Hi everyone! Thanks for the congratulations! I'm still feeling really great about being below 200.

I had a strange day yesterday. Buying a car on Saturday means that you really buy the car on Monday. So we had all kinds of errands and paperwork and stuff to take care of. I think I did okay on food, but it was later and saltier than usual, so I didn't weigh myself this morning.

new2me2: glad you were able to enjoy your pie and work it into your plan.

maryblu: yay that the Green Monster is working for you! So far, we're eating basil on practically everything right now!

BillBlueEyes: LOL that it took less time to deal with the problem chocolate than it did to write about it! And yay for all the Credits!

Lexxiss: sending healing thoughts to your mom. For all that it's not routine, you sound really on top of the situation. Good job!

onebyone: sorry your feeling down. Good job recognizing that doing a little something was likely to help. Hope it did!

AnneWonders: ouch for the doozified emotions, but glad your trip was otherwise successful and that you've safely returned home.

Coaches/Buddies, I made a good choice today, in choosing to plan my food today even though I usually work chronologically and try to catch up my food diary before thinking about today’s food. It really helped, so in the future, when I get behind I have a new strategy for dealing with it. In the end, I just realized, this will totally save me time, because I am entering in everything into the same program, it is just whether I am writing it down before or after I start the day. DUH!

I’m still a little discouraged that dieting takes up so much time. I feel guilty when I’m reading comments/posting/planning menus, etc. that I should be working instead. I just need to keep telling myself it will go faster when things are more of a habit and that this is really important for me to be able to do the rest of life.

Today’s Essentials:
Weigh-in: no change
Read Advantage Cards two times: yes
Read Response Cards at least two times: yes
Ate slowly, sitting down, noticing every bite: yes
Gave myself credit when I engaged in helpful eating behaviors: yes
Did spontaneous exercise: yes
Did planned exercise: yes
Wrote out food plan for tomorrow: yes
Tracked today’s food: yes

BeverlyJoy, the wedding desserts sound amazing. Could you post pictures by any chance?

BillBlueEyes, loved your comment about taking action being faster than complaining about the problem.

GardenerJoy, your new car sounds slick! I am so excited for you about being under 200. That is fantastic!!!!!!!

Lexxiss, yikes about your mom! I’ll be sending healing thoughts your way.

new2me2, hope the lunch preparing went well. Do you cook in advance for the whole week of lunches?

Seadwaters, have a good trip. How much money have you earned so far and do you have a goal for your trip?

Shepherdess, waving hello to you!

Hi Beck folks - yesterday went well all day. I even doused DH's potato chips with dishsoap. But, I couldn’t sleep last night. I was fretting over seeing the orthopedic foot/ankle surgeon yesterday. I did eat extra during the night. However, I am doing OK today.

Saw the surgeon:
We talked about what's what.

- Outpatient surgery.

- About 6-12 weeks non weight bearing (depends on how it's healing) - several new casts along the way.

- Eight weeks or so of PT to learn to walk again. (his words)

- He said it will be three months before I even think any of this was worth it.

- Nine months, I'll be getting around with minimal pain.

- Twelve months for full recovery. He said - that is waking up and not even thinking about my foot impacting the day.

80% success rate (average nationwide) - I found this number three places on the internet.
I am freaking out. I don't know how this will work out. Lots of drugs at first. I have a hard time with drugs. But - I guess we will work it out.

Foodwise - I won't be able to weigh myself for many months. I guess I'll have to be doing all this on faith or something. I'll ask the surgeon what would be a recommended number of calories to eat during the beginning of the recovery. I am feeling kind of overwhelmed.


Futurefitchick - credit for figuring out a new strategy for your food plan. I don’t have a picture of the fruit mosaic. I’ll see if the couple posts it somewhere.

gardener joy… hip hip hooray!!!!! So happy that you’ve gotten into the land of ONE!! It’s an awesome accomplishment.

Onebyone - hope the decluttering is going well.

Debbie - so so sorry to hear of your mom’s fall! Hope she’s fine. Huge credit for the food being ok. Take care now.

Billbe - yes, indeed. Please remind yourself of how consistently well you have been living with food. You are ‘living Beck’ - this is HUGE. Staying away from dark chocolate cranberries - credit. For me it might take a miracle.

Maryblu - WONDERFUL for the weight loss! Your new rules are good and the green monster habit sounds so positive. Carry on.

New2me2 - so good to find the way to enjoy the pie with no guilt!! I love your spontaneous Exercise!

Yes, I actually cook everything I think I'll need on Sundays when I'm home, then just divide up into individual portion sizes and freeze. That way each night I take what I'll need for the next day's lunch. Portion control is already taken care of. It works out well for me because I have more time on Sunday and I'm NOT tired, lol. When I'm tired I generally do things I shouldn't. And, by-the-way, I make easy stuff...no long drawn out cooking marathons for me! I put two packages of skinless boneless chicken thighs in a pot and boil them, lol.

DH and I have just been through some of the worst days of our lives. Our beloved Australian Shepherd, Maggie, died tragically on Thursday. She was only 2 ½ years old and beautiful, loving and loyal dog. She was just starting to really come along as a sheep dog, showing these flashes of brilliance while working sheep. DH gathered the sheep on Friday and we had docking on Saturday. We were both looking forward to watching Maggie work, but we lost her on Thursday. Docking was good because it kept us busy. We always invite a lot of people out and turn it into a party, but it was pretty lonely without Maggie.

One of my first thoughts after Maggie died is that I never want to run again. Running was a necessity with such a high-energy dog and she loved it. I couldn’t even think about training for a marathon. It’s a silly thought because my Springer Spaniel, Jen, was my first running partner and she still loves to run. Yesterday morning we got up early and did our long run. I wasn’t sure I could do it and even Jen was depressed. Usually my girls are jumping all over while I put on my running clothes and lace up my shoes, but Jen just lay on the floor and watched me. It probably didn’t help that I was crying while I was getting ready. But I went out and ran through my tears. I ran past Maggie’s final resting place and by the footprints she’d left on our last run together. The day before she died she and I had gone out for a run. I’d had to leave Jen at home because she’d had a sore paw. There was a puddle on the side of the road that she had run through. It’s dried now and her paw prints are dried into the dirt. Jen and I got another run in this AM. It’s still pretty sad, but not nearly as many tears.

I haven’t been practicing any Beck skills since we lost her. I haven’t been overeating; in fact I have to remind myself to eat at all. DH and I have been making an effort to have our usual dinners, even though we’re doing our best to hold back tears. It may seem silly for us to take all this so hard. Even though DH and I have lost beloved pets before, Jen and Maggie are our first dogs together. We picked these dogs out together, took responsibility for them. And as you’ve probably gathered from my earlier posts, our dogs are with us almost constantly. We always felt fortunate to have the kind of lives where our dogs could come work with us, but now everywhere we look we see things that remind us of how much we miss Maggie. As I was telling a friend, I don’t love Maggie more than my grandmother, but I don’t burst into tears while I’m making coffee because Grandma isn’t lying on the floor looking up at me.

I’m trying to get back into the swing of things. I finally weighed myself again and am 4 lbs lighter than the day before Maggie died. I think it’s all tears. I don’t mean to be so depressing. Things are getting better. I made an effort yesterday to eat 3 balanced meals and I slept better the last 2 nights than I have since we lost Maggie. I’m an early riser, but yesterday AM, I didn’t have any particular reason to be up early. So I invited Jen into bed with us and the three of us dozed and cuddled for a while. It was bittersweet. The crowded bed felt a little lonely, but it’s wonderful to have the love of a great husband and a great dog. Last night we had some wine with friends so we wouldn’t mope around the house anymore. It was good to think about something else for a while.

FutureFitChick, hugs while you’re still grieving for your father. Grief over a dog can’t be nearly as difficult as grief for a parent, so if I’m having trouble with hanging in there I can’t even imagine what you are going through. Your strength is impressive.

Maryblu, I’m so glad that your friend is recovering from her injuries after the Tornado. Those were some nasty systems you had. I hope your friend is back on her feet soon (and you too!).

Gardenerjoy, belated congrats on reaching Onederland!

Onebyone, hugs while your feeling down.

Beverlyjoy, I know contemplating this surgery is scary and tough. My thoughts are with you during this rough patch. Best of luck.

Thank you, everyone else for being here and thanks for the waves! Reading your posts helps me get out of my own head. I hope to get back to doing personals soon.

Not sure anyone will be on soon to respond, but I have a question.

After work today my plans got derailed and I am way too exhausted to cook what I wrote on my plan. Am I supposed to substitute something else, because that would not be following my original plan (original plan called for marinating fish and cooking beans, and I don't think I'll still be awake in the 90 minutes it would take to cook that). Just skip the meal? Eat the parts I'm able to make at this point? (I've only worked through day 14 in the pink book.) Any advice would be much appreciated as to how to handle the reality of not feeling able to do what I planned. This happens a lot. (Especially when I've defrosted fish, it seems!) I'm left feeling like a failure because I can't 1) create a realistic plan 2) keep my word, even to myself and 3) feel like I'll ever be able to make any kind of progress on this or the other things I'm trying to do in life.)

P.S. Shepherdess, I just read your last post, which brought me to tears for you. I am so sorry for your loss of Maggie. My plans got derailed tonight because I was working late and then went to my husband's softball game. I left that early because I was on the verge of a major crying session, which began in the car, based on life, family, and career struggles. I didn't have my best dog-pal to comfort me when I got home (our other dog doesn't seem to understand when I'm sad like my Malamute did). I am so sorry that you are experiencing this too. Maggie really was blessed to have such a wonderful family to be around all day everyday and a great work apprenticeship while she was here. I can't tell you how much I wish your pain would go away. But, now that I type that, it may mean that we've both experienced amazing joy with our beloved furry friends in order to now feel that deep, deep sense of loss.

Hugs to FutureFitChick and Shepherdess.

FutureFitChick, I think the Beckian thing to do is to eat what you need to. Then, to work out why you weren't able to stay on plan and what you can do to change things in the future.

I'm not sure if this is quite Beckian, but could you have a standard emergency meal that you turn to? Swap out the planned meal for a pre-selected backup plan. That's basically what I do when DH wants to go out to lunch, which is always decided with all of about 5 minutes warning. I have a pre-selected plan for each of our favorite restaurants and I swap that in. It keeps me still in control, but with some flexiblity.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Dinner included fresh picked kale from our garden. DW cooked up a huge pot - when this stuff starts coming in, it's available in huge chunks. It was so yummy, in fact, that DW strictly limited the volume of the leftovers that I can take for lunches since she wants to serve it again for another dinner. CREDIT moi for eating so well when the garden is flourishing.

Walking (CREDIT moi) is such a pleasure when the weather is just right. Kids were playing in the water fountain at the park. Young adults were playing team Frisbee. I watered our patch at the public garden; small green tomatoes are now visible.


maryblu - LOL at your raspberry chomping dawgs ... I saw that coming, with glee, as I read your sentence. Congrats on the "stoopid #" - I agree that it's not the thing most important to focus on, yet it catches me also. And yes, Yea for abundant basil for pesto.

FutureFitChick - Kudos for figuring out a way to save yourself some time recording/planning your meals. Yep, it does take a bunch of time; I, too, wish it were less and hope that I don't use that as my excuse to fall off the trail.

Big Ouch for the angst of your dilemma with having to change your meal plan. My take is that gardenerjoy's response is spot on - it's pretty common to have to make changes, you just need to add some standard thoughts to your plan for handing the days that life intervenes. I have a list of backup meals on my plan and a list of behaviors for banquets, restaurants, and potlucks where I don't know what food will be available. It's universally unavoidable to have to change plans when you live on a planet with other people.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yay for finding a way to eat on plan while chasing down your car purchase. Yep, if it isn't from your own kitchen, it'll have more salt than you need.

Shepherdess - My heart goes out to you and your DH for the loss of Maggie. You've written about her with such joy. Clearly she's been a loving companion as well as a productive partner with the sheep. Kudos for working through your grief without using trying to use food as an anesthetic. I do hope you can continue your running, including the marathon, since it's such a part of you now.

Beverlyjoy - Ouch for the realities of your upcoming surgery, with Huge Kudos for facing it head on. Looks like it'll be a rough spell there for you with the upside that in only a year it won't be what you think about in the morning. Sending supportive thoughts as you think through the realities of that year.

Debbie (Lexxiss) - Waving - hope things are going OK with your mother.

Donna (new2me2) - Yay for guilt free blueberry pie that arrives like manna from heaven. With Kudos for the planning in advance that allowed that. LOL at the thought of you walking up and down the stairs while brushing your teeth.

Readers -

Hi Beck coaches/buddies...

Yesterday was right on plan all day (credit) until right before bedtime. Hmmm - I need to really be willing to use my response cards. I did weight myself today...I am up 2 pounds to 204. Phooey. I know it is for many reasons. Of course, the first is eating too much. I have been 'medicating' with food.... jaw popping out (pain and soft foods, still), thoughts of the surgery, and also - weekend away from home. I feel like I am at a crossroads. I can go down the food path (again) or I can work even harder to go down the food sanity path. I know that I must forgive myself and carry on. Dr. Beck always says to not say "I've been bad." I like that...but, rather "I have had some unhelpful behaviors with food." So, I will plan today for a healthy food day.

I'll be back soon for personals.!

I had a new experience yesterday -- making refrigerator pickles. It will be four days before they're ready. Our CSA is having trouble filling the box since the cool weather crops bolted and the hot ones aren't quite ready to harvest yet. So, they gave us a bag of pickling cucumbers and a recipe. I felt very domestic. And, of course, they will be a fat free snack with much lower sodium than a commercial pickle -- so credit there!

WI: -0.1kg (new low), Exercise: +60 1565/1600 minutes for June, Food: 90%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Beverlyjoy: yay for planning your way to food sanity! It really seems to come down to persistence. Consistency is good, but persistence is even better. And, boy, do you have a lot of things to persist through at the moment. That discussion with a surgeon would be darned scary for anyone. Kudos to you for already thinking about how to work in the sane eating with it.

BillBlueEyes: love the sound of your fresh kale and your pleasant walking weather

More hugs to FutureFitChick and Shepherdess. Sending warm energies to each of you.

new2me2: good job working out how to do most of your cooking on the day you have the time to do it.

Hello to Lexxiss, maryblu, onebyone, and AnneWonders!

Coaches/Buddies, I’m in a much better space in my head today, thank goodness! I read Day 15 yesterday, about tracking food, which I already do. It was nice to have a “freebie”.

Thanks for all of the advice. I am not sure why I felt like I was in such a crisis yesterday. I ended up making rice pilaf and hummus for dinner, which fit in with my calorie goal for the day.

I am going to plan today my dinner for tomorrow night at an Irish pub for my husband’s birthday.

Today’s Essentials:
Weigh-in: -2.5 lbs.
Read Advantage Cards two times: yes
Read Response Cards at least two times: yes
Ate slowly, sitting down, noticing every bite: yes, I was really good at this yesterday
Gave myself credit when I engaged in helpful eating behaviors: no
Did spontaneous exercise: yes
Did planned exercise: yes
Wrote out food plan for tomorrow: yes
Tracked today’s food: yes

BeverlyJoy, sending you more positive thoughts for you about your surgery. You can instead use clothing fit or waist measurements/body measurements to track your progress if you won’t be able to weigh yourself during the first several months. Maybe when you get stressed about your surgery and suddenly feel like you need to eat you could counter that by reminding yourself it will be easier for you when you are recuperating without extra weight. Hugs to you! You are so close to Onederland I want to squeal!

BillBlueEyes, congratulations on the kale. Do you start from seed? Thanks for the reality check that this is going to take time everyday for the rest of my life. Hearing it from a maintainer somehow helps. Thanks again for the time you put into the forums.

GardenerJoy, I had to laugh at your husband’s 5 minute notice for lunch. I totally understand that experience. I will commit to you to find a healthy “regular” meal to eat at each restaurant that we frequent – Irish pub on Friday. I will also refer to the list I’ve already made of “emergency” meals. Thanks for the advice, super successful looser that’s in Onderland!! I’m interested in learning more about your pickles.

new2me2, thanks for the info about cooking ahead. Does eating the same lunch everyday get dull for you? (Please don’t take that as any sort of criticism. I am inquiring because it obviously works for you and I just want to know more.)

Shepherdess, more hugs to you this morning!

Hi coaches and friends!

Eating yesterday was on plan, and my spontaneous exercise was the same as the day before...walking up and down the stairs while brushing my teeth. My "exercise" was 1 hour of Walk It Out.

This morning I dropped in weight a bit too so now I'm down 12.4 pounds since May 1. This is my new lowest weight since December of 2008!

Beverlyjoy Great job on the dishsoap! You have a lot to think about with your surgery! Ouch for weight gain...medicating with food is so easy, but definitely NOT a solution as we have all found out, but major CREDIT for taking a different path!

Shepherdess I'm SOOOO sorry to hear about Maggie! They are members of our families too! When I had to put mine down I locked myself in my house for 3 days.

BillBlueEyes Yay for taking advantage of the garden harvest!

gardenerjoy Wow, I am in awe of homemade pickles, lol. I have fleeting pieces of memory of my aunt making them when I was young (but that was a very long time ago, lol).

FutureFitChick Glad the crisis has passed! Hum, re eating the same thing everyday thing...no, it really doesn't get dull--at least not very often. Ocassionally I switch things up, but then will eat THAT for months, lol. It's easier for me and much less thought about what, how, etc. Sometimes all I need to do is make a small switch and that makes everything new again.

Good Morning Coaches

I didn't get here yesterday. Today I don't know why that happened. Oh well.

I didn't get any deluttering minutes done yesterday so I will double up for today. I'd like to meet my 180min for the month goal. And since today is the last day of the month, looks like I am freeing up a few spaces! Yay!

It is very satisfying to see the top of my fridge clutter-free. I even have extra space with a set of empty cupboards in an almost unreachable, therefore unusable, space against the wall above the fridge. What would you really store there I wonder? Anything you out there cannot be retrieved very easily therefore would not be used very often so...do you really need it? This is uber-practical thinking re:household possessions. Very unlike me but an interesting chain of thought nonetheless.

Foodwise I am eating light credit and not eating sugary things credit and having breakfast credit and eating sitting down credit and not having seconds credit . I didn't weigh in yesterday or today so tomorrow will have to do.

FutureFitChick Glad you're feeling better/calmer with your food. Sometimes we don't know what to do cause we haven't really done things in this way before; your dilemma made it really clear why Dr. Beck had us enlist coaches for our journey. On this list, there is always someone to help. credits to us all.

gardenerjoy First YAY! on reaching onederland.
Second: loved your advice to FutureFitChick about your rotating list of restaurant meals. I've read this before but have never felt willing to do this for myself. It just makes so much sense. My trouble comes in that I ALWAYS want what DH gets. Never fails. The grass is always greener it seems. I need to change that. once more on your success. it's so great...

Beverlyjoy I freaked out about getting a higher dose of bp meds. I can certainly relate to feeling overwhelmed due to surgery with a long recovery time BUT you will recover and it will be better than it is now since you would not do this if you had a choice right? This saying popped into my head the only way out is through. You have the tools to manage this and we're all here for you. I hope you can feel that.

BillBlueEyes I looked at the kale in the produce store this week wondering if it would be okay in a green monster shake. I opted for the spinach but have not made the shake yet. I have to freeze my bananas first! (how often do you get to procrastinate for that reason?! I am treasuring that one) It warmed my heart thinking of you walking to your community garden. Thanks.

Shepherdess So very sorry to hear of the passing of your dog. I know how depressing this can be as it's still just a couple of months since Kitty X left us. I was glad to read you did decide to run. You and your dog need that movement. You don't just emotionally work through pain but you need to physically move it out of the body; it gets all into the bones and the muscles and nerves and just covers us this pain sometimes. The depth of your grief does show me what a large part of your life your dog occupied. So sorry she's gone.

new2me2 Great example of how to plan for a treat and enjoy it! CREDIT Looks like the ww program is working for you which is great. I'm planning on making some soups this weekend to freeze for meals next week. Thanks for the reminder to do this.

maryblu I am going to find a way to drink green monsters if it's the last thing I do! I bought a juicer ages ago for the same reason: to get veggies into my life. Tomorrow I shall have one. Today I create space on the counter for my blender, but I need to find my blender first.

Lexxiss I read with a sense of horror your description of your mother's fall. I hope things are going okay with her healing. I also hope you got to water aerobics and I'm wishing you a good, uneventful, on plan day

AnneWonders I hope you get time to cruise through the beautiful desert landscape on your two-wheeler today!

Please join us as this discussion continues on

Beck Diet For Life/Solution – July 2010 – Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach

You can find the list of previous (or more current) monthly Beck threads here on 3 Fat Chicks via:
List of Monthly Beck Threads for Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach

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