Daily check-in thread for a couple of people who are each others' diet buddies on the Beck plan. If you're looking for a diet buddy/coach, click here:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/beck-diet-solution-234/

to find the forum called

Beck Diet For Life/Solution – (current month) – Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach

report: didn't read my cards yesterday and forgot AGAIN to weigh this morning. I have got to figure that out -- it's really bothering me that I'm "forgetting" to weigh so often. Ate slowly and mindfully and sitting down, though I did eat fudge and cookies that the neighbors dropped off. The problem with making truffles and distributing them is that people reciprocate and I end up with too many goodies in the house. Ah, well. The holidays are almost over and my weight is still well under goal (or was yesterday) so I am actually feeling pretty good.

We probably don't really need to talk about the fact this is counterproductive?

Maybe even repeat some of the exercises?

So that's actually a lot of bright spots. The muscles in your legs must be excellent! Glad the singing went well, and of course the diabetes. Put what your doctor said into your memory box.

Fingers crossed.

Thankfully they're over soon. It's only ten more days until the new year. When these binges happen, what is the process? Are you binging on NS desserts, or what?

So you know you can get back on track, even if it only lasts a few days each time at this point. And you've now proven to yourself that getting off track ISN'T a catastrophe and doesn't immediately signal the beginning of the end.

Is your SIL someone you can share with at all?

Report: didn't read my cards, weighed (2.4 under goal, ack! Need a low day today but I'm giving a party tonight so it'll be tough.) Ate slowly and mindfully, skipping the food at a party last night and having only one glass of wine there, but then I had more wine when I got back home and of course a wine-induced snackfest which is probably where the 2.6 gained since yesterday comes in.

Thanks for calling to check in last night while you were on the road! Hope the rest of the journey was uneventful.

Since I haven't been reading posts, I didn't know you had been forgetting to weigh. Can you move the scale to a more visible location, or put a reminder on your bathroom mirror? And YAY YOU for being so far under your goal at this time of year! That's an awesome accomplishment!

Ummmm........no.

Definitely. When I get home, I am going to start all over again at the beginning.

Yep, I have some killer muscles in my legs! My calves are so ridged and sculpted that I keep cutting myself when I shave my legs--too many bumps! The singing was awesome. I was just beyond tickled. Pretty amazing for the girl who was afraid to make noise. I am going to put that in my memory box along with the comment that my doctor made.

Yeah. I have pushed that issue way to the back of my mind. But it's not going to go away.

Yep, it's NS desserts every time--like 8-12 at a clip. The fact that it's "diet" food makes me feel like there is a line I have not crossed (at least I'm not eating my old binge foods), but of course the calories still add up, and I am still strengthening my giving-in muscle.

This could have been the beginning of the end. In fact it felt more like the middle of the end at times. But I feel much, much better now that I reached out. Just the fact that I am now committed to daily communication will go a long way--I'm much less likely to gobble 10 desserts if I have to tell you about it later!!

She's not someone I could share deep emotional stuff with (although she and my niece did mention last night that they thought I should try online dating, so that would have been a natural opening!), but she is very supportive of healthy eating, is very knowledgeable about nutrition, and is an excellent cook, too. Just this morning she had me try Greek yogurt for breakfast, with fresh strawberries. I had never tried Greek yogurt before, and it was really good. It's so nice to open her refrigerator and see all kinds of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables all cut up and sorted into baggies (mostly for the party this afternoon, but still....).

I'm confused. When did the snackfest occur? After we talked on the phone? You could not possibly have eaten enough extra calories to gain 2.6 pounds, though. I know that much! It will quickly disappear. Make a plan for the party tonight.

My Exerspy said I burned up over 1800 calories yesterday, which surprised me considering that I was in the car most of the day. Since I only ate 1210, I was definitely in deficit. I weighed 130.2 this morning (down .6). I read my cards last night before bed.

OK, let's hope I can submit this. I am getting very frustrated with this. The last time the page crashed, a window popped up saying I was exceeding my memory capacity, which I don't get at all.

Have a wonderful day today!

I'd actually had a mini snackfest before we spoke -- it wasn't too bad, though. Mostly it's just salt. BUT I again didn't weigh this morning -- grr! The problem is that I'm often rising before my husband and don't want to wake him, and I'm out of the bedroom before I weigh. Ate reasonably yesterday, even though the party was here. Went to my class in the morning, walked there and back even though it's been cold, yay me! No class next week as the instructor/trainer is on vacation, so I need to work out alone. Probably a combination of the treadmill, dumbbells, maybe pushups and planks here at home.

So, yay for being down a bit! And for reading your cards.

Hope you had a good day!

Val

I have to type fast--this is the first time I've been able to load this page in at least 25 tries!!

As for your scale, can you move it out of the bedroom? Good for you for eating "reasonably well" at the party and for planning your workout for when your instructor is away. I kinda like walking in the cold; I find it refreshing. I took a really long walk in the cold one day about two weeks ago (one of the days when I was trying really hard to get back on track).

Today we all went to the gym in the morning. My brother hadn't been in a long time but was inspired to go because I was going, so that was nice! i couldn't believe how small, cramped, and crowded the gym was compared to the one I go to. I guess that's the difference in the price of real estate in OH vs. NJ!

This afternoon my SIL and spent the whole day shopping and had a great time. The only problem was that we stayed out much longer than we had anticipated and I hadn't planned for it or brought food, and neither had my SIL. We ended up so insanely hungry that we ended up going to the food court, where everything was already closed up for the day except for an Asian place. We ordered a portion of chicken and broccoli with green beans instead of rice and shared it, but everything was drowning in oil. It was actually kind of gross. I have no idea how many calories would have been in that, but counting it as 700 (seems like a worst case scenario, since I only ate half the portion), I ate no more than 1500 calories today and have already burned over 1600, so I should be OK. My weight was up .4 this morning (130.6).

On the long drive home from shopping, my SIL and I had a good talk about Bethy and my other friends' reactions to my weight loss. I was actually surprised at the extent to which she understood the issues. We talked about the possibility of me dating, too.

I am going to an 11PM church service tonight by myself, which will be a little sad for me, but it would just seem wrong to me not to go at all. My SIL and the one niece who is here tonight are Jewish, my brother couldn't care less about church, and my other niece is with her in-laws out of town tonight.

I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!

OK, my fingers are crossed that this page won't crash when I hit submit!

Typing fast, too, as I've got a gazillion things to do before folks start showing up. Weighed this morning, although I almost forgot -- 2.4 below goal, which is scary up but it's unlikely I'll have a low day today. Oh, well, move on. Got no exercise, but ate slowly and mindfully yesterday even though Christmas Eve is our traditional "Bring in crap takeout food" night.

Unfortunately the only place to move it would be to the kids' bathroom, where I'd be even less likely to remember it in the morning. I just have to be more diligent. I almost forgot this morning but went back in as quietly as I could and did it, yay me!

I love walking in the cold! Maybe I can get the hubs to walk with me -- he likes walking a lot, and he's off all next week. And he'll keep me moving fast with his long legs.

How fun to have a family gym day!

Actually sounds like a very reasonable decision to me, especially when it's not likely to happen often.

I suspect most women have had a similar experience of learning that a trusted friend wasn't trustworthy. I certainly have, and Jane already has. Not a happy thing to be able to share, but it's good to be able to find empathy.

Hope the church service was good, even though no one went with you.

Hope you have a great day! Do any of your brother's family celebrate Christmas at all, or will this be a Jews-Go-To-The-Movies-And-Chinese kind of day?

LOL on the "bring in crap takeout food" night--what a wonderful family tradition!!



Nope, that wouldn't work!

Good plan! I noticed this week that I can easily keep up with my brother, who is much taller than I am and walks fast. I used to struggle to walk anywhere with him.

It really was fun! Made me wish I have someone to go to the gym with at home.

I guess it must not have been as bad a choice as I thought, since my weight was down .8 this morning!

Sadly, I'm sure that is true. What I was amazed at was how readily she understood how I feel about my friends pushing me to eat. She even understood exactly what I had meant by the "trashbag full of popcorn" comment that set Bethy off; she instantly got that I found the food repulsive but not Bethy for eating it.

It turned out to be a very small church with only about 20 people in attendance, so I felt a little like an interloper breaking into a very established group. But it was an absolutely beautiful, perfect service, and everyone there was extremely friendly and welcoming to me. It was actually a very good experience.

We were going to go to the movies but ended up just hanging out here instead. My brother's family does celebrate Christmas. When the kids were little, they celebrated both Hannukah and Christmas, but basically just the getting-presents parts! When my mother was alive, we always had Christmas at her house. Since my mother has been gone, my brother's family has put up a tree here, decorated with all of the ornaments from my family, going back to when we were little. We just finished opening gifts a little while ago, and everyone is on their way to bed now.

My SIL, my niece, and I spent a couple of hours this afternoon going through bags of their old clothes, which they'd put aside to donate. I ended up with a big bag of stuff to take home (all expensive designer stuff in great condition), including some adorable skirts that my niece wore in 9th grade!

I haven't read the data from my Exerspy yet today and am afraid to leave this page in order to do that, lest I can't get back to it. It's been a pretty sedentary day, but I doubt I took in more calories than I burned, since I ate around 1300. (What we all ate for dinner was baked salmon, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and sweet potatoes [of which I only ate about two tablespoons]--definitely the healthiest Christmas dinner I have ever had!)

I read my cards last night before I went to sleep and will do so again right now. Tomorrow I am leaving to meet Bev in PA. I will check in tomorrow night, though, either here or by email. It seems that this page is less likely to crash late at night, so maybe the issue has something to do with the number of people who are on the site at once?

Hope you had a magical Christmas!

Weighed (4 under goal, so somehow 1.6 dropped off overnight even though we had two holiday meals yesterday), no exercise except for that I got dealing with putting said meals together, ate reasonably though I did eat quite a few things standing up.

Yes, we've been doing that for years. Our other embarrassing holiday tradition is "Frozen appetizer junk while decorating the Christmas Tree" night. Everyone gets to pick one appetizer from the frozen section and we set them out and put Christmas music on while we decorate the tree. I'm not sure how these got started, but I suspect there was pure laziness involved, as I do a LOT of heavy cooking days during the holidays.

Oh, very cool!

Maybe you can find a gym buddy! Have you tried any classes after the disastrous Zoomba? You might like spinning. No coordination required.

Yay!

Exactly. I am sure this is something many, many women who have lost weight and kept it off can understand.

So glad!

Fun!

Wow, sounds VERY healthy! Good for you guys! I got a new appliance for Christmas, a sous vide machine, which is basically a water oven. You put the food into a pouch and submerge it into water being held at the temperature the food cooks perfectly at -- for instance, for the turkey breast I was cooking, the water is set at 147 degrees, which is the temperature at which white meat turkey is perfectly cooked -- and then when you're ready to eat, you finish the food by quickly roasting or searing at a very high temp to get that nice browning. BEST TURKEY I'VE EVER MADE. And so simple and forgiving (you almost CAN'T overcook anything, because it takes the food to the correct temperature and holds it there so that even if you leave it in the machine for an extra HOUR it doesn't cook any further), literally anyone could do this and turn out perfect food every time.

That could definitely be the problem, though I'd have thought I'd be having it too. Maybe it's also the time of year, too -- lots of folks thinking about starting diets soon. Most gyms and diet forums see a huge jump in traffic as the holidays wind down.

Have fun with Bev! I'll be interested to hear how it goes. I know she's pretty consistently expressed concern, to the point it's gotten tedious for you. Hope she feels reassured when she sees you're actually quite healthy.

Wednesday: report -- weighed, yay! 2.4 under goal, should have a low day but we're probably going out tonight to play trivia so I might not. The holidays will be over soon, and it looks like I'll stay under goal so I'm still pretty happy. Didn't exercise, grr. Maybe I'll haul the hubs out for a walk today.

Thursday: report -- weighed, yay! 2.4 under goal. Had a low day, so maybe tomorrow I'll be headed back down. Didn't exercise.

Monday Jan 2: weighed (3 under goal, yay!), went to my class, yay! It felt good to be back at class after a week off -- I missed it, and as I didn't get ANY exercise in the week the class was off, I know I really need the discipline the scheduled class offers me.

Tues: weighed (2.2 under goal, up .8 from yesterday, grr), ate slowly and mindfully and reasonably all day and then had a wine-induced snackfest. I hate that.

Obviously I got my computer back today. Other than just routine maintenance, the issues I was having were entirely due to a problem with this site. The technician said he actually contacted someone at this site who told him that lots of people are having problems with it and they are working to correct the problem. My fingers are crossed that they did in fact fix it, since I was able to get on here on the first try.

Weighed 128.8 this morning (up .8, probably due to the personal training session yesterday. Had a perfect NS day and am feeling in control. I read my cards, ate everything sitting down, ate slowly and mindfully, did not exercise, contacted my diet buddy--and hopefully will be able to do so via this site daily from now on!

Yay! You're back! And your front, and both sides!

Well, I'm glad it wasn't a virus or something. How strange that so many people are having major issues while some of us aren't having any at all with the site.

Yay for feeling in control, and for recognizing that the .8 up was probably due to the training session instead of letting it make you anxious.

Report: weighed (yay, me) and ack, I'm at 1 under goal. I am noticing that at this weight, I my bra and jeans start to feel binding late in the day and I want to change into my jammies early. Amazing the difference just a few pounds can make in whether fitted clothing feels comfortable. It's not that these three or four pounds make me a size bigger -- the bra and jeans still fit, and the jeans aren't tight when I put them on -- but late in the day, I'm just feeling like I want them off. This isn't true just three or four pounds lighter. It's actually making me wonder if I ought to lower my hard stop weight another pound to 116.

This is the highest I've been, and uncomfortably close to goal, so I've decided I'm going to do a 5-day shakes-and-bars cleanse. It'll do multiple things for me -- I'll almost certainly lose weight while I do it, plus it's low-glycemic and will get me back to cravings-free, which after the past month and a half or so of eating bad carbs almost daily, I need. It's interesting that I don't feel huge anxiety over it, just a sense that okay, I need to do something about this. These five-day cleanses are a drag. Shakes three times a day at mealtimes, bars three times a day at snack times. But it really does work. I often find that within 2 days or so my cravings are gone and it starts to feel like too much food, and I end up skipping the third bar because by the time I'm ready for bed, I'm still feeling full from "dinner." Didn't exercise yesterday because I had a really rotten night's sleep and was finally dropping off around 3:30 so I unset my alarm. Probably won't exercise today as we have worker in our basement where my treadmill is. (Our dishwasher sprang a leak and leaked through the kitchen floor and into the basement before we'd realized it was happening. What a mess.)

This achiness is still with me -- it seems to be worse early in the day. I wake up feeling so achey it's hard to get out of bed, but now (three hours later) it's somewhat better, and it seems to me last night it was fine when I went to bed. I don't think it's exercise related. I'm going to keep track of how bad it is today, and I think I'm going to make an appointment to see the doc and find out what's going on.

Answering your email here: Jane's better most of the time, fingers crossed. She still has her ups and downs, but they seem more "normal." She missed a dose a few days ago and had a bad episode a day later, so we think the meds are definitely helping and that she's probably very sensitive to missing them if a single missed dose could make a difference.

Re: the 20 guy pushups. I want to get to that point, then make one of my daily habits doing those pushups. I read somewhere that one test of "fitness" is whether you can do 20 pushups, and that it's something everyone should be able to do no matter your age or gender because your ability to do it is keyed to your body weight, endurance and recovery rates, & your proportion of muscle to fat, but it's something that even very lean marathoners can't always do because their training often ignores their upper body. It's sort of a sign of overall fitness. One of the other tests of fitness is to be able to run a mile and then recover your breath/have your heart rate normalize within a certain time after finishing, but that's one's harder for me because of my knees. When I get my knees replaced, that'll be on my list.

LOL!!

I think the problem was specific to certain browsers.



My weight was unchanged today, but I'm fine with it. I suspect that I also might have been a little dehydrated, after losing 2.6 pounds in one day--a record for me!

Yep, definitely time to do something. I know exactly what you mean about a few pounds making such a noticeable difference. In the old days, I could easily gain 10 pounds and not notice, but now I can feel every pound. I find it interesting that you are having the same experience, given that you were never even close to as heavy as I was. What do you see as being the function of your hard-stop weight? And what would lowering it by one pound mean for you? Based on my recent experience, I think I would recommend that you don't lower your hard-stop until you are a few pounds lighter so that you don't find yourself suddenly over that weight (which could easily happen, given daily fluctuations). Are you still graphing your weight so that you can see the overall trend? (I stopped doing that a long time ago but am thinking it might be a good idea to start again, at least for a while.) I think it is very significant that you are not anxious about being so close to your hard-stop. Recognizing that you need to do something about it, without panicking or beating yourself up about it, is something to celebrate! YAY YOU!

What kind of bars and shakes do you use, and what is their nutritional composition (just curious!)? (By the way, have you seen the brouhaha over on the NS site about the addition of mandatory protein shakes? I'm not sure how I feel about that change.) So was today your first day on this cleanse? How did it go? Bummer on the dishwasher AND for its effect on your exercising!

For the very first time, I missed a personal training session today, for the same reason you missed your class. I just couldn't sleep last night (even though I didn't feel particularly anxious) and didn't drop off until around 7AM. I didn't think I'd make it through a session on 90 minutes of sleep, so when my alarm rang at 8:30, I got up and canceled my appointment and then went back to sleep.

Your increased achiness obviously isn't due to an increase in exercise, but I wonder if it could have anything to do with having exercised less lately? Good idea to monitor it and check in with your doc.

I'm glad to hear that Jane is doing better. That has to make life a little easier for you, too. What's going on with the college situation?

My trainer has never had me try push-ups (the closest is those evil planks), but I feel quite certain that I could not "pass" either of the fitness tests you mentioned. But I will! I have made so much progress.

I had my first deep-tissue massage yesterday, and it did an amazingly good job at alleviating my exercise-induced soreness. In my conversation with the masseuse (while she was working on me), it turned out that she was a former student of mine (I didn't remember her, and she didn't recognize me due to the weight loss). ACK!! Nothing like lying there practically naked in a dark room and being massaged by a student!!

Tomorrow I have an appointment for a make-up consultation. I've never used make-up beyond mascara and lip gloss, and thought it would be interesting and fun to venture into the world of make-up. I'm looking forward to it. In other news, I got an email from one of my eHarmony matches a couple of days ago. Last night I responded to it (first time I have contacted any of the several hundred matches I have received). Amazingly, I was not terribly anxious about it. YAY ME!

my report: weighed once (no change), did not exercise (like I said, canceled my session ), ate everything sitting down, saved a few bites for Callie, was OP all day (although my timing was a bit off due to sleeping until noon), read my cards, contacted my diet buddy.

Hope you had a good day with those shakes and bars, and that the scale rewards you for it tomorrow!

Amazing that you dropped 2.6 in one day! Those exercise sessions really do inflame the muscles!

For me, approaching it just makes me put on the brakes. Unlike you, I'm not trying to track my calories in/calories out on a daily basis, so weighing daily and responding to a gain is how I'm tracking. I'm not sure this is actually the BEST way to manage my weight, but for now it's working for me. I'm back into a more comfortable spot today (2.6 under goal) but I'm going to continue the shakes and bars for at least today. I'm under now -- I'm at 114.4, and dropping a pound would put my hard stop at 116 -- but I think I'll probably wait until after I've done this cleanse and gotten a little safer. No need to put more pressure on myself -- that'll just make me anxious. I haven't graphed in quite a while. Occasionally I enter it on LiveStrong. yep!



They're from Usana. (LINK) Chocolate shakes, chocolate bar and peanut butter bars. The shakes are 330 calories, 7g fat, 32g carbs, 15g protein. The bars are 160 calories, 5g fat, 19g carbs, 10g protein. So a whole day would be 1470, which is almost exactly what I'm aiming for. I seldom get all six meals/snacks in, though -- yesterday I did three shakes and two bars. No, I didn't see that! What's the rationale behind it? So was today your first day on this cleanse? How did it go? [/quote] Went well -- happy to be down into comfortable territory again!

Did it make you feel anxious?




She's accepted three places (Colorado College and Allegheny, both with very nice merit scholarships, and U of Mich, which isn't high on her list but would be a great choice if she decides she wants a big school after all. She has two more apps to get in, and then it's just financial aid stuff and waiting for responses.



Yep, I'm sure you will! Pushups are hard -- I had to start with "girl" pushups (knees on the floor) and I can do about ten of those. I can only do about five real pushups.

LOL! I bet it did make your muscles less sore! I don't like massages myself -- I have very tender skin, and I don't really enjoy being touched by people I don't know -- but a lot of folks LOVE them.

Yay, you! I'll be interested to hear what response you get!

Good day! I exercised this morning, ate (or drank shakes) sitting down, didn't leave a bite, though.

And today I was up a pound, back to 129.8, for no reason that I can discern. It continues to amaze me how much my weight can fluctuate in 24 hours even when my calorie intake is pretty constant.

Good for you for not putting that kind of pressure on yourself! And YAY for getting well under your goal again so quickly! I do think that the daily weighing is probably the single best way to manage your weight. (Sometimes the big daily fluctuations take me by surprise, but I'm not sure that trying to track calories in and out is all that useful given that my Exerspy tells me that I am in a calorie deficit just about every day, and yet I do not lose weight.) And obviously you have been very successful for an extended period of time now by relying on the daily weigh-ins. It sounds like you are doing better at not forgetting to weigh in.

You have never once gone over your hard-stop weight since you first got under it, right? What do you think would happen if you did go over it at some point? What would you say to yourself, and how would you respond behaviorally?



That surprises me--1470 calories actually sounds like a lot to me! Do you do this primarily to cut your cravings as opposed to losing weight?

Given the high protein content, I'm not surprised that you wouldn't be hungry enough to eat the last shake. I still remember how easy it was for me to do that liquid protein fast years ago. That was the easiest diet I ever did--no hunger, no cravings.

They say it's to increase the daily protein content and to decrease hunger. Some people are up in arms about it because it seems too much like a "diet" instead of a true lifestyle change, others are disturbed because the nutritional breakdown of the NS shakes doesn't seem as appropriate as some of the protein shakes people are already buying on their own, and others are opposed to the idea of drinking calories instead of eating them. PamSB was so upset about the shakes that she stopped posting on the boards, pulled down her page, and vowed never to recommend NS to anyone again!

Amazingly, no! I can't figure that out, though!




And she was on a waiting list for Bowdoin, right? Has she completely given up on that?



Next time I go to the gym on my own, I will try some push-ups. For that matter, I guess I could try them on my living room carpet!

I'm not bothered by being touched in a controlled situation like that, but I'm very self-conscious about my loose skin.

So far, none! But if I don't get one, that's OK, too. I've finally come to a feeling of equanimity about the whole thing and am willing to just take the leap of faith and see what happens.

Kinda hard to leave a bite of a shake!! I bet that exercise felt good.

I had a good day today, too. Stayed OP, read my cards, ate slowly and mindfully, contacted my diet buddy. Got only minimal exercise, though.

I had my make-up consultation, which was kind of fun. I do really like the way my eyes look. I bought a bunch of the products that were used, including some brushes to apply them, without asking the prices. My jaw practically hit the floor when I heard the total: $238. Holy moly. Who knew that it is so expensive to be beautiful?