CREDIT: Good work out on bike and machines for strength at gym. Credit: breakfast well balanced and very healthy. Credit all food logged and exercise, too. CREDIT: Turned TV off last night after Masterpiece Classic and got great night's sleep. Weight is down 2 pounds from Jan 1, 2015, thank goodness!!!

OnebyOne, this HAS to be a better week. At least a small bag is better than a large one.

I love tea, straight with out any additions just as I do black coffee. These two drinks are so good to tide me over when next meal is close, or I just want something and afraid I may not choose right.

Joining Gardnerjoy with regular reading of Beck suggested cards.

Also reading chapter in Beck's pink book about finding a Diet coach and smile as I am aware that this particular place offers so much encouragement and support. THANKS Coaches!!!!

Mary Ann Family has always teased me for having the next day's clothes set out with shoes, and sometimes earrings chosen. Your way of taking it up lots of levels is fascinating. What a lot of time many of us would save by adopting even some of your ideas.

I did move all clothes that don't fit to another area. Being retired gives me more days that I can dress in older stretchy clothes for gardening, cleaning, gym, or relaxing. Days I must dress properly are limited to 3 a week which allows me to stretch the very few decent clothes to alternate.

Danielle, so glad you have had a good day to compare the bad ones with.

CeeJay, you have had a real turn around.

Hi. I've posted a time or 2 lately.

Wanting to get more involved here. Been a longtime follower. I am a WW fan and now a leader. WW and Beck actually have a lot in common. Thing is this is more active than the WW thread here. And I can relate a lot of Beck to the WW, as a leader. So I've gotten a lot of good info here.

Anyway, good intentions, then I get a whopping case of Influenza A. Called in sick Friday. By 3 a.m. on Saturday, 101.5 fever, cough, ache, hack, snot, etc. Went to Dr. today. Swabbed the nose. Yup, you have "A". Here's some cough syrup and a note for work. Go home and suffer!

So, an insurance claim, a co pay, some cough syrup, $11, later, I could have bought a bottle of Jack, and kept on taking Dayquil, and told the boss I would not be in until my fever broke.

On another note, it's the boss who gave it to me, and he kept coming to work, and exposed all kinds of people! *rolls eyes*

I'm just irritated!

Thanks for listening!

Hi Coaches,

Quick report in tonight. I just completed day 9 of South Beach Phase One and have lost 9 pounds so far. I am happy with that. I know lots of it was water weight but whatever I will take it. So I am back out of the 290's- yay- and on my way to 10 pounds gone.

Goals this week:
- stay 100% on plan till the end of Stage One- which will be at the end of Saturday
-Sunday I will add in 2 fruits a day. Otherwise I will stay in Stage One mode for the next week.
-continue to read Advantage and Response cards daily
-continue to check in with my coaches when I can
-continue to weigh myself every morning

If not now, when?

This is what's been going through my mind today.

Took the day of from work. Wanted to just "be" for a while. Just to let my thoughts run amok or free or wild or aground. ..however they floated around. In the dumps today. Tried on a few pieces of clothing from this summer and they're too tight by far...if I'm too take the capris on our trip next month, I'm going to have to get cracking.

Hello to all,
I am still about 20 pounds down from this time last year (yay!). More importantly I haven’t lost all those good behaviors I cultivated although as a matter of degree I am not quite where I should be. I used a very stressful and protracted situation at work to derail me – and I can pinpoint exactly the moment I chose to step off the rails. So this is me, stepping back on, and getting back to the behaviors that worked. A powerful thought for me as I am contemplating snacking or dessert or extra helpings has always been: oh yeah, let’s do the thing that worked, instead of this other thing that does not work. One of the things that worked was posting regularly with all of you.

BBE: I like the thought of smelling the pines unexpectedly. I am usually suspicious of restaurants that cross cuisines (pho at a Thai restaurant). I want ‘em to do one thing well. I hope you enjoyed your soup though. I expect it was quite low calorie.

Lexxiss: Sounds like you pretty much rocked the spontaneous exercise. I too am not seeing the direction I would like on the scale despite better behaviors. S’alright.

Cathydoe: Shout out for two years without a sip or slip. I gave up sodas about a year ago. I don’t get cravings exactly but I still think about how I want one (even though I really don’t). I’d say it took me a solid decade without a slip to stop craving cigarettes whenever I saw someone else with one. And although I haven’t given it up exactly so I’m not sure it counts, but I spend part of every day thinking about pastrami.

Karenrn: I read this: If I didn't say it already I am off the waiting list and onto the Wonderland Trail trip 9/1 thru 9/11 as stating that you were charging ahead toward busting out of the 200’s into the 100’s which didn’t make sense with your S/C/G signature. I take it you were speaking literally instead of figuratively. The homophone threw me.

GardenJoy: Thanks for reminding me – I need to read my response card too. That was something I haven’t done in a while and need to get back to. Maybe I will post a few of them here.

Love2garden: Nice to meet you. I will give you HUGE credit for turning off the TV and getting some sleep. It’s my bete noire but it so important – a linchpin for everything else especially diet (at least for me). And now I’m off to hunt down Maryann’s posts that I may have missed.

Shcirerf: Waving! I so love having maintainers hanging out here.

Ceejay: CREDIT for checking in. Super yay for getting out of the 90’s.

Until tomorrow, all. Also, a promise: I will read my response card before bed. AND I will go to bed at 11:00.

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Finished two bureaucratic tasks, CREDIT moi. They weren't really diet related; they were consuming all my energy not doing them when I wasn't. Both had deadlines of close-of-business so there wasn't any more time to dally. Some paperwork is so unappealing to me that I long to hire a personal assistant to get it done.

Exercise was minor. I worked on a shelf in an under-counter cabinet that is four feet long with no internal support. It holds stacks of dishes and is sagging badly. The concern is that it will break causing wreckage of the dishes on it and the ones below. A trip to Home Depot to buy a replacement shelf is on my agenda today. The trick is to buy the minimum amount of birch plywood to leave with a 1 ft by 4 ft piece.


Joy (gardenerjoy) – Nice to be reminded that real hunger does exist.

Debbie (Lexxiss) – Love the thought that having to work harder is just more exercise.

Karen (karenrn) - Pretty exciting to have your Wonderland Trail trip confirmed. That's a goal worth getting in shape for.

love2garden - Neat to be reminded that a cup of tea can hold off the 'hunger' that appears before meal time.

cathydoe - LOL at my image of you running on your treadmill watching the dryer spin - not much different than a soap opera.

CeeJay - Congrats for crossing a decade milestone that will provide inspiration to keep on keeping on.

nationalparker – Just what I need: "If not now, when?"

janelle (shcirerf) - Ouch for Influenza A - especially when you know who brought it into work. Ouch for the reality of modern medicine in the face of the flu: "Go home and suffer!"

flnu - Kudos for holding on to those 20 pounds gone. [In fairness, the restaurant did bill itself as having a Thai-Vietnamese kitchen, but I agree with you that a one cuisine place seems more likely to be authentic.]

Readers -

Good morning! I am reading but travel, the older parts of the family, the younger parts of the family and work are all getting in the way of posting regularly at the moment. Thinking of you all.

Quick check in this morning.

10 pounds gone when I weighed in this morning so I am adding another dancer to my signature. And that is not all- I feel so much better than I did on January 1st. From feeling down, defeated, and out of control to feeling positive, hopeful and physically so much better.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

CREDIT for following my plan on a day that turned out hungrier than expected.

WI: +0.4 kg , Exercise: +55 470/1200 minutes for January, Food: 100% op, Read my Advantages and Responses: yes

shcirerf: hope you're feeling better soon! Glad to have you join us more officially.

flnu: glad to have you back! One of my response cards helps me read response cards: By reading my Advantages and Responses and practicing the other Beck skills, I am building new pathways in my brain.

to one and all!

What I learned reading the posts today:
+ I need to go back to the beginning and read about "response cards"
+ "If not now, when" needs to go on a response card

Such a "me" thing....I get all excited about something and buy all the books. I begin reading and get creative in the activities mentioned in the books. Then, low and behold something comes along and I STOP all activities.

This time I didn't have cement glue to finish my response cards. All reading of Beck material has stopped. Woe is me. It seems so silly now, but this is definitely me as I can take a distraction to the nth degree. Although today I was reminded, if not now, when?

Right now is the time to get back on course. Get that book and those response cards out. And for Pete's sake use some different glue!

peace out brothas and sistas!

Good afternoon coaches,

Finally did get out for a hike yesterday, credit. Food on plan, credit. Today it's raining so I'll do a little exercise to a video and wait to hike until tomorrow. I finally was able to sleep lying down last night. What a treat to be finally getting over this darn bug.

Flnu The Wonderland Trail is a 93 mile trail around Mt. Rainier in Washington State. I'm backpacking it over 10 days with the Sierra Club.

Bill Yes I'm excited and a little nervous about my backpacking trips this summer. If I can get in good enough shape to do the John Muir Trail, the Wonderland Trail should be a breeze. It is less than half the length and the elevations are about 4,000 feet less. Still plenty of ups and downs.

Silverbirtch Nice to see you, hope you're hanging in there.

CeeJay Congrats on your good results with your program. It always helps to have such positive results when we're trying so hard.

Well, I'd better get that video in before I think it's nap time.

Karen, what a wonderful activity to look forward to, and to prepare for. The Wonderland Train sounds enticing, wish I were much younger and in far better shape. The John Muir Trail will be a great opportunity to prepare and sort out your next moves.

Silverbirch; I understand your being overwhelmed with demands.

National Parker Congratulations for taking some "me" time, even if it failed to satisfy. Sounds as if you need more than you took. May you have some much needed time "unscheduled" after so much has been scheduled for so long.

CeeJay, 10# gone, bet shoes are feeling more comfortable, too.

Shairerf, Sorry you arre so sick, and that you caught it from your boss is even worse. He probably expects you to act his way. OUCH. May you recover with whatever method works, and perhaps even search for a wiser boss.

CREDIT: Oats and dried cranberries with 1% organic milk, eaten slowly as I sit at table enjoying the birds in the garden. CREDIT: Kept my composure as several people called to let me know they will not show up as they promised today or Thursday, meaning I had to find someone that will or travel the 32 miles round trip in their place. Credit: Found someone for today duties, and stayed home for my needs.

Bill, I've never had a personal assistant, but long for one also, and certainly understand your happiness with at least that job finished. I've been a personal assistant to our kids, my husband, my mom, and several others. Good dream, someday to have my own.

It will take change, not chance, for me to find success. Today's thought.

Lunch was VERY large - nearly full sandwich and some fries at a staff luncheon out. Dinner will be light - I'm good with that today, but reached the point of being uncomfortably full. It wasn't just a sandwich with thin bread, etc., it was a southwest chicken breast with diced tomatoes, onions, slice of cheese, etc. Definitely more splurgey than normal. Dinner tonight was to be burrito bowls (just in a bowl, not tortilla bowl) and I can definitely turn mine into a smaller amount on a bed of lettuce with salsa if I feel that I need more volume.

Recruiting DH to a photo project ... he said he'd help, so I'm counting on that to get something wrapped up by tomorrow night. Always get excited to receive a coupon for a free photo book, but I never notice it or act upon it until I'm two days from the deadline. And then I fling it together (since it's FREE) and wish I'd spent longer.

They're forecasting temps over freezing for this weekend and DH is working, so I'm penciling in time on the trail with the pooch. I think that'll help with stress relief as well.

Karen - Thanks for opening my world up a bit because I NEVER thought of undertaking hiking with a club. DH and I have talked about it lately triggered by your move from Washington to Arizona and a more active group of friends there.

Flunu- CONGRATS for a super successful year! This gives me motivation

CeeJay - Congratulations to you, as well, for another 'dancer' with your 10 pounds down. I keep thinking, "ahh if only I were there" and it's only me standing in my own way. Credits to you for keeping at it.

Hello Coaches,

Pretty good day here. I ate breakfast (oatmeal with cream and maple syrup) which I usually, to my discredit, skip. I get a credit for eating. Hah. I took lunch (spaghetti and meatballs) instead of eating out. Another credit. And measured my dinner (1.5 cups of brown rice and 1.5 cups of whatever you call saag paneer when you make it with pork instead of paneer.) Another credit. And that is all I ate. A final credit. Yep. Pretty good day.

BBE: Credit for getting the unappealing stuff done. I have been a terrible procrastinator at times (getting better though) and I remind myself that working on whatever I am not working on is almost always less painful than not working on it when I should be.

Silverbirch: Waving back!

Ceejay: Hurray for 10 pounds gone! HURRAY!

Gardenerjoy: Oooh…that is a good one. I will start using that too.

Cathydoe: I am trying and failing to imagine how you are using glue…are you making a collage type thing so you can look at all the cards at once?

Karenrn: That sounds so awesome. Hiking for me is like a giant re-set button and I always come back with an I-can-do-anything attitude.

Love2garden: That is a lovely credit, enjoying the birds and the food. You can’t be younger but you can and will be in better shape. Me too.

Nationalparker: Thank you for your support. It was really nice to be validated that I did accomplish something great in the last year even if I didn’t reach my goal. How’d you do on dinner last night?

G'night, all.

flnu I meant to say "rubber cement" glue....the kind with the little brush. I typed some of the response cards and printed them. I wanted to glue the responses to 3 x 5 cards. I know it sounds so silly!