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 - Picked up the condensation pump; exactly as expected. It installed easily. The hardware store had the 3/8" ID flex tubing to cut a one foot section for me to make a short patch where I had cut the tubing from the old pump. And had the connector to connect two ends of tubing. All well and good. I'd invited DW to go with me because she loves this store. She picked up two Christmas wreaths for our front door. They sell the best in town. Wreaths are sold everywhere, but often DW has to dismember then to put them back together to get the look she wants. Not these. They're perfect right from the store. Had enough fun that we left with my pre-paid pump and another $70 worth of stuff, less $15 off for coupons. Less expensive than an opera.

Even more fun was the arrival of my four Apple AirTags bought at a super Black Friday price. I'm intrigued by the technology. Fired one up connected to my iPhone in seconds. Waiting for my brain to think of a need. The thing I misplace the most is my cup of coffee but that's either at this place or that one - it doesn't wander about the house. Putting one in each piece of luggage for a long trip is the best use I've heard about. Hard to believe that I'll make my pilgrimage to the renovated Notre Dame Cathedral just to test my AirTags.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was the microwaved salmon dish that we both love.


Joy (gardenerjoy) - Thanks for directing me to the site about Mark Twain's birthplace. That man keeps popping up in my life. I was enjoying Reading the Rocks by Marcia Bjornerud when I was hit with this hilarious quote from Mark Twain. Punch line: Silverbirch - Your silver lining for all your driving is tea with your DD. I'd forgotten that the UK doesn't do basements. Where do you put your heating system?

curlyjax - Neat that you get to spend time with your DD and your DS in the same day - like old times. The insides of an apple pie are the most important.

Readers -

I'm glad I had coffee with my newly widowed friend, and we'll do it again. She needed to tell her story as we all do, and I think it was helpful for her to hear from someone much further along. I was feeling a bit rushed to get to see DS and get home before too dark but it all worked out. We went to the Boott cotton mills museum https://www.nps.gov/lowe/planyourvis...lls-museum.htm and got to see the looms turned on. A volunteer was there who actually still works a loom in a factory, so that was fascinating. There was a video playing which was eerily close to some of the issues going on today. Then off to https://merrimackvalley.org/listing/...0yoga%20studio. for a bit of wandering about shops in a lovely old mill building. We also walked by parade floats getting ready for a parade, and would have watched if it weren't so cold out and late in the day. DS is doing well and happy, and it was all good.
Today I am going to Boston to hear Handel's Messiah;I've never heard it in person by a really good choir and orchestra so that will be something. I am not thrilled on how long i'll be sitting including the performance plus transport to get there, but hopefully i'll have some walkabout time before. I feel a bit over scheduled this weekend; it's either feast or famine!
Bill-yay for easy pump installation and an enjoyable time in a hardware store.
Gardenerjoy-hopefully the snow was dry and scant. I'm still not mentally ready for winter since its been so warm.
Silverbirch-food and traveling is tough indeed, you just don't have access to the usual things.

Good Morning, Coaches.

A perfectly wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. On the ride home from Pismo, Dh and DS were willing to explore Pinnacles National Park. Another Scratch off on my poster.https://www.uncommongoods.com/produc...caAgr6EALw_wcB. The highlight was navigating caves made by the falling rocks. We rookies did not bring flashlights. Oops. We made it out safe and sound. DS leaves today and December has begun. It will be a very busy month with DS graduation in Michigan; closing the books on the farmSo glad I am retired.; my birthday; and the holidays.

Food was food. I will weight myself tomorrow and remind myself of my primary project: weigh in the 170s.

Wave to all

We got a couple of inches of snow. Visibility was the worst part of the experience. I took backroads home instead of the highway because a lower speed felt safer. We had a small but merry crew for our vigil and enough happy responses to drown out a couple of truly dreadful ones.

Exercise: 30, 1710/2000 minutes for November

I’ve arrived at the N house where I’m camping in the daytime but sleeping somewhere else. It’s not great but it’s temporary.

Sleep - not bad.

Food - all right, I suppose. Again, only temporary.

Exercise - no.

Bill, great outing to the hardware store for both of you! In the N house, we have a wood-burning stove, electric storage heaters on the walls and an immersion heater in the airing cupboard. Most people, especially in towns, would think this is a very out-of-date, even primitive, system. The S house is in a town and has gas central heating. The boiler is on the wall in the kitchen. It’s not a combi (hot water on demand) boiler as Mum and I decided that the hot water tank in the airing cupboard was too useful for airing clothes to get rid of the standard boiler. One of the strange things about garages here is that they are often too small for today’s cars. Ours is relatively inaccessible, not only because inside it’s currently a marshalling and sorting yard for all our stuff but also because outside easy access is blocked by three wheelie bins for household rubbish, recycling and garden waste and a box for glass and batteries. Poor access to pavements, front doors and garages is a common difficulty as we recycle more. Wales is, I think, the second most efficient country in the world for recycling.

curlyjax, definitely a full weekend for you but with some lolling too. Glad to hear that DS is well and happy.

maryann, it’s all go in your neck of the woods. What a great national park!

gardenerjoy, a small and merry crew for the vigil sounds excellent. Poor driving visibility is just the worst.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Scheduled, rescheduled, unscheduled, and ultimately cancelled the visit with the (4 yo) DGD. Disappointing, but her life is too busy to easily fit into. Oh, well. Spent some time catching up on some paperwork that I'm inclined to put off forever. Every time I spend any money these days, I get a thank you email with a request to fill out a questionnaire. I long ago saw that the questions weren't legitimately seeking information but propaganda. E.g. "Check one: Our service Extraordinary or Better than Extraordinary?" Made an exception for the request from the hardware store since I support their effort to stay in business in the face of Home Depot and Amazon. Same dumb questions, but I got to say that the staff-person at the front desk was friendly and had a smile. Good grief! I go there because the staff knows their hardware; I have friends who'll smile when I need a smile. I refused to tell them how much I made before taxes. Getting a tad personal there.

The cold feels biting even though it's only 32 deg F. My body isn't ready for winter; thinks that if it ignores winter, it won't happen. Put on a coat just to bring the garbage bins to the curb. Usually I pride myself that I can run out for a couple of minutes in whatever I'm wearing inside. Maybe I'll build up to that.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Drank extra coffee to motivate me to shuffle paper. Dinner was omelets; thank you chickens somewhere. I remain impressed that a hen can lay an egg a day. Was an adult before I came to understand that birds make eggs quickly because flying about with an egg inside makes escape from hawks dangerous.



Joy (gardenerjoy) - Getting off with only a couple of inches of snow is a win given the dire forecasts. I have not grown to understand the hate directed at folks holding signs. I've seen it once; it was rage.

Silverbirch - Down the rabbit hole to figure out how to build me an airing cupboard. We use the wasted heat from our boiler in the basement for a similar purpose - to keep the basement warm enough to finish drying items like blue jeans that would otherwise take a brutally long time in the gas dryer. One article compares it to our "linen closet" - but it's so much more than a storage place. Do hope your furniture is getting hauled down to the moving trucks this morning.

maryann – You make me want to try to figure out how many of the 63 National Parks I've explored. But fear that I'll catch the bug to see them all. Seems an ideal task for a luxury RV.

curlyjax - Neat to be reminded that cotton mills were the foundation of industry in Massachusetts back then. Zillions of young women working looms for long hours. Haunting pictures. Good news that your DS is well and happy.

Readers -

Successful venture out to Boston. I drove to the t stop that is about 25 minutes from my house going the highway route, and parked easily in the huge outdoor lot. rode the t for 37 minutes and then 5 minutes walk to Symphony Hall. I treated myself to a closer seat for this concert. The Messiah does run a bit long- it was almost 3 hours including a 15 minute break time-and my attention wandered a bit at parts-but it was just lovely to be there. The choir was joined by a youth choir (teenagers) as well as CitySing choir composed of chorale singers from the community which I think is a first this year, and the two really swelled the ranks. During intermission I chatted with someone that had front row seats and learned that season ticket holders could get first dibs on their seats for years-like sports fans I guess-so if I hope to get even closer next year I night be out of luck. Afterwards I went to a convenient Whole foods nearby for a quick sandwich dinner, then home to chat with DD for a bit. It was indeed biting cold Bill- I am not prepared mentally for winter either!

Good morning, Coaches.

Yesterday crashed around my head. Here is the description from our friendly "AI" in Google: An "afterburn" of a good holiday refers to the feeling of letdown or mild depression that can occur after returning from a vacation, My experience was far more dramatic because DS didn't come back in time with my car which had my life in it - meds, walking shoes, earbuds. Those are all my tools to manage my mental health. My familiar feeling of despair and resentment came with DH not being helpful in anyway. He tries but only by doing things that help HIM. Years of counselor's instructions to support me go unsaid. If I am too far gone to remind him, he becomes paralyzed. I left to walk in bad shoes and broken earbuds. Credit moi. By the time I got back they were thankfully off to the airport. I took my meds and pulled things together.

Sigh. I weighed myself this morning and have gained 4 pounds in four days. That's despite me eating a lot of healthy food and not touching mac and cheese even once.. So yeah - a little hopeless this morning.

I don't really have a positive spin on anything this morning. I am dressed. My good friend and I are taking the pilgrimage to get our hair cut. I am dressed with pants that fit. I will work out tonite. I have changed my weight details even though I did not want to do so. This morning is absolutely a trudging kind of day.

We have some pretty snowflakes falling now. Fortunately, it's not expected to amount to much, so I can just enjoy Christmas music and cozy jacket without fretting about anything.

I got back to my writing this morning after more than a week off due to illness and the holiday. I mention it because it's the exact same skills getting back to it as it is to get back to eating well. I have structures that I know work. If I focus on the structures, the habits kick right back into place and things start improving immediately. With immediate gratification, my motivation returns quickly, too.

I set my exercise goal lower in December. Fifteen minutes of dance or twenty minutes of yoga seems to be about as much as I can manage in one session before I trigger coughing or fatigue. I put together several sessions yesterday to get to 45 minutes. Forty-five minutes a day is my goal this week and I hope to ramp up a bit more next week.

Exercise: 45, 45/1700 minutes for December

silverbirch: I hope that your moving chores are going well.

BillBlueEyes: We're expecting a low in the teens tonight. That's low for us, this early in the season. I put an extra blanket on the bed and intend to stay in.

curlyjax: Good for you for tackling an adventure. My family went to the Messiah regularly when we were kids. Fortunately, my mother had the sheet music and following along kept my attention from wandering.

maryann: I hope the haircut helps. I know that it does sometimes.

Almost everything was loaded this morning, the lads put their foot down and arrived at the S house late afternoon, unloaded and drove off into the night. I gather from the SO that there are lots of boxes of books everywhere … It’s been drizzly all day here. I’ve dusted, hoovered and washed the floor in several rooms and I’ll do the rest tomorrow. Then I’ll load up the remaining things which I’ll have to carry to the car as the wheelbarrow went with the movers. I’m very pleased with myself for working out that I should take the curtains down today as I needed something to stand on to do this, and the movers were going to take all the chairs and stepladders!

Sleep - not great but I wanted an early start.

Food - fairly awful. No fridge, no chairs etc etc.

Exercise - no.

Bill, that little DGD has a hectic schedule. Brrr. Thanks for reminding me that 32F is 0C. My early years were lived in Fahrenheit but I’ve converted successfully to Celsius, though I sometimes think of it as Centigrade.

curlyjax, what a successful outing! Credit for working out the best way for you to use the T.

maryann, I have hair cut envy! I know yours will be good. I had one booked for about now but had to postpone it because of the move. It’s now in the diary for January which was the earliest available because of maternity leave, training and a few other things, I think. Small town challenges.

gardenerjoy, it’s always good to hear of your structures which work so well for you. I’d like to understand what works for me which isn’t formal structures, I don’t think, but must be something as I seem to be able to push some things forward.

Weight change: +2 lbs
I'm 100% sure it is water weight as I ate under maintenance calories for the week, plus I weigh daily right now and it shot up 2 pounds overnight this weekend.

I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a nice holiday. I would say it was pretty successful here health-wise. I managed to stay under 2,000 calories for the day, which is a feat on a holiday that seems to be all about food. I took smaller portions of everything, ate until I was comfortably full and did not go back for seconds. I think this is the first year I didn't stuff myself silly and I didn't feel like I missed out on anything by not overindulging. The leftovers were still there for the next day to enjoy. And normally I take a break from exercise on the holidays, but I made sure to work out for about an hour that morning on the bike and treadmill while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Maryann- I know it is alarming to see a huge increase on the scale, but it is almost certainly water weight, not fat, so please don't feel too discouraged and give yourself grace. Unless you have been eating approximately 3500 calories over your maintenance calories for the last four days (extremely unlikely), it would be impossible to gain four pounds of fat in only four days. During holidays we tend to eat more foods that cause water weight gain, especially if you're eating more sodium than usual or drinking alcohol, so please keep that in mind. Even healthy foods can cause water retention. My scale shows I am up 2 pounds and I know it is water weight because I strictly count and measure everything and am actually under maintenance calories for the week. Hormones, muscle repair after a workout and lots of other things, can also promote water retention and cause big day-to-day fluctuations. I hope this helps provide a little bit of light and encouragement!

Curlyjax- Goinig to see the Messiah sounds like a lovely outing.

Gardnerjoy- I hope you enjoyed the snow today. I'm glad you know your limits and are setting realistic exercise goals for yourself. I think sometimes people push too hard and burn themselves out or it becomes too much of a chore if they don't pace themselves.

Silverbirch- Good luck with the rest of your move!

Bill- My body isn't ready for winter yet either. It just started getting bitterly cold here over the past few days. It doesn't help that we had an unusually warm fall, so the transition to cold weather has been a bit of a shock to my body.

Coaches


I just took the time to read and catch up with all of your activities over the last couple of weeks. There is a lot going on. For me I've been working at the Boynton House once a week. I have a bit of a break now. Sales have been slow. The consensus in craft world is it isn't a very good sales year. Any year when people feel anxious or nervous or worried about the future, the sales always drop. Eventually the purse strings open as Christmas comes closer. And then you say "there's always next year".


DH stunned me by asking that I take our taxes to be done by the accountant. What?! I let him know that my condition for doing this was that he had to remain agreeable during the process and to cooperate with the accountant. I also reminded him of how much he brought up the accountant with me last time and that's off limits now. He agrees. I just finished getting all my numbers figured out and sent in by email. Our taxes should be done in a week I think.


I had to find a few paintings for a few events recently and that required me moving material in that second storage locker. My "main" locker is very full but not organized properly in the central floor area. The shelves against the walls are great. Everything else is a mess. That second locker is worse. There was a day I was there and I sat on the floor of the hall in front of my locker and just looked up at all my stuff. In that moment I didn't want to let anything go. Nope. Nothing. None of it. It's not doable though. I pretty much have to let go of it all. I can't afford 2 lockers. I gave myself until Jan 1st to complete this task so it's time to get going. My space at home remains unusable and kind of inaccessible too. This decluttering work is rapidly rising to the top of the to-do list once more.


Healthwise. Well. I decided to get that blood glucose meter. I've kept up with measuring my blood sugar several times daily since November 19. Slowly the numbers are falling. About a week after I had it I went to the endocrinologist appointment at Sunnybrook to check my thyroid. The thyroid is a "wait and see if the levels get higher". But the Dr announced I am a type 2 diabetic and need to be on metaformin medication now, and a glp-1 too (Ozempic type thing).


WHOA there Nelly! Back it up a bit!


I couldn't cope with the idea of yet more drugs and told her so. We compromised on me making my best effort to do what I know will help (low carb, intermittent fasting, exercise, plenty of water). I am on my own for three months. I'll check back in with her in early March.So far I am firing on all cylinders with my food plan and the blood sugar monitoring. I'm pre-planning and really mindful of what I am choosing to eat. In fact, I am writing here to calm some cravings right now. It's working.


I guess that's it.


Oh I am happily doing the 2x a week zoom exercise class. I secretly poo-pooed it as not tough enough or heavy duty enough to help me physically except to help me get and keep exercising. I was wrong. I am already a bit more flexible and things don't hurt as much. I am once again taking stairs (at times) one right after the other instead of one step, other foot catches up. Then next step and other foot catches up. It's a noticable improvement that I welcome.The scale has fallen a few pounds but I need to see it go into a new decade to celebrate. I believe that will happen.


Oh! The ceramic bear urn survived and was accepted by my client. Phew! The final firing unexpectedly faded the baby blue colour. DH felt it made the bear look well-loved. I felt it looked more ethereal which serves its purpose. Client didn't need convincing. She was just happy even though it's a sad occasion.

And that's my update.

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Saw the new movie Wicked. We were motivated by having been super pleased that we saw the movie Barbie despite reservations. Barbie was a win causing thoughtful discussions. Didn’t reach that level with Wicked. Spent most of the 2 hours and 40 minutes waiting for it to end. It’s a stretch that it’s attached to the Wizard of Oz – more like a theft of the notion of Oz. Did enjoy the leather reclining seats. We were among an audience of 10 in a small theater that could seat 200. Neat to have a nearly personal show. Hard to believe it was for kids since it started with a tryst that resulted in a green baby that so disgusted the nurses they chugged liquor from flasks. That’s just the first few minutes. After that it was tame boy likes girl level of plot. The Wizards train was just fantastic. If you’re a machinery geek, it’s a must see. Lots of gears here and about. (I chose the non-3D version, giving up flying monkeys in my face for more vivid colors.)

Two wins: we had no popcorn. The standard sold was a bucket - the gallon sized, 1,030 calories before butter, bucket. It does make me want to pop a batch at home to watch something on TV. The second win was that I presented our tickets on my iPhone just like millions of other folks know how to do. That wasn't so easy. My iPhone has a "Wallet" to hold tickets and credit cards. I can't figure out how to get a ticket into it. All the instructions that I read say that the ticket will arrive showing the option to "Move to Wallet." These didn't. I just had them handy as an opened eMail. Good enough. A bonus: the woman ahead of me in line couldn't figure out how to bring up her ticket. She had to carefully spell out her name for the counter-guy to look it up. Schadenfreude is so petty. Shameless schadenfreude even more so.

Eating was on plan with no daytime snacks, CREDIT moi. Dinner was a quickly made dish of white beans with a shared square of leftover cornbread. Conversation centered on trying to figure out the hidden meanings in Wicked that we must have missed for it to be making such waves in the press. Must have gone over our heads.


onebyone - The ceramic bear is just the look your client can enjoy when fondly remembering her pet. Congrats for the success on what might be your next business. Congrats for taking responsibility for your own medical path forward - resisting more meds when you feel that you're making progress using standard methods. Here's hoping that the purse strings open as Christmas approaches. Last minute shoppers might be less sensitive to price.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - This is so Beck, "If I focus on the structures, the habits kick right back into place." An extra blanket on the bed should ward off winter.

Silverbirch - Exciting that the N house is now empty. Super Congrats for having the foresight to remove the curtains while there was a chair left to stand on. You made me look up Celsius vs Centigrade. Today they're used interchangeably, but the original scale by Anders Celsius ran backwards: 0 deg C was boiling; 100 deg C was freezing. Hadn't known that.

maryann – Congrats for gathering your wits to sally forth on "a trudging kind of day". Sorry that all the good things happening hit an "afterburn". Hope that a good haircut helps to lift the spirits.

curlyjax - Hearing the Messiah at Symphony Hall must have been heavenly. Congrats for braving the journey. Whole Foods is a great place to grab a sandwich that isn't bland.

MamaMia24601 - Congrats for your calm response to scale jitter - certainly water weight since you consumed under maintenance level for the week. That was a feat, indeed, for the Thanksgiving holidays.

Readers -

Back to work and nice to see everyone and hear their holiday stories. I stayed OP except for 2 lindt chocolates that weren't worth the calories. It's the tricky time when people start bringing treats in and I have not been working my resistance muscles in awhile. I planned to take DD home yesterday but its today instead which put my plans awry. I feel like I need my spaces to be less cluttered in order to plan, and need a session where I can really map things out foodwise, and I find that hard to do when I'm not alone. Or maybe that's an excuse. Dinner was leftovers but they are mostly gone except for the pie which I will send home with her today, and mashed potatoes- I made way too many-and cranberry sauce which I may freeze to use on chicken at some point. Somehow I felt sludgy and did nothing productive yesterday, but got some nice snuggle time in with DD. The cold and dark just makes me want to spend a lot of time in bed watching tv.
This morning is my annual mammogram and the place I now go to is much more efficient so I should be done on time.
Maryann-ugh for the afterburn, but great job going on the walk and making yourself feel better.
Gardenerjoy- I did see a little girl at the concert who was complimented for sitting through the whole thing. Good for you for breaking down the yoga into manageable bits.
Silverbirch-great job thinking ahead about the curtains! I would count housework as exercise How exciting that you are so close to being finished with the move.
MammaMia- great job with exercising and holiday eating.
Onebyone-the bear is adorable, I'm so glad it came out. I can definitely understand not wanting to get on another medication now. Interesting that your doc was really pushing it.
Bill-Wicked is really being pushed by the merchandising folks. I saw it onstage in Boston and enjoyed it, but that was partly because it was people singing and acting in real time which I'm always impressed with. I need to be at the point where white beans dish would be a supper-it must have some nice spices.