HI there everyone,
My gameplan worked today...I reminded myself many times to stay in the moment...do the best at whatever it was that I was doing... I resisted several treats at school and also at dd's little preschool graduation. I drank lots of water and enjoyed the social part of things. Home now and going to bed. I am taking things one step at a time-I did read part of day one this morning when I was eating breakfast. I am reading my advantages today a lot too.

Til tomorrow...

Diet Coaches – A recent little success: A friend handed me a luscious looking Italian biscotti. Wasn't my snack time. So, I pocketed it and gave it to DW that evening. (She can eat a single item like that by simply adjusting her other food; for me, it's an invitation to eat more processed sugar food.) CREDIT moi.

Sue (CoastalSue) - Kudos that you "have returned to program and eating appropriately." And Kudos for giving yourself credit. Hope the bird boxes are coming along on plan also.

Heidi (hbuchwald) - Kudos for staying on your game plan, living in the moment, and taking things one step at a time. You seem to have chosen good strategies for your stressful situation. Continuing to send supportive thoughts.

wendy (wendylan) - Yep, one of your Diet Coaches reporting in. Kudos for such good preparation for you Memorial day camping weekend. Re my 2 quart (actually 7.6 cup) veggie container: I eat them cut up as finger food as part of my lunch - not all day. It helps me to feel safe to prepare a modest portion lunch entree; I have the tendency to want to pack super servings, which I then will just eat, since I'm not strong about leaving food.

Jean (kuhljeanie) - What a wonderful thought, "today's advantage: I'm lighter in spirit."

Barbara (barbpos) – Thanks for the encouragement about my blip. Your notion of working on Believe It by "It's possible that things will go smoothly" is helpful for me. Statements that are too positive don't ring true with me. Your thought tilts the world toward success. I can use that.

onebyone – Waving. Did you get to a green vegetable today? I think the notion of measuring "75%" on plan is more positive than saying what was eaten off plan.

Lori (elkfordian) - Ouch for yet another hospital visit. Kudos for your contagiously positive attitude toward it all. Good luck with your four meals a day on index cards. I do like the thought that you can chat with friends around the globe in seconds but still organize you life with 18th century index cards.

redballoon - Kudos for grinding down to count the calories - yes it's a pain, but for some of us, it contains major surprises. I like the way you expressed, "... but at times the words speak loudly, at other times inaudibly." I read my cards daily, without fail. Sometimes it's a blur; sometimes I feel them like a stab.


Readers – "I now know:

• eating a reasonable breakfast and lunch is important so I won’t overeat at night." From the Introduction, 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!

Hi coaches

I had a great day yesterday. we get a rental car and due to yesteday's holiday monday the car didn't go back until today so I mentioned to DH to figure out somewhere for us to go with the car on Monday. At 8:30am he was up showering (he's usually up at 1pm) and he came downstairs and asked if I was ready to go. Yep. Exhausted from the weekend but happy to go on a car ride, even in the cold pouring rain like it was yesterday morning. we drove for about an hour and got there: a studio tour through the Thousand Islands. I was amazed he chose that. what a sweetie. So we spent the whole day visiting the studios of 13 artists. Wow. You should have seen some of these places! A few were in big big barns. I loved those. Many were on the water. love that too. Many had gorgeous gardens. The most impressive artist to me was the Windsor chair maker. Wow. I was really impressed.

Foodwise I had breakfast at 8:30am then it got really late and it was about 2:30 and I had had nothing in between. We were out in the middle of nowhere on the tour and I was starting to feel woozy so I took a candy at a stop and a cookie at the next stop. I felt like I really needed to--9 on the hunger scale. Then we did the last three stops and went to lunch.. dinner was 4 hours later.
Nothing between lunch and dinner.

So, realistically, it looks like I need to eat 3 meals a day and a snack. More often than not that's the schedule I end up on. I didn't have a green vegetable yesterday. There is asparagus in the fridge and I will have that today. I work at the school today so my day will be "normal".

Better get things in order before I head off. Will definitely pop in with personals later today... have a good day you great coaches you!

I'm sorry if this topic has been covered already, I haven't read through the past TBDS threads yet...

I read TBDS a few days ago. I don't have a huge problem losing weight when I try, and I am successfully losing now, but I decided to up my odds of keeping it off this time. I have been recording the foods I eat, but Sunday night, I planned my next day's meals for the first time (overcoming a lot of internal resistance on my part -- this was the biggest change I would have to make to follow the advice in TBDS).

On the one hand, I was able to resist several exceptional food temptations that crossed my path yesterday (Monday). [yay me!!! ]

On the other hand, at the end of the day, when I had eaten my last planned food item, I almost panicked because even though I wasn't hungry I knew I couldn't eat anything else on plan. Not even spinach or lettuce! Is it OK to add a line on the plan that says something like "raw or steamed low cal veggies as desired"?

So I went ahead and planned today's (Tuesday's) meals. I had planned to eat oatmeal for breakfast, but when I woke up I found out that I *really* wanted cold cereal and I *didn't* want oatmeal. I considered toughing it out and choking down that oatmeal (which I often love to eat). But in the end I replaced the oatmeal with the All Bran.

I just don't think that eating All Bran instead of oatmeal is the same kind of unplanned eating as taking one of the homemade brownies someone brought to work. I have several "standard" breakfasts, all healthy and about the same number of calories. Exactly which one I feel like eating can vary dramatically from day to day (with the bulk of calories coming from yogurt or cottage cheese or oatmeal or All Bran or eggbeaters...)

This is why I had such a huge problem signing up to plan out my menus in the first place. In the book, Beck gives an example of someone who drew up a number of meal options ahead of time, but part of the planning process was choosing *which one* she would eat the following day.

I would much rather choose which of those breakfasts I am going to eat at breakfast time. But maybe the thinking is that once I allow any flexibility or deviation, it will be easier to rationalize other sorts of unplanned eating to oneself.

Does anyone have an opinion on this?

Sorry about your hospital stay, but sounds like working with dietitian is the silver lining. Kudos to you for persisting with healthy eating in the face of your health challenges. Your posts are always uplifting.

hello dear coaches,

not much time again (just me and el nino tonight, and he's pitching a FIT - need to get him to bed) but i wanted to tell redballoon way to go!!! - and that you have all the tools you need right there to make your life exactly the way you want it. it may not feel like it at this moment, but the second you realize you can have exactly what you want, you'll start to get it. just like pain is your body's way of telling you to stop doing something, the psychic pain you're feeling is your life's way of telling you something's not right. you're already on the right track. if it's your mind that's preventing you from finding a solution, then all you have to do is change your mind about what's possible and you're 75% there.

still having something of a challenge with eating slowly. i'll get there eventually. will just keep working it as i move to the next task. on a serendipitous happy note, i sold my first cake for actual cash money. just a little undecorated quarter sheet cake, but it's a real paying customer, so in the great words of borat, big win! i also started working with a new project group this week, and one of the guys goes to the company gym every single friggin' day. used to be a trainer, and told me that he misses training and he'd be happy to work with me. for FREE, people. any day or every day. this is fabulous. some days feel more charmed than others!

today's advantage: no more chafing from my thighs rubbing together. that'll make shorts season so much more pleasant...

cheers!

Evening coaches.

I am almost done eating for the day. I have an optional mango if I decide I am hungry and need it. Chances are, I won't. My day went by so fast. Did chores, went into the school and worked a few hours, saw a movie, and now I'm home and full from supper. AND I found my Beck Book!
I just looked over and there it was. Go figure. I moved it when I was trying to clean up whenever that was and I just saw it in a basket of stuff "to put away" that hasn't been put away yet... with all the other baskets, boxes, and bags, waiting to be put away.
I'm a lousy housekeeper. By far my worst trait. Decorating would be right up there with it. I can't visualize 3D believe it or not! Just cause I can make things doesn't mean I have an eye for other things... nosireebob.

My food was three meals a day and one snack. My choices were so so--- 60% I'd say. Still better than half! 100% with the no sugar though and that counts for a lot. Even a kudos I'd venture to say. And I did have a green thing, a salad again but the dressing was too fatty and the meal itself way way too salty after a salty popcorn at the movies snack. Otherwise a-ok. Room for improvement.

I am going to implement a European tradition: walking after dinner. When I grew up it was common to take a little walk after dinner. I can do that. My Ultrametabolism book really recommends this too as a means to bring blood sugar down and get the metabolism moving again after eating dinner. It'd be relaxing as well. Think I'll get DH in on this as well if I can

elkfordian How are you feeling today? It must be scary to go through what you are going through but you don't have much choice in your circumstances, only in how your deal with it and I'd say you are amazing.
beck is all about changing our thinking and looking at food from a different point of view and you so incredibly demonstarte this wiht how you deal with your cancer and its treatment. Apply all those skills to food and diet and you will not be stopped! Big hugs to you today. You make me

kuhljeanie congrats on being rewarded for your work the way our culture does that: with cash money And the trainer wow you are on a roll! Awesome. Makes me want to pat your head for good luck! Where's the happy face thingy for that?

redballoon I'm glad to read you're taking care of yourself. That's good. i was also glad to read that there are others where you work that feel the way you do. Maybe you can blow some steam off together? You may find out that others are coping just like you are with drinking too much, (are they your drinking buddies?) or finding it hard to be happy and healthy. That in itself could relieve your stress. Congrats on getting to the gym and setting yourself a small goal and for feeling like you can do it. Which of course you can.

yoyoma your question about whether you can change your meal on the fly is always a hard one for everyone. we all want what we want whenever we want it. It is this kind of thinking that gets us into trouble if it is done unconsciously. If your food plan is: for breakfast I will have one of 5 breakfasts as is written on this card(or whatever) then that's okay. You committed to it, you've planned for it, you aren't fooling yourself. If you find yourself always changing it I'd have to wonder why and what you are fighting against but it doesn't sound like that. Make a plan that suits you and how you operate and stick to it. As for this Beck is not concerned about what you are eating. It's not about the food. It's about how we deal with food, how we think and behave around it. We are to learn how to cope with our feelings without using food to quiet our emotions. You description reminds me of Beck Day 12 Prove You can Tolerate Hunger and Cravings ... "hunger is... never an emergency" Check this chapter out. It may help you feel calmer when your day ends and there is no more food on your plan instead of planning to have food when you aren't really hungry. BTW nice to meet you! Welcome!

BillBlueEyes Biscotti's are my all time favorite thing. I'd have to pass mine along too... may one never cross my path! on that! Excellent that you managed to pass it on.

hbuchwald Congratualtions on your successes of the day! Hang in there... Good for you for not giving in; eating treats will not make change things for the better. Your family needs you to be present through this tough week, not numbed out or distracted thinking about food. I wish you strength, happiness and peace.

wendylan You sound like you're making a good solid plan for your weekend. That's really great. It'll help a lot. And yeah, you will get lots of activity in too so if you do eat a bit more here and there, you can alos do a bit more. Beck's chapter on dealing with travel is good. i think she says to plan for extra calories Day 32: Take it on the Road is the chapter. She wrote: Try to read this chapter before you go. It's helpful.

coastalsue Hope you got some swims in and hope your birdhouses are coming along... lots of work to get ready for a show... but exciting too! wishing you not too many late nights taking care of the infinite details!

Just an update: DH and I went for a European apres dinner stroll... 10 maybe 15 minutes of pleasurable strolling for digestion and relaxation. Kudos moi!

Hi guys,

Again things are a bit hectic -good new had a great 50 minutes swim, good news still doing the beck exercises-ate 1550 cals yesterday-bad news still gaining weight-today was up another 2 lbs so now 305-been doing stuff right so body is holding on to something-hopefully water.
This will interesting to see how we do with our birdhouses-have sent off to do other 5 other fairs-gets a bit expensive sending off those fees-But we are hopeful.
A big wave to everyone-we need to run errand this evening -hope to make more posting later this week

sue

yoyoma

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

And, in case you didn't get one of these when you joined 3 months ago,

Curious to know, how did you find us?

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

Diet Coaches – Hopefully today is the last day of being super stressed at work for this sequence. I attended a fitness fair at work yesterday, mostly for the free blood pressure and blood tests. My numbers are healthy. Yeah!!! I also like the dietitian's demo of the amount of salt in soup and processed foods - sobering!!!!

Sue (CoastalSue) - Kudos on your swim. Good luck recouping all the fees.

Heidi (hbuchwald) - Waving. Sending supportive thoughts.

Jean (kuhljeanie) - Congrats on the first cake sale!!! I have no doubt that you are capable of taking this forward until I see Jeanie's Capitalist's Wedding Cakes advertised in the Wall Street Journal. Can't wait to hear about your training sessions.

onebyone – Neat that you're defining your eating plan. May your future have a BIG BIG barn for your studio!!!!

redballoon - Like your perspective, "These are tools, but I gotta dig with 'em!" Kudos for the healthy eating and gym.

northwest - Hope things are going well.

yoyoma - Kudos that you were "able to resist several exceptional food temptations." My take is that choosing between several fixed menus is right-on Beck; she suggests something like that toward the end of the book in the Beck-for-the-rest-of-your-life chapters. That's what I do for breakfast - I have three regulars that I choose from in the morning. For me, there is a feeling when I am flirting with my old grazing mode. I believe that that feeling is my gateway to the slippery slope. I had that feeling last weekend when I went seriously grazing at the reception that I wrote about. But it can come from tiny things; I was getting it when I added some raisins to my bowl of granola until I committed to exactly 12 raisins. Now, I don't get that feeling - even though I still don't count the raisins - because I'm serving myself from my plan.

Readers – "I now know:

• If I don’t follow a nutritious diet, I’m more likely to cheat." From the Introduction, 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!

Good Morning Coaches

Lots ahead of me to do this fine Wednesday, but needed to check in here before I get going. I just opened the Beck Book (credit moi)and came to day 4 build your confidence.
I need to work this one for sure... Before I re-read the chapter I took this to mean "You have to build your confidence that you are losing weight and that you can do this and you can pass that 250 mark, you can do it" and then I read it and it was all about giving yourself credit. What I need to read is the Believe It chapter... but perhaps Believe It starts here at Day 4. With the kudos and the congrats for the little things. The little moments we catch ourselves being on plan, or behaving in ways we didn't before, that are truly good for us, eventually get us thinking that we can tackle the major diet change, or weight hurdle. I truly believe in small successes spurring us forward to bigger things. So for day 4 I will credit myself for seeing the connection between the small and the big(credit moi) and I will believe that I will get under 250 and stay there, working the 240's problem next. And today I will eat 3 meals a day and one snack and one green vegetable with limited salt and no sugar, plus an after dinner stroll for digestion and relaxation purposes. (credit moi) for having a plan and (credit moi) for making time to come here and post and visit with my diet coaches.

BillBlueEyes Oh Big Big kudos for having good healthy numbers! How great to know you are doing well physically and you must have had the added pleasure that this was free... (I know you do appreciate "free"!) How did she demonstrate the salt? How much of it is salt?? I know it's "lots" but what does that mean? Thanks for the barn wishes... I'll ammend that wish to having water on the property in some form and I don't mean a puddle! haha! Maybe we can manifest that for me sooner rather than later? Thanks.

coastalsue Glad to hear you got a swim in. As for show fees paid in advance... when we traveled to Las Vegas last year for a trade show I already knew that I was a bigger gambler than many of them in that city. You pays your money and yous takes your chances... I've had lots of things affect sales: weather too bad (snow, ice, rain storms), weather too good (people want to be outside strolling casually just enjoying the day), elections (people are grumpy), civil unrest during a G8 conference in town (police blocked all roads into and out of the city coincidentally right to where we were all set up and selling at our show), these are what come to mind immediately and NONE of them were under my control and the fees for these shows were long gone. You really must be an optimist by nature to keep doing this for years as I have or just love doing it more than anything else for whatever reason. I am both. May you enjoy the ride!

Bye for now... enjoy your day

9pm--Just wanted to update: I ate slightly offplan today. Slightly because I didn't write it down so was uncommitted to the amounts but I stretched out my breakfast to add mango that I said I may or may not eat... okay. Then I ate much too much for my dinner, but again I am focused on the barebones of my plan and not the amounts at my meal yet. So if that's the criteria I am on plan but I can't give that to myself as I ate much more than I needed at dinner.
I know it in my gut. And what happened? I got a call that one of my astronaut paintings is going to be sold and I should call the person who wants it. I did and she was really and I mean really really excited and she can't pay for it all at once and can I take some cash and a bunch of post dated cheques and she'll get it when it's paid and and and... yikes. man. I agreed as the art has to stay up until the end of June anyway so it's not going anywhere for a while and I can tell she really does want it and that's very important to me but it freaked me out. And I ate over it...over my emotions and everything. I really need this Beck stuff. I can barely cope wihtout the company of food even with the good stuff. oh and credit moi for a pre-dinner walk. have a good night.

Diet Coaches – Made it through my stressful period at work - by the remarkable technique of just doing the work and delivering it by the deadline. CREDIT moi. Today's goal is to get back to my lunch time walks, which had lost out to the work crunch.

onebyone – CONGRATS on the sale of one of your astronaut paintings. Great news. Do you put a discrete [sold] sign on it while it hangs in the window? Or, just to put a little suggestion that you'd better buy early as they're going fast like the condos for sale signs: [Only 3 left], LOL.

Kudos for your pre-dinner walk and, since it's the topic you're working, BIG Kudos for giving yourself credit for it. Your eating adjustments sound realistic - get the food in place then work the portions. One step at a time.

Re the salt demo: She put 1.0 teaspoons of salt in a baggie - the suggested daily maximum of 2400 mg sodium. (The Center for Science in the Public Interest suggests 1500 mg maximum.) Over a can of soup, she had a baggie with 0.5 teaspoons of salt. Over a "Healthy" frozen dinner box, she had a baggie with 0.4 teaspoons of salt. It wasn't visually striking. The visually striking display was teaspoons of sugar in the empty soda bottles: 14 teaspoons in Coke, slightly less in other drinks.


Readers – "I now know:

• I have to make time for dieting and exercise." From the Introduction, 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!