Congrats to Everyone this Sunday morning for so many triumphs - Weightloss,Epiphanies on "Hunger not being an Emergency", engagements and exercise. For me, this is the 7th day of OP - Only What Is Written. Tricky yesterday because I was given some Valentines treats by family and the mind started to substitute and justify. "Just Say No." and I left a little hungry but determined. Today is the hardest day for me historically. Something about Sundays. So I am off to the gym and a few errands and while trying let go of a mind going crazy. If I start to weaken I will post more and/or take a nap.

Hello Everyone.
I just finished my work for the day -- and have been beautifully OP (which I take it is On Programme-right?) all day. I am still struck by the novelty of being hungry -- and trying to face it head on.
OnebyOne -- congratulations on finding the con -- I live in a tiny studio and I still can lose things for weeks, and go through endless frustration trying to find them. At the moment I have been hunting for a pair of shoes for days and days. SO its great to hear that a remote control thing CAN be found, even among packing boxes.
maryann I am very inspired by your seven day run. I am on la day and a half so far, and if I find myself sliding, I have my little stack of cards to read..
Hope you all are having a nice lazy SUnday, if possible
RUby

Another quick check in. Made up for missing my workout on Friday today by going to the gym. Decided against 2nds at dinner! Yeah!!

Hope you are all well & enjoying the thaw.

Take care!

hello everyone:

masondixonmama-isn't a February thaw wonderful? We are enjoying one too. Credit for passing up peanut butter chips. Down 7 pounds in a week is awesome.

RubyJan- congratulations on your success at the party and knowing that hunger is not an emergency.

Woodland- waving hello to you. Glad to hear all is well.

BillBlueEyes- yay for eating on plan while out at dinner.

ChefJoona- congratulations on your engagement. Wonderful news. Now we Beckies are celebrating a baby for Shepherdess and a wedding for you.

pamatga- credit for writing down what you ate.

gardenerjoy-sorry about the snack attack but it is helpful for me to hear that you can go weeks without one. Hope.

maryann-big big kuddos for 7 days OP.

FutureFitChick-no 2nds at dinner and going to the gym- way to go.

For me- still feeling under the weather and dreading going to work this week. Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Credit today for:
weighing in
walking 30 mins with mom
doing weights
planning tomorrow
packing lunch for tomorrow
checking in with my coaches
reading response and advantage cards

Take care and have a great week.

Hi Coaches
I have been reading and keeping up with your posts when I log on with my morning coffee, but I am REALLY busy. Work is woeful. I know it is grand to have work and be busy but it can get over the top and exceedingly pathological. I have a really big deadline for the end of March, along with other teaching and program coordination duties, which will be really hard to meet. I think longingly of retirement and part-time teaching but can't afford it. Sigh. The diet has been a bit all over the place but I recommitted today and I just have to live with feeling really selfish and not actually doing personals for a while of I will go under. Today was an on plan day - YAY

PS - I got a dancing beastie back

Take care coaches

A quick check-in. I second maryann's congrats for all of the goals met, epiphanies experienced, steps taken, and choices made. I am constantly amazed by what each and every one of you shares.

I am still struggling with sinus pain, pressure, headaches -- a general stickiness in the head that gets me down. I've been on some drugs that suppress my appetite, which is a feeling I don't really like. They also make me jittery, and did not help my energy during my work out. I used to be on these drugs every day, but have been off of them since last May, when I had sinus surgery. Part of my process of taking care of myself.

So, yet again nothing done today in terms of academic work. ::sigh:: I realized that I spend more time on my eating, and working out, and Beck skills than on my dissertation. I KNOW this is better in the long-run (especially when I return to teaching) BUT . . . . I struggle with the balance.

Question, especially for the maintainers: will things balance out once I'm in the maintaining stage?

Credits:

--working out
--eating healthy, sans plan
--portioning food, sans plan
--attempting positive thinking about this coming week
--not taking my personal frustrations out on the DP
--checking in here

Happy Monday to all! Oh, and happy Valentine's Day!

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Lots of walking, CREDIT moi. Had some off plan snacks in the morning - Ouch - but otherwise a CREDIT moi eating day.

More joy and pain digging into the boxes of treasures from ages ago. Looking at old, old books is like reviewing my intellectual history - as in, How could I have been interested in that? or Oh, yeah, that's when I first learned about that! But the culmination of the weekend is 9 boxes by the front door that will be picked up this morning by a worthy charity. CREDIT moi for continuing the letting go process. I'm greatly encouraged by the others on this thread working the same issue.


FutureFitChick - Gym and no 2nds is a good day.

CeeJay - Ouch for having to head back to work while still under the weather.

Joy (gardenerjoy) - Yep, snacks are sneaky and use night goggles and radar and other high tech attack gear, LOL. [Minutes after asking you about tzatziki sauce, I saw a recipe in the paper using yogurt; gonna make some - I've always considered it the purview of Greek restaurants.]

Cheryl (Seadwaters) - Congrats on the return of your dancing beastie, even as you face work that is: "REALLY busy ... woeful ... over the top ... exceedingly pathological." Hope you find a calm path through that.

MaryContrary - Wishing for a good chicken soup for your "a general stickiness in the head" so you can get your mojo back. Kudos for keeping your priorities with "not taking my personal frustrations out on the DP." My experience is that the balance issue remains during maintenance, but it just joins forces with all the other balance issues on my agenda; making choices is one of the painful conditions of being human. Good luck finding your path.

maryann - Kudos for 7th day OP - you're on a roll. Thanks for modeling the standard for Valentine's Day candy, "Just Say No."

ChefJoona - Congrats for getting engaged. Such super news!!! Kudos for eating rationally on that very night - if you can do it then, you can do it any time.

Ruby (RubyJan) - Neat phrase, "beautifully OP" which, yes, does mean On Programme.

pamatga - Ouch for the cupcakes; Kudos for logging and reporting them. Sounds like such good progress to be digging out the exercise equipment, but LOL at, "I just want to make sure everything is working."

Readers -

Super quick check in. Doing OK. Healthy breakfast and a good workout to get the week started.

Take care!

Good morning all!

Official weigh in today: gained +.6 lbs. I know that it is sodium retention because of what I ate yesterday for supper. I didn't drink as much water nor did I do any structured exercise.

80/20 eating is something new that I am embracing. Although in some respects it seems easier it is actually more difficult because it is so easy to have the 20%(not so healthy) eating (things like homemade fudge and yes those cupcakes) cause me to lose my appetite to eat the healthier things. I had two meals each day on the weekend but that actually works better with my appetite.

Credit moi:

"Business as usual." I do not use the above results as evidence of quitting or giving up. I acknowledge that they are part of the fabric I am weaving in my life and consider them a very temporary set back. More water and a work out will get me back on track with the wieht lose.

Trust in the process!

Adding 10 minutes to my 30 minutes of walking on treadmill for a total of 40 minutes per day.

Being more aware of how I position my body and listening/feeling the pain level at the time.

Sticking with lights out at 1 am. I am up so early. I have so much time today. Let's hope I spend it usefully.

Key word these days is: TRUST. Trust God, myself and others.

Have a great day!

Hi Coaches!

I hit a big bump in the road this weekend but I woke up with new resolve this morning. I had two big events this weekend which were already a bit chaotic due to our broken pipes. Saturday, DH woke to a "stiff neck" but did help me get our old pup to the puppy party for our therapy group. We got invited to dinner (a taco fundraiser) which seemed ok. Our friend had read it wrong and we ended up at a crappy Chinese restaurant and didn't get what we ordered. (I just ate what we got). Sunday I had baking to do for our auction at church and DH informed me he was worse. I bagged church but got the baking done. I left a big mess which included all the leftovers from the 1st party. Got home from church with goodies I bought for DH to find him grumpy(understatement) and in extreme agony. Now I'm to feeding him in bed. I ate part of the goodies and grazed through the leftovers all day.

I laid in bed this morning and made MY plan. I can't change his behavior but I can change mine.
~I cleaned up the leftovers/goodies and made them off limits.
~I made my food plan for the day.
~I made a resolve to get to my yoga class for just one hour.

I am feeling overwhelmed right now but food won't change that. It was just one day. *credit* for recognizing and making the effort needed to stay on track during this moment in time.

*credit* to all of us who continue to put one foot in front of the other and strive for a sane relationship with food.

Happy Valentines Day!

Good morning!

I am noticing that my plan to post during the evenings isn't working. I guess I'm just in the habit of morning posting.

Had some friends over for brunch yesterday morning, and like dinner on Saturday night, I observed my new healthier habits in action. There were many tempting treats, without any built in portion control, but I found it much easier than in the past to make portion decisions for myself! Followed up with a very healthy, on plan dinner!

Thank you for the congratulations on my engagement!

maryann Way to go for 7 days in a row on plan!!!!

BillBE and gardnerjoy Non-fat plain greek yogurt is a new staple in my diet! I recently made a yummy garlicy yogurt sauce for a greek style wrap I made.

Wishing good health to those getting over bugs and discomforts!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just need to come here and post before I get too far behind. We had a very busy couple of days and looks like another one. We headed out very early Friday AM to drive up to Montana to pick up a new puppy. We got another Australian Shepherd from the same breeder who gave us our last dearly departed Aussie, Maggie. (We also get our livestock guard dogs from this breeder). I’ve been working on DH to get a puppy since Christmas. If we don’t do it now, it isn’t going to happen for a very long time. So we talked to the breeder about the baby on the way and he knows a lot about our ranch operation and what kind of dog we’re looking for. He had a male puppy who was 5 months old he thought would be a good fit. DH and I tend to prefer females, so he picked out two 10 week old females for us as well. We were mostly set on the male, but the two females were pretty cute, two little blue-eyed blue merles. We were ready to go home with 3 dogs! But we just came home with Fletcher, a very cute tri-colored boy who looks a lot like our Maggie, though he has some distinctions like a single blue eye. We’re trying to remember that he’s his own dog and not our beloved Maggie.

So we’ve been in the middle of puppy transition. He’s been understandably terrified so he requires a lot of time (and patience!) and our other dog, Jen, needs lots of reassurance that she’s still our baby dog. But we’re making progress. In the middle of all this, we’re getting ready to calve heifers. We finally got the water working in the calving house and spent the weekend cleaning. We’ll move in today and it looks like our first calves will arrive sometime in the next few days. So through this, I haven’t had a plan and have been too tired to make good choices. But I did make a plan for yesterday and stuck with it and have a plan in place for today.

I haven’t had much formal exercise, just the incidental exercise from cleaning. Fletcher’s also giving me an excuse to get out for short walks while we introduce him to his surroundings. We’ve got some pretty high winds right now, so I’d normally be reluctant to spend much time outdoors. It’s good I have a new puppy. I did get my weights in last night and DH and I have a walk planned this afternoon.

No time for personals today. I will do my best to keep up during calving.

Hi All,

I usually don't do much computer work on the weekends, so I didn't get a chance to check-in.

So far, things are going well - ate out on Friday night and enjoyed myself but didn't go overboard, which was my goal. I'm giving myself credit for returning to my plan on Saturday morning and sticking with it through the weekend - NOT what I would have done in the past!

Congrats to ChefJoona on her engagement! (and 1 lb loss!).

Pamatga: have you heard about Jolie Bookspan? She has a (free) website that offers a number of solutions to pain/posture problems. I also have her books, but you can get pretty much all of the information at the 'Fitness Fixer' page at her site.

MaryContrary: the only thing I ever found that worked for my sinus issues was a neti pot. Sinus problems are really no fun.

RubyJan: congrats on making it through the party!

Lexxis: stiff necks always worry me - hope your DH is better. Really like your attitude that "I can't change his behavior but I can change mine."

Shepardess: good luck with the new puppy!

BillBlueEyes:: sounds like you're doing lots of decluttering! I was just reading an article this weekend about how clutter, and even certain objects we hold on to, can be a source of negative energy.

maryann: I like your 'just say no' attitude! Luckily, I got a cyclamen plant for Valentine's Day so don't have to deal with extraneous chocolate that I don't need .

I hope everyone has a great day and hope those who are sick get well soon.

- Jan

Hello friends,

Quick check in. Today marks one week on the Beck plan. Weight loss for week one is 7 lbs. Credit for making time to exercise, staying on plan, talking back to cravings, encouraging positive self esteem, and drinking my water.

Have a great day!

Awesome, masondixonmama!!!