Hello Coaches, happy Friday!

Today has been busy with one boy at a conference and our next 1/2 grass fed cow pick up in addition to the normal routine. Freezer is now full, off tomorrow to pick up other groceries since the fridge is bare again. I should have done my DVD today, but did not. I just made excuses which are flimsy enough I won't repeat them here. Maybe tomorrow instead, or I might be going out with dh to walk around somewhere.

Food OP, Exercise - walking pup

seadwaters/Cheryl I'm glad you were able to make it to PT and through it as well. Sounds like you have a wise perspective on the acupuncture. Great job on the 7700 steps! Your graph is great and shows continual progress! I like your terms "manageable and enjoyable." That is all about making healthy choices work long term. AWESOME!

ladym0208 Kudos for reevaluating your snack and skipping when you weren't hungry!

BillBlueEyes It is great you have found a class that will work. My arms are are tough to work too, but getting better! Awesome that you were able to enjoy the opera recital. Great job on the chips! Thanks for the encouragement, today was another no loss day.

flnu Kudos on your 40 minutes of exercise, and LOL about your 2 year old. Thanks for your encouragement.

gardenerjoy Hurray for your good 4 days and your streak of 6!

CeeJay Hello! good to see you. Kudos for OP today and for posting. Stick with it. You will only fail if you give up.

Diet Coaches/Buddies – DW has convinced me that one just oughta buy organic strawberries. Yesterday, organic cost $10 for four pounds and conventional cost $4; the conventional looked fresh and the organic looked picked over. So, I have four pounds of fresh-looking strawberries and four pounds of guilt for destroying the planet and my body. Oh Well. Eating was on plan and snacks none, CREDIT moi.

Walk, CREDIT moi, included a trip to the Institute of Contemporary Art to see the 'sound suits' of Nick Cave. Exciting stuff. I'm pleased because my last trip there left me convinced that I'd never like modern art. It's just fun to dawdle around Boston's harbor - always an active place.


onebyone – Thought of you when the centerpiece of one room of the ICA was a three foot ceramic vase. Just splendid, with notes by the sculpture that it was totally non-functional - as was all her work. Let beauty reign!

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Ripping out a to-do list is a major head leap forward - Kudos. I've spent many a day with a list that included an item that properly falls in my solve world hunger category.

CeeJay - You're a winner when you can post and when you can be aware of what you're doing. Kudos for both. May today be a good day.

Cheryl (seadwaters) – Kudos for coming to a clear path for using acupuncture. I appreciate the thought, "not pay for what amounts to a miracle."

Rachel (helping rachel) – Neat reminder, "Beck's strategies work in many areas of life." Hope all is going well with you.

Tricia (AZtricia) - Wow! Half a cow is a lotta cow. Kudos for not believing in your own Sabotaging Thoughts.

flnu - LOL at a two year old food pusher. Yep, Beck needs an extra chapter on the many compromise choices of mothering. Kudos for streaking.

Readers -

Hi Coaches, I enjoyed several days at the pool and drove through a harrowing snowstorm yesterday to assure I would be in the right place when work calls. DH stayed over and I have some challenges this week while he's away. Tommorow, my helper and I go up into the attic of the old train depot (my final project) and try to troubleshoot/fix an electrical snafu. It seems the problem we thought resolved wasn't….Oh, well. Tonight I start on the company books in an attempt to make big progress while DH is away. It's hours of continual data entry and he always feels abandoned. Weight stays down and I continue to follow my plan, although I discontinued counting days. My friends, who had not seen me for a month noticed my latest weightloss. I had to remind myself that at my current weight a 10 pound loss is much more noticeable than it used to be. Credit. I got my hair cut while over and it looks nice. It feels good to take care of myself even when busy.


BBE, I love the sound of your new class! Kudos for keeping up with your new habit, which was cemented by a super successful streak!

AZTricia, noting your frustration at not losing anything in over a week….will share that in the past 6 weeks I shrunk in size and fit into 4 pairs of pants comfortably, that before would not come close to buttoning (without movement on scale). The final 2 weeks the scale followed. Keep following your food plan and the results you want will come.

CeeJay, posting is good, especially when you are feeling negative. Can you pinpoint just what it is that is blocking your clear path? There were other things in my life I had to work on at the same time I was focusing on better eating. They were good distraction, as I found my most difficult times in a busy life were when I was finally home and feeling justified to "just relax". I had to rethink my position in some relationships that weren't serving me well, which was very painful, too. All in all the work has been worth it and I encourage you to keep trying and to keep posting.

Cheryl(seadwaters), yay for weight at ticker and committing yourself to trying to change/improve your food plan. Taking gardenerjoys' lead, I have found doing that really helps from time to time. Slow movement is movement! Kudos for noticing!

Helping rachel, yes, Beck strategies work in many areas of life.

gardenerjoy, yay for a change in plan when the to do list didn't seem right.

flnu, I had to chuckle….you said "Nothing to report" then reported OP, exercise and a loss for your Friday weigh in. Kudos-I think that's all report worthy. PS-thanks for noticing and for the reminder to me that I had a nice round number at the bottom of my ticker. Truth told, I have been so busy and posting from Iphone….I hadn't noticed.

ladym, kudos for skipping the snack when you found you didn't need it. That is thinking like a thin person.

onebyone, kudos for keeping the gym in your plans even when you are so busy.

MaryAnn, congrats on buying the new work clothes with a plan in place to accommodate a continual fit. Yes, that is a terrific incentive!

FutureFitChick, yay for using "No Choice".

Very quick post. My sister is here. She is a very stressed out person who helps a lot of other people in her life but unfortunately they are all very unhealthy--some in body some in mind. the result, after a good (not kidding) 1.5 years of solid stress? She had full blown panic attacks on her way here-one as she awake, one in the airport and major one on the plane that was part of her own doing (she got up during assent in the plane cause her pwder rolled ut of her purse--she went for the powder and experienced massve g-forces. Hello? Such is my willful sister! Anyway--I DID NOT EAT OVER HER STRESS *major kudos* and I am successfully whisking us away to a gallery talk called Artistically Delicious with *culinary historians!!!* http://www.mcmichael.com/marypratt/events.html (it's on that page) plus the work of Mary Pratt. So. Better be off. I will be on plan today (no sugar + tracking) wth s good deal of walking. Bye for now

UPDATE: well. Held to no sugar for the day *credit* chose a veggie burger for pete's sake at the diner we went for dinner at-with a small bowl of soup instead of fries *credit* and major credit for eating one fry and then stopping at that one as it wasn't for me to eat. *credit for stopping. My sister is concerned as she agrees there has been some major progression in my mother's health in her mind and body. The night nurse was eager to stop in to talk to her and to tell her that my mother should be on the long term care list and she has been trying to leave the facility at night, but since it's so cold she is stopped but they are concerned about the warmer weather and whether they will always catch her. Not good. She is also entering other people's rooms, and that's not good. I don't know how long things take, I know moving to a place where the residents cannot leave from (I hate to call it a "locked ward" but that is what I am talking about) ie long term care, is a long time waiting game. Unless there is an emergency. Anyway, I sure don't want there to be an emergency. So we are going to visit some of these places while my sister is here as we need to try to manage this whole thing before it becomes an emergency. I'm ok with it today. I knew it was coming. It's tough that it's happening. I have no idea how things will go. All I know is, as small as it seems right now, food will not make things better or change things in any way shape or form. And I am completely powerless over my mother's condition. My sister was less stressed out and the gallery visit was great for both of us. We took a major break and did something nourishing just for us. *credit* to me for doing what we need to do to feel good.

A quick post here in between chores/errands. A terrifically crazy busy week; leaving work late and setting up on the dining room table to continue. I'm weary, worn and worried. STILL no news on my father's biopsy- supposedly it will be midweek appt after the group of oncologists review the results. I am starting to wonder if I'm getting all of the info. But that's just me, keyed on a bit by DH who keeps saying lung cancer is bad. And if it' s not that, then that's even worse because it means another cancer has moved there. Argh.

Weight is up. I'm three pounds above ticker. SO back to the damn familiar 170s. Cycle is messing up - and that is further illustrating I'm aging. Just not in a good place mentally ... busy weekend with work and home stuff. Two vet appts this morning, with not good news in one, so blood test results will be available on Monday. Keeping fingers crossed for good news. Don't want to face another pet surgery at this point.

My goal is to be able to check in here, even if just a few lines, each day to stay a bit more accountable. I'm eating too light of a lunch and then I'm too hungry at dinner. Will be able to transition into a better plan this week as DH goes back on nights and small dinners will be fine for me. I need to get caught up on days of posts. I've missed checking in here.

I wrote a review of Your Food is Fooling You that some of you might like: http://www.joyweesemoll.com/2014/03/...vid-a-kessler/ It's promoted as the teen edition of The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler. The message is the same, but I found the argument to be much more streamlined and, thus, wielded a greater impact in this new version.

80%OP or better streak: 7
3Ws (Weigh, Write a food plan, Write a post) streak: 33 Credit!
WI: +0.35kg, Exercise: +60 410/1500 minutes for March, Food: 90%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Hello Coaches,

Diet power has significantly reduced my allowed calories since I still have not lost any weight. The level has not yet fallen below where I was actually eating, but probably will tomorrow. I didn't drink enough today either. Planning a better tomorrow! Food/Exercise OP and credit for resisting popcorn we made to go with the movie.

BillBlueEyes The harbor sounds great. Kudos for your continued snack resistance. The 1/2 cow is not as big as you might think, whatever variety the rancher raises for grass fed is much smaller than average...doesn't even fill our small freezer.

Lexxiss So glad you made it safely through the storm! Kudos for continued lower weight. Thanks for the encouragement about shrinking size, it is very helpful.

onebyone So glad you had a good visit to the gallery and were able to resist sugar today, KUDOS!

nationalparker it is good to see you and hear you have a plan. So sorry for the anxiety/stress of not getting any news yet. Thanks for checking in.

gardenerjoy Thanks for sharing your review, the chicken sounds so gross! Kudos for your increasing streak, a week already!!

Hi coaches

Sunday is coming to a close sadly and I still have organising for work to do.

Credits for today - planned and stayed with plan; dinner all planned and I have some meals for the week on paper; checked in with coaches; went to gym and did a good session with weights; looked at my plan and changed the macronutrient ratios (added more gluten free safe starches / carbs) and reduced the calories. Will be interesting to see how it goes

Ladym0208 - Great work deciding whether you were hungry and not having your snack.

BillBE - Arms and Abs sounds like fun - especially if they are areas unworked for some time. Hope it works out. Credit for counting corn chips! $10 for four pounds of ORGANIC strawberries??!? Good grief that is cheap - here it is $10 for about one pound of NORMAL - sigh. Strawberries are one of the Dirty Dozen plus (now about 15) from the Environmental Working Group that should be bought organic if possible - and then there are the Clean 15 - but I can't afford organic all the time and as you say it can look very bedraggled.

flnu - just chugging is good. LOL at under-age food-pushers. Credit for using a streak for motivation - mainly why I keep logging my food (I am up to 99 days straight)

Gardenerjoy - glad you are getting on top of tasks and using Beck to do it. The planning makes the difference for all sorts of things for me. Will have to follow up the link to your review thanks

CeeJay - Sorry to hear you are in a bad place. I am so pleased that you come here with it. Credit for one day on plan - now just do another one, and then another and you will have a mini streak - and if you fall off start over like I for sure keep having to

Tricia (from AZ) - 1/2 a grass fed cow sounds like my idea of heaven - I am always trying to find it, and pastured chickens, and free range pork. Getting easier but still a struggle. Hope you got to your DVD. It is really difficult when the scale doesn't cooperate - I totally get it. Hope tomorrow is better for you

Debbie(Lexxiss) - Yay that your weight is down. And credit for taking time to take care of yourself

Onebyone - Huge credit for managing your stress while your sister is there and not eating because of it - your meal choices sounded so good. Feeling for you having to make decisions about your mother - always really difficult. Credit for using "food will not make things better..."

Nationalparker - life sounds really challenging at the moment - sending supportive thoughts. Your plan of checking in regularly sounds workable - just tell us how it is going

Quick check in for me today, Yesterday was a good Op day the day before was not so great as I strayed from my pan in the evening. BUT I still managed to get myself back on track and drew the line. I ate a few things that I hadn't planned to, luckily I remembered some of the sabotaging thoughts that went along with that and managed to use the the common thinking errors Beck refers to on day 26 and this really helped me to see what happened and to put a stop to it. Something to learn from for the future.

My credits for yesterday...

- getting my food plan done the night before and sticking with it
- Not using me straying from my plan as an excuse to give up or to beat myself up. I reminded myself that I am not a failure because I made a mistake.
- Completing week 3 of Insanity

Thanks all, have a lovely Sunday

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Another new gym class, CREDIT moi - Pure Muscle Tone - demonstrated yet more muscles in need of attention. Ouch, but I kept up for the most part. I got busted when, supposed to be holding my left foot off the ground, I copied one of the better students who made it easier by propping it atop the right. Class stopped, "No double decking!" - the leader even had a word for that cheat. He seemed to enjoy pushing us where we'd feel it.

Attended a wedding of two octogenarians - my first time to see folks of that age marrying. They'd met only a year ago. "At our age, there's no time to dawdle." I didn't suffer my normal patronizing feelings that the young folks would be better off waiting a bit to see if they were really compatible. I dreaded the reception since it occurred midafternoon - too late to make it lunch and too early to make it dinner. There were buffet tables with small plates and no chairs - the optimum situation for me to over eat. After over thinking the problem ad nauseam, I allocated my planned afternoon snack. I had exactly 1.0 plate of 2 strawberries, a few cracker-sized slices of smoked salmon, and a tablespoon of humus. CREDIT moi, CREDIT moi, CREDIT moi. It worked because I spent the first minutes chatting with friends and examining the whole room of offerings before convincing myself that, however homemade and yummy it looked, I'd see those foods again. The hardest part was watching others digging in as if they hadn't eaten all day. When I become enlightened, I won't be moved by what other people do.


onebyone – Major Kudos for planning to handle your sister's visit well, and Major Kudos for doing that. Particularly for, "I DID NOT EAT OVER HER STRESS." That gallery visit sounds fun - glad you two are doing something for yourselves as well as working the difficult issue of long term planning for your mom.

Joy (gardenerjoy) – Thanks for the link to your review of Your Food is Fooling. I immediately ordered it from the library since a review of Kessler's work is just what I need. I specifically need to be reminded that Doritos are designed for addiction; Big Food knows how my neurons are wired.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Good Grief! - the lady's even an electrician. You Alaskan women can do everything. Kudos for getting your hair cut despite being over busy.

Cheryl (seadwaters) – Can't do better than "planned and stayed with plan" - Kudos. [That Dirty Dozen list from the Environmental Working Group is what DW showed me last week when she finally pushed herself over the edge and decided we had to do more organic. I hate that apples and cukes are atop the list.]

ladym0208 – It's worthy of Super Kudos to not "give up or to beat myself up" and to recognize that it was Sabotaging Thoughts.

nationalparker –That's a lot of emotional stuff stacked on your plate at once: your father, your crazy busy work, your two pets, your body. Kudos for keeping your head above water including being able to plan for smaller dinners next week. Sending supportive thoughts for it all.

Tricia (AZtricia) - Know you won't read this until later since Arizona is happy being the only state ignoring Daylight Savings Time. Yep, Kudos for resisting popcorn when it's so close you can smell it.

Readers -

Good morning - well, or good night, to our Aussie friends, I think ... decided to check in this morning and state a goal, and then hopefully check in tonight before bed and give myself credit if it's due. Have already eaten a good breakfast. Scale read 4 pounds above ticker, but I'm hoping with cycle and take out chinese food (loaded with sodium but also with veggies, not fried and not sugary sauce) that it will drop here before long when I get back in the groove. Day wasn't filled with snacking. Goal: eat healthy lunch and dinner, and replace desire of snacking when worried/stressed with a cup of hot tea. Even if the cups get only half-enjoyed... just to break the routine enough to boil the water. (I might try P.L. Travers' insistence of milk in the cup first if i do a pot...never tried that. )

Still hoping that my mom improves more - she's slowly gaining a bit of strength with physical therapy, but has been sent reeling with Dad's diagnosis. I'm hearing things third-hand that have me worries, as in Dad saying to one of their friends that it doesn't look good. But of course he won't say that to us kids. ... I have a trip planned to get there next month at Easter, but will see what the test shows this week and possibly go down earlier to lend a hand. My brother is there, and is helping out with all they'll allow.

DH goes back to working nights tonight. Supposed to warm up this week (16 this morning and to be 58 tomorrow for the high!) I planted a ton of daffodil bulbs and bulblets and have more to go ... will hunt up some more shallow pots and keep that project going today. Get them out in the warmth and hopefully they'll lure spring in sooner

Have hours of work to tackle today, and need to go work pants shopping as I'm down to only a couple with some mishaps and stains that don't come out. Cleared out more "stuff" from the house yesterday and did a Goodwill run with a trunkful and a huge box of books that I've worked for a few months on trying to "rehome" - hospital reading room, senior centers, etc., and everyone I could think of to check is stocked, so ... moved them along. Now more space in garage to start the next stack.

Please take me back. I need to become accountable (for the umpteenth time). I have the books but I would like to have some printable worksheets. Does anyone have a link or can help? I need a plan and I know that Beck is where it's at for me.

Good morning,

Thanks to everyone for your encouragement.

Finally did a good day yesterday with eating and exercising. Planning on the same today.

Take care

I have a bridal shower to attend today from noon until 2. I assume the timing means that they are feeding us lunch. I wrote “dainty servings” on my food plan for lunch to remind me how I want to eat when I don’t know what to expect.

80%OP or better streak: 8
3Ws (Weigh, Write a food plan, Write a post) streak: 34 Credit!
WI: -0.9kg, Exercise: +60 470/1500 minutes for March, Food: 100%op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

Welcome back, tresor!

Hi Coaches!

A good day, so far. I've moved forward with my books and did make an attempt with the electrical issue. My helper and I could NOT get the said breaker to trip and since the tenant is out of state we conveniently postponed the attic experience until his return combined with more details of his "events". I hauled the giant ladder into my vehicle bymyself *credit moi* and left it at the rental "just in case".

Food has been a little less structured w/o DH. I am enjoying the break and brought a dinner home from work-they had made meatloaf from scratch.

BBE, I believe Hawaii is the other state which doesn't observe...I have relatives there and can never remember if it's 3 or 4 hours difference because of DST or lack of….
Great job on navigating through the wedding reception. As you wrote, I recognized that I often spend lots of time thinking through the special events. Seems crazy, but it does work.
PS-I agree w/your DH (and Cheryl(seadwaters), Buy organic strawberries! If they're too expensive I buy something else and watch for the sale.

gardenerjoy, lol at "dainty servings"….appropriate for a bridal shower. Whatever works!

[/B]CeeJay[B], glad you had a good day yesterday with a plan for today.

tresor, welcome back! If you go to Dr. Beck's website I believe she has some printable worksheets.

nationalparker, great idea for a morning and evening post. I have some tea brewing downstairs...thanks for the idea. Mine is "tensiontamer" lol.

ladym, I love "drawing the line" glad you drew yours with help from Day 26.

Cheryl(seadwaters), I look forward to hearing how your switch with your plan goes.

AZTricia, yay for following your plan with food and exercise!

onebyone, have fun w/sis!