shrinkin

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

And, in honor of your first post,

How did you find out about The Beck Diet Solution and how did you find this forum on 3FC?

Susan (QuilterInVA)

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

And, in case this wasn't invented when you joined 8 years ago!!!

How did you find out about The Beck Diet Solution and how did you find this forum on 3FC?

Diet Coaches – My focus remains on getting the work done for an approaching deadline without resorting to my former technique of grazing on any food in sight. When the vending machines approach empty, there's some fairly gross stuff left, LOL, but I'd buy it anyway to feed my feeding frenzy. However, so far, I'm on track. CREDIT moi.

Heidi (hbuchwald) - I so identify with the thought of eating as an option when I can't figure out what to do. So well said, "I crave the downtime and often don't know what to do with myself when I get it!" Your thoughtful responses always help me.

Jean (kuhljeanie) - Re WTF: hmmmm... a passing tropical storm? - appears that climate change hit el nino, LOL. I don't recall a scene as abrupt as that one that wasn't solved by one of the bag of tricks that you tried. Yep, that part gets easier when they can communicate.

Neat to identify the Sabotaging Thought "i can't stay on plan every day for the rest of my life" and the focused Helpful Response "staying on plan TODAY." You so remind me how important it is for me to have an eating plan that I really like. DW just asked me if I wanted my standard Boston Cream Pie for my upcoming birthday - my favorite - she's served me one for some thirty years. I really wrestled with that. I didn't want a slice of Boston Cream Pie, I wanted a whole Boston Cream Pie! Realized the BCP was just another part of my sugar lust and that I didn't really want one this year. So, I'll have a Birthday Watermelon, complete with candles, LOL. The kids and their SO's will find it a bit queer, but, rolling their eyes at the parental units is part of their life.

Robin (RobinW) - Yep, it's hard to get back on the wagon. Kudos for jumping right back on with a plan. As I recall from our last conversation, you were making chicken soup for the nourishment of making it as well as drinking it. You might want to work on that notion of "good stuff." Those "sugar, white flour, or high starch veggies" are just killers of the soul as well as the body. For me, it's been a major part of my journey to do a lot of reading about healthy foods and killer foods to brainwash myself about that which I used stuff myself with. Sending you my best supportive thoughts for moving on.

JennyG - Ouch that your golf was washed out. Kudos for doing the 35 minute brisk walk. And Big Kudos for giving yourself credit.

shrinkin - Great that you're starting Beck. Re how to use 3FC to help with Beck: For me, it's been seriously helpful to post some aspect of what I'm currently becking about to help me to see it, as well as to get some feedback. Giving myself credit is difficult for me, so I do so here every day to get the feel of it. I think that trying to share the minutia of my daily food plan would drive DW bonkers, so posting it here allows me to experience it. Wandering about 3FC is smart; there's lots of good forums that are likely to address some of the other zillion parts of you.

Susan (QuilterInVA) - My sympathy for the so very recent loss of your husband. Kudos to you for jumping right into Beck to get yourself on a new track. Yes, you're welcome to join us - and bring your big time 3FC experience to help us with the ups and downs of staying on plan.

Readers – "… But when the going gets tough you abandoned these changes because you didn’t know how to talk back to such sabotaging thoughts as:

• I can’t diet when I’m stressed. …" Beck, pg 23.

Thanks for the welcome. I plan to be on the board every day. I have soo many challenges that probably every topic is relevant to me. I did pretty well yesterday, stayed on track in calories and had planned a day off from exercise. Big challenge for the day was finding myself in the kitchen last night about 10 pm, trolling for food. I realized I was not hungry (credit for that because in the past I would not have even asked whether I was hungry) but could not make myself say no to eating. I had some unplanned watermelon. So partial victory..at least it was a good food choice. Not sure whether to call the experience craving, or just desiring food.

I am on Beck Day 8: creating time and energy. My work schedule and life schedule is so varied, not sure how well I can get an exact plan like the one in the book. How have others done this? Is it very helpful? Is my reluctance a sabotage? Hmm...more thought on that today.

Someone asked how I found Beck and 3FC. Years ago I lost 50 pounds in a program that included psychological counselling. I kept the wt off about 2 years, but then slipped out of good habits. No success in dieting since then, so I recognized that my thought process was a big part of the problem. Thanks to Google and Amazon, I found Beck. I looked for a local professional diet coach and could not find one. Googgled "diet support" and went through all the listings....until I found 3FC.

BillBlueEyes-Big credit for dodging those vending machines. Hard to do with the stress of work deadlines....but you can do it! Keep up the good work at work...without the grazing!

hbuchwald-Thanks for sharing your response to the sabotage. I am still learning to get back on track after slips...you said it well:
"Even if I have a gazillion days of unplanned eating, it is worth getting back to what I want to do for myself asap-not even the next day-right now!"

RobinW-Great job getting back on track!

JennyG-Kudos for the unplanned and planned exercise and congrats on those pants. We will hear soon that they are no longer snug!

QuilterinVA-hope you had a great day yesterday! Fine with me if we use the whole group as coaches!

Good Morning Coaches

new members! Always happy to have more people in our group!
Beck will help you no matter what foodplan your choose. It's really our faulty thinking and strategizing and reacting to food issues and events that gets us off track and doing the opposite of what we want. There's lots of wisdom here and it's a good place to come even when you can't get anything else to go right. Just don't give up.

I made the decision to give myself two days off in a row this week. And if that works out, I'll do the same every week until I can't, which will be when school starts up again. It feels like bliss: two days in a row. Of course it's not two days without work ie. resting but two days where I don't have to go somewhere for something.

I talked to the gym representative this morning. She seems really reasonable. The gym is in the mall that I walk through to get to school so it is definitely convenient. It is right there in my path 3-5 days a week. I have a Y membership but it's not in my path, but an extra bus trip and do I get there? No. So I am scheduled for a free 90 minute fitness assessment next Wednesday at 1pm. I am really looking forward to it. I always hope that "this is the thing" that helps me turn the corner and get on track forever.

Forever.

I doubt that there is anything that permanent when our lives are made up of change, but I will be happy to make a committment of six months. I can do that there. 6 months, one workout at a time? That seems very possible. Anyway, as usual, I am way ahead of myself. I have to go there and see the place first. But my first gut feelings about it are good.

Foodwise still doing okay. Not perfect but okay. I haven't worked in my weight journal the past two days so time to update that. It's movie day today so it's popcorn day. I may bring my own. Not sure. And I've just realized that I was de-railed this weekend by the markets again. Hmmm. It's all lack of planning and not having an overall plan for myself. I don't see what I am doing each day as part of a big picture. It's really just "this day only" thinking, which is what you want sometimes, like when you are struggling and need to hang in there, but I seem to have lost long term focus. I am someone who needs long term goals and needs to be able to mark achievements along the way. I don't really care how long things take, I just want to feel I am moving down the road toward that goal. I don't feel any of those things. I need to work on that. I am hopeful that committing to a workout plan through a gym may help with creating and achieving health goals. I see my Dr. on Friday for a refill of BP pills and I think I'll ask him what goals he would like to see me reach. I feel very lost with this. I've been so round and round the last year, trying this plan and that plan and then focusing not on that but something else. Nothing sticks. I don't give up, but nothing sticks; no wait. Something does stick. This 250lb-260lb phase has struck with me for a year. Time to make a change.

Have a good day yous guys!

Good morning, y'all!

Yesterday was my first day and I take credit for reading the book, reading my reasons for losing weight 3 times, planning my meal for today and sticking to my planned meals yesterday. I also exercised for 30 minutes. Right before I went to bed I read Day 2.

I know the diet is supposed to begin on Day 15 but I've started watching what I eat and getting back on track now.

OneByOne - I started going to Curves 19 months ago. They had 30 days free at the time I joined and I doubted I'd go for half that without quitting. Oh my, I just loved it. I'm 66 so its great for me. I pass right by it going and coming from work or I can walk there in 10 minutes. It's the best thing I've done for myself after losing weight. I hope you like the gym you are trying out as well.
Setting goals other than weight can also be useful - to drink more water, eat more fruits and veggies, plan meals ahead, etc. For me, learning to eat healthy in proper quantities had a more lasting effect on my weight than just watching the scale.

Shrinkin kudos for your successes yesterday. I know this sounds weird but you might post a big sign in a predominate place "Kitchen Closed!" to remind you not to go trolling for food.

I'll type more later but I've got to get to work now!

Hi there Beckies - just a quick fly by to show I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth. I've had 3 good days on plan now and Day 30, the one about eating out, has come and gone. I found that most of the Day 30 stuff was second nature ... I've dieted so many times that manipulating menus and cajoling servers feels like home. I think the last couple of weeks of Beck are useful but not nearly as revolutionary as the first two, for me ...

Still going through periods of exhaustion. Fell asleep on the couch ... sitting down, not lying .... this afternoon with the laptop in front of me ... so it's just plain dumb that I'm still awake now. Better do something about that.

But ... welcome shrinkin and quilterinVA! And any other new people I missed .. it is great to see this team thrive!!

zzzz,
Erika

Diet Coaches – Completed a big chunk of work so the stress eases a bit. CREDIT moi. Dinner was early (5:30 gulp!), so after dinner I decided that we absolutely needed some 2% milk that we use for coffee creamer, so walked to a favorite store to get some. It's easier for me to avoid the evening draw to nibbling when we eat late, or when I leave the house after dinner. Everything is green. Folks are bustling about in shorts and t-shirts. The sidewalk tables at the restaurant are full. Summer being summer.

onebyone – hmmm ... "two days off in a row" sounds much like a weekend to me, LOL. Most of us who don't sell at weekend farmers' markets take one of those. Kudos for continuing to pursue this gym. And Big Kudos for buckling down to seriously work on your plans. Hope you hit it off with the trainer.

Erika (eusebius) – LOL at "manipulating menus and cajoling servers feels like home." It's kind of reassuring that the last chapters in Beck have much in common with other diet programs. Like, OK, that's the way to eat out, to go to buffets, to do vacations, to get back on the wagon.

shrinkin - Kudos for catching yourself "trolling for food." Yep, that sure sounds like what Beck calls Desire; she uses Craving for when you want a specific food, like fried clams.

Re schedules: my own situation doesn't lend itself to rigid schedules either. What worked for me was make plans like "gym three times per week after work on MWF, or makeups." At the beginning of the week I might shift to TTS, or occasionally, do a morning gym when after work time was taken. My take is that you are not having sabotaging thoughts, but are right on if you wrestle with this until you find a schedule statement that you can honor. Methinks that's an example of how Beck shows us to do our hard work in advance so that we have strategies in place when facing the situations with temptations toward abandoning our plans. Good luck at grinding through this until you find your schedule statement.

Susan (QuilterInVA) - Kudos for marching right into Program day 1: Record the Advantages of Losing Weight. You're on your way! Do you mind sharing with us some of your advantages?


Readers – "The set of psychological strategies in this book will help in many ways. …" Beck, pg 23.

Good Morning coaches

Just a quick hello before I dash off to work. I am going to eat my fibre-y cereal with a handful of blueberries and 1% milk and coffee with 5% creamer and then it's onto the bus for me. I have to put in 4 hours at the school today so I may as well get there when it opens. Means I get to leave around 1 this afternoon. Plenty of time to get at my own work waiting for me here at home.

I didn't get to my journal last night. Will update it this afternoon. I'm getting a bit nervous over the Dr's appt, wishing the scale would have magically dropped 20lbs. After talking to Nadine, the gym trainer yesterday and scheduling my fitness assessment for next Wednesday afternoon (90 minutes long!) I am now going to ask the good Dr. what goals he'd like to see me work toward. Specific things. Being specific helps me. If I say "lose 20lbs" it's better than "lose some weight" and if it's "lose 20 lbs in 6 months" then I know that's about 3-4 lbs over a month or an average of .75 to 1.0 lbs a week. Always better to know and to be specific with me. Like I know I have 10 empty canvases laying around that need something painted onto them by a week from this Saturday for my art in the park. And I need to design and paint the sandwich board that's advertising the show for the same Saturday. Specific goals. It helps. But it works even better when I take the goals seriously and actually do them

Better go.

Have a good Wednesday y'all.

Yesterday was a good day for me. OP with calories (1179), water and exercise (30 min of water walking). Read my advantages card twice. No late night food trolloing! Biggest challenge was dragging myself to the pool. I REALLY did not want to, but just told myself I had to do it. So, I am giving myself a big credit for that one. I am 53 and had an accident about 6 years ago that ultimately left me with a chronic ankle and knee. Before all of that, walking was my preferred exdercise. Now, water exercise is about the only real exercise that can really challenge me. Not sure I really reached cardio levels last night, but HR checks were in the 100-130 range. Number two on my advantages card is to lose wt to have less joint pain. Maybe when I drop some weight, walking might work again...we'll see!

I am on Day 9 (Selecting an exercise plan). As you can see above, my mode of planned exercise is pretty set, but the unplanned I will have to work on. Anyone want to share their exercise plans/thoughts that work for them?

I am still thinking about the making time/schedule (Beck day 8). Agree with your comment, BillBlueEyes about needing to think thru how to schedule the time. For me, making a real committment is the issue, the exact times may just have to vary a bit. On a "normal" day, I think logging in early during coffee and putting my meal plan up on fitday is going to work well for me.

BillBlueEyes-Big credit on getting that work out of the way! Big credit for dealing with a life issue that impacts good health! In my past, work stressors have led to some bad eating and no exercise. With your walking after work and controlling those vending machine issues, you are setting a great example for the rest of us. Big credits to you!

eusebius (erika)- thanks for the welcome! Great to have some Beckies further along the journey. My lifestyle includes big runs of eating out (travelling or professional entertaining) and it is still a struggle for me. Will look forward to hearing how it became second nature to you to deal with those challenges.

QuilterInVA-Kudos on the great Beck Day 1 performance! Thanks for the info about Curves. I have wondered about adding some weight lifting/strenghtening to my program. Sounds like this has really worked well for you. I like your "Kitchen Closed" idea. DH is travelling, when he returns, we will discuss this. Normally, I would just do it, but to keep his full support, best if we chat about it first.

onebyone-Thanks for your welcome! It is wonderful that you are thinking serioiusly about your goals and your plans. Give yourself big credit for that. Kudos for making a 6 month committment! Hope the gym works out for you. Keep up the mental work until you find what works for you!

Lets all stay on plan today!!!

morning everyone,

i've pulled something in my shoulder and it's really hurting this morning. aargh! not from yoga, and probably not from my treadmill time yesterday. i probably did it while i was sleeping and had my arm up under my pillow. geesh. my legs also feel like lead. i had planned cross-training for today - if the bod is feeling better by this evening, i may do one of those fun dance DVDs just so i can cross it off the list. if not, i'll switch today with my friday rest day and do that then.

shrinkin, are your planned calories usually that low? i ain't knocking it if it works for you, but that seems like an awfully small amount of food to get all your nutrients in and have energy for exercise. onebyone, will be thinking about you and your doc appt. i'm right there with you on the goal setting. have been trying to shift the focus from outcomes to behavior, and keep that short term. it's been a relief! my current goals are to 1) have a meal plan for every day that i wrote the day before, 2) each week, 5 cardio and 2 strength sessions of at least 45 minutes, and 3) stick to the meal plan 80 - 90% of the time. not sure yet what my body will do with the exercise and eating as currently planned. i'll give it a couple of weeks, and if nothing moves (neither scale nor tape measure) i'll tweak the eating - a little. maybe lower the cals a touch, maybe change the macro ratios. will be interesting to hear what the doc says. even though the scale isn't moving, your body may still be changing. can't wait to hear how the fitness assessment goes! bill, your evenings during this beautiful season sound lovely! i can't wait until el nino is old enough to go for an after-dinner walk with myself and dh. we used to do that, but obviously can't leave him alone (even sleeping) while we go strolling. the house in dayton backs up to a huge cemetary. when we were dating, we used to walk through it almost every night. dh would tell me stories about the people buried there that he had a connection to. i miss that! having a very young kid is such a mix of trade-offs. yesterday when i picked him up from daycare, he hugged my head and kept kissing me. so wonderful to be a mom sometimes! quilterinva, how fabu to watch your eating during the first two weeks. i used that time to eat my head off, convinced that once i was "on plan" i wouldn't be eating the things i really love. big kudos to you! erika, thanks for the flyby! sorry to hear about the tired. staying on plan when i'm tired is my toughest challenge. sounds like you're doing it! go you! heidi, do you have an HSA? the IRS guidelines say that you can use HSA funds to pay for weight loss plans, etc. if you suffer from weight-related disease, such as obesity, high bp, etc. for what it's worth! and robin, welcome back! was thinking about your question - this just came up for me again. i'm finding that telling myself that i can't or shouldn't have something for the rest of my life doesn't work for me, because it throws me into a full panic of UNFAIR! and all that. i just plan one day at a time and my goal is to stay on plan today. it may well be that i won't eat whatever it is in the immediate future, and maybe i won't eat it ever again, but i'm not going to have that conversation with myself right now. i don't know how i'll handle food in the future. i may be able to make peace with my trigger foods when i stop using them to fix non-food issues. in that case, they won't be off bounds, and i may be able to occasionally enjoy them without going beserk. does that help? jennyg, WOW! way to go!

on an unrelated side note, extreme makeover - home edition is doing their thing on a street just across from the subdivision from our daycare. traffic is a MESS - they don't show the cops and the streets getting blocked and all that on the tv, do they? - but my daycare lady reported an actual sighting of ty pennington two days ago in his truck at a four-way intersection, and apparently, he really is that good-looking in person. and he let her go first. he's a nice driver! thanks for being real, ty.

Good morning, y'all!

BillBlueEyes asked for some of the reasons why I want to lose weight - more energy, lower blood pressure, more stamina, feel physically better, be a role model to others, help with my asthma.

Day 2 went well. I take credit for reading my reasons for losing weight 3 times, eating my planned food, making my menu for today and exercising. I read Day 3 before I went to bed and again this morning. It's always easy at the beginning - it's keep the motivation going that gets hard but with all you to help me, I know I'll reach my goal this time.

Shrinkin, there are some wonder chair aerobic videos out there. My husband was an amputee and in a wheelchair and I got several of them from out local library and we'd do them together. It really does a great workout without using knees and ankles.

One spontaneous exercise I like is marching in place or walking around the room when a commercial comes on tv. I know that sounds weird but you'd be amazed how many steps you get in just 1 hour. I do live alone so I don't have anyone to see me... At work, I walk up and down the steps for a break. I'm a firm believer that every little bit helps. For my Curves workout, I schedule it just like any other appointment.

Off to work - have a great day OP.

Hi,
Question please. I am so confused about dieting in general and especially the Beck approach.

Has anyone used the Beck Diet solutions workbook and if so how is it different from the book itself?

What do the response cards at the back of the book say? I almost fell off my seat in the subway trying to hear two gals talking about these.

Are there more therapy sessions with Dr. Beck in the workbook than in the book?

My congrats to all of you who are doing the work and getting thin. It seems like a lot of planning and self talk is necessary . I have to do something and this might be the thing . I am just not sure I can do all of it.

Any info on the workbook would be appreciated. Thanks and Good luck to all.

Sheridan

Hi everyone,

Day 31-Decide About Drinking is in the bag. I decided that I will allow myself 2 glasses of wine on my free day each week. Week 7 will be spent with the inlaws, so there may be a couple of extra glasses consumed then. Alcohol is not a so-called "authorized food" on BFL, and my experience with previous diets has shown that it does cut down my inhibitions considerably when it comes to portion size. (Usually not too much else thank goodness!) Fortunately, I will be preplanning my free days from here on in, so NO CHOICE there.

Bill - Good job avoiding the post-dinner temptation! Shaking up the routine can work wonders. Excellent thoughts on scheduling. We have to make whatever program we're following work with our lives, whether that entails changing the program or our lives ... because this thing has to work for life!

onebyone - Yep, specific goals work best for me too. Especially specific goals that I can then divide into the teeny-weeniest goals possible, so I can focus on the exact one thing that i have to do *right now* and not get caught up in catastrophizing about the future, which saps my energy like crazy.

shrinkin - awesome job staying on plan and getting yourself into the pool despite sabotaging thoughts!! Interesting that you are a professional entertainer - that must really bring its challenges.

I will tell you one thing that has made my life easier with regard to eating out. My DH is allergic to eggs! it is so serious that he carries an Epi-Pen around with him. Mayonnaise, egg bread, fresh pasta ... off the list. He had a near-death episode involving a glass of white wine that had been clarified through egg whites. So ... we always eat at restaurants where he knows he can get something that will not kill him! Chains are big ... and chains have their nutritional info posted on their website ... so I can pick my meal in advance. It's definitely more boring than just walking into anyplace and ordering what sounds good ... but it works! OK, enough rambling ...

jeanie - ugh! i hate that feeling of pulling a muscle. This too shall pass! thanks so much for your supportive words!! It is so great having your positive spirit here each day on the thread.

Susan - you are doing great!! Kudos to you! I think that your combination of strong discipline (scheduling workouts) and creative thinking (marching during commercials) is going to bring you great success with Beck.

Welcome Sheridan! I took a look at the workbook when I was originally purchasing the Beck book. It does look good, but I am a big computer nerd when it comes to tracking stuff like diet plans and so I just stuck with the book itself and wrote out all my response cards in gmail. Now i just read everything labelled "beck" in my gmail account whenever i remember.
The workbook does have some material in it that the book doesn't cover but I don't really know if you could do this with just the workbook. Perhaps some more experienced people would know for sure?? All the best with your efforts!

Hugs to heidi, coastalsue, wendy, jenny, spryng and anyone else I've missed!

OK - it is so funny how i can come up with hundreds of typed words after midnight, and then if you met me on the street i'd be all "yep" and "nope". So .. g'night all. Yep.

Hi there,
I am doing "so so"...actually ate some cookies tonight and feel so sick to my stomach. YUCK. Nothing like a natural consequence for eating cookies.

I painted my kitchen today-YES!!! And I ran the dogs for a few miles-good for all of us and went to the beach for some r and r with friends. Off to write in the journal and get some shut eye. We have stuff going all day tomorrow and then are going camping for the weekend. I will be back on Monday but don't think that I fell of the face of the earth (or completely off the wagon)when you don't hear from me this weekend!

Keep up your diligent work beckies!