Hello everyone,

Well it is Burrr here. Was going to swim but since it was in the low 30's with a slushy rain just could not get in that outdoor pool for an hr swim. An uneventful day, but I did stay on the Beck program. Thus it was a good day.

BillBlueeyes-glad all the diligence paid off in mindless non-eating. You have worked hard and have earned all your successes. Some days are so much easier for me and am counting on more ease with foods with time. PS I loved oven baked Brussles Spouts. We do lot of oven baked root veggies also-those small dices piece can almost taste like raisin in salad. How sweet veggies become with there is less sugar in my diet.

Hope all is well with the all of the fellow Beckers-

Sue

I realized today that some stomach sensations that I have associated with hunger are probably due to air. I checked it out online and it is possible that I swallow air because I eat too fast. So I will work on eating slowly and mindfully.

I will have my first food challenge in the morning if I can get to a wood carving meeting (it is snowing). The host's wife makes really good cookies. I am not going to have any coffee because there is nothing better than cookies with coffee. I am going to take a thermos of a herbal tea that is really heavy in cinnamon because it is satisfying like having a dessert and I wouldn't like it with cookies.

I have done OK with my eating plan and exercise since starting with 3FC last and have lost 1 1/2 pounds so far. I just have to remember that everything I eat matters.

Hello all!
Another 2# gone this week! Thank you all for your support and insights!!
Heidi= did you get your snow day? Re exercise - how did it go with the pedometer? Walking can't be beat IMO ... I have been known to run but it makes me ravenously hungry. I think this time I'll wait until I'm at or close to goal to start again ...

Sue - Great job avoiding the caloric food and wine. You're inspiring!

Bill - LOL, "piece of cake" - or no piece of pie - great job either way! Beck has infiltrated your bloodstream!

A great big Hi to MaryBlu, wendylan, CatR, CherryAutumn and all I've missed. Looking forward to a great day tomorrow -
Erika

Yanno what is so great about us?

I had a totally self-indulgent, eat- what- I -want- because -I -want- it -day(fell short of binging by my definition, far short of that, but still, plenty too much food) and you all did great! You had lots of wisdom and learning to share, and it is so cool to see it working for all of us.

BillBE...you set a high bar...no pressure there, lol

I am not going to list my indulgences, but I can say I just felt like it..no real rationale, just wanted to .........life is hard when it is this @%^@^%%@ cold. I was out tonight at a night class 35 miles away..with other hardy, foolish folk.......a balmy -45 with the wind chill. It will be -24 tomorrow actual. CoastalSue...BURR??? BURR?? Excuse me? 30 degrees ABOVE! We'd be out naked, taking a warm shower!

DS, the poor college student is having car trouble with his 96 Buick all 270,000 miles of it. How many dog years is that? How do we expect anything to run in this? I did have the pleasure of saying to him, "In my day, there was no such thing as wind chill. We just saw 30 below, and thought it was 30 below!"

BillBE, thanks for taking the bait on SuperTues. The observation about Jr. High is right on in mho. I have long said we choose a President as if we are voting for Homecoming King.

Well, thanks for feeling my pain. Back on track tomorrow.

HI there friends,
No snow day for me today... oh well! It was a fine day despite students' and some staff members' expectations not being met... that is the trouble..it was "expected".

So..the pedometer was on this morning and I bent down to pick something up off the floor and it fell off.. it wouldn't stay on the waistband of my skirt. I am ready to go to it on the treadmill after this post though. I am responding to my sabotaging thoughts... "my body feels so much better when it has moved". "I deserve to take the time to take care of myself". "This is what I have chosen to do for myself". And lastly, "I want to get stronger, not weaker (physically too... )".

I cannot imagine anything below zero weather on any kind of regular basis Mary-I was saying "brr" while reading Sue's bit about the outdoor pool today. I love swimming and go to family swims with dd periodically. She is a good enough swimmer now that she could bring a friend to open swim and I could swim laps-nice to have that option! I have never been a lap swimmer but got some goggles a few months ago and that makes all the difference to me as far as swimming for any length of time... I like just playing around and treading water, etc... but want to try the lapswim thing. Yes, sometimes we do dance around and she even likes to exercise with me. I feel like I am in a better frame of mind right now... Yes, those Beck strategies really do show up at the darndest times. Love the "piece of cake/no piece of pie" situation! You are so inspriational Bill!

Maryblu: you had one of those days but you still sound like you are "on your plan".... sometimes I feel like I am "falling off the wagon" when I do that but it doesn't have to be that way..Life goes on. Do you feel like you are back on the horse? Yeah, nice that some members of the group are feeling stronger when any of the others of us are having weak moments or hard times or whatever...that is support!

I will write up a little something about Day 8 tomorrow night. That is the beginning of Week 2-Get Ready for Dieting.

Til tomorrow, Heidi

Diet Coaches - Arrrrrrrrrgh: I now know ... that Tom Brady was wearing a pin-striped blazer, blue v-necked sweater, and open collar white shirt. Sports writers have always described what women wore, but I've always said it'd be a cold day in **** before they wrote what a man was wearing. Now I've seen it. (Perhaps Maryblu would tell us that the cold day in **** has arrived also, LOL.)

With perhaps a touch of hubris, I shopped at Whole Foods expecting to repeat my triumphant turning down of FREE food, proudly carrying my Beck Response Card: NO CHOICE, UNLESS I REALLY WANT IT. Gotta rethink that card. First thing offered was swordfish grilled in herbs - clearly fit my exception due to unusual offering; gobbled it. Next was a series of three aged balsamic vinegars, culminating in one aged 12 years in 4 different types of wood barrels ($37.99 for 250 ml). I've been dying to taste real balsamic vinegars. Gobbled those. Then a taste of fat free soft cheese, Fromage Blanc, blended with frozen berries eaten like ice cream. Never heard of that before. Gobbled it. (I did turn down some cheddar.) My only problem is that I don't have a real problem with my choices, except that I went in with this image of demonstrating one principal, but demonstrated another: that I've given myself permission to sample rare or expensive items if I acknowledge them and account for the calories. So, combo of Oh, Well and CREDIT moi. Maybe CoastalSue can tell me why I feel conflicted, but not bad.


Sue (CoastalSue) - Kudos for another day on plan. I too have experienced that, as I decrease my sugar, the sweet taste of other foods becomes evident. I send you my condolences for your loss of swimming due to cold weather, since clearly you aren't going to get any sympathy from MaryBlu.

MaryBlu - Kudos for taking a bad day in stride and getting back on track. Sending warm hugs your way; your cold spell continues to boggle my mind.

Heidi (hbuchwald) - Thanks for the demo of using Response Cards to ward off Sabotaging Thoughts. When I'm debating doing exercises, I forget about my Response Cards - gotta remember those. Continued good thoughts for Henry et. al.

Erika (eusebius) – Congrats on the 2#'s - nice ratcheting down.

CatR - Congrats on the 1 1/2 pound loss. Wonderful demo of Beck style strategy of bringing hot cinnamon'd tea to help avoid cookies at your wood working class. I really like that one. Kudos, Kudos.

Readers - "I now know … I have to watch out for fooling myself. Every single time I put food in my mouth, it matters." Beck, pg 13.

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Completed Beck Program-day 42. You’ve met your goal. Congratulations!

I passed over the cookies at the woodcarving meeting with a little help from my herbal tea.

I usually eat a snack at 10, so took my food and ate that. Nobody noticed. So much for my concern about appearing different.

I like the rare and expensive sample option. That eliminates a lot of the samples that stores offer. Whole Foods just took over Wild Oats here and will be moving to a larger store. Hopefully rare and expensive samples will be offered there. This is probably an option for maintainers.

I finally came up with an item to put at the top of my Advantage Card: Get in shape for a great backpacking trip we are planning for the end of August. I will be 63 and it is getting harder! Losing another 12 pounds should be a great help.

Evening everyone,

CatR your planning for the woodcravers meeting was so successful-much credit. Planning to hike the Sierras in August?

BillBlueEyes-Hey, who is Tom Brady any way? Maybe the card should read NO Choice with a 2-3 monthly passes for when at Whole Foods and the samples very unique, expensive, never tasted, free and to be eaten mindfully and calories/amounted recorded for the day and deducted from snacks. Heck you are working at becoming a gourmet cook and this stuff is your materials for new dishes-this is a learning experence and you a good student. What fun, It has never been the 1 oz of expensive wine sample that has put on the pounds it is half a bottle of cheap wine with my buddies at night. I have always love when food and wine have an elegance-No conflict as this is a fun,luxious, learning, planned and mindful treat-just don't get that from Cosco processed foods samples.

Heidi, you keeping working on increasing your exercising- I have been fighting feeling rather crabby latey and ran my tutoring group today. Reading the image of your DD dancing made me thing about how much I enjoyed the young girls I worked with today.-such happiness, energy and enthusiam. Crabbiness gone.

MaryBlu-How can anyone fault you for over indulging one day in the middle of NM winter?. Yes I have become an Calif weakling-I remember the saunas of my MN youth- then rolling in the snow for that heart stopping briskness. I went to Alaska once and met so many people from MN-they joke that they left MN for Alaska in order to warm up. Hope you get a break in the weather soon!!! Glad Beck keeps beconning you back.

Erika-Hurray for a 2 lb loss. You handled the surprise weekend away with mom's cooking and lost weight!!

When at the volunteering at the library-folks noticed I have lost alot of weight-new pants. Normal I just keep wearing the old but rather baggy outfits.-nice to get the aknowledgement. Really feeling like I have made some growth in not eating to soothe-very big for me, I have not dealt (yet in 2008) with next big challenge of being around friends (at a party) and not over eating/drinking. We have had so much rain most folks aren't traveling much.

best to all

sue

Quick review of the skills from last week:
1. It is crucially important for us to review at least a couple of times per day the reasons we have for losing weight.
2. We have chosen an eating plan and backup in case that one ends up not being right
3. We sit down to eat and eat slowing and mindfully EVERY TIME
4. We give ourselves credit continually for using helpful eating behaviors
5. We catch and respond to sabotaging thoughts that interfere with doing these essential tasks.


“ It is the difference in your thinking that’s going to allow you to make permanent changes in your eating habits. “ Beck p. 96

I think that we have all seen many of these strategies working for us. I know that I truly FEEL like I am making lifestyle changes this time versus “being on a diet” (then I go off the diet… ). Thanks Beck!!!

Day 8: Create Time and Energy

All of the behaviors and thinking behind losing weight require extra energy and time from us. If we don’t plan for that and make the time, it becomes easy to give in to big sabotaging thoughts about not having the time to do what needs to be done. We need to figure out how much time we need to allot for meal planning, food shopping, meal prep, sitting down and eating mindfully, exercising and journaling or doing any other tasks related to our weight loss plans and then to do those things!

Beck suggests writing out a typical workday’s schedule and a typical weekend day schedule. Then we plug in the new tasks that need to be done or delegate/cancel/or cut back on other things to make the new tasks fit in. Our priority is to take care of ourselves. If we have trouble figuring out which activities to cut back on or eliminate, making a priorities chart can help.

This is one of those exercises that I breezed through too quickly. What is my biggest challenge right now? Getting in exercise! I am going to spend some time and prioritize some things to make sure and get that into my schedule. I recently changed the amount of time I was spending on that other web site I mentioned at an earlier time and found a way to prioritize my tasks there to spend my computer time on the things that really matter. I figured out that recording my food and exercise are the most important things on that site. Checking in with this group is another computer use priority. The other site has a points system that I was getting sucked into.. it is ridiculous that I bought into it so much-you get “points” for reading articles, taking polls, drinking 8 glasses of h2o, etc… and the points earn you little tropies that mean NOTHING (this REALLY sounds ridiculous now that I am spelling it out to you). I enjoy reading the articles and some other things on that site but I am now choosing to find articles when I need motivation or ideas for something instead of reading random articles just to get points. I NEED community support (thanks to you all, my coaches) and to have a place to record my food/exercise and I need other resources periodically but that will now be driven by my specific need for information and not on getting a lot of points.

“Losing weight is so important to me that I’m willing to fit my life around the necessary activities (instead of vice versa).” Beck Workbook p. 53

Bill: Sorry, I don’t know who Tom Brady is either… I like what Sue’s suggestion for allotting yourself the indulgence of a few “somethings” at Whole Foods periodically. What do you think?

Erika and CatR: congrats on the weight loss. Besides all the other ways that it feels good to take off some pounds, to have the scale show a decline can be motivating! Cinnamon tea for your workshop to avoid the goodies-BRILLIANT! Way to think ahead and find something to substitute and help you feel like you are fully participating with the other people.

Sue: What a nice way to change your own perspective and help yourself feel better. It is so hard to teach/tutor when tired or in a “mood”. I will also think of my dd dancing the next time I am crabby at school! Also, I am glad that you got some new pants. Nice that those people noticed your weight loss too- the new pants probably help you feel good/different everytime you wear them. I am feeling sort of “sassy” with my 37 lb weight loss so far-do you feel a big difference after 66? I am trying to enjoy every little benefit that I notice after losing different amounts. It could be having looser clothing or noticing that my face looks a bit younger or that I can reach my feet with less effort than before, etc.. I could go on and on.

Until tomorrow, Heidi

Diet Coaches - I now know … that Super Bowl hype hasn't engulfed absolutely everyone. Tom Brady is the quarterback of the New England Patriots football team that is playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday, 3Feb08, who is continuously hyped in the sports media for many passes completed and for dating a super model.

Thanks Sue, Heidi, and CatR for your inputs on eating at Whole Foods. My correct Response Card remains simply: NO CHOICE, for stuff that is off-plan. My plan already includes occasional samples at Whole Foods when they meet the unusual or pricey criteria, so no changes are needed; the samples on Tuesday met the criteria, so drop the angst, eat, enjoy, and move on.

About Day 8: Create Time and Energy: It's so easy for me to add activities without removing something else to make time. I only recently accepted that I had to drop weekday morning Sudoku to accommodate the time I spend recording my food journal, Beck checklists, and 3FC. It continues to surprise me that making lunches 5 days a week requires time to plan, shop, cook, and prepare.


Sue (CoastalSue) - I love the way you describe the joy of eating; you help me resolve all my puritanical resistance. Kudos for wearing your new pants and gathering the compliments. And kudos for your growth in not eating to soothe. Nice to see the Beck seeping into all of us around here.

MaryBlu - Sending some warm thoughts to you and to your DS's 84 year old Buick, LOL.

Heidi (hbuchwald) - Kudos for your keen awareness of your prioritizing needs. Your review of making time and your own prioritizing also helped me. I am slow to let go of an activity that has some merit when I choose something else of higher priority. I push shopping and food prep to the weekend without taking into account that I use weekends for other activities, including catchup on walking and going to the gym. Gotta remember that prioritizing is the key word. Sending my best support for the type of hard prioritizing required while the parent of a young daughter.

Erika (eusebius) – Waving (quietly, so as not to disturb your practicing).

CatR - KUDOS KUDOS KUDOS for your cinnamon tea success over cookies. LOL at your observation that no one noticed you eating your snack because I've had that same concern. One of my recent Response Cards is: My eating is not the focus of other’s concern; I AM NOT THE CENTER OF EVERYONE’S UNIVERSE. You make a good point; when I was in my major losing phase, I ate ABSOLUTELY NOTHING between meals. It was an important step to add 3 planned snacks, and only after reaching maintenance did I change my food plan to include unusual and expensive samples.

Readers - "I now know … I need to give myself credit every time I do what I’m supposed to do." Beck, pg 13.

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Completed Beck Program-day 42. You’ve met your goal. Congratulations!

Well I did days 1-3 together. I made my Response cards and selected my primary diet: Weight Watchers and Secondary: Calorie Counting. Then Day 3 was the eat sitting down. I do fairly well with that except for snacking which i guess is the point. So i will work on that. Yesterday was Day 4 - Give yourself Credit. *Credit* I ate sitting down yesterday everytime but once.

So for today (Day 5) I am going to eat slowly and mindfully

Hi everyone,

Been lurking for a day or so (ever since I realized there was a Beck group on 3FC. Don't know why I'm surprised. ) I'm going one day a day and am on day 13, deliberately skip a meal. I usually eat 6 times a day and haven't had anything since breakfast (that was six hours ago.) I'm starting to get a little lightheaded. Do you think I'm cheating myself if I go ahead and have my afternoon snack? I didn't eat a bigger breakfast than normal, and I'm nursing, and training for a 1/2 marathon. I'm starting to feel a little panicked at this point but I'm also starting to get a little dizzy. Can someone who's done Beck before let me know if her intent is to have us understand what skipping a meal feels like (I've now skipped two) or what it feels like to go all day without eating (she mentions eating breakfast and dinner.) I've been working so hard to do everything she says to the letter, since historically I've thought of myself as someone who can "adjust" here and there, and it hasn't worked for me.

MUCH APPRECIATED!

kuhljeanie

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

And, in case you never got your proper one of these,

Quick response on the fly here. My take is that the purpose of the skip a meal exercise is to experience 1) that the hunger is really not that overwhelming, and 2) that the hunger goes away. I don't read any value placed by Beck on going all day without food. I do admire your concern about tweaking directions so that you might miss the intent. But here, you've done the exercise, all that remains is to give yourself credit.

In addition to success and being done, all four other things you mention are good reason to go eat, RIGHT NOW: nursing, training for a marathon, feeling light headed, and feeling dizzy. Get yourself some food ASAP and celebrate your success.

Look forward to getting to know you.

__________________
XXXXXXX 7 XXXXXXX 14 XXXXXXX 21 XXXXXXX 28 XXXXXXX 35 XXXXXXX 42
Completed Beck Program-day 42. You’ve met your goal. Congratulations!

Kuhljeanie, I found the site last week. I read BDS last Fall, then didn't follow through with it. I gained 4 pounds and got fed up. I had a good eating plan, I had a good exercise plan, but I didn't have the mental skills to deal with my sabotaging thoughts. I am in week two of my eating plan and have really benefited by checking in this forum regularly.

Sue: We have a high Sierra trip planned for August to Lake Ediza. The shortest access is from Mammoth Lake. We will take a couple of lower elevation trips earlier in the summer.

I remember why I backed away from the Beck Solution last Fall. She seemed to be maintaining her weight by saying "no" to all desserts and was very controlled in what she did choose to eat. In the Never-Never Land of the chronic dieter, you want to be able to eat without having to constantly make those kind of choices once you have attained the goal. You want to be able to eat like everyone else, overlooking the fact that those individuals tend to be fairly large.

I have also resented taking the time it takes to prepare food and work out. Well, it is time to get over all this nonsense.