OP today so I am adding 5 points to the team effort.

We're sitting on 42 today. This is the equal highest tally we've had so far. Can we break the record tomorrow????

Credit to me for riding again today even the weatherr was looking a bit foul in the morning. My brother has a saying "there is no such thing as bad weather - there is only bad clothing" - so I thought of him this morning and remembered that I have good waterproof gear stowed in my backpack. Turned out the weather was lovely in the end. Been working the last couple of days on a really fun creative project at work which has been good fun. And had a really productive helpful meeting with a colleague that should help me find my way in a more challenging task.

Yay to you National Parker for losing on a trip away!

Seadwaters I am very impressed by declining scones and brownies.

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Glorious success due to . . . wait for it . . . planning. Whodathunk? Went to a celebratory event from 3-5pm - perfectly timed between lunch and dinner so that it couldn't be substituted for either. Going to be lots of friends and lots of wine. Advertised to include duck breast crostini and potato latkes among the treats. Solution: I planned half a man-salad (a cuke and a red pepper) for lunch; planned a small cup of leftover cabbage soup for dinner with DW; planned no snacks; and planned to enjoy the event food but to avoid the potato latkes, cheeses, cookies, desserts, and caloric beverages. Then just did it, all of it, CREDIT moi, CREDIT moi. The event food included bacon wrapped scallops and wild mushroom with black truffle soup (tiny cup) which both conveniently fit in my rare-and-unusual category. After returning home from an evening event, I was so guiltless and un-stuffed that I actually thought about the fresh pineapple in the fridge but ignored it just to keep to the plan. Joyfully, the streak reaches 20.

Good walking in the rain, CREDIT moi, by the easy trick of wearing boots and using an umbrella. Can't walk fast with an umbrella, but the inch of snow and ice prevented walking fast anyway.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – I borrowed your trick of focusing on the part of my celebratory event that didn't include food, namely the conversations with friends. Thanks for all your demonstrations that that's possible.

CeeJay - Sounds like a good day.

Cheryl (seadwaters) – Great testimonial, "I survived hungry and craving and didn't die or anything" - so it can be done. Super Kudos for all those carbs left behind, particularly scones. (When you say, "and cream," what does that mean?)

Pam (pamatga) – Terse summary of the whole shebang, "suck it up" and then say "Oh, well.." and move on.

maryann - Yay for countering the perfectionist urges.

nationalparker – Congrats on that below ticker scale reading despite your travels. I thought of you when I read the news article about the guy who woke up from his in-flight nap to find himself alone in the dark, locked airplane at the gate. He had to call his girlfriend who called the airline to open up and release him. (The maintenance crew that was paid to sweep the plane has some explaining to do, LOL.)

Lulu (LuLu01801) – Yay for "feeling like a million bucks!!"

ForMyGirls - Kudos for standing down the Sabotaging Thought that weather is a reason not to ride your bike. I feel so sheepish getting in my car despite Gore-Tex hanging in my closet.

LoseToAll - Kudos for reaching the state where you can be "On plan all day and I am not hungry."

Readers -

My 100%OP Day streak count is 3.

One of my original Advantages cards was "I want to wear clothes from J. Peterman." Along the way, I got distracted by a very helpful personal shopper at Nordstroms -- buying clothes in person (from a shop with tailoring services for women) worked better in my constantly changing size. But I've been at the same size for a couple of years now, so, I've just now completed that goal. Not only can I fit into clothes that J. Peterman sells, some of them are too big! I'm re-ordering a couple of things in a smaller size to see if that works better.

Today's challenge is a holiday open house. Last year, I got a club soda with lemon and that's it. I discovered that I socialize better if I'm focused on people, not food. So, I'm going to try that again. And, now, I can think about BillBlueEyes doing just that yesterday. We'll go out to eat after -- which also makes it a bit easier to skip food at the event.

WI: +0.3kg, Exercise: +50 415/1400 minutes for December, Food: 100%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

pamatga: my best response for countering the unfairness syndrome came from one of the books, but apparently not Day 23. I don't compare myself to the mythical "everyone" (as in, everyone gets to eat lunch at Hardees), but instead I compare myself to "other successful dieters and maintainers" (as in, BillBlueEyes and Lexxiss don't go to Hardees, and I don't have any reason to go there either).

good day to you all!!
I’m pluggin’ away, feeling good.
actually I have 10 perfect OP days together now but I didn’t come back to this forum until half way through that.
so I’ll say, for the record, that I have 5 OP days.
a challenge that I have coming up is a Christmas party on Saturday night.
it’s at a function hall with a live music, drinking, dancing, buffet.
the live music and dancing will be fun and healthy.
the buffet I’m going to pass on and I’ll eat a planned meal before I go (this will be a breeze because I don’t eat 95% of the stuff on these buffets because I’m a strict vegan).
I am going to work three glasses of merlot into my plan (WW, counting points) and will stop there.
unfortunately, I could drink wine all night long . . . I’m bad!!!
anyway, I look forward to the party and look forward to staying OP.
Sunday I’m invited to another party, a birthday party for my friend, more of an acquaintance, Jenn.
I imagine the food will be amazing as her wife is a gourmet cook.
but they are both very overweight and the food she makes is fat fat fat, carb carb carb.
and it’s all meat and cheese and cream sauces, which I don’t eat anyway as a vegan.
so maybe I’ll go, maybe not.
she isn’t a close friend so I don’t feel obligated.
and that would be another drinking alcohol occasion and I’m thinking once on the weekend may be enough to handle.
so I’m off to the gym again tonight, although I’ve gotta take is easy as I’ve done something to my left knee, it’s achey.
I’ll just stick to an upper body workout and for my cardio, I’ll do the elliptical instead of the treadmill for a no impact workout.
if anything hurts, I’ll stop . . . but I hate to miss my workouts.

ForMyGirls, good for you, getting on that bike!!! I hadn’t rode a bike for years and got on one briefly recently and it didn’t feel good, I was afraid!!
anyway, keep at it, great exercise!!
Thanks for keeping track of this point system you came up with, it’s movitivating!!

Bill, I can’t get over your OP streak!!! you mean business!! are you still maintaining your weight or are you trying to lose weight?
I’m wondering if your OP is a plan for weight reduction or maintenance.
great plan you had at the celebratory dinner and YOU STUCK TO IT!! impressive!!

gardenerjoy, good for you and your streak too!!
I’m a happier person when I’m following my plan too!!!
I agree with you that Bill is showing us how to socialize and stay OP.

maryann, focusing on what’s really important, sometimes easier said than done.
but we do have to stop and really think about that sometimes.

pamatga, great to read your point about the unfairness syndrome.
sucking it up sure seems easier than what a diabetic has to do, huh?

nationalparker, traveling and staying OP is impressive!! good for you!!
and losing weight too? WOW!!

LoseToAll, have you done 5:2 fasting before? I’ve never heard of it before.

CeeJay, you do deserve credit for working your plan, checking in and weighing in.
don’t forget to bury yourself in your ARCs . . . I find them good reminders, very useful.

seadwaters, WOW, good choices you made at the workfest. Lotsa credit!!

Hello, all! Happy Human Rights Day! (Tomorrow is Mountain Day, Lexxiss, I'll let you gaze out at those for me and appreciate them...)

OP so far today, but I'm feeling so proud for stringing together a few days, that I know I'll be on track tonight. I am doing Christmas decor setup after dinner, and our Chinese takeout last night will be dinner again tonight. My choice (kung pao chicken) is sauteed chicken loaded with carrots and celery, not my choice for a veggie in anything but this. I get three meals out of one, but typically only eat one of them, leaving the others for DH. But not tonight - I haven't hit the market and don't want to get slowed down tonight with a run and then dishes.

Another stressful day of running from meeting to meeting at work, and no time to WORK. Added in my volunteering gig at the elementary school that's usually on Thursdays but I swapped to today because of another meeting on Thursday. On my way to the printer, I just thought, "Oh, I hope there's chocolate in the kitchen..." (People receive all sorts of gifts and many are left in the kitchen areas for general consumption. Some good, some terrible.) WHY do I still have that thought process? I'm stressed. Better snarf down some treat. Thankfully I wasn't tempted as there was no chocolate. But it made me pause to acknowledge that thought wouldn't work for me.

Streak = 3 (I have to go back and check this out - I thought 4 but now can't remember...) :-) but regardless, I'm gunning for ya, Bill 20, huh??? Majorly impressed and honestly envious. What's the most you've fluctuated once you've reached goal, if you don't mind answering.

Know I need, no, want to do personals, but they're probably going to have to wait until tomorrow evening.

Goal tonight - enjoy another reasonable portion of dinner, and I'm adding in some homemade popcorn on the stove for a snack later if we want to, while decorating the tree. I usually put up a few slender artificial ones, but being so late and being gone a bit over the holiday, has DH committed to only putting up one. So I've decided to go with just the rustic one. Each ornament is wooden, knitted, or cloth (mini mittens, sweaters, whittled Santas, stars) - something that would have been on a pioneer christmas tree - except the white lights. It's different and relaxing in a way...

Lulu - Sounds like you're already planning wisely for the weekend. Kudos to you for not letting "guilt" make social visits turn into calorie-filled temptations. I admire that.

ForMyGirls - I'm stealing your brother's line of "no bad weather, just bad clothes" for camping... but I will continue to count thunderstorms as bad weather since I'm a weenie and have been stuck in too many frightening storms But overall - that's PERFECT for my outdoor ventures.

Hi Coaches!

I've been keeping up with your posts, and have been thinking of you all daily, even when I can't be here....working my food plan every single day. Every day hasn't been perfect but it's been "good enough". Good enough to be only 1.5 off my ticker which is my best holiday season, yet. Credit. That's the good news.

The other aspect of my life (the vacant rentals) doesn't bode so well. Work is slow and the weather has been absolutely miserable. I'm exhaused and DH and I have both been sick. I'm concerned about our other home, but don't have the time or energy to get over there this week. Oh, well.

I'm really grateful to be staying on track w/food and maintenance of my current weightloss. Lol, yes, gardenerjoy, I don't eat at Hardee's. And...I often use you all as good examples in my life, too!

MaryAnn, I've been think about you lots! My job right now is ideal and it took several years to find it. I received many rejections and yet none of them would have worked out with my current situation. I know you know it's believing what the programs teach us, "you're right where you're supposed to be".

nationalparker, I'll seek out a mountain view for you tomorrow!

CeeJay, thanks for checking in and for recognizing your credits!

LuLu, welcome back!

BBE, now I've got that earworm...RayStevensTheStreak!Lol and kudos!

Kudos to all the other streakers!

I'll be back when I can. Out of sight is not out of mind for me these days. I need to get up everymorning and formulate a plan for the day. When everything else seems daunting, I still enjoy getting dressed in attractive clothes that fit....walking up and down stairs...hauling 50# pipe thawers and tossing all those healthy veggies in the vitamix instead of driving to McD's.

Take care everyone!

Hi everyone.

I'm struggling. Really struggling. Thanksgiving was challenging--and for the 4 day trip to Florida and the weekend party that followed I was just totally off plan.

A friend said he was going to leave some chocolate here when he left on Monday--I told him he could take it or he could dump it, but we wouldn't be eating it. So, credit for that.

I ran errands at lunch today and bought 3 frozen lunch meals to stick in the freezer at work (I haven't been to the grocery store in 2+ weeks since I've been traveling so much). I also bought two bananas and had one for my afternoon snack. At least lunches will be on track tomorrow. And it'll be my third on-plan breakfast in a row.

Time for me to start reading the pink book again--tonight, before bed, Day 1. Again. Again again.

Back on plan....

There were a few times these past two weeks where I wanted to ask for help and it just seemed so hard to get on-line to do it.

Edited to add: I can't find the pink book. But I found Beck Diet for Life (mine is white since it doesn't have a book cover). Reading that.

The plan was to check in for the day before in the morning but I did yesterday in the evening so trying to recalibrate!

Yesterday continued to be good and I added more steps to my total for yesterday. This morning my weight was down again so that is motivating .

ForMyGirls - you are doing so well persisting with the riding project -I can't imagine it would be easy to lug all the stuff to work that you would need on a bike and in public transport so major kudos. Glad you have a fun project to keep you interested. Bill (BE) - great planning for an event. A great inspiration. I like the rare-and-unusual category but might have to wait a bit - everything could fit that at the moment. Cream = milk fat. Should have written my temptation as scones with jam and cream. Very decadent - and british I think. GardenerJoy - I am inspired - I can't wait to wear even a few things that I am close to getting into. Credit and congratulations on satisfying a goal. LuLu - Good luck with the planning and the event - hope the dancing fueled by merlot doesn't make the knee worse ; Nationalparker - congratulations on a string of successes. Habitual thoughts are sneaky and ever present to trip us up - glad there was no chocolate to upset your streak; Lexxiss - good to hear from you when it sounds like you are impressively busy but still able to plan, and stay on plan.

Progress
Checked in 2 times in a row
Weight
-0.4 lb (today) / -0.4 lb (total for week)
Steps
8687/5000;
Kilometres
5.9/3;
Food
On plan yesterday and have a plan today

Beth. Good you finally came here. We have all been where you are. I am diving back into the book again too. Holidays are so hard. I have been saved from a family party this Thursday because my DH has to work. Good for me not so good for him. I just hate making conversation and the food is the focus for me to try and avoid uncomfortable situations. The holidays will be over soon and you will be so glad that you got on track and stayed on even if it is to maintain.

I did another fast today and I am hungry but it is bearable. I feel like I am getting better at telling the difference between hunger and cravings. I think the cravings are harder than the hunger. I have to figure out how to handle the cravings better.

Up 3 lbs since Saturday because I let it go on Sunday and ate 3 very full meals. I can not do that any more. I have to stick to a plan. That is what happened on Sunday- no plan. But I am hoping to be down by Friday weigh in.

Hope you all have a good night.

Well we didn't just break our record - we totally smashed it :-) 48 points!!! Woohoo!

6 of those are from me with another OP day. My lovely fella was (unusually) out tonight so I bought eggplant (which he detests) and then decided what to cook - and once the cookbooks are out there's no stopping me so I now have a fridge packed with leftover eggplant pasta sauce, baba ganouj and tabouli. Yum!

I have been out tonight watching my elder daughter in a circus performance. The highlight of the show was the adult beginners - a woman who I am guessing is in her 50's doing trapeze. Like wow - there really are no limits to what you can do in life I reckon!

Some credits - being OP :-) noticing that I had a handful of nuts on their way to my mouth while cooking and redirecting them to the bin.

BBE - I am intrigued to know the rules that go with your rare and unusual category?

Gardener joy - thanks for the detour to J Peterman. I am drooling over the skirts and dresses!

Beth - well done you for checking in. And well done for avoiding chocolate in the house too. And last but not least hooray for you for getting back on track!

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Stayed the path, CREDIT moi, for the 21st day. My evening event was from 6 to 7:30 pm and I had to leave home by 5:30. That's too early for me to have completed dinner and I wouldn't get home until after 8. My compromise was to have a half serving of leftover beans at 5:20 and to stop for a vegetarian combo plate at a favorite Greek restaurant on the walk home. It all worked out. Again I skipped the evening snack just to be sure.

Did gym, CREDIT moi, including the non-Zumba class with the Zumba instructor. I continue to dream about getting the courage to take the Zumba class itself. There are a few women with gray hairs but no men. I'd probably have to wear a burqa to feel comfortable, LOL. It's the day to up my monthly counters, CREDIT moi for hanging around. Due to questions, I reset those numbers under the Avatar. Since I lost my weight before I started 3FC and Beck, I've never used those to track and have ignored them since I set them when joining some six years ago. I've gained some from over-snacking starting with my home renovation a couple of years ago, so that I'm pushing my upper red line, as measured by pants too tight, and am now working those down by diligence in the snacking part of my plan.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Neat to have ease of buying clothes as an ARC - Kudos for getting there.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Ouch for the challenges of the renovations of the rentals. Love your positives, "attractive clothes that fit....walking up and down stairs...hauling 50# pipe thawers and tossing all those healthy veggies in the vitamix instead of driving to McD's."

Cheryl (seadwaters) – Yay for more steps to keep the system pumping.

nationalparker – Thanks for the tip about Mountain Day. Are you climbing something today? Amazing Sabotaging Thought, "Oh, I hope there's chocolate in the kitchen..." - they just sneak in from everywhere.

Beth (bethFromDayton) – Sending supportive thoughts for the struggling with Kudos for getting back on your horse. Special Kudos for "but we wouldn't be eating it" - chocolate that's not in the house is so much easier to ignore.

Lulu (LuLu01801) – Yep, "if anything hurts, I’ll stop" - it's so easy to get compulsive about exercising. Kudos for sanity. Ouch for facing a gourmet cook who does "fat fat fat, carb carb carb."

LoseToAll - It does seem to be the secret, "I have to stick to a plan." Kudos for seeing that.

Readers -

Morning time--and getting myself in the emotional/mental state to stay on plan today. I don't have a written plan--dinner is uncertain. <think think> Dinner is now known.

I've read the two new cards I made last night while starting the Green Book. I'm even going to try the eating plan as a basis for moving forward. I read the first 3 chapters, skipped ahead a little and calculated a caloric goal (higher than I've used in the past, but I haven't stuck with the 1200-1400 range so perhaps that's not a bad thing.)

I hope to move through the Success Skills fairly quickly--at least, I hope they're refreshers and reminders and re-motivators rather than fresh skills. I know I particularly do need to concentrate on eating more slowly again and savoring each bite.

There are 9 skills listed--and I do need reminders and re-work for each of them (except eating sitting down--at home--[at parties it's a big problem])

Thanks to everyone for being here.

My 100%OP Day streak count is down to 0.

DH wasn't feeling well, so we didn't go to our event, so we didn't go out to supper. I think this is the 3rd time I broke my streak for DH's whim. Oh well. I'm happy that I ate things that I would have planned, had I known what we were doing. So, I'm rating my day 90%.

I think the reason that I never put together streaks of 100% days before was I let the fact that I allow DH to effect my plans to mean that any other thing could change my plan, too. This has been interesting to learn that those are, in fact, two separate issues. I can allow 90% days on DH's whims without allowing them on my own whims. I suspect that seemed unfair when I started but now it feels like a liberation.

I have a plan that I think will work for today.

WI: +0.15 kg, Exercise: +45 460/1400 minutes for December, Food: 90%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

bethfromDayton: glad to see you back here and taking healthy steps. I used the plan in the Green book for awhile. It was a little too effective for me, being the highest protein plan I'd tried to date. I was so used to low-fat dieting that I couldn't get myself to eat as much fat and protein as that plan allowed. So, I just didn't eat enough. I lost nine pounds in three weeks and turned into a big grump. I'd probably do better with it now, since I've gradually tilted my diet into the higher protein range.
Interesting that you don't sit down to eat at parties. I wonder what would happen if you did, if that was the only change you consciously made.

LoseToAll: for me, a lot of handling cravings was about figuring out the triggers. I almost never have food cravings any more. I still have cravings to overeat in general, which is usually about some unresolved issue in my to do list, so I'm getting better at identifying the root cause and finding a path toward acceptance or change.

I stuck with my resolve from last night to enjoy one cookie while setting up the tree - instead of homemade this year for chocolate chip (DH's fave), I bought the preformed dough and bake to order with those. I've done that twice, each time sticking with my ONE cookie. This is working well; good plan on that. Stayed up way too late last night, getting to bed around 1:30 and then when alarm went off this morning, I decided to stay home and take a half vacation day. Enjoyed the sunrise over the snowy landscape - everything was lit with a pink/peach glow.

Ate a large breakfast and will go light at lunch, allowing myself more this evening when DH is working nights again. Will check in tonight to keep me on track today.

Well, I am back! I made a decision to not report yesterday because I needed the day time to work on our porch. Even so it was so cold that I had to go inside, get my coat and gloves on to finish up. ForMyGirls I too love that saying "No bad weather, just bad clothing." The only downside to that is always being prepared.

I had to give my notice to our community garden. We are moving in 2014 to another county so we can not participate in this garden. I do hope to hook up with another one when we move but still this was a sad day for me. I thanked the director for all of the leadership, great workshops (I have learned so much on non-chemical ways of treating unwanted bugs and visitors as well as small space gardening) and the great friendships as well. It also made me feel proud that our excess went to service our local food pantry. I don't know of many food banks that offer fresh organic produce for those they service. It is being "twice blessed", IMO.

Since I talked about dealing with disappointments with "Oh, well". I will focus on sabotaging thoughts. First of all: I have them! In fact, sometimes I don't even realize I have them until I am in the process of listening to them and then in the midst of acting on them; I realize that I am being "under attack" by a sabotaging thought! Is it possible that some of these are subliminal??


BBE I remember your statement about "rare and unusual" from my stint here before. I have since adopted that myself when faced with a huge and endless array of foods, usually unexpected. Why choose foods that you can make at home or have any time? However, the flip side of that is this "exception" has to be clearly defined so that your inner child doesn't get something just because it wants it. My "inner child" is a very strong-willed young lady and I have to be Mama to her once in awhile and say "No!", even if it means slapping her proverbial hands.

Great Job in not only realizing what the problem is (tight jeans) but also what the solution is (no more snacking). I think my "problem-solving" skills are really being put to the test with my weight loss efforts. This venture is definitely not for sissies.

gardenerjoy: Major Credit to You for having a clearly defined goal (clothes from J. Peterman) and then using that to work towards your end goal. Since I have endured menopause for the past decade I decided that once I lost 50 lbs I would "treat" myself to some pjs that supposed the astronauts wear (I didn't even think that they would bother to change from their spacesuits but I guess they must). I paid $140 for pjs (GoodNighties) that have a cooling property in the fibers. Although that seems extreme for price, they actually feel noticeably cool to the touch and made my night sweats much more bearable.

I agree with you about "everyone": exactly who is "everyone" anyway? The one meal that I like at Hardee's is their breakfast. I have it once every 6-9 months. BTW, the guy who writes those books, "Eat This, Don't Eat That" says Hardee's is the worst fast food you can possibly eat in terms of unhealthy fats, sodium and sugar. I still like their biscuit and gravy though. --but once a year is good enough for me.

When I lose 100 lbs. I want to go to my favorite store and I plan on holding (along with the help of others) 100 lbs. in frozen turkeys while having a photo taken of me. I know that I will be a blubbery mess when the time comes but it is important to me that I do this. I have seen others do something similar and I want myself to really know how significant that day will be for me. That is my present incentive. BTW, I haven't seen 201 lbs. since summer of 1983. This is a big, big deal for me!

nationalparker Great Job on being OP while traveling. I haven't been able to travel much this past year but 2014 I do expect to so I am reading what you have wrote and taking notes for when the time comes for me. In the past I actually used one whole suitcase that I checked in to carry all of my spices, seasonings and foods that I need to cook while away from home. I also have two sources that have MRE (meals-ready-to-eat) as well as emergency hot cans that once opened automatically heat up on their own. "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail."

CeeJay a Major Credit for checking in while finding your way. My heart goes out to because I too am struggling to get back on track long enough to see my ticker go down. I have been at the same weight for 7 months and it is difficult to keep doing the "right things" when you don't see the changes on the scales that you want to see. Dr. Beck has a Day about when this happens but I think it is coming up. I am not there yet.

LoseToAll: Great Job on finding a balance between being hungry and living with it. I think that says it all.

Debbie R(lexxiss) You are a success story for BDS. No need to offer any explanation. You worked hard and earned every bit of your present success. Well done, my friend, well done! I hope you take time to enjoy all of your hard work. It is clearly paying off for you.

bethfromDayton Major Credit for returning. I am struggling myself since going through this book. I am probably taking it too literally and working one day for every calendar day and so it feels rushed since I am trying to get ready for Christmas and all of the necessary preparations involved. You are in my thoughts.

Cheryl(seadwaters): Keep on steppin'.

I have already made a decision for my Christmas Day fare. We are going to have ham this year. I am going to allow myself two foods that I don't eat very often but they will be planned. I am going to have mixed nuts and chocolate fudge mint cookie wafers but I am only going to have 2 servings each between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. What isn't eaten by January 1st will be tossed. In the past year, I have been able to have dark chocolate in a single serving and not be tempted by eating more so it is on my plan but only occasionally.

I haven't read the green Beck book but I think I might buy that for a gift to myself this year. I have found that high protein/lower carb food plan works the best for me regarding cravings. I am convinced that carbs create cravings and not the other way around.

Take care all, Pam