[BillBlueEyes]

CatR

Welcome to the Beck Diet Solution Discussion Group, Support Group, Diet Coach Group.

And, in case you never got your proper one of these,

What's the story behind your 3FC moniker, CatR?

Great idea to jump in while waiting for your own copy to arrive. LOL, I ordered a copy from Amazon, then decided I couldn't wait so got one from the library until mine came.


__________________
XXXXXXX 7 XXXXXXX 14 XXXXXXX 21 XXXXXXX 28 XXXXXXX 35 XXXXXXX 42
Completed Beck Program-day 42. You’ve met your goal. Congratulations!

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches - I did it. Drank all that d*mn water; worked my pedometer making trips to the loo. Wasn't as bad as I had expected, maybe I can try to increase my water a bit anyway. My thing yesterday was to make a big pot of dal from two pounds of dry lentils. Remember, I'm not a cook, so I kinda got caught by surprise how much 2#'s of lentils expands. Had to move some from our largest pot into a second pot. But, it came out really good and I have enough for a potluck today, my lunches next week, and a batch frozen for lunches for a future week. AND, DW and I had them for dinner last night.

I did get a good lesson on Beck's Common Thinking Errors:

Thinking Mistake #9: Exaggerated Thinking
You make a situation seem greater or worse than it really is.

So, I started out with 10 cups of water - WAY more than enough. Then had to add 2 cups. Then another cup. Then 2 more cups. At 15 cups of water had to offload into a second pot. The Sorcerer's Apprentice kept getting louder and louder; my heart was beating. I pictured a kitchen engulfed in boiling lentils. Needless to say, the lentils drank their fill and stopped swelling without magical intervention. I assume you experienced cooks wouldn't have been on the verge of calling 911. Oh Well.


Sue (CoastalSue) - Thanks for the pointer to the Feb 08 Eating Well magazine. I'll check that out. Appreciate your thoughts that "to throughly enjoy food for it's inherent qualities is excellent." I lost my focus there for a moment and wondered if I was headed off path by reveling in good food. Now, however, you have me drooling at your blood orange jag. Enjoy.

MaryBlu - Was thinking of sending Saint Bernards with casks of brandy your way, but the SPCA might frown on sending them into below zero degrees Fahrenheit - too cold for good dogs, LOL.

Heidi (hbuchwald) - Yeah for back on track and a house full of healthy groceries. I know that I feel more on track when my fridge is bursting with fresh veggies. Cheers for Henry; continued best thoughts.

wendy (wendylan) - Amazing energy there, "... at the pool about 4-5 times a week." What a gift to mind and body both.

CatR - You make such a good point with, "but I figured I could get by without doing the exercises." I find that I'm easily seduced into the comfort of self help stuff by reading alone, without ever getting the benefit. It's been very important to me to actually do the Beck exercises. The hunger day exercise, for example, just blew my mind to find out that I had such a strong aversion to hunger when, in reality, it only lasted about half an hour and only reached about level 2 on my discomfort scale. Who would have known?

Readers – “I now know … If I eat something I shouldn’t, it’s just a mistake. It doesn’t mean I’m hopeless or bad. I don’t have to make it a bigger mistake by continuing to eat whatever I want for the rest of the day.” Beck, pg 13.

__________________
XXXXXXX 7 XXXXXXX 14 XXXXXXX 21 XXXXXXX 28 XXXXXXX 35 XXXXXXX 42
Completed Beck Program-day 42. You’ve met your goal. Congratulations!

[maryblu]

More Beckies! Yay. Welcome, CatR

Kind regards to all.

BillBE, thanks for feeling my (weather) pain, but it is postively Spring-like today. 10 above already! More light, some bird sounds, and I haven't had to spend any money on snow-plowing this entire month. Life is good. Just heard nasty news about more big weather in CA. I am not sure how anyone can deny that the weather is becoming more extreme.....*sigh

There has been discussion of the Beck exercise to skip a meal and analyze the hunger feeling. I have found that since that one simple exercise, I am now much more comfortable being hungry. There are times I break down and have to have something, but I went to bed hungry (about a 2, not bad) last night and just didn't feel compelled to eat at all......granted I ran the risk of not sleeping, but that wasn't a problem.

I remember Bob Greene on Oprah one time coaching a woman with her last 10#s to lose, and he said, in order to do that, you are going to have to accept that feeling of hunger, embrace it, because that is the only time you are burning into fat reserves in your body. Keep in mind, he was speaking about the last 10#s...but I do believe that is true for me at this point.

Looking forward to your posts and Beck Wisdom

BillBE, so not into the Stoopid Bowl...now Super Tuesday, there is a countdown going on in my house...DS in keeping better track than I am!

[coastalsue]

hello all,

One of perks of no TV is so little hype enters our lives-kind nice but some would find it dull.

Short posting as the power has gone off 4X during the last 2 days. We hope to go to movies if it stays on. If not- a good read by portable lights.

The last couple of days have been calm (inspite of weather)-It is then so easy for me to do all the Beck concepts-plus losing some more weight. The EatingWell article talks about the role of stress in overeating and how some form the pattern to eat inorder to cope with stress. Has the same ideas as Beck to how re-program in other responses to cope with stress. My goal is to post the next time I expect a get into a social eating marrathon-especially with old drinking buddies and have you all help me form a game plan to be stay on my food plan. I need a Beck Brain Change here-a major new groove. This is my last major problem to consistantly lose weight. Over the holiday I gained and lost over 14 lbs. It wasn't a straight 14 lbs but yoyoing the same range over and over agiain. I am ready to lose 14lb and actually be 14 lighter not at the same place.

I have done alot to tolerate being hunger and not eating- But here is my hardest time being hunger-going to bed hungry. Like you posted MaryBlu- The hunger makes me rather alert and really have a hard time to fall asleep. Hear every noise, feel every little pain, every lump in the bedding. Does this happen to others? What to you do? Nighttime was often the time of my binge eating so it feel so good to stopped eating then-I rather not eat anything at that time and these over alert times happen about 8 times a month. Is this just an Oh Well moment?

BillBlueEyes-loved the image of the every expanding pots of cooking peas. If you get your hands on article in EatingWell-they have an spread on foods and recipes from India.

Heidi-Great posting about getting prospective on returning to a food plan-instead of numbing over and maintaining mindless eating. This need of perfection has made me very self critical which has very unnecessarily hampered my enjoyment of life. Plus fueled depression. Studying Buddhism and learning the inherent good in humans helped me learn how my judgements and prespectives are just my making-not a concrete reality. In other words on calming that monkey mind which thinks so highly of its own misconceptions and focus on quiet mind. Go Pup-getting better! Pets exchange love with us which is so uncomplicated-I do feel so good just petting our cat (Lula) and watching her enjoyment of being petted.

Wendy-How great to get yourself to pool with such dedication this week. Wonderful to read your sense of success!! Your have done the work and you have earned alot of credit!!!!

A HI to everyone
sue

[hbuchwald]

"Out of sight, out of mind". Beck says to put all trigger foods behind closed cupboards or in the car or not around at all and just buy in single servings to avoid major tempation.

I am all about putting healthy foods that I am excited about readily available for myself and my daughter. Most of the time I am fine with a few sweet things in the house but when I am in the mood, I may overindulge. I mentioned before that my childhood was in a home with NO sweets or anything "unhealthy". This is a great idea in theory so that the kids won't eat bad food. BUT it was so forbidden that we would eat the granulated sugar out of the sugar bowl when my parents weren't there. I am attempting to have my own food plan which entails living in the world with real food and real temptations, etc... AND model for my daughter "normal eating". HA! With balance in mind, we have a "little something" each night. It could be a piece of candy or a skinny cow ice cream sandwich, or something. For the most part, this works for my eating plan but my daughter still knows that there are limits on the items on the top of the food pyramid and they are "highly desired". That is a whole separate conversation for people without kids at home but something that is on my mind. I don't want food to be forbidden yet I want to feed her healthy stuff.

The other part of keeping the environment free of trigger foods includes communicating with people at work about not putting treats out in plain view. Beck refers to the sabotaging thoughts regarding not inconveniencing others, that people will ask about the eating plan, etc.. What do people think about that? I don't think that it is reasonable for me, one person among about 100 people on a school staff, to ask everyone to change what has been standard operating procedure about this. I am a big girl (pardon the pun) and choose not to look at that table in the staff lounge when I walk by. I also have lots of other routes to take to get to the office or my box or whatever. I do eat my lunch in there but haven't succombed to the treats in there. Sometimes it is a potluck and there is food EVERYWHERE too. Maybe I am indulging a sabotaging thought but it really isn't all about me at work. Beck says to counter that thought with "who is really that inconvenienced anyway? We deserve to stand up for ourselves, etc..".

A strategy that Beck brings up is, when faced with something unplanned and tempting, to take a single serving of it, wrap it up and put it on the plan for the next day. I am thinking about my "cake episode" from Friday and that could have worked for the cake. I was in sort of a frenzy though after the pizza. That is where "catching the thought behind the behavior" is difficult for me. Always good to slow down and wait even 5 minutes before indulging, drink some water, etc.. I could see wrapping it up and it looking really nasty later on when I have my wits about me and throwing it out! I must remember this strategy!

"Once I make changes at home and at work to remove whatever temptations I can, dieting will be easier." p. 95 Beck

She does also say that getting all that tempting stuff out is most important in the beginning of weight loss and then it may be easier to keep some things around and not be tempted.

Now I am in the mood to clean out my fridge. I am making split pea soup, chicken alphabet soup and we will have a whole wheat bobali pizza tonight with turkey ham and mozzerella ... yum! I am not a gourmet cook but am dabbling a lot lately with some simple cooking and am very excited about it. I have the book that Jessica Seinfeld wrote, "Deceptively Delicious"... the chicken abc soup recipe is from that and it has cauliflower and sweet potato puree in it. That is the deception but my daughter knows it is going in.. then she can say that she likes cauliflower and sweet potatoes (if she likes the soup...).

Have a great rest of the weekend everyone! Heidi

[eusebius]

Hi everyone, I had an interesting weekend. My DH wanted to get an important research task done, or mostly done, so DD and I cleared out of the house and went to stay with my parents for the weekend. So ... no food planning for me. I was a bit stressed out and went off plan Friday night, but i had enough flex points to cover it and also stayed within my points allowance all weekend. We shall see how the weigh in goes in the morning. Between Beck and yoga ... and mindfulness techniques ... I do believe some of this non-distorted thinking (and dropping below thinking!) is working for me.

Just a couple of personals:
Sue - I hope very much that we can help coach you through stress eating. Re being hungry at night: You seem to be a very aware and mindful person. Can you be with the hunger sensations and observe them at bedtime? Is it truly hunger or is it stress? Could it be that your balance of protein/carbs/fats is off? Just some possible questions ...

Heidi - Excellent, excellent post on Day 7. Do you think the "Deceptively Delicious" book might be WW friendly? It sure sounds great for feeding my somewhat picky DD ... though she is better than some. Thank you for your insights on all this!!

Bill and MaryBlu - My continued gratitude for your wisdom and support!

Welcome to CatR and other newbies! Looking forward to hearing more from you!

Have a great night all,
Erika

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches - Made it through three potluck buffets yesterday - a convergence of infrequent events that landed on the same day. Stayed on plan including a planned slice of mincemeat pie that I knew DW was baking for the dinner, primarily to get rid of the jar of mincemeat before it expired. Besides my dal (which, to my delight, was all gobbled when other food was passed over) I brought some baked pita chips that I really wanted to try. Potlucks work for me to get a single portion, or even just a taste, of something that would be a calorie burden if I brought a whole container home.

Re: Day 7 - Arrange your Environment. Have made good progress on the food cleanup. The fridge is clear of junk and full of fruits and veggies. The freezer does contain DW's single serving dark chocolate that I don't see and don't go after. At work I've stocked some emergency foil tuna and crackers that can serve as lunch if I don't bring one. The nuts in the pantry haven't been trigger foods for the several years of my journey, so they've stayed - I bake them in my granola and eat six (count them 6) when I have anything else for breakfast. But I'm ready to let them go if I find myself going back to the old habit of eating them by the handful. Sigh ... many of the pounds that I had to lose came from cashews and almonds.


Sue (CoastalSue) - No TV !!! How do you keep track of the awful weather they're having in California, LOL. hummmmm... evenings, stress, and hunger. Do you have a planned snack after dinner? (It works for me to have a planned fruit snack about 8pm; I look forward to the sweet taste and it prevents hunger until I go to bed.) Do you do your meditation in the evening (or some other calming exercise)? I have, on occasion when the stress was really high, just gone to bed. That works for me because I'm a morning person and I'm not stressed in the morning.

MaryBlu - Kudos for going to bed hungry. Don't know that I've ever done that. I didn't lose my last pounds by being hungry. I lost them VERY slowly - so slowly in fact that I was surprised as each came off because I assumed that I was plateaued.

Heidi (hbuchwald) - What a neat idea to use the Deceptively Delicious concepts to get healthy foods past your DD's taste bud barriers so that she thinks herself as LIKING the veggies, not just getting them into her stomach for her health. Your break room sound like a challenge. Beck makes good points about inconveniencing others, but changing the break room environment for 100 people will take time. Have you considered bringing in some raw veggies? Perhaps you could begin to identify a like minded group of people who kept one end of the traditional food table supplied with healthy nibbles. You've got a challenge there.

Erika (eusebius) – Kudos for your rapid recover Friday night. LOL at the thought of refugees caused by a research project.

Readers - "I now know … I have to put my needs first sometimes." Beck, pg 13.

__________________
XXXXXXX 7 XXXXXXX 14 XXXXXXX 21 XXXXXXX 28 XXXXXXX 35 XXXXXXX 42
Completed Beck Program-day 42. You’ve met your goal. Congratulations!

[CherryAutumn]

Still don't have my Beck book and hoping it will come in today. I am so anxious to get it cause i really need the boost to get started. I am struggling with my depression and that is a bad thing when you are an EMOTIONAL EATER. I think i read that there is some pages in the book for emotional eating? I definately think many of my problems with dieting stem from behavioral problems and negative thinking. Do you think that Beck can help me? Love reading everyone elses posts but sometimes i tend to lurk more than post but i am here.

[CatR]

Thank you everyone for the welcome.

BillBlueEyes: My moniker is a take on my name. I usually just lurk on forums, but 3FC is the first one where I have started actively posting. It would probably be better if I had one that was less personal.

I can relate to what you said about self-help books. I feel so happy when reading them because now I have found the "answer" and everything will be different from now on because what is being said makes so much sense. I want it to be easy, but changing long-ingrained thought patterns is work.

Sue: I like your phrase "social eating marathon" when you get together with a group of your friends. Those type of occasions can easily undo a week or two of hard work. I am looking forward to hearing how others manage social situations like that.

CherryAutumn: I am an emotional eater too. It is a very common maladaptive response to stress. The Beck Solution will be a big help if we do the work. I got a copy from the library last Fall and didn't do the exercises, so I ended up with the same thought patterns and 4 more pounds four months later. I have since lost 3 of those pounds, but this is no way to live.

I also have a copy in the mail and am going to make some changes with the support of this group. We can do this!

[wendylan]

I see we are working on step#7 Organize Your Enviroment.I have been working on this today.Shopper at 4 different stores stocking up on good foods to last the next two weeks.I got tomato basil chicken breasts{precooked and just pop them in the microwave},baby green bags of salads,1% milk,weight watcher breads,1 point tortillas,light icecream,juicy apples,fresh lemons and light mozzarella sticks just to name a few items.When dieting it is important to get items you really enjoy.I am very happy with my purchases but the rest of the family will not be very interested.I buy for them snacks they like and I don't care for such as chips,doritos and nutterbutter cookies.I am more likely to binge on sweet and sour candies or taffy.Didn't buy any of those.Also I know if I did buy a bag of these candies I would not be happy with just a few.
At work since we have a group of weight watchers we asked the others to stop bringing donuts,muffins ect.. to our nurses station.It is working with only occasional trials,one day a girl brought in donuts and another nurse took them and hid them in the closet from us.Makes it easier when you are not alone and others know a bit about what you are trying to accomplish.We also have some food police that watch what we are eating and keep us honest.It is so much easier for me to just pack my breakfast and lunch the night before and eat what I bring.Then make dinner at home and a snack before bed.
I am a little worried about eating out though.I have not eaten out in 3 weeks and I turned down going for Mexican food with coworkers because I was afraid I would get extra calories with hidden fats.Especially since my episode with the cafe at work stuffing my healthy omlet with cheese.
Another thing probably harder than going out to eat is getting together with family for a meal.My mother is a wonderful cook and makes the best desserts.In our family food is love!!!!!!!!!!We are all getting together on Wed. for a turkey dinner at my mothers house.It will be just like thanksgiving with all the desserts and everyone will be having at least 2 plates and desserts.I am working in the day Wed. and will not be able to come home and prepare a healthy dish to bring.
BiiiBlue Eyes-You give me inspiration,if you can get through 3 potluck buffets in the same day maybe there is hope for Wed night.I am going to try to follow your lead,plan ahead what I will have and schedule one dessert.How long have you been at this Beck thing?I appreciated the "My body My path" and have added it to my cards.
CatR- You are so right about Beck working "if we do the work".It is not easy and takes time and alot of thought and preparation.
Cherry Autumn-I am an emotional eater also and Beck is right on target.I am still reviewing steps23-27 that are exactly about changing the negative thinking.Last night I reviewed 23-Countering the unfairness syndrome-such as "its not fair I have to struggle with food when eveyone else is eating cake"-respone being-Everyone has things in their life that are unfair,this eating thing is mine.I will not give up,I would be treating myself unfairly if I don,t take this chance to improve my health.Sometimes if I stop and just think "What am I thinking right now" when faced with temptation I suprise myself with the answer not being about food at all.This takes time and peseverence.
eusebius-Great job staying on program for the weekend,I do the flex plan also.It is a great accomplishment to stay within points on the weekend.I tend to plan my meals exactly on work days and on my days off I don't plan everything and this works out.Although sometimes I feel a little guilty for not planning those days[like Beck says] but it works for me.

hbuchwald-Thanks for all the great information on our step.You gave me another good idea for my Wed. dinner,I can always wrap a dessert to take home,I don't have to think it is the last supper and gobble everything up that night.
CoastalSue-I can understand about going to bed hungry,I do not sleep well and wake up more.I have a snack built into my food plan before I go to bed,100-150 calories especially if I was swimming that day.Great job losing the 14 pounds you had gained,you didn't just give up like alot of others would.
Maryblu-Great job completing the work for this step,I found this to be a harder one I would have rather skipped.
"I didn't feel compelled at all" to eat WOW!! That is a great feeling, to be at peace with yourself.Something we are striving for.
Thank you everyone for all the great feedback and support.Today is my day off,I shopped and dinner is rotissere chicken[no skin],salad,italian bread with lie butter and probably1/2 cup lite icecream with fresh strawberries after swimming.I am setting a goal this week to get to Y 4 times and to not overeat Wed. dinner. thanks wendy

[CherryAutumn]

Yay! My book finally came in the mail. I can't wait to get started. LOL Sorry i just love the dancing Vegetables. I will try to post a little more once i get started

[CatR]

WendyLan: Eating out is a minefield. Some of the major chains now post nutritional information on their web sites. A lot of the lunch offerings pack 1000-2000 calories and can be ridiculously high in fat. I eat out with a friend occasionally and try to steer us to places where I know there are one or two offerings that fit with my eating plan. When we try new places, I make the best choice I can and take half home for the next day's lunch. I have 2 snacks a day and can usually forgo one to try to compensate for whatever excess I may have had. But I still usually feel that I "have been off my diet" for the day.

It is very hard just to say "no thank you" to family and friends when they have worked hard to prepare a rich dish. Usually I give in, eat too much, and then spend a few days getting back on track because "I've blown it anyway and another day or two won't matter".

I googled "food pushers" since this is a big issue with me. A Washington Post article came up at the top of the search results with some suggestions. I can't post a link yet, but it would be worth checking out.

[hbuchwald]

Hi there friends,
We have snow up here in WA state! It isn’t much but we treat it like an emergency..we just aren’t as prepared as people are in MN and other places that get it all the time. We are supposed to get more tonight with a possibility of no school tomorrow (I teach and look forward to a sleep in day as much as the kids periodically!).

I am really having a hard time making myself exercise. I am trying to figure out the sabotaging thoughts behind it… mostly I just feel tired I think and use that as an excuse. I have MORE energy to do all that I need to do when I move my body. I will put my pedometer on tomorrow and see if I can get more steps in….

Erika: So glad to hear that you think that Beck is helping (along with yoga and being mindful while eating). About the cookbook being WW friendly… I guess it depends… the nutrient info is not on the recipes but you could keep track of the ingredients if you wanted to use the recipes. We had the soup tonight for dinner and it was SO good! I love soup in the winter time and this one is a winner. We added chopped up celery and carrots-other than that, the veggies were from the puree and you seriously could not even tell that they were there. WW friendly-not by itself but if you factor in feeding kiddos healthy stuff, it may be worth the extra time/effort it takes to record the ingredients.

Bill: THREE potluck buffets? Credit to you!! Great idea to bring healthy stuff to the potlucks at my work. I am so into cooking lately that maybe I would bring something even more complicated than chopped veggies. I am sure that some others would appreciate some healthier options at these things.

Cherry Autumn: Yes, Beck concepts can help with emotional eating. I am glad that the book came! I love how each day’s worth of reading is really doable for even really busy people. A lot of helpful stuff packed into a few pages per day. NICE!

CatR: Welcome to the group! Yes, this stuff is a lot of work but really worth it!

Wendylan: You loaded up the yummy and healthy food-great work! What a challenge to go to your family dinner knowing what tempting fare there will be. So good to have a plan ahead of time. You can even plan your breakfast and lunch to be on the lighter side that day and drink lots of water throughout the feast. I took a “mindless eating challenge” –got the info from CoastalSue and one of the strategies that it mentioned was setting my fork down between every single bite. That is REALLY hard to do. But, if you know that the dinner will have such a high focus on food, maybe that would help you slow down and not get lost in the eating part? So impressive that you are getting all that exercise in too!

Til tomorrow, Heidi

[coastalsue]

HI to all,

Heidi, enjoyed your posting on day 7. I started doing Beck with no trigger foods in the house, after 5-6 months later I could re-introduce again and remain OK. You sound very aware of modeling for your daughter. We do learn so many food attitude when young and you learned living with extreme rules for children does not work. I hope a compromise could be worked out for the staff room-I bet many folks would like less temptations in the room. There are studies about office candy dishes and people eat a lot more if it in a clear easy to reach container and less if in opaque one. Could the treat be at least stored in a container-keep the cookies box closed versus put them on a plate? Check with some other folks and I bet many would like less food out in the open. Then you may feel more comfortable if other supported your request in the staff room. Or continue on as you have been of using these as OH Well situations and being able to see and ignore the "goodies" which is tough but very commendable.
I think wanting to eat more healthy actually forces one to become good cook. Only cooking it at home can reduce the fat, salt and sugar and increase the veggies. Then one start getting used to taste of fresher foods. P. S. may you get a nice sleepy snow day- Does any other exercising sound more fun? A new tape? one your daugher may even dance to? Other time is is just do it? I love to swim but really helps to have a buddy to push me at times.

BillBlueeyes-3 potlucks and you stayed on the plan. You really aced the day. again much credit.

Wendy-You are working so many points in the program. Getting food for the family and for yourself. The challenges are many and you are meeting them. Glad co-workers are helping you.-hope the food police don't get too judgemental. I dislike it when my friend asks if I have been bad. Heck i am not perfect nor bad- I just am blessed with many "learning" how to do better situations. Dinner at Mom sounds like a hugh feast. Plan, Plan-what are your favorites?-what portions size can you have? enjoy each bite of that portion. no seconds, but take stuff home for a meal the following day. We will be rooting for you on Wed night. Good Luck

CherryAutmn-Good to hear the book has arrived. I have gained so much weight due to being an emotional eater. I use Beck as a very pratical way to go step by step to change my behaviors. I also throw in some self help books about overeating, meditation and such. I have stopped with the diet books as they so often promise the moon and give me such strict rules that I eventually give up. I preplan, record and count cals -for awhile I tried to eat "perfectly"-absolutely no process food with sugar, white flour, butter but would feel too restricted at times-now I am doing fine including some small treats made of such things. The chapters of dealing with cravings and how to reward yourself are good-this stuff helps fights the response to soothe with food. Also a big help for me was the hunger exercise-hunger really does pass without eating. Do post about how things are going for you.

CatR- enjoyed your suggestions-alway thought places were so cal loaded in their dishes. a 2000 cal lunch-wow. I think I am finally tired of that behavior of if I blow it for a meal then go for a couple mindless days. I was doing that during this 6 months of studying Beck. Now having gained and lost the same 4 lb over 3 times during the past holidays has finally taught me to stop with the one blowout and get right back on plan.

Erika-Hope weight in went well. It took planning to remain within the flex points. Thanks for your suggestions and question regarding my nighttime hunger alert moments-I think I fight the aggitation verus looking at it and releasing it. Sometimes it feel emotional and other times it feel like it is an internal driven physical thing.

I had an annoying but nothing seriously wrong day. I give my self credit-late afternoon I really wanted a drink of wine or eat some thing caloric-I sputtered to Dh but consummed nothing but ice water. Then in the middle of a chore I felt the entire mood lift away. imagine I felt better without any food/alcohol-plus I was hunger and tired. Think I am making some changes inspite of 60+yrs of stess response eating. I stayed on the plan.
good wishes to all
sue

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches - Tried an experiment yesterday. Although I already had roasted brussel sprouts (leftovers) for lunch with my lentils yesterday, when I warmed them in the microwave I included one Florette of raw broccoli. It came out cooked!!! (Duh) Although obvious, I now have another source of veggies for lunch, especially nice since this is the peak season for good broccoli.

And an unexpected opportunity to say NO CHOICE: after a whole day of good planned meals without having to make buffet-like choices, and no offered or encountered off-plan foods, ending with a Minneola Orange for evening snack (first ever for me), a ghost from yesterday unexpectedly appears. DW offers me half a slice of mincemeat pie that followed her home from yesterday's potluck. "No thanks" says I, - piece of cake, didn't even work at it. Thinking about that this morning, I feel that that's a sign of something working. Yeah Beck.


Sue (CoastalSue) - Kudos for moving through a terrific opportunity to use food for emotional support. Nice work.

MaryBlu - OK, I acknowledge the countdown to Super Tuesday. Is it being hyped? Well, today's news contains the pairings of who shook who's hand at the State of the Union, and who looked on. Junior High School memories came crashing down on me, LOL.

Heidi (hbuchwald) - Keeping my fingers crossed for your snow day. Don't have a wise thought on keeping to the exercise since I have that problem also. I am rather hard on myself for my excuses, even when legit, but that doesn't seem to help. Remains a place for me to work. Continued good thoughts for Henry.

Erika (eusebius) – Waving to the displaced person, LOL.

wendy (wendylan) - Your shopping reads like a checklist for wholesome eating; I'd feel right at home eating from your fridge. "How long have you been at this Beck thing?" I've been working Beck for about five months. (Sue (CoastalSue) and MaryBlu were part of the original Beck thread stating five months before that, when the book was first published.) Good luck with your family dinner. That's a bunch of challenges, but each challenge has a Beck strategy that you can use. Sounds smart that you're carefully planning your responses. That seems to me to be the biggest Beck strategy of them all: if I plan a response, it's pretty easy. Good luck - I too will be sending supportive thoughts on Wednesday night.

CherryAutumn - Yeah for the arrival of Beck's book. "Do you think that Beck can help me?" Yes, I think it can. You've got the enthusiasm and know from reading here that the Beck program works when one actually DOES the exercises. I'm betting that you'll find what you need with it.

CatR - Neat insight: "changing long-ingrained thought patterns is work." I always thought that the work of losing weight was about suffering while feeling hungry. Now I believe that the hard work is about changing long-ingrained thought patterns. It's work alright, just different than I had expected.

Readers - "I now know … It’s OK to say no to people who offer me food." Beck, pg 13.

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Completed Beck Program-day 42. You’ve met your goal. Congratulations!