I seem to have caught a cold! A cold!! In the middle of this heat wave?!?!? How did that happen....Im sooooooooo not impressed!
Thanks everyone for your hugs and support. I am doing my best to maintain the loss since Christmas. Im holding my own...but fluctuating between 5 and 8 lbs up and down.
I know sitting down with my beck book will probably help...but Im not quite ready yet.
This heat just sucks the life out of me. Not to mention, the shop has been crazy busy (which is good) but the tiredness and lack of desire to cook healthy meals just isnt there at all.
I think I was born in the wrong part of the country....even northern ontario for me was too hot. I think I should have been born somewhere up in the yukon!
Have a great weekend everyone! Off to the movies with dd to see G-Force in 3d!!
Thanks everyone. I've been making progress with the work stress, and my exercise/training is getting back on track.
I'm thinking I should make a commitment to do one thing every day this week in pursuit of weight management. Just one thing. I'm stuck on figuring it out.
OK. I will read my ARC once/day, my Memory cards, read 5 minutes of Beck, and come back here and tell you about it. (Sure, this is more than one thing, but hey, I obsess.)
It was a quiet day at home. I did a 30 minute upper body workout (the first time @ 30 minutes), credit! I had hoped to weed for an hour or so, but since it didn’t drop below 90 degrees until after 5 PM, I decided discretion was the better part of valor. Instead of weeding, at 5:30 DH and I walked Moose for 1 mile and kayaked for about 20 minutes. Credit moi.
Made a plan, read my cards. Food – op, Exercise – op.
Robin Sorry you have a cold, feel better! Maintaining without motivation is hard – so congrats. You’ll get the motivation back soon.
About the heat, I feel the same way. Being in the city in this kind of heat is very draining; it doesn’t really cool down at night. I hope this heat wave breaks soon – maybe Monday night?
Anne Your plan sounds reasonable – credit! Just beware of all-or-none thinking, it’s great if you accomplish some, but not all, of your goals, right?
gardenerjoy We’ll all be your buddies here. Credit for making such a strong start: response cards and advantage cards -
I went out to lunch with my mom today at PF Changs and only ate 1/2 of my meal with no dessert! I was so proud of myself!!! Then I came home and did my exercise. Another credit! My little guy talked me in to going to our local pizza buffet (his favorite) and I caved since Daddy isn't home and I know he's been missing him so much. Unfortunately, I also caved at the pizza place and ate 3 1/2 slices + a small piece of dessert pizza Bad me! I came home, did some cleaning and read my cards. Hopefully all the cleaning burned a little of that off.
Erika - congrats on your 2 breakthroughs! that's great news! I doubt I'd be able to go out for Italian food and weigh 1 lb less the next day! Great job. Ah, thanks, I really tried hard to make a good choice yesterday and I was so proud of how I did. I think I'm really starting to see some breakthroughs myself.
Bill - great job NOT comparing yourself to others. Just concentrate on yourself and your goals. You are doing GREAT!! Thanks for the kind words on my luncheon yesterday. I really tried hard to do it right and I felt good about how I handled it. THe old me would have ate the whole thing and added a few more things too!
onebyone - don't feel bad about the food pusher. Some people really sneak up on you like that - they are really sly! If you did good the rest of the time, then just say "oh well" like Dr. Beck says.
ChinaMaine - congrats on the weight loss! That is wonderful news! Welcome home, I'll bet you are happy to see Moose again! Thanks! I do actually feel good that I was in control of the food rather than the reverse. It is usually the one that controls me and this time I was in control. It felt good!
Robin - so sorry to hear you are not feeling well. I hope you feel better soon! Hang in there with the plan. Do NOT give up ok? We won't let you! Just do what you can
Anne - sounds like you've got a great plan! I know you'll do great!
Gardnerjoy - welcome to our group! Great job on getting your first cards made. You will find them quite helpful. I read mine several times every day. It helps me to stay focused. So glad you have joined us! Don't worry, we will ALL be your buddies. This is quite a wonderful group!
The scale shows a whoosh down TWO pounds this morning. Wow, I hope this lasts for my official weigh-in tomorrow. Good incentive to behave at my parents' for dinner tonight
I've got to say, this oil thing works like a charm. My MIL was telling me about it 3 years ago, and I completely had to bite my lip to keep from laughing in her face. Ha! Who's laughing now! I do think, however, that the combination of Shangri-La and WW is the best for me ... because hunger signals are definitely not the only reason I used to eat. Now I eat within my points range and mostly have no desire to do otherwise ... and should a sabotaging thought come up, Beck is there to combat it. Amazing that one needs such an arsenal of tools to work on the weight issue!
Yesterday was a bit stressful ... the glass of wine I had at dinner Friday completely knocked me out for most of Saturday. It seems that alcohol and this new antidepressant really don't get along. Oh Well ... that's 2 extra points I can use for food if I need them! BUT THEN - my DH, who has an anaphylactic allergy to eggs, ate a spoonful of egg-laden ice cream by accident. Oh, that was not a good scene! He then had to drive us home, because I don't have a license, and load up on antihistamines. Now he will feel gross for days. Sigh ...
Bill - CREDIT for appropriate eating at a family dinner and also huge credit for ignoring sabotaging thoughts about gym show-offs. Instead think about me and my measly plastic 5-pounders, LOL.
onebyone - congrats on -0.4 and making it into a new "decade"!! I hope that your mom can find a good place to live where she can get the care she needs. to you & mom. And ... have a great day at the Women's Art Festival today!
ChinaMaine - welcome home, LOL! To me your home sounds like an idyllic vacation spot. Big congrats on -3.25!! Woohoo! Yep, I'm 5'4" and at my last weighin was 167, down from 172 when I restarted WW a few weeks back. Buddying up would be great ... if you'd like my email feel free to send a PM! I will actually be in New Brunswick as soon as next weekend ... not sure yet if we are driving home through Maine but if we are I'll definitely let you know!
Robin - Summer colds suck. I had one a few weeks ago when my daughter got sick. Oh, the heat these days has been bad enough to suck the life out of anyone. It was 35 with humidity here yesterday. I highly recommend Newfoundland for very cool (temp-wise) summer vacations, LOL!
wndranne - Big kudos for your stepwise plans to get back on track with Beck! I will be rooting for you! Great job on your exercise and on your approach to work stress!
gardenerjoy - welcome!! This is IMO one of the best weight loss support groups on the net. Would love to read your advantages response card if you're willing to share it with us. What part of Missouri is Kirkwood located in? I'm a Canuck and not really familiar with that part of the US.
Kara - Great job at PF Changs!! Ouch for the extra 'za, but you'll definitely burn that off quickly. How are things going with Beck for you?
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Joy for a little thing when I stopped at a yard sale while out walking (CREDIT moi). They had a plate of warm, fresh baked, home made, chocolate chip cookies under a sign "FREE - thanks for stopping by." I didn't partake; CREDIT moi. Then used that little exercise of my resistance muscle to avoid stopping at Whole Foods; CREDIT moi again.
Blueberries are really good right now - and locally at a good price. So DW and I each independently decided to stock up without coordinating. Alas, we're awash in blueberries. My job is to consume them before they rot. Tough job, but I'm up to it, LOL.
onebyone - Seems to me that you did well at the somber occasion of your aunt's interment. Trying to evaluate your mother's mental state is an emotional tough job; sending you supportive thoughts for the processing of that information and for trying to figure out what you can do from a distance. I wish you well.
And Congrats for navigating the drive there and back.
Ouch for the class food pusher. Thanks for the reminder that food pushers have fine skills to get around are regular defenses. "...good-for-you..." is particularly fighting dirty. You might want to try some of the Harry Potter Black Arts when you next see her, LOL.
Yukon Robin (RobinW) - Kudos for maintaining since Christmas even when the spirit is fighting back. Ouch for the cold and the heat simultaneously. Keep the faith, you'll find your path back to where you want to be.
But, Congrats for the good business. I just heard about another architect friend who is on "Temporary Leave" because business is slow.
Anne (wndranne) - Kudos for going forth one step at a time. Progress in the work stress seems like a good foundation to allow some emotional energy for your other stuff.
And Kudos for making a commitment to do just one thing each day when doing every thing seems out of reach. There's a lesson for me in that one.
ChinaMaine - Yea for making it home; Double Yea for being welcomed by a happy Moose. Love the notion of your Great Blue Heron being territorial about his rock.
Thanks for the reminder from your Dad about steak sauce. Since red meat becomes more and more infrequent in our menu it is difficult to imagine when I would want to use the stuff again. It was probably a good idea back when massive hamburger steaks were part of my life when I was in my twenties.
Erika (eusebius) - Kudos for the two keys to your breakthru: measuring portions and eating without distractions. Those are big commitments; good job.
Love reading your success at the Italian Restaurant, both the walking and the portion control. Great reminder to me that I don't have to be a victim of portion size chosen by the restaurant.
And congrats for getting up earlier than me yesterday. I won't be surprised if we cross-post again this morning, LOL.
Kara (Walking Princess) - Kudos for the stellar show at P. F. Chang's with your mom. Ouch for the tough pizza buffet later. Good for you for keeping it all in perspective, for simply moving forward and not getting stuck.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Kudos for making your Response Cards; would you care to share them with us here?
Yep, I'll sign up to be one of your Diet Buddies and request that you be one of mine. As Kara (Walking Princess) said, we're all on board.
Readers -
Quote:
This program is designed to help you solve the problems that have made dieting difficult for you in the past.
Joy is the first word that comes to mind when I hear "garden"...though, to me "garden" is flowers, not veggies. Veggies are a necessary gardening "chore", since I live on Pesto in the summer, herbs are a must .and a few other basics as well. of course. The rest is "joy".
Be forewarned, Beckies, I have pics coming. A friend did a huge shoot for me last Tues. in evening light...8 of the 9 flower gardens..the "Plunk it Down" garden got neglected, but that one is exactly as it sounds. It works, though.
wndranne, sorry for your struggles. You have been so successful and come so far, I am sure you are just in one of those phases where even though not satisfied, you aren't going back that whole tremendous amount, and so motivation is harder to find. Look what it took to shock me back out of that "good enough" mode........tremendous sadness..major life change. Glad it worked. Still sad, but not *quite* as much; time heals all wounds. It is really weird getting used to being hungry and a being OK with it, but I do have a few #s left to lose and that is the only way it is going to happen.
Whoever warned "beware of the all or nothing" thinking gave good advice. My two cents of the "one thing at a time" would be back to Beck..the one thing that works for me 100% IF I DO IT..big IF, but IF I DO IT, it works 100% of the time, is write everything down. I know you used to do it..if you can only do one thing, that would be my 1 thing. I don't know how you juggle it all to do as much as you do..you are amazing..my advice, dear one, is take the time for you to write it all down..every bite. It is a rainy day here, The Magician is calling! :-)
Heard and danced to some great blues last night..I mean GREAT blues, and there was reference made to an old blues guy, Hound Dog Taylor. I was so happy to say I had heard him 30 years ago in Iowa City. Great fun. ...There *are advantages to being ancient!
ChinaMaine and Walking Princess: Thanks for the welcome. I thought this might be a mass buddy network!
BillBlueEyes: I'm a librarian -- books find me. Beck popped out from the pile for me after I read The End of Overeating by David Kessler. He made the case that I eat the way that I do because the food industry conditioned me to do so. The only path to eating the way I want is to recondition myself. But he was skimpy on the details. I knew from my perusing of books that detailed reconditioning is what Beck is famous for, so that was my next book choice.
I found this thread by looking around 3FC to see what plans people were actively following. The activity of this thread jumped out.
On your extra blueberries. Last year, I pureed blueberries and froze the puree in ice cube trays. Later, I popped the puree cubes out and stored them in a freezer bag. All winter and especially this spring when the weather got warm before the berries ripened, I thawed a cube of puree to use as a healthy topping for my chocolate frozen yogurt.
eusebius: Kirkwood is a suburb of St. Louis.
maryblu: I like flowers, too! Looking forward to your pictures. I made pesto today. My basil grew like crazy this year.
Since eusebius and BillBlueEyes asked, my Advantages List:
I want to get off my blood pressure medication.
I want to live longer.
I will have more energy.
My health span will more closely match my life span.
I will have accomplished an important and difficult feat.
I will experience less pain in my knees, hips, and back.
I will be able to work in my garden more and longer.
I will be able to get on the ground while doing photography -- and get back up!
I will look better.
Today I weighed myself. That's the first time in weeks and the first time in months that I converted from the kgs of the scale to lbs. It was a bit of a shocker. But I'm comforting myself with the knowledge that the loss will look all the more dramatic from the high number I got today. Weighing myself every day will be a change, obviously, but I'll try anything once.
Today's other credits: I read through Success Skill 3 (eating slowly) and Success Skill 4 (giving myself credit) -- both very relevant to my situation. Also, I realized that eating in my car is as bad as eating standing up, for me, for all of the same reasons and more. I walked on the treadmill when my outdoor walk got rained out. I invented a stir fry tonight to use up a bunch of veggies in the fridge -- and it was tasty!
Diet Coaches/Buddies - Ate well and on plan at a Mexican Restaurant last night; CREDIT moi. Devised a scheme to scoop salsa with a fork onto a chip which I then ate without the chip. Got a satisfying serving of salsa while using only about three chips. That's new for me. Chips were left in the basket which differs from my past when I was the reason that the waitress had to bring a second basket of them. I ordered chicken with cilantro sauce which was yummy and avoided the tortillas and tacos that usually run up my calories when eating Mexican.
Did two good walks despite the heat; CREDIT moi. Went to our community garden and harvested 12 BIG red tomatoes. Lunch included a sliced tomato with a little feta cheese and black pepper - didn't even need oil. Just heaven.
maryblu - Yea for "GREAT blues." Yea for hearing Hound Dog Taylor in person. Yea for eating Basil Pesto all summer. (Whole Foods sells other kinds of pesto, but I think of them as impostors.) My DW freezes pesto in cubes for us for the winter; it seems like magic every time. Basil and pine nuts are gifts from the gods.
BRING ON THE PICS!!!
Erika (eusebius) - Yea for the "whoosh down." Ouch for the negative reactions that hit both you and your DH. I hope you both recover quickly. The unexpected eggs is scary.
Yep, "Amazing that one needs such an arsenal of tools to work on the weight issue!" Don't know why that was amazing to me also, but it does seem like it's the case.
Joy (gardenerjoy) - Kudos for converting to pounds to see your starting place; that seems like a big step. And Kudos for recognizing that eating in your car is the same as standing up. We do seem able to find multiple ways to eat mindlessly, LOL. I was SHOCKED be the amount of eating while standing that I was doing when Beck forced me to notice, and embarrassed to find myself nibbling from my plate as I walked to the table.
Thanks for sharing your Advantages Response Cards. I particularly like, "My health span will more closely match my life span."
Drooling over the thought of a freezer with "pureed blueberries" cubes next to my pesto cubes.
Readers -
Quote:
Every diet provides you with a plan that tells you what you should and shouldn't eat. But knowing what to eat is only a small part of successful dieting. . . .
The two pounds stayed off! Yippeeee!! That is 7 so far. I get to change my ticker now. Wahooo ... And that is after eating roast beef and (massive trigger) mashed potatoes at my mom and dad's. Thanks Mom for making a low-calorie strawberry mousse for dessert. No thanks Mom for shoving a teaspoon of salad dressing in my mouth to find out if it tasted good. Seriously, she came into the living room where I was sitting with a spoonful of dressing and actually shoved it in my face. Can we say "food pusher?" Thank God I had activity points.
A useful exercise yesterday: making response cards for common sabotaging thoughts (Day 27). That Seven Question Technique is fantastic. I think it can be applied to virtually any sabotaging thought regardless of whether or not it relates to weight loss.
Bill - Your resistance muscle is Schwarzenegger-sized. I am in awe. Choc chippers and Mexican chippies!! MMMM ... fresh tomatoes with feta ... mmmmmm ...
maryblu - Can't wait to see your garden pics. Total agreement on writing everything down. Nothing works the way that does.
gardenerjoy - Yay, a librarian in our group! After having spent 8 years in grad school, librarians are my best friends I definitely have David Kessler's book on my list to read. St. Louis sounds like a great city to live in. Are you from there originally? Thanks for sharing your ARC - love it. My favourite, like Bill's: "My health span will more closely match my life span." Extremely well put.
OK on to some quiet time. After my walk, my major task for the day is to write 750 words of program note about La Bohème. Nice excuse to listen to the old Freni/Pavarotti recording again.
Happy Monday and here's to a yeti-free week!
Coaches/Buddies Just read my ARC. I'm always struck and surprised by the first one "To feel strong and competent." I forget that one. Heavy hitting RCs read. "How will I feel about it 10 minutes from now?" is the one that got me today. A couple of Memory Cards about feeling great after persisting through a tough period got me too. I also liked seeing the 5 lb goals that I met. I'd like to make another one of those. I'm inspired.
hi all beck buddies! welcome gardnerjoy! i was hoping for some gardening joy this summer - my first in a new house, where i will probably stay for the next several decades. had to bushwhack a bunch of yard just to have a clear spot, and after a super-exciting push from the squash plants, realized that we have a MAJOR deer issue. they ate everything. freakin' everything, down to the nubs. right after i started back at work - so no time to build a fortress to protect against them. i was so excited...sigh. next year, maybe?
had an interesting weekend in light of my insight late last week. el nino and i stayed with my mom, and spent most of the weekend at kings island. not a place overflowing with diet-friendly food choices. so i ordered moderately well (e.g. chicken sandwich with fries instead of bacon cheeseburger with fries.) ate mindfully, enjoyed, realized i didn't need most of the buns, or about half the fries. i looked at the food and thought about how the next meal would be arriving in a just a few hours, and i'd have the same access to pretty much whatever i wanted. thinking about this allowed me to stop before i got too full, and not to care when my mom/kid ate my fries, or DIDN'T, and the meal was over. i actually threw away tasty fries. aaaaah. i can't believe how much easier it is to do that when i think of food as ever-plentiful, ever-available, and mostly cheap. recalled a statistic i heard or read somewhere that you can spend 17% more money to get 44% more calories (don't quote me) and that's what the food industry wants you to do, because it makes them MORE money. just need to continue to tell myself that i'm in no danger of starvation. period. repeat. food everywhere.
this was also easy to remember at KI. i was walking around the waterpark, looking at all the bodies in bathing suits, and was so struck by how many people were overweight. some super-obese in motorized wheelchairs; some morbidly obese struggling to move; many, many just heavily overweight. old people, young people, lots of kids. reinforced that we live in a toxic food environment and it's absolutely stupid and pointless to judge myself, or anyone else, for making unhealthy choices that support the original intention of our biology. it's freakin' hard, hard work! we're fighting our bodies' natural inclinations, we're fighting a powerful and sophisticated industry that knows that it must get us to eat more poison, or face extinction itself. there's no morality here. just the need for survival, either working for or against us (depending on your point of view.) the beauty of beck is that her techniques set the stage for us to engage our own highest good at the time when our actions are most likely to be effective. i'm starting to put the pieces together in my own head, so it's speaking to the reasons i fall prey to my environment. yay.
yipes, that was a long stream of thought. thanks if you stayed with me.
feeling all crampy and gross. ready to fight the fight against sugar and salt. wish me luck! i can't believe that i didn't put on any bloat weight from this weekend's foray to the salt lick. will keep working my "i'm drowning in a sea of calorie-laden food - do i really need to eat (and subsequently wear) this?" muscle.
go anne, you rebounding, pulling-it-back-together beck buddy! erika, your mom sounds like...wow. like my mom. who lost 80 lbs many, many years ago, and now gets her little fix of whatever by telling ME to order it, so she can have a small bite off my plate. this, of course, leaves me with the idea that i need to finish it so i don't waste it. ah, the universe gives me a perfect opportunity to work on exactly the thing i need to work on. thank you, universe. bill, mazel tov on your new little chip trick! i like it! also a little envious about the tomato love. i wish, wish, wish i liked tomatos, especially this time of year, when everyone is raving about the joy. alas, i've tried over and over again - not the crappy supermarket kind either, but the 17 different purple/pink/whatever colored heirlooms/beefsteaks/whatever from our organic CSA, less than 24 hours out of the ground. they just leave me cold. at least i can eat them now...when i was younger, just the smell made me sick. i just don't get it, and i wish i did! can't wait to see your garden pictures, mary! i've got a huge yard (front and back) that's close enough to cleared out that i should start thinking about what to do with it. wish you lived close enough to give me ideas...i'm such a newbie at the business of growing plants and flowers, i get overwhelmed. kara! great that you can give yourself credit for the part you rocked without beating yourself up for slipping. change is HARD!
onebyone, your mom's behavior sounds like my grandmother's. she used to ask the same questions 16 times and it was hard. but it wasn't actually alzheimers - the doctors & neurologists never identified it exactly, just some sort of progressive dementia. it's a very tough thing. let me know if you need anything...my mom wanted to move my g-ma to a home, but by the time she and my aunt had convinced my uncle that his mother was not going to get better, they realized that the move itself was going to be such a disrupter to her that it was better to leave her. she had a nurse come 3-5 days a week to bath her and clean the apartment, and they unplugged the stove and stocked her with frozen dinners she could microwave. once a week my mom and i would take her out to lunch and we'd count the dinners in the freezer, to know how much she was eating. the most important thing i learned during the whole process was how important it is to see what's actually going on as opposed to what you want or fear. i guess that's true for everything, though, huh? big hug.
Sunday was another quiet day. I had some DOMS yesterday. Earlier this year DOMS resulted in severe fatigue. Yesterday, it made me really tired, but not fatigued. Nevertheless, I didn’t feel up to doing my usual exercise; I did walk Moose and a brief stint on the elliptical. Credit moi.
The Sylvan Lake Lodge had a fantastic salad that I made a stab at replicating yesterday. Credit! It was spinach, craisons, oranges, feta, spicy pecans, red onion with a citrusy vinaigrette. Mine came out pretty good, although I still have a couple of tweaks. (The pecans were way too sweet, and the vinaigrette was blasé.)
After seeing how benadryl was negatively affecting the cognitive function of DHs aunt, I have decided to try a different allergy med. My DSs SO recommended Zyrtac – said it addressed the allergies and didn’t affect her sleep either positively or negatively. I’ve taken it two nights and it is fantastic for the allergy symptoms. I didn’t sleep well last night, but I’m hoping it was a 1 time thing…
Made a plan, read my cards. Food – op, Exercise – off-plan.
No personals yet -- I'll try to catch up on personals later today...
Saturday
Made a plan, read my cards. Food – op, Exercise – op. 
We’ll all be your buddies here. Credit for making such a strong start: response cards and advantage cards - 
Bad me! I came home, did some cleaning and read my cards. Hopefully all the cleaning burned a little of that off. 
I doubt I'd be able to go out for Italian food and weigh 1 lb less the next day! Great job. Ah, thanks, I really tried hard to make a good choice yesterday and I was so proud of how I did. I think I'm really starting to see some breakthroughs myself.
Thanks for the kind words on my luncheon yesterday. I really tried hard to do it right and I felt good about how I handled it. THe old me would have ate the whole thing and added a few more things too! 
Welcome Joy (gardenerjoy)
to you & mom. And ... have a great day at the Women's Art Festival today!
big hug.
Sunday Report
Nevertheless, I didn’t feel up to doing my usual exercise; I did walk Moose and a brief stint on the elliptical. Credit moi. 