Good morning coaches and thanks for being out there and responding!

Calories were in the OK range, but on the lower side. Came in from exercise last night with some fruit left in the planned food....and just had no appetite for it. By the time the appetite came back, I was too tired. Extended my water walking a bit last night and also added a couple of laps of crawl and a couple of backstroke...total water time up by 8 min. It was a great night in the water with very few folks at the Y. Also added a new unplanned exercise yesterday. I normally fill my water cup from a water fountain that is very close to my office (if I turn left). Decided to turn right...to walk the length of the building and back again to get back to the water fountain. I make that walk at least 5 times...so 10 lengths of the building every day as an added walk. I know this is small...but that's OK, I am learning to take credit for small things....so in the words of that great coach BBE..."CREDIT MOI".

Tomorrow is weekly weigh in for me...but I am not too worried. I have had some lower scale numbers this week a couple of times. So, if it should be up, I know it is only transiently. Still have to get the psyche ready though.

Had a real craving yesterday for chocolate. Does every every woman in the world love chocolate? Is it hard wired in? Double trouble for me because my office group keeps the "candy buffet" about 10 steps from my office (also another good reason for my new water path, I dodge walking by the chocolate assortment). I have been reading and rereading the Beck chapters on hunger and craving this week. Spent a couple of extra days on that....and it paid off! When that chocolate crave hit...did some deep breathing and reached for the ARC and told myself....just sit here until it passes because it will. I know it will! It did, of course. Big, big credit for this episode. After withstanding, I do feel stronger to meet the next one, but sure hope it is not today.

BBE-Kudos for the walking and for the sticking to the plan for acceptable taste testing. I think the olive must have been a very unique strain...and so it still fits in your plan. Big credit for forgoing the rest of that tuna!

Heidi-Congrats on the fun exercise with the dogs. BIG CREDIT for tossing those ice cream sandwiches and not wasting them on your body! WAY TO GO! I also read that thread by kuhljeane on sensewear. I am not sure whether it is right for me or will overload the system with too much to think about. If you get one, please share with us your thoughts. I thought the HSA was the same as a felxible spending account?

onebyone-You are going to sail thru your fitness assessment today and get the wagon in high gear! You know you want to do this for yourself...so you will. Hope you find your book. We must remind ourselves..."There is always time for a turn around...no matter how long it has been...today, this minute, is the best time for a turnaround"!

RobinW-Big credits for being totally on plan and avoiding the sugar! Hope the work pressure, especially the self-induced, continues to back off a bit.

QuilterInVA-Kudos for working on your priorities and being on plan! I admire quilts! I recently visited a local shop and asked about lessons. I have decided that I can't take that on right now, but learning to quilt is on my list of "would like to do someday". I am sure yours are gorgeous and would love to see some pix posted!

I am a prior yo-yo dieter. I have lost 20 pounds so many times, only to gain those back and then add some more. For now, I am focusing on losing, but when I get close to maintenance, I sure hope you and BBE are still on this board. You are such a wealth of great ideas and experience! Re that baked chicken. I was still hungry after eating, knew I needed to wait some time to see if it would go away. Clocked 30 minutes and then when still hungry, asked myself what was something that I could use to wipe out the hunger but not go crazy with. So, I would call it "controlled unplanned eating". I am moving on, but filing the experience. It may be that my body is telling me that I am cutting cals too much....or I may just need to tolerate hunger some. Not sure which.

freer-Sounds like you are well on your way to putting the scale in its rightful place! Congrats on the 2 pounds down...and you are right...be ready in case tomorrow's is up. Just keep sticking with your plan, the scale will have to follow.

Looking forward to a fabulous Wednesday! Best wishes to all coaches and readers!

Hello All,

long time no see.. Not truly doing beck at this point but for those that are I heard from Judith:
the email address to reply is:

[email protected]

best of luck to all of you!

Good morning

Quilter - I am so impressed with actually even meeting someone who has MAINTAINED a 200 pound weightloss. I noticed BillBlueEyes has also maintained. Wow. To me, the most difficult part of all this is the maintenance. I mean really, it's easy to meet folks who were able to lose weight. But maintain it? That's a rare bird. VERY inspirational. Were you doing Beck the whole time? Or was it a mixture of things?

onebyone I'm so sorry to hear about your struggle, but your honesty is so helpful for me to see. I would have done the exact same "phew made it" behavior - and I've done that many times. You should give yourself many credits in the midst of this struggle. First, you're honesty. You're turning to your coaches to share your struggle. And finally, your thoughts as to why you might be doing this are very insightful.

Beware of the sabotaging thought that exercising will erase all your calories and you can eat whatever you want. I am living proof that you can exercise and still gain weight quite easily. I have been doing Jazzercise (low-impact aerobics) for probably 25 years. A few years back I really got into it and hit my goal of 200 classes in a year. I did this for 2 years straight. That's basically 4 hours a week for two years. I didn't lose anything and actually gained. I've even discussed that with my doctor. She said I'm correct. Excercise is great, but an hour of exercise is really just a small blip in your total calories for the day. Since then I just think of my exercise as 'gravy.' (mmmmm....gravy) It does not substitute for sticking to your diet plan.

If you've never considered Jazzercise you might investigate it in your area. No long term committments and lots of well-planned routines with good music that's always changing. It's hard to get bored with it. I mean if they can get someone like ME to stick with it, that's saying something!

BBE - I love your thought:

Staying on the path - that's your job. It's the path's job to be a bit wiggly, LOL.

My weigh in went well to day and I'm proud to say I'm a 1/2 pound from a pedicure!

Finally, before I forget, how do I get one of those nifty little graphics for my signature that shows my weight loss progress?

Hi coaches:

When I was on the phone making the appointment for the fitness assessment last week, Nadine, my assessor, told me that more people cancel the fitness assessment than any other part of their pre-program. Like the nutrition counselling, or the personal trainer set up. I can believe it. I want to do that, just give her a call, say I can't go because... I'm not going to! I am going and facing the music and moving forward. I've never even seen this gym and I am too curious to know all this valuable stuff about *me* and it's free. She's considering it part of the "sign up package" that will most likely be postponed until September, when my financial house is more in order after my three big art shows this month. See how things shake out then. I do have to drop by the Y before I go to the school this morning, get my workout gear, my really good running shoes. Nadine said we could put something together that I could take to the Y until my membership there runs out. That's mid August I believe. I was going to turn this down but now I think, why not? So going to the Y will allow me to get my gear and find out when my membership expires.

I'll report in with the honest truth this afternoon. please think good thoughts for me today! Send me strength!

Thanks coaches for all you help.

morning all,

had a rough one yesterday. all day, all i could think about was EATING, and eating crap. not really hungry, had a passing thought about a candy bar, but i wasn't committed to it - i could have gone with anything greasy, salty, sweet. classic case of desire. i also was in no mood to do my treadmill run, either. spent most of the day having this insane debate in my head.

me: i waaaaaannt it
me: sure you do. that doesn't mean you need it, or that you'll get it. you feel so gross when you eat that stuff, and you had way too much over the weekend.
me: you know i'll give in eventually, don't you?
me: you didn't yesterday. maybe today will be the same!
me: but i don't feel like working out, either. i just want to go home and lay on the couch and eat.
me: yeah, well, that's tough. too bad.
me: you know i'll skip that workout today. that's the way i am! it'll just sort of slide like it used to.
me: you know no matter how long we keep discussing it, you WILL end up in the gym today. that's the way you are! i'll keep bugging you until you give in.
me: oh, f*** it. i'll go just to SHUT YOU UP.

so i went, grudgingly. had a crappy run, but i did all the miles on my training plan. as i was heading into the shower, i thought - oh! (slapping forehead)THIS is what she meant! it's the same old argument, but my thin thinking will win more often. at some point, the balance will tip, and the fat thinking won't even try that hard, because it knows it won't win in the end. and maybe someday, that fat thinking will go away altogether. maybe, maybe not. it won't matter much one way or the other if it does, because the rest of it will be such a habit it'll be easier to keep doing what i'm doing.

shrinkin, about the sensewear - i do have one, have had it for months. i wrote a whole bunch about it in another thread: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146354
the IRS website hopefully can provide info on the differences between an HSA and an FSA.

onebyone, i so hear you, sister. i'm STILL having some challenges around the "last meal of the convicted dieter" binge syndrome. tough brainsludge to dislodge, huh?

heidi, good luck with the veggies. i was up until very late monday night trying to figure out what to do with all the zucchini. it's hard to stay on top of it - i always feel so terrible when it goes bad. i'm starting to figure out some standard dishes that encorporate huge amounts of various types of vegetables. my two so far are asian slaw - can use squash, carrots, onions, broccoli, cucumber, etc. the other is spaghetti sauce (i use tinkyada brown rice pasta) and i throw in the same stuff, or different, but either way it takes care of a lot of vegetables in one fell swoop. we ended up having to dry a bunch of green onions. there's only so many green onions you can eat, you know?

thanks for the simon and garfunkel, bill! what a great song. i like hearing about your slips - makes it so clear what real life in maintenance looks like, and i appreciate hearing about your coping mechanisms so i'll have them in my back pocket when i finally get there myself. someday.

robin, mazel tov on avoiding sugar! poison! i like that. i'm going to use that when i start hearing the siren song of crap singing to me.

freer, absolutely wonderful to hear that you made it through the scale fluctuations without giving in. this seems to me to be one of the biggies - not letting that external thing dictate how we feel and what we do. one bump in water weight and i've walked away from too many healthy plans, only to fall into the more-punishing-the-better type diet. congratulations and a big credit to you!

busy days ahead (ha! ha! ha!) dh is going out of town for work again, so i'm on solo parent duty, with another cake due saturday morning. not quite sure how this is all going to work, but i'll have to make it. i was planning on working on the flowers and sun last night, but dh was in crisis and needed some serious conversatin' about stuff. made the decision to be a good friend and sort out the rest later. credit moi for making this an actual decision instead of a knee-jerk "someone NEEDS me! let's put on the cape and GO!".

have a great wednesday, everyone! new project runway coming up tonight! i can watch and make flowers at the same time, i think. we'll see how it goes.

cheers!

Good Morning

Im starting off with a fight on my hands this morning. I got on the scale this morning....thinking I had done really well. The 3lb loss I had yesterday morning, is back today. So that puts me right back where I started. It also starts all those sabotaging thoughts.....why bother, I can eat what I want and still weigh this weight?!?!?!

What did it? probably the salty stuff....and all the watermelon I ate last night.

What to do? drink in my gallon of water, and portion the rest of the watermelon!!

What else? quit thinking bad thoughts and just get on with it.

Bill~ that was about what it was like last week. But everybody wanted it by friday and to top it off they were coming in all week (including friday morning) to get stuff done by friday afternoon!! Just crazy stuff! Kudos for leaving 1/2 your fish for today. I could never do that....a good fish on my plate never gets shared or saved

onebyone~ I recognized those thoughts!!! Did you feel better tho after typing it all out and getting your feelings out in print infront of you?

quilter~ I just wish I didnt freak out when Im just starting out and trying to get going. It can be so discouraging. I guess I need to get over that.

Well, its starting to get busy so I have to cut this short. Have a great day everyone!

Day 5 of staying onplan on my official diet,good day.Someone brought taffy from the beach and a bag of snickers to work today and I did not have one single piece!!!!!!!!!!! I have been listening to my Beck cds in the car to and from work and reading my cards.I am fighting getting some exercise in today though,just feel like laying on the couch.Afraid I have to say NO CHOICE and get in my exercise shortly.

RobinW-I weighed myself this morning also and was up a pound without cause,When I reveiwed my food journal I figured the dill pickles at lunch and the lite popcorn before bed added up to too much salt.I try not to think much about it, salty weight will be gone by Sat my official weigh day.It can be so frustrating though.

kuhljeanie-Great insight into the Beck thinking,funny the things we say to ourself and the arguments in our head.Kudos for doing the right thing and getting to the gym despite your thoughts.

onebyone-Great job getting to the fitness assessment and for making the most of the rest of the Y membership.Afraid I have not used my Y membership all summer,just so busy and the kids have the pool in the yard.

freer-Great job on your weigh in and loss!

ladybugnessa-Nice to see you again!

shrinkin-Sounds like you are doing just great on so many Beck strategies.I like to swim laps and go to water fitness at the Y also.I have not been going since summer started and I miss it.I have been doing some water exercise in the pool in yard.I hope to get back after vacation.

BillBlueEyes-Kudos for stopping eating when you were full at dinner!

hbuchwald-Great job on with the exercise and with getting rid of the icecream sandwiches!

QuilterInVA-Wow on the weightloss and keeping it off!

Good Afternoon Coaches

I didn't cancel the assessment and instead wore my brand new running shoes, my old tshirt, nice workout pants, pulled my hair back and faced the music. And the music was a jaunty melody, not a dischordant screech!
I actually feel better for going. I would NEVER have thought that ever.

The most surprising thing was this: I weigh 264 by their scale. She had me lie down on a towel on a mat and she did a "bioimpedance analysis". Electrode on foot, another on hand, electric current does full loop through the body and results are spewed out on the computer. My 264 lbs = 142.8lbs LEAN muscle and 121.2lbs fat. WOW.
I have 142.8lbs of lean muscle!
If you'd-a asked me I'd-a said I was 30 lbs lean muscle, the rest all fat. So, as I said to Nadine my personal trainer, "this means a goal weight of 130 is really dumb if I already have 142.8lbs of lean muscle isn't it?" Yep. She said a goal around 170 or so is more appropriate. Could I actually lose the fat and keep all that muscle? She says it will probably drop a bit, and she doesn't really expect me to grow more muscle... for me it's a matter of getting the fat off and possibly re-shaping the muscles(if I understood that right).

My BMI is 45.9 *sigh* BUT my basal metabolic rate is 2091 calories a day. I burn that much just being alive. I am also dehydrated by about 10% which is true. When I stop paying attention to myself, I don't get my water in. After the electronic analysis we did some flexibilty tests, still good on that with some work needed laterally. Did some balance tests and some strength tests: pushups, situp/crunches, lunge and hold. All good. A strong core she said and I was happy to hear that. It all took about 2 hours with some good talking in between. Next step is a program she'll set up for me that I can use there if I join that gym, or take with me to the Y if I re-join there. I love that gym though. It feels so peaceful. Like an oasis. Sauna, saltwater pool and jacuzzi, workout room that overlooks the city, patio outside to relax on. Very nice. Very pleasant. The Y is 1/2 the $ this place is but I never get there. That, in the end, is not a bargain. I walk through the mall where this gym is located to get to the school 5x a week. 3x right now but 5x in the fall. It removes my biggest obstacle/excuse, that I "can't there, it'll take too long, have to take another bus" etc. It really would change things and if it gets the weight off and reveals a strong lean body for the 1st time in my life? What's that worth$-wise? Everything. I am talked into it, want to do it, just have to see when I can do this financially. Soon I hope. Very soon.
Oh! And at the next visit, this coming Monday, she's giving me a nutritional program to follow and I took home a foodlog to fill out. I told her that just by having me record my food it's going to change my food choices. She smiled and agreed. And so, on the way home, as soon as I left there pretty much, I REALLY REALLY wanted chocolate. Didn't get it cause I didn't want to write it down. Still haven't given in. Credit moi.

And that's how it went. It was good. It'll just get better.

Yay!

Hi there coaches:
onebyone: WOW! What an experience!!! I am so happy that it was so positive and motivating. Way to go for facing what ended up being the happy music...
I nominate BBE to talk to the media about Beck... are you considering it Bill? Good to hear from you Nessa-thanks for passing on that message. Wonder what the new book is all about?

Doing okay today-sort of on a roll tonight with pureeing a bunch of veggies for recipes from Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook. The chicken nuggets are SO good and way better for you than the kind in the frozen section of the store.. dd loves them.. am going to try a few other things too.

Hello all,

I apologize in advance that there is no way I can catch up with all the postings as it has been close to a week since my last one. But I must wish a HUGH belated birthday to BBE!! ( you youngster!!)

Quilter much awe on your success of maintaining a 200 lb weight loss for many years-That is the amount of my ultimate total loss and I also plan to keep it off for good.

onebyone-sounds like the gym is a heck of a good thing-yeah-

Robin W-I haven't really figured out how to deal with that daily weighing and all those fluctuations which don't seem to often make any sense-I really get so disappointed when I have a slight gain and/or plateau for days on end-yet it is also motivating to remain on or to get back on program which I am doing now. Regretfully I didn't face the scales for years and got way too close to 400lbs in that mindless state.

Credit to you Wendylan for letting go of the scale frustration!

A wave to everyone else-thanks for posting-

DH and I have gone to a series of Doc visits and getting a ton of info on living better in our aging status. We were also given a short test on our mobility, balance, strenght and flexiblity-I need alot of improvment in many areas and Dh is increditabily inflexible so now Dh is attending 1 1/4 hr of yoga classes 3x a week while I swim. This is great because when one wants to flake the other one pushes to go. Like many men Dh is very strong and high energy but is so inflexible he has been alot a pain just sleeping a night-we also have dropped our caffine usage-we love that stuff-maryblu-come with being born in MN. Must lower sodium and those food high in it -bye bye standard soy sauce and other processed sauces, need to cut out splenda and now using stuvia-with fiber- bye bye diet sodas of any type, do weights, walking more each day and make sure DH meditates with me. all in all we have really been working hard on these changes- We report back in 14 weeks hopefully with lower Blood Pressure, increased flexibilty, weight loss, increase toning-The best is that we are doing this together at the same time-always to hard to make big food changes while one'e partner does have to.

Feel like all this time dealing with Beck's ideas and those constant sabataging thoughts is really helping with all the current changes add on the following a food plan.- along with that 14 week check in looming ahead.

Best to you all

sue

Diet Coaches – Did my chest press with the heavier (for me) dumbbells. Worked the first try for the first set. Failed the next two tries, but without dropping them on the floor (bad gym etiquette). Then a guy offered to spot and I made it up. CREDIT moi for continuing to try to figure out if I'm on a learning curve or doing something stupid with weight heavy enough to hurt.

Yep, Jean (kuhljeanie) , CD#2 was America by Simon and Garfunkel.

CD#3 from 13 CD’s for $1: Sue (CoastalSue) - Kudos to you and to your DH for confronting all your physical issues with your doctors. Ouch for the reality of aging - aren't we all. It continues to astound me that I want to deny that I will ever feel and act like the folks that I know who are only a few years older than me. Denial, denial, denial. Good luck with your plans for the next 14 weeks. Is the air clearing up enough for you to swim yet?

Heidi (hbuchwald) - Glad that you're doing OK. Neat that you continue with incorporating veggies into unexpected places. And, if I recall correctly, you tell DD what's up so that she knows that she like veggies - more like un-Deceptively Delicious.

wendy (wendylan) - Not a single piece of salt water taffy - that's BIG Kudos. And Kudos for continuing to listen to your Beck tapes in the car.

Jean (kuhljeanie) - LOL at your conversation between me and me. Kudos to me for winning and doing the run. Good luck with your upcoming cake. Kudos for making a conscious choice to talk with your DH. Your self awareness is so refreshing, "someone NEEDS me! let's put on the cape and GO!"

onebyone – Happy "jaunty melody!!" Such good news about your assessment. Kudos for remaining so flexible all these years - you must be doing something right for that. Congrats on all the other encouraging findings. Kudos Kudos Kudos for going through with that. That's such a good example for us all about grabbing an issue and following through with a plan. That is just so so neat.

Nessa (ladybugnessa) - Thanks for passing along that email from Judith Beck. It's always a pleasure to spot you around and about 3FC on one topic or another. Even though not Beck, I hope you are doing well on your plans.

Robin (RobinW) - Kudos for recognizing Sabotaging Thoughts and Kudos for such a succinct response: "just get on with it."

shrinkin - Neat phrase there, "controlled unplanned eating." Thanks for posting additional info about the chicken episode. Sounds like you're really aware of your thinking process as you follow your plans. Kudos for that. And Kudos for all that exercise in the pool.

freer - Congrats on being only 8 ounces away from your pedicure reward. Interesting story of your 2 years of Jazzercise without losing weight. I trust that your new food plan will move you regularly along the losing path. - however wiggly it is. 3FC posts that they must, regrettably, require both 20 days and 20 posts before you can have a signature with the fun graphics - a step to reduce spam. I'll try to find the link to that later.

Readers – "… I, too, had lots of sabotaging thoughts, such as:

• If I eat something I hadn’t planned to eat, I may as well abandon my diet for the whole day. " Beck, pg 23.

Morning to you all. I am dragging tired today. Not sure why. Calories OK yesterday even with some sushi last night for dinner. Lost track of my water yesterday. Weekly weigh in OK (one pound down from last week with a number that is in the mid range of all the numbers of the week). Should be happy about that as that is a total of 7 pounds in two weeks. Yesterday not an exercise day...but tonight is pool night. Got to find the energy.

BillBlueEyes-Kudos for persisting on those weights. Not sure who that CD is...Linda Ronstat? I can hear the song in my head but not sure on the artist.

CoastalSue-Wow, congrats on for tackling so many habit/health issues. Hats off to you on addressing functional aging. Great you and DH are doing it together!

Heidi-Happy you are on a roll! Hope to hear more of your Deeelicious cooking. Not familiar with the cookbook...will try to find time to see it online.

onebyone-Take a big bow...you did it! Sounds like that assessment has led you to a great plan. Big credit on resisting that chocolate!

wendylan-Hope you are giving yourself lots of credits...for the no taffy, no chocolate, listing to those CDs and reading cards. You are really doing great!

RobinW-You got it right....just move on! That scale is just your tool...it is bouncing around as always. You will see that lower number again soon. If you stick with your plan,you know you will be successful. Hope the work calms a bit.

kuhljeanie-big credits for beating back the food desire and that choclate craving and for getting on with the exercise. Seems the challenges come in groups. You are stronger today having resisted! Will look at your other thread on the monitor and investigate more. I have a flex account I think. Do you have a recipe for asian slaw?

freer-keep it up...so close to those pretty toes! You will make it!

ladybugnessa-thanks for staying in touch with the group and good luck with the book!

Hope I can get over the funk this morning. Must get more sleep tonight.

Hello coaches

I filled in my foodlog for yesterday. Not too bad. DH came home with a certain type of gummy candy and I had two fistfuls and this hurled me twoard the fridge for a slice of cold meatloaf all right before heading up to bed Sometimes I the weirdest things. But, I wrote it down. Otherwise my food was fairly normal and average for the day.

Can't believe it's Thursday. I have lots to do at the school but will shunt it aside to complete my work for my art show this Saturday. I have 6 more paintings to get at. They are 2/3 done plus I agreed to make the sandwich board sign for the show and I have to get on that so.... no long days at the school today I'm afraid! Just get in and out, do what needs to be done, then home.

And a quick shoutout to kuhljeanie (and those of us who love a good laugh)... You have got to see this blog! SO FUNNY! "http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com

Gotta get going. Have the best Thursday you can!

THANKS onebyone!!! still laughing! man, that is a funny blog. it's going into the favorites folder with http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com. truly awesome.

have to make this quick today because i've got to get out of work early to do my sugarpaste flowers and sun, but here's to strengthening that resistance muscle today (in addition to all those other muscles getting cut!)

Hello all,

BBE Thanks for the info on the graphics. 20 days AND 20 posts? I'll really have to step up the yappin'!

Shrinkin 7 pounds in 2 weeks! That is awesome!

I've remained on plan and had a chance to strengthen my resistance muscle yesterday and I lived to tell about it! I am loving the Beck plan.