Welcome to the discussion group, support group, Diet Coach group, Diet Buddy group relating to the two books by Dr. Judith S. Beck:

The Complete Beck Diet for Life
and the first book
The Beck DIET solution: train your brain to think like a thin person.

The 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:
With The Complete Beck Diet for Life you'll discover the 5 stages of successful dieting and maintenance. You'll learn how to motivate yourself, give yourself credit for every change you make, create time and energy for dieting, and handle hunger and cravings. Dr. Beck eases you into changing one step at a time. You'll master one task before moving on to the next. And you'll learn techniques to deal with challenging situations, such as sticking with ou plan at celebrations and dealing with "food pushers." With Dr. Beck's skills, you'll achieve a lifetime of healthful eating and lifelong motivation.

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:

List of Monthly Beck Threads for Support, Discussion, Buddy/Coach

Diet Coaches/Buddies - The Amazon story continues - just as unexciting as before. I responded to their question about the level of my happiness with the deliver with the statement that the package had NOT arrived. Then, in the afternoon of the day after, a different Amazon truck drove up with . . . my package. All neatly wrapped with bubble wrap as expected. Got a second email from Amazon: "Your package has been delivered." Tried to respond that I was happy. Alas, "You've already responded" flashed up on my screen. So I carefully described the entire incident and sent it to the only place I was allowed to write - the seller. Got back the most amazing non-sequitur, non-grammatical, non-sentence, "Thank you for your messages, the shipment was responsible by Amazon Fulfillment Team, anything we can help you further?" No, no mister BOT, there is no further help you can be further help. Anything. Responsible. I do hope you don't have to hear any more about this.

Walked, CREDIT moi, for two hours with a friend who had a list of issues of mutual interest to discuss. We have several friends in common who are in their nineties and need thoughtful interaction. I learned that one friend had been advised by their speech therapist to read a book out loud to someone to help their speech improve after their stroke. They read flawlessly, with nuance, with no pauses, with full understanding of a technical book. Very impressive! Especially since this friend has a hard time responding to a question - long pauses or no response at all. I need to learn to accept that that's how my brain will age, also.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snack, CREDIT moi. Trip to the supermarket included picking up appetizers for Easter Dinner with the kids on Saturday. Got a bunch of Bell Peppers: Red, Orange, and Yellow - with humus and Tabouli (Tabbouleh) . My standard tray of cheeses and crackers has been ignored by everyone but me in the past. Everyone likes this stuff.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Thanks for sharing your own difficulty in giving yourself credit. So many of us were raised to think that wrong.

maryann - Super Kudos for "but I did not over indulge." Such a painful story for the start of a planned joyful trip. I understand how much more difficult it is to communicate with folks who aren't being straight forward with their real thoughts.

nationalparker – Yay for the distraction of buying plants - even if with a tad of sticker shock. Do you have a way to support your new mandevilla to growing upward?

Karen (karenrn) - Thanks for the reminder, "aging is not for the faint of heart." 7 1/2 mile hike is a great way to stand it down.

curlyjax - I hear so many stories of the difficulty of finding a new home for furniture cleared from a parent's house. Always Kudos for "but I'm trying not to overeat."

Penny. - There's nothing as satisfying as a desired book arriving.

MrsCalypso - Yep, "Slowly and Mindfully" seem like such simple ideas until we confront that we don't eat that way. I can image that lunch at work is a challenge.

Readers -

Not much got done at work yesterday. A few of us were occupied with mom things, and another person was working on only a few hours of sleep, having arrived home from a vacation early that morning. It was good to have a quiet day. I’m still not sleeping well, partly because of moving stress I think. I spent a little time with DD looking at the subway map, and she was amazed to learn I did know a little bit about Boston I did manage to make a healthy dinner of salmon and broccoli, and get it cleaned up too.
Maryann-oh dear, that texting thread does sound upsetting. I think at this point if folks are going to travel, they should accept the fact that the risk of getting covid goes along with it. Good for you for handling it beautifully as usual.
Penny- I don’t remember the conversation about that series but now i’m intrigued.

Good morning, all!

Today is Day 6 , Find a Diet Coach.

I'd like to hear about how you all use a coach. I get the impression that many of you use this thread as a coach. The program suggests weekly in depth check-ins, reporting on weight change (weekly), successes and challenges, as well as "spot check ins" that would be more like what we do here on a more daily basis.

How does this work for you? Do you have a coach separate from this thread? What about weekly, in-depth check-ins?

CREDIT for eating two salads, yesterday. I'm very pleased that I've managed to add a main dish salad that DH likes to our repertoire for supper -- romaine lettuce, pear, cucumber, roast potato, and stir-fried chicken seasoned with Chinese 5-spice. I dress it with a homemade honey-mustard vinaigrette. That salad was inspired by a meal we got from Sunbasket a couple of months ago.

I don't think I reported that we got a Sunbasket box too late for the food to be edible during that early streak of 90-degree days. Since then, we've skipped every week and may continue to skip through the summer.

To meet our occasional need for variety or ease, we've been using a new locally owned place. They make what we're calling TV dinners, but they're fresh not frozen. We encountered that sort of meal when we stayed in London several years ago. The tiny grocery stores carry them for people who live in tiny apartments with only a microwave and a two-hob stove to cook on -- which was exactly the arrangement that we had. This local place specializes in healthy food -- I have multiple choices for a supper below 400 calories and without too much sodium.

Exercise +35, 1540 /1500 minutes for May

nationalparker: We enjoyed Operation Mincemeat: Operation Mincemeat #FilmReview #BriFri – Joy's Book Blog (joyweesemoll.com). I had The Thursday Murder Club on my ebook wish list at the library. I just moved myself onto the hold list because I want to get to the book in the series that integrates with Operation Mincemeat.

MrsCalypso: I use this thread as my coach. At various times, I've done more or less structured report-ins. The line where I track exercise has sometimes included a grade for how well I followed my food plan the day before. When I was weighing daily, I reported the change in weight each morning.

Good morning, Happy new month!

Yesterday included homemade pizza. Weight is holding at least after splurging for so many days but I know that will not last.

MrsCalypso, you're right that we use this thread as our couches, in fact you've already been a great coach for me the past few days, just reminding us of the tools.

Maryann, I prefer having my own lodging anyway so you might enjoy the down time. I hope the latest covid spread is starting its downward trend. My local graph looks like it might be just over the peak.

Nationalparker, I might do my planting this weekend. I've considered skipping it altogether this year but nah. I love it.

Bill, that's good you got your package delivered without too much hassle. I would still like to know why the truck showed up the previous day but did not actually drop it off. I guess that mystery will have to remain unsolved. lol

waving at Karen, Curly, and Joy! Have a great day, everyone.

Popping in to note that I did my monthly weigh in today (I switched to monthly so that the scale was less of a focus for me.)

I am down 1.5 lbs from May 1st. I know I can swing that much from day to day on the scale I have, but I'll take it Changing my stats in the system here...

Day two of fast. I forgot the food for me to bring to school so I have improvised. Fine. I am committing to yoga before hubby gets home. I need to water my plants. I am pretty beat with school racing to a close and kids high energy.

Mrs. Calypso: I iuse the group for accountability. I have also at other times attended OA meetings with a sponsor. I am traveling to MO, Quebec, Menodcino, Ecuador and San Diego this summer.
Curleyjax: Yeah for low key days.
Penny: Thank you for the reframe. The truth is I do like my own lodging sometime.
Joy: How wonderful to be able to say "When I lived in London." I have never lived anywhere but California. I wonder if that is in my future,.
BBE: A little scary that I give so much of my money to a BOT. DH went to a nut growers meeting. One of the reasons the exports of nuts have fallen in the world id because there is so much fast a furious "Amazoning" the ships are not will to reload when they get to American. It takes too much time. They dump the sea container and head right back for the next. Crazy. Also, I read an article that it is cheaper for Amazon to dump returns rather than process them. So returns are going into a landfill. I have made a commitment to be more careful about returns.

I'm posting early this am as I have an early appt with my new ob-gyn and the traffic is insane this time of day. I'm switching to a female doc with a group practice; one of my friends goes there and loves it. I forgot to get my records switched oops but oh well. I stress ate terribly yesterday and feel very bloated and uncomfortable today. I'm not seeing any progress in DD's packing and she doesn't want me to pack her stuff so we're at a standstill. I know she's very busy and stressed with school but we need to get going.
Mrs. Calypso-In theory use this thread as a coach but at this point for me personally its more of a daily life check in with folks I've "known" for a few years, who are supportive about things other than just food. No one in real life knows I have this, and its just wonderful. I need to get back to focusing on food, yet again.
Maryann- that is terrible about Amazon returns!! and about the nuts. I will keep that in mind as well.

Good morning coaches,

Food was close to on plan yesterday and weight is holding. I had a couple of dates at my friends house and my dinner was probably a little larger than necessary. I took Otis for a walk yesterday before heading out about 6:30. I took the back way to my friends house which is north of Tucson. They had a new home built in a very nice retirement community. I have said I'd never want to live in one, but. I will say they have beautiful facilities from the large indoor pool, grand outdoor pools, golf, pickle ball courts, tennis courts, gym, and spa. The building that interested me the most had large rooms for wood working, lapidary, other jewelry making, quilting, other paper crafts and I can't remember what else.

She is the friend who taught me to backpack years ago. I think we may start hiking the Arizona trail in sections. Her husband has offered to be our shuttle driver but won't allow her to go alone and he trusts me. We would start down by the Mexican border and hike north beginning in the fall. It is 800+ miles and ends at the Utah border. Something fun to be thinking about and planning. We would only do 3 or 4 days at a time.

Next I headed in to see my lifelong friend who had the stroke and is moving back to WA. She was doing pretty well considering her many health issues with anorexia (?) and osteoporosis being the worst of them. It was great to see her and her sister. I've known both of them for over 60 years. I didn't stay long and then hit the freeway to head for home stopped at Costco to fill the fridge. And boy did I fill the fridge. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to The Magnolia Palace on my drive. Feeling ever so grateful to have the excellent health that I enjoy along with the stable mental health too.

Maryann I imagine the end of the year is exhausting. I hope you have time to rest up before your first trip. You have a very busy and fun sounding summer in front of you. Glad you were able to improvise for your fast. I watched a video about the Prolon Fast on Plant Chompers a while back.

Mrs Calypso Yes, I use the group for my accountability, my support system, my place to gather information and shoulder to cry on at times. Good solid helpful people who truly understand the lifelong aspect of weight control.

Penny I think I need to learn to make homemade pizza that fits in our food plan. Dh would be in absolute heaven. I think he would eat pizza every day if possible.

GardenerJoy The salad sounds delicious. I've been having steamed greens at lunch very frequently with a little Spicy Asian Peanut dressing on them. I stuff the bowl really full and I figure it's the same nutrients as a salad. Your thoughts on picking something up at the local place help me realize I could do the same at the Flower Child restaurant nearby.

Curlyjax One of these years soon your daughter will realize you are smart. I remember when it seemed like a switch flipped in my son and I went from not too bright to pretty smart. It will be great with the move is over and hopefully sleep will come easier to you. Glad you had a low key day at work.

Bill Isn't that amazing the difference between your friends reading and speaking when answering a question. I guess not near as much thinking is required with reading. I'm sure not all brains age the same especially ones that have had a stroke vs those who have not. I just ordered a book Alive Until You're Dead: Notes on the Home Stretch that a friend recommended. My friend seems like she is looking more forward to the home stretch than I am, so I will report on the book.

Waving to Nationalparker!

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Walk, CREDIT moi, included stopping at CVS because I had a 43% off coupon and a blood pressure monitor that was beginning to fail. Would be smart to replace it now with the price break. So I did. Felt like a smart shopper. I also had a $5 off coupon and a $0.60 off coupon "on my card." "Do you want to use all three of them?" the clerk asked. Of course. I collect CVS coupons by the pound and never get to use any. I read my blood pressure every morning thinking that it might give me a signal that I have a problem so I'll get to my cardiologist. Makes me feel like I'm doing something useful.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was grilled salmon and broccoli consumed at the kitchen table as rain came and went outside. Excitement was picking up the (6 yo) DGD day; she twirled about in the rain quite happily before being coached to get in the car. If another kid had joined her, they'd still be out there. I do admire her attitude about rain - it's for dancing in.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Love the notion of fresh "TV dinners." Closest we get to that is the Whole Foods salad bar. Pear in a chicken salad bowl sound yummy.

maryann - Wish you well making it through the last two days of school; I can well imagine that you are beat. Pretty amazing that "Amazoning" creeps into wholesale walnut sales.

Karen (karenrn) - Thinking of hiking the 800+ mile Arizona trail is quite a major plan. Neat that a retirement community has some positive appeal. We plan to resist but see our friends go marching off one by one.

curlyjax - Oh I do love that moment as young adults when our kids noticed that we did know some things. Yay for salmon and broccoli.

Penny. - When you do homemade pizza, do you buy ready-made crusts? Alas, I'll never figure out how Amazon can tell its data base that the package is delivered yet have its data base schedule the delivery for another truck the next day. Seems like the lie is institutionalized into its system. You'd think that I'd be shocked, LOL.

MrsCalypso - I, too, use the good folks on this thread as Diet Coaches and play that role back for them. Hope you'll join us doing this. I've never had a real-life Diet Coach; just never could bring myself to tell someone that I "had no unplanned snacks for the day." Would expect anyone that I know to just look at me as strange. Kudos for accepting that your scale reading has a wide variation.

Readers -

I forgot to celebrate, yesterday, that I did yoga every day in May -- a goal that I set only half-seriously after doing yoga for three days in a row at the beginning of the month. Some days, it looked like 5-10 minutes of restorative or stretching poses, but I also did a lot of sun salutations and plank holds. I feel stronger and calmer.

For June, I'm going to attempt to do 30 Day Yoga For Weight Loss with Julia Marie on Amazon Prime in 30 days. I've been working that program, on and off, for more than two years. I once did all 30 days in a 60-day period. I never thought that I'd attempt to do it in 30 days, but that feels like the next natural step, now.

CREDIT for not buying ice cream at the grocery store yesterday. I usually avoid the thought by avoiding the frozen food section. But DH has invented a lunch that requires frozen shredded hash browns. I arrived in the aisle at the same time as a bunch of kids from a summer camp who were being allowed to choose a pint of ice cream each. I never went to a summer camp that included grocery store visits, but I did go to one that had an afternoon canteen in the mess hall with a selection of frozen treats that I never got at home. Nostalgia and opportunity collided and I was very tempted to choose a pint for myself. CREDIT for using my resistance muscle and coming home with only the groceries that were on my list.

Exercise +55, 55/1500 minutes for June

maryann: We stayed in London for 10 days, but we chose a small apartment for accommodation so we did get to experience it a little like people who lived there.

Good Morning, Coaches!

Today is Day 7, Arrange your Environment.

The idea of this day is to make food "culprits" less available and less noticeable, and make healthier options more visible and convenient.

This is something I already have in place. Pretty much everything I have around and eat is "on plan". I mostly just struggle with portion size.

The one area where I can see a change is to change my daily dessert habit. I'm in luck, in that I am the only one in the family that likes vanilla ice cream. DS and DH go for chocolate, which, for some reason, does not hold the same appeal for me. So, after this carton is gone, I won't buy more. Yes, I could throw this carton away, but I'm not feeling like doing that.

I also plan to replace the ice cream with a fruit dessert. I like bananas with chocolate sauce, apple sauce with granola, and a few other things that would be more "Mediterranean", which is my goal. I'd like to expand my fruit dessert repertoire.


gardenerjoy Love the yoga. Good example for me with celebrating your consistency last month.
Bill I can related. I love the anonymity of internet forums. Another forum I was an active member of switch to facebook, and it just didn't do it for me.
karen I'm a nurse, too. : ) Speaking of hiking in AZ, I'm dreaming of doing the grand canyon rim to rim. Unfortunately, summer is the best time for me to take off, as I'm a school nurse....
curlyjaxI developed close friendships with a couple women who were aiming to lose weight at a hobbyist forum years ago. After a while, our friendship wasn't about weight loss, though. I needed something more focused! I hope this can be that for me.
maryann I am an active member of OA, and work with a sponsor, but needed something else, too!
pennyThank you for saying that! It is more motivating to know I am helping others than to hear "great job" for some reason.

Help! I can't seem to get a photo to upload, even thought it is well within the size limits. I've tried from my computer as a jpeg as well as from a url. Any tips?

Good morning!

Weight is back up to the higher decade I worked hard to leave. Today I will stretch my resistance muscle.

A friend talked me into downloading the Marco Polo app and we sent video clips back and forth. I guess it's nice for feeling like you're really seeing eachother but also having the convenience of "texting back" when you have time. I haven't talked to her in a long time so it was nice. One of my nursing school buddies.

Yesterday I bought some garden plants and the kids picked out our flower hanging basket, but I forgot to get some flowers for the flower box. Doh!

I plan to pick up some flowers and another window AC unit. It's starting to heat up and the article in the NYT about climate change and the heatwave in India was depressing.

Ooops gotta take the 11yo to school. Have a great day, everyone.

I'm back!

Bill, yes, we make our own pizza crust, which is basically my bread recipe cut in half then cooked at a higher temp to get a crispier crust. I know Amazon does some deceitful things to get around the two day shipping promise. They did it so often to us we decided Prime was useless and canceled it.

Karen, I've made pizza with the plant based cheese sauce dollopped on top and it was pretty good but a hint of sweetness. I've been eating vegetarian lately and back on cheese.

Hello, coaches! Food has been a bit random here the past two days. Plenty of fruit, though. Lunch was leftover baked beans and toast! I was wanting bread and then beat myself up over it a bit and then realized, wait, this is a semi-normal meal in England, at least according to friends who have visited and my British cozy mysteries. I have to add in more greens. I bought a watermelon and cut it up last night after we worked our way through grapes and cherries, and it is a very good one. I'm always surprised if I get a good one, because no matter how many "tips" I read and follow in selecting one, they're hit or miss. i feel I'm stress-eating but not sure WHY. DH's retirement next week (as in I will have very limited alone time), I have eaten a fair amount of watermelon today.

DH worked half day as he had PTO he needed to take and then decided to go out to his folks and keep working this afternoon/evening. I said I wasn't going to go on this run ... he asked if I was abandoning him. Nope, but I'll be there all day/evening tomorrow, Sunday afternoon and Monday all day. He asked a few times but I have some things I want to do here. I ran some errands this morning and DH's younger daughter sent me a photo of the formula she's having trouble finding, so stopped and looked for it around here, to no luck. I will head back out this afternoon as a book came up for me on hold, that I wanted in print form (checking it out for my brother as an idea for a DGD of his. (Witches of Brooklyn, a graphic novel by Sophie Escabasse) She's 8, I think, and a big reader; thought this might be fun. I do like to go through the cookbook section for any plant based options.

We were supposed to had DGS tomorrow through Sunday but now stepdaughter is only working Saturday night (server at a restaurant) and won't let us have him early. We're so only babysitters to her. DH asked her if we could still have him. "NO! I'll miss him too much." WTH. This is why she has kept him out of preschool and he'll be five in a month.

Spent time the past few days working outside and the heat/humidity was taking it out of me. Mowed half of the yard yesterday along with mulching part of gardens, planting patio and garden pots. Few "thrillers" in my pots this year and was able to get my "spillers" from last year's ivy that wintered over OK. Still more to do when I get more soil, hopefully this evening.

Bill - Thanks for starting the fresh month off again yesterday. I feel like this year is flying by on some fronts, but dragging completely with DH's parents' home cleanout. Nice the combined CVS coupons/discounts. The frugal meister in me loves bundling discounts.

Mrs. Calypso - Good luck with the Mediterranean eating plan. I think there is so much positive for overall health with that plan, and the flexibility and fresh food is great. I think a big part of their health, too, is a walking-centric life for many and for some, less stress ... ahhh domani! If you like banana ice cream, I freeze bananas for smoothies, but sometimes just put frozen bananas in the cuisinart, add a tbsp or so of almond milk and after a bit you get banana soft serve and it's just the fruit, really. I'm not a good resource on the photo upload - I think mine has been the same for years.

Karen - Your new potential hiking adventure sounds interesting - I hadn't heard of the Arizona Trail. Great that her husband could shuttle. That retirement center sounds amazing.

Gardner Joy - You teased me with the lunch option that calls for frozen hash brown shreds. Credit to have bypassed the ice cream. I just bought a package of sugar cones from Trader Joe's and am excited to pick a vegan ice cream with DGS on Saturday. I suspect these will last until I find them next summer, though.

CurlyJax - I hope you made it through the morning Boston traffic to a successful gyn appt. A friend whose daughter was moving out to dorms a few years ago said anything that was left NOT in her room was to be considered a goodwill donation, and she actually went through with it. I hope your DD gets in gear so you're not surrounded by so much for so long. I think I'm annoyed for YOU haha.

Maryann - Good for you to not eat over the stress of the communication with trip housing earlier this week. I hope the next two days are smooth for you and then SUMMER and all of your travel, hiking and fun plans! You certainly are grabbing onto life. Will your DS be able to join you on any of these trips (I'm sorry if I missed that)? I keep reading on a frugal blog's comments that readers have amazon and target returns warehouses in their areas and find items 80-95% off. I kept doing online searching here and think I've found one but you must buy a whole pallat of the returns wrapped as one sale.

Penny - I, too, considered skipping my pot plantings this year, but, like you - I just love them. Homemade pizza sounds just superb. If I ever stray from plant-based, it's going to be for pizza margherita in Italy. How much longer for school in your area?