Thoroughly enjoyed seeing Mamma Mia at our dinner theatre for the matinee. It was fun and lively with mostly superb voices. I did enjoy the lemon cake for dessert (out of the 5-6 choices) and savored every bite. I counted everything to the best of my ability and used most of my weekly bonus points today. Four more days to stretch out the few remaining, but I figure if they give them to you, you can use them if needed. I'd not dived into them much yet.

Finally found those golden nugget mandarins at the very expensive market. Nearly $1 apiece and not nearly the size of an orange. I LOVE them, though, and know I'll hit that store again in a week or so for more. My dinner tonight was stretched out and alone as DH fell asleep for hours today. I thought he was sick, but no.

Trying to get ahead for work tomorrow and have put in six hours already today split between morning and evening/night. I'm about to just call it quits and get back to it in the morning. Cold and windy here, no walk at all today - just to take the dog out. I should have just scooted out for a half hour if nothing more early today.

Bill - Missing your cheese toast, along with you. I planned on roasting broccoli for dinner tonight but tabling it to tomorrow night. I did NO meal prep this weekend. At least we have lunch options. If DH doesn't take the main course in there from Friday for his lunch, it'll be dinner as well.

Good Evening, Coaches.

Family day consisted of late mornings and hanging out until our usual "field trip" somewhere became impossible. We decided on movie afternoon watching Darkest Hour It is fun that DH lets DS and I fill him in on the history bits by pausing the moive. DS is so excited about all he is learning in school and I'm glad I remember things. We often have disagreements and then rush to our phones for confirmation. Then we will unpause and continue the movie. DH is a good sort. Not everybody would be willing to this structure. Enjoyed it so much watched Lincoln right afterwards. Both films are very emotional for me. Having a son at a near draftable age makes me shudder at the losses of both wars. Everyone should be reminded of the cost of our freedom. I am glad that active military are often showed such respect. i always cry every
time someone is introduced. It hasn't always been that way.

Yesterday's track meet ended and so did my plan. I woke up a pound above ticker no doubt from soy sauce at sushi. Today was back to plan, thankfully.

Welcome back to the country Beth. I can imagine it being difficult going back on products. Credit to you and nationalparker hanging with much more formal plans than mine.

Not looking forward to school. It is sad to me that work which was once beloved is now a distress. I know the shrink says the meds are in process and so are the feelings so I will act in faith that I will feel differently at some point. All I can do is what is before me. A good night sleep, an early school morning to prep, and taking my tennis shoes to walk the bleachers while DS practices are three things I can control.

Wave to all.

A mild, damp day here which will make everything grow.

I mended the wood shelter yesterday and it's now standing upright and looking neat. The appalling easterly winds of a few weeks ago (very unusual direction for winds here) blew it down, blocking the side passage to and from the shed where the SO's bike is, and the way to the bins. All is fine now and I can tell you all that buying an electric drill a few years ago was an excellent decision.

I'm planning on a full body workout shortly. Food has already gone off the rails which is interesting as it's only breakfast time. This is such odd behaviour for me that something major must be up. I'm not sure what though so I'll give that some thought. Perhaps it's that old combo of too much to do and extreme boredom.

maryann, hope you had a good night's sleep. It makes all the difference to me (and writing this, I realised that perhaps the bad night's sleep last night has contributed to my rather too large breakfast this morning).

nationalparker, do you cut up veg in advance and keep it in the fridge? Precision Nutrition seems to be keen on this and while I appreciate the early preparation I don't feel very keen on letting the cut edges of the veg dry out over a number of days. Anyone else?

beth, very interesting on distinguishing between 'smells good' and 'want'. Good luck! I have another category as well which is 'they want you to think it smells and tastes good but it actually doesn't'. I use this for shop-made food which I know will be disappointing or make me feel ill.

Bill, thanks for reminding me of Chinese supermarkets. We have one here so I'll have a look in there tomorrow. I'll also take a look at the frozen veg section in the supermarkets. Btw, I reckon writing here every day is good practice in manipulating the English language to express yourself.

curlyjax, so impressed you were able to resist a dessert in your sleep! (And vent as much as you like here. No power, cold and having to go to a hotel would try anyone, however resilient they were feeling.)

I'm going to have a cup of coffee now and then do the full body workout.

Diet Coaches/Buddies – The meeting that I'd prepared for with much tension went well, with no tension, perhaps only because I'd prepared enough to eliminate those unnecessary projections onto which tension sticks. Or, perhaps, because there never would have been tension and I over prepared. It's easy to undermine success with the Sabotaging Thought that it could have been achieved at a lower cost. CREDIT moi for moving away from the self-criticism and just enjoying one more event in life.

At a potluck lunch, I ate exactly one plate, CREDIT moi. Got to chat with a high school senior headed off to college to study computer science. He was rather surprised that someone as old as me had made his living doing exactly that. Gotta love the enthusiasm and optimism of a guy who is facing going one direction or another and won't know which until mid-April when acceptances arrive. I had a much too large snack in the afternoon - maybe as a comedown from the morning. Howsomever, that's got to stop.


silverbirch – I recognize "that old combo of too much to do and extreme boredom." The only time that I read Time magazine during my college days was when I was overwhelmed with the amount of studying that I needed to do for final exams. Congrats for getting that wood shelter back in shape.

maryann - Conducting a family discussion while watching a movie is so amazing - Congrats to the whole family for being there.

nationalparker – Just googled to find out that Mamma Mia is based on music by ABBA - how cool is that! Neat that you're attracted to golden nugget mandarins rather than some unhealthy food item.

Beth (bethturnaround) – I am so impressed, "the toiletry travel kit is restocked and ready for our next trip" - Congrats for doing the kind of preparation that one reads about in books. Neat to distinguish "smells good" from "want".

Readers -

I’m new here. I’ve done the Beck Diet Solution before in 2008 and had success. I’m back at it again and found this support group. Yay!!!

I had a kickin on-plan day today! Feels good to indulge and then be able to get back on track without skidding off the rails. I made fajitas for dinner with loads of peppers and onions and thinly sliced chicken with a spritz of lemon to add to the seasonings. Perfect! I had planned on leftovers but then remembered I had thawed chicken a while back that needed to be used up. Even able to work in a minitub of guac.

Credits for not overeating because our computer system (on deadline) shut down multiple times today. At 4:55 it shut down again, and I just packed up and left. So frustrating and knew I'd be working tonight as well.

Bill - Yes, Mamma Mia is jam packed with ABBA songs and the ensemble sang other ABBA songs not in the show and the audience sang and danced along. It was really fun. DH despises disco and 70s music that wasn't rock, but I love it Maybe I danced off a bit of the cake? haha ... wishful thinking.

Welcome, Orange123! Glad to have you join us! I think this is the most positive, supportive group of online folks!

Hi everyone!

DH and DD baked a lasagna tonight (a vegetarian one I had made and frozen some time ago). It smelled delicious. I basked in the smell but didn't have any. What was harder, actually, when we all ate together (me with my soup), were the Pillsbury crescent rolls. I wanted one. The only Beck thought I could come up with was "if I give in on this, what will I give in on next?" None of my response cards came to mind--but I thought about exercising my resistance muscle and prevailed!

nationalparker: Hurrah for a kick-*** OP day! I didn't have any chicken fajitas in Mexico. I ended up with fish several nights instead, on the theory that chicken fajitas are everywhere but there isn't much fresh fish in Chicago.

orange123: Welcome! (I'll leave it to Bill to do the official way-cool welcome)

BillBlueEyes: One plate at a potluck is true restraint! Credit!

silverbirch: You are so right about things that smell good but don't taste anywhere near as good. Popcorn is like that for me--but that didn't stop me from eating large quantities of it.

maryann: Your family movie watching sounds great. Soy sauce is sneaky stuff!

--Beth

Thanks!!!

orange123

And, on the occasion of your first post on 3FC,

How did you learn of the books by Dr. Judith Beck?

And how did you find our forum here on 3 Fat Chicks?

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Decided that the only way to limit eating the cookies was to put the remainder in the trash, CREDIT moi. The problem was that I'd bought them. At that point, I could have just added all the calories in the package to my weight. I was committed to eating them all. The only workable solution was to make them disappear. Normally, I take solace when I dump something in the compost bin for the worms. I wanted them gone NOW. So I took advantage of garbage pickup day and put them in the garbage bag before I took it to the curb when I went out to pick up my delivered newspaper. Wish I'd tossed them before eating as many as I did. Ouch!

It was a busy day with two classes and an evening meeting. The class on problems with the prosecution focused on the hysteria of Satanic ritual abuse of kids in daycare of the late 1980's and early 1990's. It's a very depressing read. It was dramatic demonstration of how easy it is to implant 'memory' into small children under the guise of 'recalled memories'. Sad period in the U.S. Justice System.


nationalparker – Ouch for computers that shut down as deadlines approach. Smart to plan to work later rather than eat about it. [Playing Dancing Queen as I type. I do need a shot of ABBA every now and then; thanks for triggering it.]

Beth (bethturnaround) – Kudos for using the strategy, "if I give in on this, what will I give in on next?" It's so neat that you savor the smell and don't have to indulge.

orange123 - Neat that you worked the Beck strategies some ten years ago. They're still good. Glad you've joined us.

Readers -

quick wave coaches- i cannot believe we are in the middle of another blizzard!! PRAYING we don't lose power/heat or have damage. At least i got my shower done and had my coffee!
Credit yesterday for going to water aerobics- which was so fun!! and i am not sore today thankfully as there is much shoveling to do. A bunch of us ladies aged 40-60 with a few young uns, marching around etc in the water to great music. I could barely hear the instrtuctor, but I figure just keep moving. I felt so great when it was done.
And credit for ignoring cookies and eating some healthy food instead- i am always so hungry after being in the water.
wave to all!

I came across the Beck Diet Solution book in a bookstore about 10 years ago. I did the 42 day program and got down to ideal weight. I maintained that weight for about 3years. Then, I had our DS and have been gradually gaining since that time.

I searched for Beck Diet support on google and found this website. I’m excited about starting the program again and devoting more of my time to self-care!!!

Hello coaches! On plan today - baked ziti for dinner with roasted broccoli and garlic. It seems to take forever to cut and slice up but roasts quickly.

How did you fare with the storm, Bill, CurlyJax and Mary? Did you keep power? Anyone else from the NE that I'm blanking on? (I'm sure as soon as I hit submit, I'll go ohhhhh shoot!)

Not much to report from here. I feel like it's just get up, get food ready, go to work, get home, get food ready. And it's only Tuesday evening. Hoping to cap this evening off with a hot bubble bath.

Hi everyone!

Today was official weigh-in and doctor's visit as well as my weekly class. The topic today was boosting metabolism--very interesting. We talked about how the body has to work harder to digest some foods than others and how one's metabolism stays higher even after exercise, not just during.

This is my 3rd day back on 5 products a day. It's going just fine. The doctor gave me the option of continuing with one meal a day but I don't want to do that just yet. I can stay on the 'full fast' for 26 weeks unless there's a medical reason to stop and at this point, that's what I'm intending to do.

nationalparker: Congrats for another on plan day! Happy soaking!

orange123: I'm glad you found us.

curlyjax: sounds like you had a lot of credits--water aerobics, eating choices (bad cookie)

BillBlueEyes: Credit for tossing the cookies. That's hard to do!

I'm off to go read some more of "Tribal Leadership" before bed!

--Beth

Diet Coaches/Buddies – Exercise was shoveling about 20 inches of snow, CREDIT moi. A friend of DW suggested that it would be best done in three stages. So, dutifully, we set out shoveling while snow was still falling; and then again; and then again. For reasons not clear, we just didn't bother starting the snow blower. After dark, one of the other owners needed help getting it going so that happened anyway. Our power stayed on the whole time even as I received an email from the power company saying that many had lost theirs.

Eating was OK, CREDIT moi. In the back of the pantry, DW found a package from IKEA of sauce for salmon. It was one year outdated; we haven't been to IKEA in years. Much to my surprise, she used it anyway. Good enough but great joy that one more item is gone from the pantry. Methinks that DW is less concerned with dying than she is of having our DD clean up the pantry clucking at items outdated.


nationalparker – Roasted broccoli is just the best. Hope your DH appreciates how much time you put into food prep.

curlyjax - Hope you survived our region's third Nor'easter. One weather map shows that you got more snow than we did. Kudos for doing your water aerobics. In my old gym, no one looked as happy as the ladies (always ladies) doing water aerobics.

Beth (bethturnaround) – Keep beating the drum for exercise; it's easy for me to get distracted from it. Kudos for making the decision to stick with your meal plan.

orange123 - Neat that you just discovered Beck's book in your book store. A young kid makes sane eating a challenge. Does that mean that your DS is about 7 now?

Readers -