Welcome to the discussion group, support group, Diet Coach group, Diet Buddy group relating to the two books by Dr. Judith S. Beck:and the first bookThe Beck Diet Solution is a psychological program, not a food plan. It provides a step-by-step program to learn specific techniques to stay on our diet, lose weight, and maintain our weight loss for life. The program is based on Dr. Beck's clinical research in Cognitive Therapy (CT).

The Complete Beck Diet for Life expands the earlier work and includes a food plan with suggested menus. From the cover:This is a place to discuss the Beck strategies and our daily efforts, to receive and provide support, and, for some of us, is where we serve as on-line diet buddy (coach) to each other.

If you’ve arrived from a search engine, you’ve landed at the site of 3 Fat Chicks (3FC), a remarkable place for those interested in a healthy life style, including mindful eating, exercise, and weight loss. More about the site, including how to register so that you can post, can be found here.

The books are available on Amazon through the 3FC store by clicking their names above; buying through 3FC helps to cover the costs of running this site.

You can find the list of previous (or more current) monthly Beck threads here on 3 Fat Chicks via:

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Birding in the morning was walking about in goose down and Gore-Tex in a light rain to observe that the warblers aren't here yet. They're late because there hasn't been a steady wind from the south to assist their flight here. Oh, Well. I walked to an evening event for my exercise, CREDIT moi.

Eating was on plan, CREDIT moi. It was a minor achievement to ignore food during the evening - but I do that regularly these days as I'm on track. It's when I'm not on track that the presence of food calls and I grab.


maryann - Yay for "get a life outside of food." It's easy for me to stay my plan when I think of nothing else. It's also easy for me to ignore eating mindfully when I get fully immersed in something else. This balance business is the challenge.

flnu - Like being reminded, "enjoy life while dieting." Step aerobics will still be here when you get back. Just be prepared to have it called Hot Yoga Zumba or something similarly fashionable.

Readers -

Hi coaches

I am just home from graduations and the list has ticked over to May. Happy May Day all (we had a strike at work to celebrate in proper form)

This morning my weight was down a pound this morning. But todays finger foods might have disrupted things a little. I followed the advice in DF to eat normally beforehand and I think it did stop the mindless eating. I avoided calories in liquid form - advice I see here often from BillBE. Had a few pieces of food and then stopped. Means I don't need to make dinner because I have had enough.

Forgot to say I did gym yesterday as planned, hit 11000 steps today and 25 active minutes, and plan gym for tomorrow

flnu - tennis lessons - you make them sound such fun and great activity. I like the fact that DF makes some sense with numbers and I stop catastrophising about some things. But I totally relate to having no guilt and shame about eating. I never did fortunately - just hate being heavy and awkward and have to change it. But he is dealing with a lot of people who do feel that way

Maryann - Credit for exercise and insight into how you are spending your WW points

BillBE - love the reading for today. There are lots of reinforcing messages about tracking and being accountable and I am getting more consistent with it. Hope warm (and warblers) arrive soon

Hello, all! Not the best day yesterday. Dad went to ER and then the hospital, has a hurdle to overcome and test results to come back today from a number of tests. Issues with Mom as well, and spent good time last night getting filled in by my brother. I will wait to results hopefully this afternoon. Thinking of taking the afternoon off and dropping my car off to have a bit of maintenance done and spending time with DH.

I ate too much last night - we went out for dinner and the entree, which used to be able to be split in two no problem, was much smaller, and I struggled with, do I bother saving that small amount or what? I saved more than I planned to but still ate a larger meal than I probably needed to. I don't want to hop on the scale until Saturday - I dipped down to the 163.4 number and I typically drop, gain, maintain a bit until another small drop ... and I don't want to get it in my mind that the rise of a few pounds for whatever reason is because I ate 400 calories more than I needed. Disfunctional thinking.

Thursday.

Trooping along. Went yesterday OP and all my "candy calories" were replaced by olive oil. It's takes a very small amount of olive oil to replace 120 calories of candy! Trying this again today and replacing my white flour torilla with Romaine leaves for the lunchtime turkey wrap.

Working out at the end of a Fast Day is exhausting afterwards. Today is a regular day and I'll do Workout #3 for the week to see if it's a better match.

Tweaking, always tweaking.

Happy May Day, everyone!

I met my exercise goal for April -- yay! That took a few big days at the end, but I made them happen.

On May 1, I intend to complete Day 1 of the Diet Fix. I've been working on it for the last several days.

A double-down strategy that I don't think I mentioned before is that I'm going to apply this to my writing and the planning of my trip to England, too. So, I've made a log book that has a daily diary form to fill out for my food, my writing, and trip-planning. I made use of our comb-binding machine to make it all fancy and spiffy. That always helps. Today will be my first day of logging.

I'll also order my Fit Bit One today. Tomorrow, I'll start Day 2 and give myself a few days to play around with those ideas.

WI: NA kg, Exercise: +55 1500/1500 minutes for April, Food: NA op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

BillBlueEyes: Thanks for getting our May off to a great start with a bird walk. I'm relating to this today: "do that regularly these days as I'm on track." What I've learned in the last few months is that I have to stay on track in maintenance. I guess I was experimenting with the notion that I could wander off and then wander back on. But that's not working well for me.

GosfordGirl: yay for not eating mindlessly in the presence of finger foods.

nationalparker: thinking of you and your family at this time. Take care of yourself!

6crowsgold: Cool that olive oil worked for you. Looking forward to your romaine lettuce experiment. White flour tortillas are triggering for me (something about flour and butter -- they make me crave biscuits!), so I always want a good substitute.

Hello Coaches,

Good day here today. OP. Exercised. Tracked. Posted. I love it when there's really nothing to say. Means there were no special challenges. Cool.

BBE: Walking around in a misty rain all bundled up sounds really appealing to me. I guess because I haven't needed to bundle up in a loooong time. It's hot all the time here. May I also just thank you for moderating? I really appreciate that you keep up the threads and always respond personally. It really sets a welcoming tone.

Cheryl: Nice work on the steps and the gym. I'm glad DF is working for you. I have mixed feelings about that particular piece of advice (don’t let your hunger trigger get tripped) because on the one hand, it makes total intuitive sense to me, and I have had the experience of making poor choices because I was too hungry. On the other hand, I don't like feeling not-hungry at meals. I'm going to bypass that advice for the time being; I’ll revisit it later if need be. What he said about tracking did strike a chord for me, and I recommitted to My Fitness Pal today. Nice that BBE (I think) came in with the reinforcing Beck quote too.

Nationalparker: Sorry the change in portion size threw you for a loop but I think you handled it well enough. That would be a really hard scenario for me.

Joy: Congrats on hitting your goal. So cool that you did what it took to make it happen. I’ll look forward to hearing about your adventures with DF.

6crowsgold: I can imagine how exhausting it is. I don’t know how old you are but I’m 44 and I have been shocked to discover the slow recovery time between workouts now and how much something like a cold can lay me low. I’m sure it wasn’t that way in high school (self-directed duh).

Please excuse the little soap box I’m about to get on, but I find it off-putting in books that use science to make a point, like DF, they present it so poorly. For example, he tells us the 78% of weight loss maintenance masters (in a National Registry) eat breakfast and thus eating breakfast is important for weight loss maintenance. Gah. It means nothing by itself. Maybe 85% of couch potatoes eat breakfast, we don’t know. Or people that “diarize” lose 2 or 3 times more weight than those that don’t. Again, gah! People that fall off the diet wagon are not going to be motivated to write it down. We have no idea which comes first, diet success or diarizing. I’m guessing he’s just dumbing it down for a popular book, and the science is solid (or at least not so very weak), but it bugs me.

Missed check-in yesterday and it was not a good day

Trying a bigger breakfast today as I realized I had been gradually cutting calories there to make the day lower and DF emphasizes the need to have at least 1/5 of your "non-loss" calorie level at breakfast.

Will check in later with a hopefully better day!

Fun (two-page) list on Beck's FB Today:
Think Thin Thursday: As we know, dieters can’t turn to food everything they get upset and still lose weight and keep it off. Here is list of other pleasurable activities you could try when you want to eat for emotional reasons. Remember, they may not initially be as effective as eating, but they come with no negative consequences for your weight. [P.S. Disregard the few that have to do with eating!]

http://www.newharbingeronline.com/ex...Activities.pdf

Coaches

Not a lot to report. I went to gym as planned and went to the shops to get food for the weekend - most of which will be focussed on work. Tomorrow winter is supposed to arrive with low temperatures (for us) and some rain. Rather looking forward to it. I bought some yoghurt (strained) that labelled itself as plain greek yoghurt and I wondered why I had never bought it before. I got it home and tasted it and it has sugar in it! You shouldn't have to read the ingredients when it is labelled as "Strained Greek Yoghurt, Thick and Creamy, Plain". I was buying it to make amongst other things a cabbage salad using Gardenerjoys recipe for creamy coleslaw dressing. I guess I can use it as that has some sugar in it as part of the recipe. But I still want to take it back because plain does not mean with sugar added.

I am beginning to feel as if I can do this - I am starting to lose weight again and have stayed under 189 (got 187.8 one day) for a week. I seem to have hit my stride and my interest maintained by Beck and DF. I have slowly lost weight since 2010 when was about 240 but it has been with glacial slowness. I think chemotherapy really messes with your metabolism and they are starting to discuss that in the literature. So maybe I am coming out the other side. So I am more positive because I think I can maintain healthful behaviours with Beck (supplemented by DF) and because I have passed some sort of physical hurdle. I am sure more will come but as I said I feel hopeful.

Saw a research article which discussed the outcomes for men on a hypercaloric (high sugar and fat) diet who were randomized (lean healthy men) into two groups (unusual to find nutrition articles that use an experimental method). One group had their hypercaloric diet divided up into three meals a day, the other group had it divided amongst 3 meals and 3 snacks. Both groups increased in BMI but the snacking group put on more abdominal fat and liver fat than the three meals a day group. Conclusion - snacking independently contributed to hepatic steatosis and obesity. So where does that leave the DF for a normal caloric diet? Who knows but I think for me one snack a day is enough as opposed to grazing

Nationalparker - hope your bad day is behind you and that things are improving

6crowsgold - I have not been game enough to try a fast and a workout in the same day. I am not stable enough so I empathise. I will have a fast day tomorrow and do gym on Sunday. Replacing tortillas with lettuce leaves sounds sensible and certainly reduces the calories - I do it all the time. But not quite as satisfying if you are looking for carbs

Gardenerjoy - Hope you got through Day 1 again and that it spoke to you. I like bits and pieces of the book and find it helpful in an adjuvant sort of way

flnu - Credit for your clear cut program and ability to stay on it. I always take different programs with a grain of salt and adapt to fit my options. But I like the passion and the enthusiasm. DF author has a lot to say to agencies and governments that needs to be said so I will read him and take what works for me. I think he does try to dumb down the science for his audience - most sensible clinicians would realise that correlational data does not mean causation. But he needs to tell a palatable story and I think he does well. No good being a highbrow if your readership doesn't get it

Tricia - hi - glad you made it back. Hope your bigger breakfas worked and you were less hungry. Certainly a long list of better things to do than eat! But takes a bit more effort I think perhaps and the pathway to those activities not quite as worn in

Diet Coaches/Buddies – The good news is that the scale read three pounds lower this morning. However, it's not celebration time. I spent the day miserable with a head cold: I broke three appointments (including a dinner with friends); I had a single bowl of Miso soup for lunch (60 calories); I didn't do my gym session; I spent much of the day in bed - part of that shivering under a giant quilt. My guess is that I'm three pounds dehydrated and I'll see it return with cheerful feelings after three pints of water.

Eating was way under plan; CREDIT moi with irony.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Just love it that you've recognized that you can use the same strategies for food, exercise, writing, and trip planning. Kudos for driving yourself to meet your April exercise goal. And thanks for the reinforcement that staying on track has special benefits.

Cheryl (GosfordGirl) – "11000 steps" is worth a happy dance along with Kudos - that's a full day. And Super Kudos for incorporating finger foods into an on-plan day. Great thought, "I am beginning to feel as if I can do this." I agree, 'plain' is not properly applied to 'sugar added.'

nationalparker – Ouch for those meals that are too big but not twice too big as to allow an easy split. I'm so full of Sabotaging Thoughts that justify eating just-a-bit too much where that's defined as between 1% and 99%. Continue to send supportive thoughts to you and your family as you support your parents.

Tricia (AZtricia) - Enjoyed your list of things to do instead of eating - a good reminder to keep our short-term Bucket List handy. Today seems to be tweaking day on the Beck Forum.

flnu - Yep, boring is good. Kudos for boring. Thanks for soap-boxing that correlation doesn't imply causation. I'm less convinced that the serious authors don't understand that than I am accepting that the repetition of that statement, itself, would be a worse turn-off. [Thanks for the kind words.]

6crowsgold - Yay for using olive oil to replace candy - I'm a believer that the body appreciates the difference. Thanks for the reminder that this isn't a stagnant process, "Tweaking, always tweaking."

Readers -

Coaches

The last few days have been a challenge, made harder by the weight I carry. My back has started to ache again and while it doesn't hurt so much I can't do anything, the soreness is shifting around. I think I hold stress in my back these days is my conclusion coupled with the NO exercise I have been doing and then all of a sudden I have to do stuff.

I seem to have put many developing notions aside during the month of April. I simply stopped trying to be fitter. I just dropped that. I didn't go to the gym and I didn't do any other exercise either. I just stopped.

I stopped faithfully tracking, only doing enough to not go completely off the rails, but mostly I didn't do it or do it well when I did it.

I totally ignored my goal to be under 200 by the end of the year, not putting that goal further out of reach. Still on the cusp of doable if I get on track today. And with that I am here with the strong intention to get back on track today.

I'm not doing the diet fix anymore. I'm tempted to give the book away except it's on my kindle. I think it's the lure of the new that gets me following something new vs. doing what I was doing that was getting results ie. my fitbit on my wrist monitoring my activity levels daily and my food intake written into the fitbit software online and seeing where I am at as the day goes along. That was working. What I am doing now is not.

I got a phonecall from the picky landlord last night and some furnace guy is coming on Sunday between 8am and noon to test the furnace as the landlord is concerned about our high heating bill. He chastized me for opening my windows when I admitted I did do that from time to time. He said he now knows who the "culprit" is. He wanted me to give his a reason why I want to open the windows. HELLO?? I said "I want the fresh air." How can you live somewhere and never open the window except in the few weeks where the temperature outside is warmer than inside but not super hot so the air conditioner is on and then you can't open the windows to let the cool air out? Methinks the cause of the super high heating bill are the really bad windows but I am so uninterested in having a conversation with my landlord about how he can improve his rental property. I don't want to know. I don't care. I want to be left alone.

Of course visit from picky landlord=need to clean the place up as his visit will invite some passive/aggressive criticism about how we keep our apartment. And of course along with not tracking properly or exercising I have also fallen off the keep things tidy/tidier bandwagon and now I have two days before he comes in, and a sore back and exhaustion from the week's events.

It feels as though I always have to put out more energy on these three areas than I really want to: eating better/moving better/cleaning up better. I haven't figured out how to work these three AND make my deadlines/work in my studio. I haven't even seen my mother in 2 weeks.

Anyway nothing to do here but to start.

Bye for now.

Hello Coaches,

My weight continues to veer around like a pinball. This Friday's weigh in saw a 3 pound loss to 165 after last week’s 4 pound gain, which was chasing vacation-week’s head-scratching 5.5 pound loss. I’d much prefer to settle back into a steady rhythm but I guess my body will do what it will and the downs are beating the ups. I feel like my behaviors have not changed dramatically since I started back in January so I don’t understand these new swings. I am now down to a 34 minute 5K. Four months ago I couldn’t run for more than a minute or two at a time. Big kudos for me.

Tricia: Thanks for posting the snippets, I’m enjoying reading them. Hope today was a good one for you and breakfast was hearty.

Cheryl: Oh, I’m getting good bits out of the DF too. I found the section on tracking to be a really useful and compelling reminder. I agree about his passion (and compassion). Interesting bit about the hypercaloric snacking study. As I read on today, DF did address my problem with have-to-snack, he’s got a three-meal-a-day plan too. I am intrigued by the hunger avoidance premise. Are you implementing that piece of it? In any event, it is SO GREAT to see you riding such a positive wave. And absolutely plain greek yogurt means plain. Foolish marketers. (As a complete aside that may be too much to discuss in this forum, what do you mean there’s a message that governments and agencies need to hear in DF? From my perspective, government health agencies just kind of do finger-wagging about the impact of inactivity, and to a lesser extent excess weight, on health but without offer any kind of solution. There’s some ridiculous shaming (schools sending bmi report cards for pity’s sake) but the traumatic diet push and the lion’s share of the shame come from the commercial sector. Maybe I'm not far along enough in the book to get what you're saying.)

BBE: That sounds miserable. Hope you’re up and about and hydrated soon. (Miso soup sounds like an excellent sick day option. I will remember that.)

Onebyone: I just want to point out that you have kept posting. Credit. You are learning from what doesn’t work. Credit. Best wishes going forward.

Have a rewarding weekend all.

Good Morning, Coaches.

This week I have been trapped back full force in addictive food behavior. I have been "last supper eating" most nights with sweets and other carbs I haven't eaten in months (see pasta) trying to hop back on the "diet" the next morning only to fail mid day. This is what I did for twenty years when I was over 200 pounds.
How did I get here?
One sure reason is I have been experiencing some troubling mood swings - anxiety to depression. I know I use sugar to self-medicate. Some of those swings I think are hormonal ( see menopausal.) I am trying to work with my doctor on a solution. But my Beck skills of sitting while eating and food plans are out the window.
I feel like I am in a downward spiral.
This morning I am going to do NOTHING but put time and energy into getting back some peace with food. Like Beck says - losing weight takes time and intention. This is my priority. I have logged a food plan. I am telling the truth to you guys and myself. I have changed my ticker. It is the first of the month and I cannot lie and say I am in maintenance range. I will do a pilates session.

Thanks all for listening. I still hold onto AZTricia's post about hard versus impossible. This is not impossible and it is not too late. All my clothes still fit, I am eating lots of veggies, and I have a plan.

I finished Day 1, again, yesterday and feel geared up and 10% Reset! My goal today is to read Day 2 of The Diet Fix. I logged yesterday (and figured out at the end of the day that I didn't eat enough calories -- that explains why I was hungry, duh). So, I may consider myself done with Day 2 at the end of today.

I was surprised by an opportunity to have lunch with DH and our newly-married nephew. We went to our normal place, so I made my normal good choice there.

WI: NA kg, Exercise: +25 1500/1500 minutes for May, Food: 90% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Hello, all. Weight up to 165 this morning, and figured it wouldup a bit be soon with regular body fluctuations but want to stay mindful but not obsessive on things. I was so pleased with my ability to eat a little bit of whatever while I was at home. Last night DH's older daughter called to come over, so we ate together for the first time in a year. She's matured a bit, and that was nice to see.

My dad is still in the hospital and I'm hoping he's discharged soon, but we'll see. I am nervous of him there with his lower white blood cells to battle infection. But he's getting good care and has very aware, quality medical caregivers, so that's reassuring.

Trying to get a date that I can return - do not want to overlap with my sister in the caregiving. I view that as a waste of resources and a major frustration since I struggle in my interactions with her.

Going to see a performance at a dinner theatre tonight. Our membership comes with free dessert or wine, and as a non-drinker, I'll enjoy the free dessert and go lighter on the weekend, while being more active with the gardens. Plans just made a few minutes ago to just enjoy it to start off our weekend. Would like to dress up a bit for a change