Hi. My DH is on a poker site and they arranged a secret santa this year and I was all jealous and he told me not to be jealous but to do something about it.

So I am wondering, anyone interested in a Valentine's Day secret admirer card exchange? In grade school we used to give and receive valentines, and some people even got secret admirer valentines and wouldn't it just make us feel good to get a valentine card in our mailbox with a "you're doing great!" or some such happy message of encouragement on it? We don't have to reveal ourselves if we don't want to. But it'd be good if we acknowledged receipt here. They did that on the poker site and I found my DH checking to see if his secret santa recipient got the package.

I'd be willing to organize it if anyone wants to do this. Send me a private message with your mailing address and I'll start arranging it once we have enough folks interested.

I think it'd be fun to get a secret admirer card.

Let me know by PM. Thanks.

One on One great job on managing your environment. You are such an encouragement with your sharing. I have my own secret stashes that I tell my kids to eat or I put in the freezer.....Half the time I forget with my own memory coming and going. Thanks for the invitation to join in on the valentine sharing. I am going to have to pass as my staff at school is doing it and I will be out of town during Feb. 11-16th.

Robin Great job with your pampered chef party. Good job in not opening the wine when there were no takers....good thinking and actions. Wishing you great creative inspiration for your posters and preparation for your event.

JenWhat a nice surprise to have your scale show a smaller number. Your sharing helps me to check my lists and stay on track. Glad you are here and share.

Davidette Wishing your baaaddd inner mutha strength and moxy....Great job with your exercising. Did you work up to taking a spin class or start as a newbie. I am putting my Nordic Bike together tonight. I love to ride and can't wait to be able to exercise first thing in the morning
before I have to be a school. You are right about Music. I love to get lost in the exercise process rocking out to some good tunes. What are some of your favorites that you like to listen to during a workout?

Starting a my next post as I lost a long one yesterday before i got it posted.

Jeane




Chinamaine Great job on adjusting your expectations and giving yourself credit. You are moving in the right direction!!

Anne I believe that you are on the brink of a breakthru....You remind me of days past with my own little ones...so cute and yet understand the need for a good night of sleep. Sending orajel your way for your DS.


lisamarie Good job on resisting the food that isn't on plan. My favorite thing to say isthat isn't about me anymore....(What helps is thinking that I don't want to be the size (lower half of my body)that I am anymore. I am somewhat embarrassed at times and know that I can change that...

If I missed anyone I am sorry didn't mean to trying to manuver this posting thing. Wish I could save names like when I text to make sharing easier.

JeanneYour food sounds soooooo delish. What a creative expression of caring for your body and not skimping on taste. Good job in being assertive in asking for the discount for your treadmill. You deserve it

Bill

To answer your question on decluttering tips I have a few that may or maynot be helpful. I sat down a few weeks before I started Beck's for the first time and did a index card series for decluttering. Little did I know these were going to be the same movements in the Beck Plan.

4 parts

Discarding
Organzing
Preventing Incoming Clutter
New Alternative Behavior plan

I realized that I didn't know how to attach value to an item so when things would come into my house, I would keep it and let it stack up until I would carry it down to my office. 75% of my house is orderly and the left overs go to my office.

Anyhow, I started clearing space in every room. If there were things that were in the room and didn't have an intended purpose I either put it in the goodwill box or trash. Just went from room to room (Garage included)

[B]Here was my big aha moment. If I decided to keep something I wrote on my index card I had to decide where it would go and how would it be organized. ok that is fine but i had to have a date/timeframe for when it would be put in it's place. It made me realize that stuff I was keeping really wasn't worth that much. Having a timeframe to deal with it, putting it in small increments. and deciding that I would go little by little helped me. [B]

I tend to get very overwhelmed when I have to let things go. The next day I wrote out what I did, sipped on a cup of coffee and gave myself credit for accomplishing the clutter piles. I keep these cards together and re-read them before I start a project to encourage the next box...room ect...

Hope any part of this is helpful to you or any other beckies.

have a good night all these posts are from me Rachel

hi my coaches,

having a rough one today. we're snowed in, but were able to get el nino to daycare, since it's 3 miles away and it's a home-type thing so she doesn't close due to weather. DH left for work, and there i was, all alone, free to do whatever i wanted, feeling anxious and depressed about work/winter/finances/etc./yada/yada. the good news is that i did a stupid little workout courtesy of time warner video on demand, so credit moi. the bad news is that i overate, knew i was doing it, and did it anyway. so i guess credit moi for making it a conscious choice and knowing i was in control. i'll also credit moi for holding out for days without doing it - i've had a binge on the brain since last friday and have been working like a dog to NOT to, so it's better that i did it today instead of today, yesterday, the day before yesterday, etc. i'm also clear that eating did NOT make me feel any better about my situation (which really isn't all that bad and i KNOW that) but i'm having challenges with the fact that it felt so good to be nice and full. not uncomfortable full, but not the 75% full i've been for weeks and weeks. a real, full belly. it felt great. not sure what to feel about that since i didn't realize i missed it until today when i gave myself permission to eat more than planned. i'll also stretch a little further and give myself credit for doing almost no caloric damage with this particular binge; i ate a bag of light microwave popcorn, an ounce or two of 50% light cheddar, and 1/2 slice of low-fat, low-cal cheesecake that i made myself (and which has gone ignored in the freezer for many weeks.) i'm sure it was also partially precipitated by being overly hungry most of the day yesterday. so maybe i'm just being too hard on myself, and i really needed more carbs. will have to think about that. i'll still end up in calorie deficit today, or very close to it. regardless - it still FELT like a binge in spirit, though nothing compared to what i used to do during a binge.

and here i was getting all comfy being a shining beacon of an example of dedication and consistency! (har, har.) thrilled to hear that my run on sunday was inspiring. it sure didn't feel that way at the time! you'd be shocked at the potty mouth i have when i run.

anyway, i feel a little better confessing/talking about it. it may just be that there are only so many weeks i can be in calorie deficit every single day before my body starts pushing harder for food, and perhaps on those days i should, i dunno, eat more?

you'd think i would have time for personals today, but there's an enormous pile of laundry upstairs, and i promised myself i would sew up the giant hole in my green sweater so i can wear it again, and put the button back on my coat, so i don't have to hold it closed. little things like that might make me feel more in control.

hope everyone is bearing up well with the crap weather!

Today started badly, ended well. My boiler was out all night and all day. (Fixed now, yi ha!) Since it was -15 degrees, I needed a fire all night to keep pipes from freezing. All in all I got about 3 hours of sleep… RobinW – Excellent about the party. Sounds like fun and you exceeded your goals! North Buffalo – I lived on Parkside for a few years. My son and I had a lovely 1600 sq ft flat overlooking the zoo. $325 a month – that tells you how long ago it was!! And North Buffalo is one of the jewels of the city. Have you been to the Darwin Martin House? I hear it’s fantastic now that it’s been renovated…

Kuhljeanie – BRAVO on the treadmill! We bought a Sole elliptical last year (and someday I *will* take advantage of it!). But it is a very nice machine. I hope yours is as nice, or better.  And then re your quasi-binge – I’m sending a big hug your way. re credits for adjusting my goals, I agree. I was about to fall into usual stinkin’ thinkin’ when I realized that was exactly what I did not need. So, I decided getting to my goal more slowly was much better than not getting there at all. Thanks to you and BillBlueEyes for pointing that out – I had missed it totally…

BillBlueEyes – Credits for exercising in the cold, and for buying clothes that make following your plan easier! If I ever did something like that, I'd fall over in shock! Be very very proud. And yes, I am from that place called China Maine – but we’re on Three Mile Pond rather than the big lake… Do you come up here often? We should hook up if you do.

Davidette – Credit for the cookies! Re boiler, mine is back on, how about yours? I *really* enjoy being warm! The tech was here for ¾ of a day *and* used a bunch of parts, so I’ve got my fingers in my ears, singing la-la-la at the top of my lungs so I don’t have to think about the bill I’ll get in the mail.

JenMusic – No need to apologize. I love the name of my town because it sounds like a non sequitor. It makes me smile to hear it, even after having lived here for years. But being to the actually country China is much more interesting! Are you still there?

Onebyone – big credits for logging food and sticking to plan for 3 days. And for anticipating your chocolate jonesing – bravo! All three take discipline and logging food is hardest for the first couple of weeks. So, know that it will get easier…And more credits for resisting old habits and making new ones re: chocolate 2 days in a row!

Coaches/Buddies A good, on-plan day for me today. A good day all around actually. Scale was halfway back to sudaphed low, kids had great behavior, I got decent sleep last night, work is looking up for once, and I had a fantastic run, a fancy coffee for my afternoon snack, and listened to some great music in the car. I was set to do my run this morning, but it was 31F, and while the thought of Jean of frozen eyelashes crossed my mind, I settled for getting into and leaving work a bit early, so I could do it this afternoon. Also my run was both long and fast (for me anyway) and when I did some core work afterward, my planks were no problem. So today I feel like supranne!

RobinW Nice work at your Pampered Chef party!

ChinaMaine I give myself credit for giving credits!! Try it, it's fun!

Nice job on today. I always worry if things are going perfectly at the beginning, because then I don't have the opportunity to practice getting back on track while I'm still motivated. I think some good progress and some learning opportunities make the best combo at the beginning.

Jean Congrats on the treadmill purchase, and nice job on avoiding the qdoba. I had to Google that.

Sorry to hear about your "binge." It did sound like a mild one for me, but you may want to try upping your carbs/calories as your runs increase in length. I had to modify like that at the end of my Big Loss, because I was doing exactly the kind of overeating you described and couldn't seem to stop it. Then I found out I was maintaining on 2800 cal/day when I was eating 1500, so no kidding I was hungry!! I think the CT techniques can get you far, but if your body perceives a no-kidding food crisis, it is going to take control of your brain and save itself. Your job then is to make sure you don't get that far out of balance. Someone on 3FC (forget the poster) once said they figured it was akin to holding your breath for too long--sooner or later you'll pass out and just start breathing. I thought that was pretty wise.

onebyone Nice work on your three days! Sending : for it to continue. Hope you enjoyed your day off! Is the 40/30/30 plan working out for you? Filling, enjoyable, etc?

Nice work on your environment. And cheers for the healing power of coffee!

Bill Nice job on getting the warm undies! All this winter talk is just painful to me. The weather is beautiful here, getting into the 70s during the day, usually 40-50 at night. Spring flowers will start to roll out in late Feb/early March, the trees in March, and the cacti in April/May. My favorite are the prickly pear, which produce gorgeous yellow flowers, mostly in April.

Thanks for the zuke recipe. It looks like one I can just do, and not have to write it down, which means there is a possibility that it'll actually happen.

davidette If the cookies aren't your favorite, I vote you toss them and get your favorite. No use in having mediocre treats! Jean is doing the sealed meals, and yeah, they sound great! Even if I had to look up sous vide, because, you know, I'm just not that into cooking.

JenMusic Sounds like that new scale is a keeper!

Rachel Sorry 'bout your post monster. Thanks for the virtual orajel. He needs it. That is some serious mental energy on decluttering. I must admit to the "let the piles build and then chuck the whole mess" strategy myself. I can't seem to get organized with it, but then again, don't really care much so it seems better to focus elsewhere.

Have a good one!

Anne

I signed up for, and am now getting a weekly newsletter courtesy beckdietsolution.com, with excerpts from the book. This week's topic, "Strengthen your Resistance Muscle." A nice reminder.

Anne

Coaches - Just checking in for the night. I'm working on my success skills, and today managed to check off #1,2,3 and 5. See a miss? It's #4, credit. It's just not automatic, at all. I'm used to thinking of where I've failed, or not met a goal. It's really weird for me to think of how I've done something well, and I find myself at the end of the day struggling to remember when I did well - even when I know I did. I

'm thinking I need to figure out some kind of concrete symbol to make it more real to me (as a teacher, a star chart comes to mind ). What do y'all do to help notice your credits?

How's everyone doing in the rough weather around the country? I'm in Atlanta, and we're just getting some cold rain, but I feel so bad for all the iced in people (including my sister, with her husband and 2 toddlers!).

Have a good night!

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Exercise was shoveling wet snow. CREDIT moi. Boy does that stuff weight a ton! This morning looks iced over, but feel fortunate that we have power and heat.

I'm really enjoying the Balsamic Vinegar Salad Dressing that I made from the two quart purchase from Costco. It's close to zero calories since it's made with no oil which suits my taste. CREDIT moi for the planning, purchasing, and making. This mindful eating stuff does take effort, but this example reminds me how much I enjoy the payoff.


Jean (kuhljeanie) - Kudos for doing your "stupid little workout." Raspberries, of course, for calling it "stupid" - you know CBT isn't about negative thinking.

Ouch for "overeating." But BIG Kudos for being up front about it. Real binging seems to me to happen in secret and shame which makes it so hard to work out. And Ouch for the concerns with your work situation. Yep, sometimes we are worrying about legitimate concerns.

Have you taken delivery of and set up your new treadmill yet?


Robin (RobinW) - Congrats on your growing event (discretely trying to avoid the image of Mickey Mouse hauling buckets of water). Thanks for the thought about parents from the depression as sources of cleaning your plate. I remember being told that Ike had been served a monster plate at mess once when he was eating with the troops and he finished the whole thing to set a good example. It was indeed part of the culture.

LOL that you need "a couple new cupboards" for your Pampered Chef gadgets. If they would solve my problem with taking so long to dice onions I'd find a place for them. DW would have a fit; she doesn't believe in gadgets.


onebyone - Big Kudos for "managing my environment" with the Mexican chocolate. And thanks for teaching me the word 'jonesing'.

Continuing to send supportive thoughts for resumption of your transportation. Hoping that the threat of a citizen revolt will soften the stance of someone.


Anne (supranne) - Kudos for the exercise day, particularly for "my planks were no problem." Love being reminded that I'm not the only one who needs to work on core.

Love thinking about the gorgeous yellow flowers on your prickly pear. You guys have flowers and birds like no where else. Do you ever get out to see the hummingbirds that only exist in Arizona?


davidette - Ouch for missing your luncheon. Kudos for a moderated response to the cookies, but I second the suggestion by Anne (wndranne) to ditch them for your favorites if you're going to eat them. This suggestion comes from a guy who hasn't yet ditched any food in his life, LOL. I still use my work lunches to sweep the fridge of leftovers, which are usually super stuff from DW's dinners, but, occasionally, like last week, include some so-so spaghetti with marinara sauce old enough for DW to recommend tossing but since it didn't smell, became my lunch one day. So, if you do ever toss any food, give yourself credit and post so I can humbly give you double credits and feel my chagrin.

Jennifer (JenMusic) - Kudos for buying yourself a new scale - Yay for the smaller number. And Kudos for working your Success Skills.

RE giving yourself credit: That was a hard one for me; just never did it. I started by writing items in my journal, feeling VERY foolish every time. Then graduated to posting at least one credit here every day. It took many many months for my level of feeling foolish to start to decline.


Rachel (helping rachel) - Thanks for the decluttering tips. Yep, it was helpful just to read how you're going about it. I too have the problem of not giving the right value to an incoming item. And I'm working on not picking up an "interesting" looking brochure unless I can picture myself reading it.


ChinaMaine - Kudos for your onplan stuff, particularly getting it together to do the exercise despite the many Sabotaging Thoughts.

Getting to Maine is a treat for us, unfortunately too infrequent. Am always surprised to discover each time that Maine is one BIG STATE. There are zillions of square miles of upstate ME that I've never seen.


Readers -

JenMusic Kudos for "I think that'll be enough for today" ; practicing each skill until you feel proficient with it before taking on more is the way to go.

I use a super sticky note I move around during the day to keep track of my "good" behavior. Being anal, I do count them up the next day to "judge" myself. Still it does train me to notice the times I resist. The other day as I drove to the far reaches of the gym lot so I could count that as spontaneous exercise, the main prompter was being able to put another check down; can't have my totals go down!

onebyone Good job "losing" the Mexican chocolate, just hearing about it had me craving a rich hot chocolate. My kids grew up knowing if they wanted to keep any sweets, they better hide them.

robin I have only vague recollections of fussing about finishing my plate as a child, but it does make me a little angry at my mom / society for contributing to my loss of the innate ability to eat just what I really want or need and then stop. Then I remembered urging MY kids to finish their plate! Oops. Though often I was trying to avoid them bugging me for junk food an hour later, or in my son's case, screaming he had to eat RIGHT THEN when it was impossible to feed him. It will be interesting to see how my daughter handles her children. At 22, I don't have too many years to wait, I hope. Of course by then, I'll have "forgotten the question"!

I stopped using TVP a few years ago and have moved on to tofu which also just absorbs the taste of whatever it's in. Seeing it brought up again here gave me the idea of going back to it, but I think I'll stick to my soy products.

Good luck on finding creative inspiration!

helping rachel I took a starter spin class first to learn how to adjust the bike for my size, get the hang of adding resistance, etc. I'm not really a "biker"; the spin class is part of a meet at the gym pact I made with a few friends. We go together, but everyone gets to pick a class. I've learned to like it though I'm very glad it's only 45 minutes and not an hour! The instructor picks the music, which is usually something with a strong beat, everything from "let's get it started" to Pink Floyd. I have a Zune with whatever's popular at the moment on it, but it really needs to be updated so I've just been plugging in to the music channels on the elliptical, which really isn't satisfactory. Maybe that's why water class is a struggle for me, there's no music!

Thanks for the decluttering tips - talk about inspiring! They do sound very Beckian.

kuhljeanie Don't be too hard on yourself, it may have been a binge in spirit, but there was a lot of control involved too. I'm struggling to force myself to eat my full calorie allotment whether I want to or not for that very reason, I'm afraid if I don't, I'm lowering my odds for long term success; that at some point my body will "take control of my brain and save itself" !

chinamaine A lot of accomplishment on 3 hours of sleep! Kudos! Waiting on parts to repair mother's oil burner so it continues to cut off sporadically. Luckily I can get it to come back on but it really does require a good hit in a specific place. They've been charging $90 an hour to do nothing effective so far, but I haven't paid a penny yet and they can expect a fight (AFTER they get it working).

wndranne I'm curious about how you calculate maintenance calories, do you factor in exercise? I feel like that should be the "icing on the cake" ; increasing the weight loss that a conservatively restricted diet provides. So I don't factor it in my daily calorie allotment, especially since it would require daily adjustments depending on what I did at the gym. On the other hand, I don't want to promote a "no kidding food crisis"!

Sedona Arizona is one of my favorite places. Is the weather in Tucson very different? I'd rather vacation in the Southwest than anywhere else. I'm here in flat, wet coastal Virginia. You'd probably enjoy beaches and the ocean but listening to you I'm craving rocks and hot dry air!

Bill I confess I'm scared to substitute a real favorite for the not so favorite cookies. I THINK I could do it. Your faith is encouraging, I'm going to ponder the idea a little longer. And yes, part of my reluctance is having to throw out even not so great cookies! Here I've been forcing myself to leave at least a bite on my plate every meal to learn to watch it hit the trashcan without wincing!

On plan again, the hardest part has been getting on the scales and not seeing any evidence of it! It'll come; this is not a quick fix but the way I'll live from now on. And I am seeing tremendous benefits emotionally and physically. Off to chase Kuhljeanie up another hill in spin class. I get a visual of her as the pace runner with the rest of us following along on our various treadmills, bikes, etc. (walking stick and shovel for Bill)

Good Morning

rachel~ I love the way you deal deal with clutter! Thanks for the well wishes on my creativity. But the creativity fairy didnt come and sprinkle and creativity dust on me yesterday....Im hoping she stops by sometime today

Jean~ all things considered I think you did alright on your "refueling" I'll get like that sometimes, and I know its just my body needing alot of something. It's usually a big honkin' taco salad with real full fat sour cream. Then Im good for another couple weeks. So think of it as a refueling day instead of a mini binge....especially since you were within your calories. Kudos for keeping within your calorie range, thats awesome!

ChinaMaine~ Ouch for a broken boiler. Im glad you got it up and running....it's always during the worst weather that stuff happens isnt it? Kudos for meeting your exercise goal!! Awesome!

Im off Starin Ave, and our shop is right on Hertel....same block as B-Kwik (the little grocery store) Im not sure what it was called back then, its now called Dash's. We are nice and close to the shop so most of the time we just walk here. The zoo has been undergoing some renovations, but Ive only been there once and dont plan to go back. Im not a zoo/circus fan.

I havent been to the darwin martin house yet either....you'd think after living here for 8 yrs, Id have made it there. They are still doing alot of renovations to the property. But its open for tours. That might be a nice trip with my daughter on our bicycles when it gets nice out.

Anne~ thanks for the heads up on Beck's newsletter....I typed my way over there and signed up myself. Kudos for your awesome workout, and wonderful day yesterday!!

Jen~ things I do to remind myself of my credits? I have a remember ring on my thumb.......I see it every time I put food in my mouth. It reminds me how successful I am, or will be. I also get my nails done. Notice a pattern here? Keep my hands looking nice, and Im much less likely to use them to put food in my mouth. Its also a reward for me.....as long as I keep on track, I will continue to get my nails done. I have this warped mental image that fat women dont have nice hands....since Im making my way out of fatdom, I'll have nice hands along the way. Make sense? .......it works for me.

Bill~ should you be shovelling that heavy snow?!?!?!?! Be Careful!
If you want the tool to beat all tools for chopping onions...this is it http://www.epinions.com/review/Pampe...nt_71764708996 Tell your mrs, its a tool not a gadget....you should be safe

davidette~ the only reason I havent brought tofu into the house is because dh will see it and have a fit. I can sneak in the tvp and he doesnt seem to notice. I get accused of putting celery in stuff all the time, he inspects his food if he thinks he can smell it. Men!

Kudos on your spin chase! I love your visuals!

My stuff.....Im not sure how to feel about this one. Good and Bad I suppose. I did up my supper last night, I had my first bread product since November 30th/08. I passed on the croutons at the pampered chef party, but I had 2 sesame buns left over and thought Id make a nice chicken melty meal on a bun. Ok....I had everything within my calorie range, arranged everything and put it under the broiler. But when I put it on my plate, it was HUGE!!! So Im sitting there thinking, but if I had put the bun together instead of eating it open face it wouldnt look so big. Well, I dug in.....and started feeling guilty because there was so much....thoughts racing thru my head, I shouldnt be eating all this etc etc etc. I reached satifactory full at the end of the first half...but kept eating because it tasted so good, and I really didnt want to waste the chicken and tomatoes and mushrooms. I managed to stop with 1/4 of the 2nd left. Im not sure about this one.....Im just going to leave it and try to do better next time.

This week and a bit of last week I had started incorporating flour back into my diet. Im taking it back out. Especially after last night's bun situation. I woke up this morning starving!!!! I know its the flour.

I havent really been that hungry since I wasnt eating properly. I dont like the feeling of being that hungry. I can handle hunger, but not that crazy hungry feeling from this morning. So....Im taking the bread and flour back out of my diet. I dont really need it, and rarely miss it.

K......Im off to try to get creative again today. Have a great day and stay warm! (and no shoveling heavy snow for anyone!)

morning my coaches,

thank you for the support re: my unplanned eating yesterday. i'd managed to make myself feel better enough about what i'd eaten to...eat more. it was getting late, i had convinced myself that the popcorn etc. was hardly a blip, so i went ahead and made it a mightier blip by getting into the stale halloween candy. this is the candy that's been in the top cupboard for three months, the candy that i haven't thought about until late last week, the very same candy that was mostly unappealing ON HALLOWEEN. i didn't know how hard candy corn can get. pretty hard, actually. the tootsie roll was pretty hard too, but the reese's cups were unchanged. pretty nasty stuff. why i went for that when i've got a freezer full of scratch cupcakes in every imaginable flavor, which i made myself from great ingredients...hm.

i'm guessing that all in all, i added another 400 calories to my 2000-cal day. it made me feel kind of sick to my stomach, definitely not "good" satisfied. i was really, really hoping i'd feel better this morning, but today has sucked as much as a day possibly can before noon. el nino was up at 3:30 and again at 5:30; i went in, and without getting too gross, he'd pooped a dry-ish paste overnight (he hardly ever does these days) and had severe diaper rash, so bad that he couldn't lie on the boppy to nurse without screaming in pain. he accidentally bit me HARD that way, and i yelled out too (didn't want/mean to) which made him even more upset. finally got him cleaned up, calmed down, dressed, and to day care. i was then treated to a 3 hour commute which normally takes 50 minutes, most of which was almost blind driving (when i wasn't sitting in park) because my wipers were frozen in place. come to find out that even though i was working on a proposal from home yesterday, my office is still requiring me to book that time against my vacation days, because i wasn't in the office (which they closed due to a level 2 snow emergency.) i was happy because my all-day meeting in lexington was cancelled due to the weather, so i'd be able to attend one more precious yoga class - but i was so late, i missed that too.

bill, i would have LOVED to have had the treadmill yesterday, but i'm waiting for the local delivery co. to call and set up a time. i also appreciate your comment that it's important to be upfront about overeating, to address the shame part of it. i told DH about the popcorn but not the candy. he's worried that i'm upset and i didn't want him to be more concerned about me, since he gets that i eat this way when i'm really anxious. i guess it's a step in the right direction that i'm not feeling shameful about it (or i wouldn't have told y'all) but i recognize that something is really going on with me. anne, i thank you for your common sense in that idea "...sooner or later you'll pass out and just start breathing..." this week i've had no energy at all, which may partly be due to worry over my job situation, partly to sleep interrupted by el nino's screaming jags, maybe some overtraining thrown in for good measure, and my tolerance for winter fading fast. i've hardly exercised at all this week after my long run on sunday. maybe the best thing at this point is to take gentler care of myself, rest more, up the calories for a few days, and pull together a plan for feeling more in control of my life. THANK YOU. and congrats on your good run! davidette, you have no idea how absolutely tickled i am to be your pace runner. that makes me feel really good, which is exactly what i need right now. THANK YOU TOO! robin, your experiment with flour sounds really, really smart. i think you did great with your open-faced sandwich. a lot going on there, and you were present for all of it. really great. i'll have to regretfully decline the credit on staying within my calories, since i blew that out the window after i posted, but will strongly consider your point about needing a "refueling day" when your body is demanding it. hi jen, about the weather - i'm not doing well felt trapped like a rat with no wheel in my cage to spin on. when does spring come? are we there yet? are we there yet? i don't have anything to chart my credits, since i didn't struggle too hard with that one, and they become their own reward after a whille. it feels good to recognize what i'm doing well - makes me keep wanting to do it, you know? china, you GO, girl! woot woot on the exercise and the cholesterol! particularly in a cold house on almost no sleep. rock on.

BTW - if anyone wants any details on how i'm making my packaged freezer meals, every last minute detail is discussed at excruciating length in my blog (link is in my signature.) long live sous vide! i didn't know what it was either a month ago.

Coaches/Buddies After 4+ years of posting on 3FC, I know that the quickest way to induce a screw up is to come here and post how well you are doing. So anyway, I went off plan last night with a banana & a small granola bar after posting. I was hungry, DS had just gotten me up, and well, and well. It could have been much worse. I am once again getting lazy with reading my response cards and doing my Beckercises so I need to get on that.

Weight is behaving. Once again on a downward trend.

Today has been good so far. I'm home this afternoon waiting for Bug Guy to come fix up a termite thing. I'm officially bored. On plan so far today, although if Bug Guy shows up at the end of his timeslot, DD will have to miss gymnastics class, and the tantrums will fly, and stress levels will elevate. I have cleverly not reminded her that this is gymnastics day, but she's starting to get a clue about these things. DS was flicking at his gums with his tongue this morning, so that tooth is going to burst through at any moment. He's also more or less crawling now. And pulling up.

JenMusic I'm glad you're doing well on your skills. Are you doing anything to help with giving yourself credit? Lists of things like Bill used to, or getting one of those counter doo-dads that Beck talks about?

Bill How is that heavy snow doing with your golf elbow? We have hummingbirds all over here. I need to get the feeder going again. I get lazy with it, but we like to watch them zip in and out, and fight (!) while we eat. I got a new Runner's World with some new core work in it. I'm going to try to add it in and see what happens.

davidette I don't calculate maintenance calories so much as I measure them. The 2800 was my average during marathon training when I didn't gain or lose (outside of the usual fluctuations) for about two months. [maryblu look away: MATH AHEAD] Now, when I track my calories, if (hypothetically) I'm eating 1800 cal/day and losing 1 lb/week, then I figure my maintenance calories would be about (1800 cal/day + [1 lb * 3500 cal/lb / 7 days] )= 1800 + 500 = 2300 calories per day. Some days a person needs more, and some days less, for reasons that are explainable or mysterious. But the averages are generally good enough, unless you radically change something in your lifestyle, like perhaps [Jean] running more, when you need to rethink it. And I do actually eat more on a "big" workout day, a 2 hr bike or more than an hour run (not that that happens so often these days).

Tucson is somewhat different from Sedona because of the elevation; Sedona is higher. Well, that and Sedona is a LOT prettier. But climatewise, anyway.

Keep at it. The scales will show your work very soon. Consistency is very important.

RobinW I think you need to give yourself credit for stopping when you wanted to eat more. It is probably even harder to make a second opportunity.

Jean That sounds like a morning for the books! Yikes. You sound so composed about it though. Throw out the candy. It's yucky.

You have so much on your plate right now. Make sure you have some good quality Jean time in all that. And BTW, stress and lack of sleep mean that you won't recover as fast from running and it is easier to get into an overtraining situation, so make sure to take the rest when you need it. Speaking as one who got a serious injury after my longest run during my first marathon training program, and had to withdraw.

Bug Guy is still not here. Oh my! This could get ugly. I'll check back in tomorrow!

Anne

Good Morning Coaches

My food calorie count was higher today than the past four days but the average, according to fitday, is under the 2000 ceiling so I give myself a gold star for a) tracking in fitday and 2) keeping a good average. I can't seem to get the 30/30/40 splits I am looking for. My fat intake is higher, or carbs are higher or protein is lower. I suppose the 30/30/40 is my goal and I am working toward it.

I heard the transit strike is over. The city radio commentators were noticing that President Obama is visiting our fair town of Ottawa in about 2 weeks and oh, gee, look, the transit strike will be over. Hmmm. It's not that the sides came to an agreement. Nope. They decided to go to binding arbitration and the whole thing is to be decided for them. Whatever. I don't have any details but the buses will be back after 51 days.

wndranne Termites. Now there's something that we don't have. Of course I donlt live in the awesome desert. I would love to live there. Soak some sun up for me okay? You wondered if my calorie count and macro nutrient splits were okay and they are. I feel a bit hungry but I figure I will feel a bit hungry so it's okay. I can't seem to get green things into me again though. Will have to make a special effort to do that.

kuhljeanie oy-vey what a tough night and day. What can I say? I've done exactly what you did; been semi-bad actually kind of okay and then gotten through the danger zone only to re-visit it and really do damage. I just kind of always want to just see this bad behaviour at times. I don't know why but I don't keep going like that anymore and I know you don't. It's so self-defeatist and it really makes no sense. So you're adjusting to many things and you'll get through. Things are changing. It's always a challenge.

RobinW As far as I know there is no real important nutrient unique to flour that is essential for long term health. I think that if it triggers you why put yourself through that? I am trying to do what you are trying to do; find what works for me and is true to me and my body. You do know best. Kudos for finding out what those things are.

davidette Keep on keeping on and your scale will have no choice but to show that. I'm with you about the Southwest. I've been to Sedona twice and I haven't been to Tucson yet and I wish I lived in the desert. If I was an American I would... alas as a Canadian I dream of being a snowbird especially now, in the middle of winter with a few more snowy months to go.

BillBlueEyes I was denied the exercise of shoveling our small walk. DH looked out to see a stranger shoveling for us. Nice. Our shovel is out front and several neighbours borrow it. Someone felt like doing our walk with it too I guess. And thank you for sending President Obama to our town to shame the parties involved in our 51 day transit strike to just agree to disagree and admit their defeat and give the whole mess over to an arbitrator. No one won and no one lost. Or no one can claim to. Anyway I am sure your thoughts helped. Thanks.

Have a great night and a long restful sleep coaches!