[BillBlueEyes]

Lisa Marie (sciencequeen)

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

And, in honor of your first post on 3fatchicks.com,

How did you find out about Beck? And how did you find our discussion group here?

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches – Dawdled because it might rain, might not. Finally went out for a walk with my raincoat in a backpack. Rain started before I reached the end of my street. Was great - walking in the summer rain is so nice I should have planned to do it rather than so much angst trying to avoid it. For a snack I had to choose between a peach and a croissant. Peach won. CREDIT moi.

OK, was a bit obscure. CD#6 was The Wind by Cat Stevens.

CD#7 of the 13 CD’s for $1:

Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
Then the child moved ten times round the seasons
Skated over ten clear frozen streams
Words like, when youre older, must appease him
And promises of someday make his dreams
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
Were captive on the carousel of time
We cant return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Sue (CoastalSue) - Gotta love the new Sue Antoinette, "let them eat veggies!" Kudos for taking mastery of hostessing. Gleeful image of you and DH letting the blues go right into your souls and dancing under the sky. You are so moving forward.

Heidi (hbuchwald) - Kudos for thinking about Sabotaging Thoughts instead of beating up on yourself. Sending positive thoughts for your triathlon training.

onebyone – Wow, what a day - "Burning the candle at both ends" as my grandmother used to say. Moved by your seasonal observation, "I saw my first golden rod yesterday." That motivates the CD choice today. Good luck with your session with your trainer tomorrow.

angelmomma210 - LOL at the thought of being more in control in Indiana. Kudos for eating "not as much as I could have." Great that you're planning ahead for eating out.

Lisa Marie (sciencequeen) – Kudos for bursting into Beck and getting so many of the first Program days working. Yep, I'm willing to be one of your diet coaches and ask you to diet coach me also. I also find the giving myself credit to be difficult. The first time that I tried, the only way I could do it was to coin the phrase "CREDIT moi" rather than "I deserve credit for ..." That helped. And then I kept practicing it, despite it feeling too much every time I wrote it in my journal. Now I routinely add it in my journal every day after I log my on-plan foods, after my walk entry, after my gym entry, and after completing an event on my ToDo list. The self consciousness has gone, and I do feel the benefit of giving myself credit. Glad you're with us.


Readers – "… For example, I’ve found that to lose excess weight and keep it off, it’s important to do the following:

• Seek support. …" Beck, pg 24.

[freer]

Good morning all,

hbuchwald, are you a teacher? I'm new to this board but your comments about an unstructured summer and friends who teach summer school made me think so.

This is my first summer in my second career as a teacher and it has been great being off for so long and having all of this time! As usual, it was always my plan to use this time to start a new diet. (That is a major pattern with me...starting a new diet beginning on some future date.)

What really happened is, I spent the first 6 weeks really eating out of control. There's no structure, there's no one to 'play' with, there's no one watching...woohoo! Eating party! All this time, I thought this period would be great due to low stress, but of course, I found it to be another opportunity to overeat.

Seeing how much weight you have lost tells me that you are great at losing weight! You should be very very proud. I'm ENVIOUS.

I don't really have any solutions obviously, but wanted to comment about the surprising difficulty I had when the stress factor (and structure) was removed from my life. Big surprise, as that's an easy thing to throw the blame on.

Fortunately, I found Beck halfway through the summer and it has been a godsend. In many ways it's like a loving adult in my life (really, in my head) who finally tells me NO. NO CHOICE. Eating is not an emergency. Giving me replacement thoughts for my sabotaging ones.

I'm using the last half of my summer vacation, getting back on track and it's such a mental relief. I'm hoping that in a few weeks, when 'stress' is reintroduced into my life in a big way, I'll at least have some tools and new habits to make it through.

[onebyone]

Good Morning coaches

After a long exhausting weekend I now face a long work week.
On today's agenda 1) unload the car with all the show display stuff and my paintings and other things 2) bring car back to rental place 3) get to school ASAP, load the big kiln and fire 4) hang around downtown (if really exhausted by then) or at the school until 1pm when I meet Nadine the Trainer at the gym 5) go over foodlog and set up workout program 6) hope to swim in their pool, or sit in the jacuzzi, or if not that then at least go and veg in the sauna before heading home. 7) get submission ready to mail off for local art show in the fall and other local art show, both with July 31st deadlines. STOP for the day.

Yikes. Anyway all I can think is "unload the car...unload the car...unload the car..." Somedays you just have to do it. DH is fast asleep so I will unload the car.

I've had my breakfast: peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat bread. Had another banana when I woke up. 2 bananas in me already.
Really want coffee. Will wait to get that on the way to drop off the car.

So I am hoping for an onplan day. Looking forward to looking over the foodlog with Nadine. Hoping she gives me a pile of empty foodlogs to fill out. They add a little pressure to me to stay on track. Even though I wasn't healthful eater, I was very much aware of all of my choices and what they were or weren't doing for me. This can only be good.

Will check in again later... everyone have a great summer day!

[sciencequeen]

Good Morning everyone.

Thanks for the welcome and the insightful thoughts on giving myself credit. It is getting easier, but slowly. Like last night, I realized (at like 10:00) that I hadn't had a Dr. Pepper. They are my nemesis/addiction and I have cut them down to one 8 oz can a day. I was super excited when I realized I had not had one all day. Makes me realize I CAN do it, and that the feeling I have when I want/crave one WILL go away.

How did I find Beck?
I started a one on one training session at Jazzercise. My instructor gave me a CD to listen to that was the introduction plus day 1 and 2. While listening to the introduction, many of the statements punched me in the gut. So, I went out and bought the book and haven't looked back.

How did I find the forum?
I was doing a Google search for the worksheets/checklists before I bought the book.

So, Day 7 - Arrange your Environment
Arranging my home went great - it was kind of fun! Didn't throw away much - already have lots of healthy foods for me and my family.
Trash: open bag of chopped pecans, half a bag of sweetened coconut, my son's Halloween candy.

Deep freeze:moved a Honey Carrot Cake to the deep freezer. We made it as a family the other night. My son loves Pooh, and in one story, they play outside in the snow, then go in and have hot cocoa and honey carrot cake that Rabbit made. He had been bugging me for a month to make it, so I did. He had a piece, and has forgotten about it. I'm going to ask my husband to take it to work tomorrow.

I also moved my smaller plates and bowls down to the lower shelf. an interesting concept I am eager to try out.

Arranging my work: When school starts up again, most of this will be easy. I don't keep snacks at work, and I take just enough to keep under my points and have a good dinner. My only problem at work is food in the teacher's lounge. I've gotten great at avoiding the lounge, especially if I know it's in there. I also don't go in there very often. However, when I do, if there's food out, it's usually very hard for me to resist. The book suggested asking people to keep it out of sight and put out a sign. ha, ha. If only the "civilian world" understood the heresy there. Food in the teacher's lounge is sacred. There's no way I could ask people to put it out of sight with a sign - I'll just have to avoid the lounge altogether. I usually just use it as a short cut, so I'll just go the long way - exercise is good for me!

[freer]

sciencequeen - We have a lot in common! I'm new to these boards, I'm also a teacher and a Jazzerciser! C'mon! We can do it!

[kuhljeanie]

monday all! the weekend wiped me out, but had some great stuff. the cake turned out great. it was hard to describe to the cust., but when she finally saw it she was really happy and pleased with it. good feeling! even better feeling to be finished with all that work. much akin to finishing a half marathon. every cake i do, i learn so much - next one is a batch of mini-cakes and i'm planning on using the pulled and poured sugar (isomalt) techniques i learned in my one and only official class. new skill to develop. there's so much to work on!

wish i had time to write everyone individually - so many neat things going on and getting worked on. having a little more success working my resistance muscle, but weekends are tough, tough, tough. took el nino to kings island yesterday to give dh some time to work on the house, and was unable to find anything remotely healthy to eat. if i'd had more time i would have cooked and packed - but with the cake making eating up so much free time, there's not been a lot of food prep for the week. we've got good cafeteria choices so i'm not too worried about it, but weekends are still hairy. hopefully my project management skills will get me through this and the upcoming move and everything else!

have a good one, y'all!

[shrinkin]

Tough weekend for me. Unplanned eating both Saturday and Sunday resulting in about 300-400 extra calories each day. Saturday had a craving for salt. [Anyone got some reasonable salt/calorie recommendations?] Did not get out my list of mental tools to stop myself; resistance muscle is really flabby. Sabotage also in high gear: Heard myself saying things like "you know you will eventually give in" and "you can probably still not be too bad even if you have these". Had about one serving of potato chips, and managed to talk myself into stopping with almost all of the bag still intact. Small credit for at least thinking about it (not mindless) and for stopping before eating more.

Got back on plan right away and stayed there all day Sunday..until nighttime downfall of after dinner ice cream with an added insult of chocolate on top. Not sure what happpened, but I think it was a combo of trolling and sabotage. Pretty clear that I have several weak spots...night time weekends alone (resisted well all day) and exaggerated weakness if I'm alone and don't post. Did keep my food log up and got in water exercise both Saturday and Sunday. Credits for those!

I am back on track today and will stay that way. NO CHOICE. I have reread my advantages card.[Missed that over the weekend]. Need to read Beck Day 19: Stop Fooling Yourself. Sounds like it may speak to my weekend thoughts.

kuhljeanie-Outstanding cake! Great sun and flowers! You are very talented. Sounds like a great time for you and el nino at Kings Island.

freer-Happy to hear that you are making great strides with Beck and reversing the sabotage habit. That is one of my challenges too.

sciencequeen Great job on arranging your environment! Many credits for ARC and for learning to give yourself credit. Many of us relative newbies are still practicing these good activities and waiting for them to become habits!

onebyone-congrats on the weekend show and kudos for your self honesty! Good luck with your session with Nadine and your food logs today. Credit for moving on with it!

BBE-Pat on the back for that rain walk and another one for selecting that peach. You got me on #7 ...must have been "before my time".

hbuchwald-Agree that structure is easier than no structure. Seems to provide built-in distraction. Credit to you for thinking about the challenges ahead of time, especially the family reunion and the triathalon. Hope to hear you find your ZONE...today! Kudos for planning that DR visit. Good luck with it! Will be interested in whether you get and like the Sensewear.

Coastalsue-Envy that blues concert and the dancing! Big credits for adapting your hostess activity to your world...instead of your world to the perceived needs of others. I will be facing that again next weekend. I am going to remember Sue Antoinette. Your post made me wonder why we are not comfortable with:"Healthy for me is also healthy for guests". Why do we feel the need to change for company?

angelmomma210-Credit for the fruit and veggies while on the road! Eating well while travelling is a special challenge. Credit to you for being more in control and planning to improve! The right thoughts have to preceed the right actions.

maryblu-Happy to hear how great you are feeling with all the activity! 55 is not far away for me, but my functional level is not what it used to be. That is another of my ARC items...being able to do more activities. Thanks for sharing your experience.
wendylan-Big credits for that 4 pound loss and getting your walking in. Hope you had a great weekend!

Happy Monday to all!

[barbpos]

Time for another drive by...it's been a while.

BBE -- happy belated birthday...great to have reached the milestone strong and healthy!! And I love your CD's. I have many of them as old LP's in a box in the basement. Including #6, but I couldn't place it.

Jeanie -- love the cake!!! just beautiful!!!

I'm just back from a long weekend in the Berkshires. Did a great hike past waterfalls to a mountain top on Friday. Went to a folk festival Saturday where we did contra and square dancing, listened to music, and bought a sleeveless (YEAH) sundress...the first sleeveless anything I've owned besides a nightgown in about 5 years. Left the festival early on Sunday when the rain came in and went gallery hopping and outlet shopping....including 2 pairs of jeans -- one in my current size (regular, not plus, 16), and one the next size down...since they were having a buy one, get the second at 1/2 price sale.

I've been at this...Beck and South Beach Diet...for a little over 5 months now. Down 55 lbs from Feb 18 when I started....and 58 from my heighest weight ever. The great thing about it is seeing progress on my Advantage List, like this weekend's activities and purchases.

It's also great not eating compulsively...or being quite as obsessed with food. Not that I think I'll ever have the obsession totally conquered....but it's a relief even to be where I am.

Until next time.....

[onebyone]

Hello & good evening coaches

I went to my fitness appt this afternoon. I didn't cancel (credit moi). I stayed honest on my foodlog (credit moi) and it wasn't pretty but she said that people will show up with foodlogs filled to perfect healthful perfection and you can pretty much guess that much of it is a stretching of the facts so to speak.

So after some discussion she told me all she wants me to do for now is to even out my food, that I am spiking throughout the day bloodsugar wise, like three peaks, and it should be more like a gentle wave. Bloodsugar spikes lead to blood sugar drops lead to cravings... To prevent the extremes, I need to ensure I have protein at every meal. Not much, but some. If I have a fresh fruit snack, I need some seeds or nuts or low fat cheese to prevent the sugar spike. And this is it. It's all she wants me to focus on. I didn't do that for dinner but will try it tomorrow. Oh there is more to it like smaller plates, some raw veggies, limit my simple carbs but if I do nothing else she wants me to get the small amounts of lean/low fat protein at every meal and snacktime. I haven't ever done that so I will do it. I need to get back to planning my meals. Imagine. Meal planning. Back to basics. I can do that.

So coaches, my official foodplan is the trainer recommended diet that I record for every meal. My backup is weight watchers.

After the nutritional part, and much conversation, she had me try out the exercises. They break down into groups A B and C. We went over A and B. Let's just say they are challenging. Two are with weight machines the rest are with the big ball you sit on or roll on. I always poo-pooed the ball. No more. Wow. Is it tough! I am to sit on the ball, slowly walk my feet out in front as I lower myself onto the ball, wiht the head neck and shoulders supported by the ball, legs at a 90 degree angle, hoist my middle up, butt not sagging, and then I will do chest presses with weights as I support my torso with my legs on the ball. Yikes! What a workout. What a challenge. But I did it. So much ab/torso work today. Hoo boy. What did I get myself into? So we completed the moves for A and B. Wednesday we'll go through it again and do the C part too. It'll be a complete workout session where I will "sweat a bit" she said. And you know what? These three meetings are still free. FREE. I could not believe it. I am definitely joining the gym there. This weekend was lucrative enough for me to start that. At the end of the session today tears welled up in my eyes when I was wth Nadine. Part of it was because of being totally exhausted from the past week, weekend, and such, but I was also overwhelmed at seeing my body reflected in the mirrors around me at the gym. I tried not to go there but I felt such shame at how I looked. My flabby self. My really round no definition body. Nadine was saying I could take this program to the Y and use it while my membership ends there but you know, I can't. I tried to picture myself doing the ball moves with all that activity around me and I can't see it. I feel really really self-conscious like "people who look like me look so awful they shouldn't be in public" that sort of gut level primitive sabotaging thought. Being so tired I couldn't fight it off, instead my eyes teared up... BUT I can see myself doing it there. The gym is very quiet and I felt at peace there again. I think it may be the right place for me. I've moved on from feeling ashamed like I did but boy am I vulnerable. I SO want this to work. It's no wonder we can fall for any fly-by-night scam or fad diet. I am not unique in wanting something to work for once and for all.

And on that note thank you coaches for not being fly-by-night but for being people of solid character and wisdom. So glad I found you Newbies, you came to the right place!

[RobinW]

Im here! Hangin' in there too

[hbuchwald]

Hello coaches:
onebyone: WOW! I am so happy that you had a great experience with the exercise and the club vibe and the nutrition advice... I am sorry that you "went there" in your head and got teary.... you are a beautiful person you know... really-thanks for sharing.

barpos: what an inspiration you are! Big kudos for you staying the course for 5 months. You are taking good care of yourself and reaping the benefits on your ARCs!!!

shrinkin: no go on the sensewear so far. My doc was trying to think of "weight loss docs" to refer me to. I didn't go for a hard sell asking her to buy one for the hospital to lease-they don't have a vested interest in doing that and I don't have a metobolic condition or anything that a doc would probably usually prescribe it for. Great job giving self credit!!!

kuhljeanie: that cake is unreal-what a talent you have. It was NOT long ago that you were dreaming about what you are currently doing. People are paying you to make cakes! I am trying to think of an event that I could buy a cake and have you ship it..... right..trying to think of that contraption... anyway-I am really impressed.

sciencequeen and freer: Yes, I am a teacher-love the job and the summer..still trying to get a grip on myself though.

BillBlueEyes: love the walking in the rain-what a nice experience.

I am taking my weight tracker off my signature-I was weighed at the doc's office and yes, it was MUCH later in the day than I usually weigh, I was fully clothed (shoes even), it is the time of month and I had just eaten lunch and had a lot of water... but still-I had underestimated my weight gain. UGH. Trying not to freak out-I am still maintaining 35 lbs of weight loss which is a lot. If hunger isn't the problem then food is NOT the solution-thanks for that renminder barpos!!! I may join WW online since that is my backup diet. I am hesitant since I am going on vacation and will not have online access there. I could still do it and just record points in a book or journal or something. I will think about that.

[BillBlueEyes]

Diet Coaches – Arrived at the gym later than usual after much angst about 45# vs. 50# dumbbells for chest press to find all the benches taken. So, instead, I did pull ups on the gravitron machine using 50#s of counter weights (I lift my body weight less 50#s). Was a bit disappointed that I couldn't do a pull up of my full body weight. Oh Well. That's now a new goal for me. If I can do a full pull up, that will be the next level of body image for me. Had a whole (1.1 pound) heirloom tomato salad with dinner. Heirloom tomatoes are just the best food ever.

So, OK, CD#7 was The Circle Game by Joni Mitchell.

CD#8 of the 13 CD’s for $1 (A whole foods song?):

Woke up, it was a chelsea morning, and the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey and a bowl of oranges, too
And the sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses
Oh, wont you stay
Well put on the day
And well talk in present tenses

Heidi (hbuchwald) - Congrats that you still maintain the 35 pounds. Ouch for the shock of the doctor's scale. Kudos for responding with a plan. When the time comes for your vacation without internet access, will still think of you and send supportive thoughts so that you still have us in your support group.

Jean (kuhljeanie) - Great cake! Thanks for sharing. Kudos for increased resistance muscle.

Barbara (barbpos) – Just love thinking about the Folk Festival in the Berkshires - dancing under the stars. What a kick. Congrats on the 55 pounds. It's so encouraging to hear your steady progress.

onebyone – Just bowled over here by your response to your fitness appointment and new exercise plan and new eating plan. Kudos, Kudos, Kudos. Sending best supportive thoughts. Boy Voyage!

Robin (RobinW) - Yeah for hangin' in. Are you still working on the auto wrap project?

shrinkin - Kudos for keeping your head clear and honestly recording your weekend. It's such a big step to be aware of Sabotaging Thoughts so that you are able to fight them. Great for stopping before the bag of chips was empty - don't know that I could do that. Don't have any great salt recommendations; do you like pickles? My snack of choice is unsalted roasted soy nuts - but they are also sold salted.

freer - Neat that you're onto NO CHOICE against Sabotaging Thoughts. Second career, eh? Do you care to tell us the first?

Lisa Marie (sciencequeen) – LOL at "Food in the teacher's lounge is sacred." Yep, some things are the way they are. Kudos for the day without Dr. Pepper. Laughing at the thought of the Halloween candy in July.


Readers – "… For example, I’ve found that to lose excess weight and keep it off, it’s important to do the following:

• Deal with disappointment. …" Beck, pg 24.

[shrinkin]

Good morning, coaches!

Monday was an OP day. Only mental dialog with myself yesterday was whether to try to "make up" for off target eating over the weekend by coming in lower than average on calories [my target is 1200]. Read Beck Day 19. Decided it was not a good idea. Probably just another way of fooling myself and might perpetuate the idea that I can just eat off target and then make up for it. Another way of rationalizing unplanned eating. Reminded myself that 300-400 calories over per day was not enough to gain wt. Back on plan is a better strategy. Have to get to grocery today though because almost out of fresh fruits and veggies. I have to stay with it today..."no ifs, ands or buts".

BBE-Sorry to hear abut the pull experience, but big kudos fo handling the disappointment with the "OH WELL" and making it a goal. Neat that you made the disappointment quote your Beck quote of the day. Not sure if I have had an heirloom tomato, but sounds delicious! I know the title of your next CD selection...mostly because of the giveaway line in it. Suspect I know the artist too....thought you could stump us again with her, didn't you?

hbuchwald-Sorry to hear about your sensewear disappointment so far. Interesting that your doctor was struggling to come up with a "weight loss doctor". My internist said that too. No real high quality weight loss physician based program in Milwaukee. Med establishment really has not figured out what to do about obesity and certainly not what to do about weight maintenance. Seems that anorexia and bulemia have a niche, but not obesity.
Proud of you for losing and maintaining that 35 pound loss! I am sure you will make a good decision about WW.

Robin W-Hellooo and credit to you for hanging in! Hope to hear more from you soon.

onebyone-Sounds like you have found your place!! Woohoo!! Nadine sounds like a great trainer and has put forward a sensible plan. Credits for moving forward...just keep it up. You can do this!

barbpos-Greetings! Congrats on the 55 pounds and on seeing the advantages coming true! Sounds like a lot of fun...hiking, dancing, shopping for smaller sizes.

Good morning to the rest of the Beckies out there!

[onebyone]

Good morning coaches

Woke up to a yukky tummy. Not sure about the hows or whys of it, just don't feel good. I'd like to stay home, sit still, but have to take the bus, unload the kiln and come home. Can I do it? Not sure. I've got a few more hours to see if I feel better. Hope so.

Thanks for the good wishes you guys. This whole training thing is new territory for me. That's good, just a bit scary. But I'll just take it a step at a time.

I think I have to go rest. Will check in later when I feel better.

Have a good Tuesday!