good Morning Everyone,

I am on day 5 of eating within my calorie count and NO ice cream. Today I am having those "tired of this" sabotaging thoughts. I am fighting back though, with "It will only be harder later" and "I have done other hard things in my life" and "Are you more tired of eating healthfully or tired of being unhappy with your body?"

I am trying to saty OFF the scale for now. The pull is strong, but I know that it is highly unlikely that I will be satisifed with whatever number I see, esp. after just 5 days of dieting.

LIANNIE - You are right. I guess my scale issue is all about instant gratification too, just like ice cream. I will try to think of it that way. Here's to long term gratification instead. Enjoy your beer. Tomorrow I get to have an ice cream, and I know I will enjoy that. I think planned indulgences can help us stick to our plans, over the long term.

SUE - You did an AWESOME job on your trip. Vacations are so hard. The car trip is always the hardest for me. I just want to chow. Most summers we drive 16 hurs to Myrtle Beach. It is an eating nightmare. I loved your Pavlov analogy. LOL.

Girly - Hang in there, through detox. It will be worth it.

Stacy - Good morning. I hope you are able to figure out your food issue soon.

Michelle

liannie, I may just end up goin and doing the test. In the past when I first started dealing with the symptoms they checked my gallbladder and liver but nothing showed up. My husband says it's an ulcer. I guess we'll see. Good job on the 6 days straight and good luck at Friday's. I'm a sucker for a strawberry margarita, you have more willpower than me!

sue, what an amazing job in SF! I know the Pavlov feeling all to well. Whenever I head back t Pittsburgh to visit family I have like this mental checklist of all the food I want to have.

michellechristine, good job on 5 days!

Dieting hasn't gone as well for me the last week or so. I think I've just been frustrated with the issues I've been having. I've only lost about a pound in a week and a half which I'm definitely not happy with since I've been busting my butt with the exercise. My sister and nieces are coming to visit next week, and I'm hoping I won't go totally off plan. I really need to make a plan for when they're here!

Hey ladies!

Welcome back Sue! Great job in dealing with "vacation eating"! Don't forget to congratulate yourself over and over and over. It's this kind of self-dialogue and behavior modification that will add up over time to great losses AND a new lifestyle. You did so much better than me! I should have looked at Friday's menu and preplanned an entree so I wouldn't have just randomly ordered stuff after I was already tipsy (can you say woof woof, Dr. Pavlov?). I did eat way too many calories yesterday but I'll live with it. I got on the scale this morning and was 3 lbs. heavier. Talk about a salt overdose! Next time I will plan.

And I read somewhere that 55% of total calories is the right amount of carbs for athletes.

Michelle, good job on 5 straight days! I know how tempting it is to get on the scale. I've been doing it about every 2 days even when I know I shouldn't. And then it's hard to avoid the letdown when you haven't lost as much as you wish. I hope you were able to talk yourself out of your diet-fatigue yesterday. It IS hard to break the eating habits that made us too heavy, but as long as you have more "good" days than "bad" days over the long term, you WILL weigh less eventually. Enjoy the ice cream!

Stacy, have you had the H.Pylori test? That's the bacteria that causes ulcers. As long as you're getting stuck with needles, maybe you should try that one too. My husband had it and after he took the antibiotics, he was able to eat without pain again (but he's naturally thin so the weight gain that followed was welcome). I really admire your exercise too!

Good morning, Girly! I hope your wheat detox is getting easier. It really helps with the cravings to go "lower" carb overall, but those first few days are a little painful.

As for me, the plan is to return to my <1500 calories plan, get an hour's worth of exercise in, and then pack. Hunger tolerance will likely be the lesson I'll be working on today.

Happy weekend to all!
L

Howdy,

thanks for the encouragement. This change in eating pattern has been a hugh improvement for my health-both psychologically and physically. As of today I have lost 50lb. I now am 25% done with losing my excess fat. My next goal is to get under 300 lb by Christmas. This sure beats being near 400 lb. Hard to believe that I can even have one monent thinking like a thin person, much less some hours and days. Thanks to everyone for all the support. It all helps in this world which has such disdain for the obese. To bad my anti-fat hairdresser gave me the best cut I have in a decade and he is only 2 miles away.

I have removed about all processed food-particularly carbs and/or fats. But I love my wine and occassional cocktail. Liannie, really understand the both the draw and relaxing side benefit to social drinking. Love your sense of humor in your positngs. We didn't purchase any more wine when in S.F.- all wines are about double in our area stores, either this will help me break the habit, or we will be driving two hours to reach some cheaper wine outlet.

Girllthin- you mentioned feeling terrible-hope you are feeling better and things are going well.

Stacy-also take care of yourself and hope that you find out and cure what is causing your stomach problems. Showing family around is always fun.

Michelle- I keep repeating the same mantra-that reinforcing a bad habit will make it harder to change in the future. I had 1/2 cup of ice cream(my major comfort food) a couple of days ago after 2 months of having none-That stuff is really rich and now a bit too sweet. Now if I could get that way about wine being too acidic/bitter.

to thinking thin
sue

Hey Sue,

I love wine too! Big bold dry reds (especially the ones I can't afford like Brunello de Montalcino), delicate bubbly champagnes (that I splurge and spend $35 a bottle once in a while) and an occasional Pedro Jiminez sherry after Spanish tapas. But anything alcoholic makes me want to EAT. I haven't found a way to psych myself out of it yet. Someone I worked with once went to a hypnotist for weight loss sessions and he gave her all these really gross post-hypotic suggestions to make her not want food, like ice cream would look like frozen dog vomit. Do you think we could come up with something like that?

L

HI Liannie,

I think wine will remain my vice-no desire to picture it as dog vomit ick. -your poor friend-I have given up so much-all baked goods, all additional fats other than olive oil, all products with added sugar, all fast foods. Everything else is measured- low fats meats, chicken, fish and veggies and fruit. I preplan about a 1400-1500 cal menu and then the wine is an addition up to a daily max of 1550-1600 cals. But I am not familiar with the wines you mentioned-Dh is familiar with the Port though. Port is so great next a fire on a cold night.

We enjoy all strong wines and champagnes. We live closed to the Sonoma and Napa wine areas so those are wines we tend to get. Since I never drank until my later 30's, I don't have such strong emotional ties to it as to some of my old comfort foods. Wine is one food that I never drink/eat alone, always with other folks. I seriously hope that I am not delusional about not giving this up also. I have used the fact I want to be alone with a food as a sign that this is very addictive food. I really prefer to overindulge with sweets and peanut butter in private-hated to share or stop at a reasonable amount.

I think the price of good bottle of wine does more to limit me than any thing else. Cheap wine is boring so don't use it. Got any Cal favorites?

thinking thin
sue