BDS: Day 4 (August 8 and 9)

[mare]

Getting this up while I have some time -

Congrats on your first (or first back or another) Beck weekend! I hope reading your ARC is starting to feel more normal. Eating while sitting might take a long time so please be patient with yourself.

Speaking of being patient, today's task is one that most of us don't master quickly and are often quite resistant to applying - GIVING YOURSELF CREDIT FOR EVERY THING YOU DO FOR THIS JOURNEY. And you will do this EVERY TIME FOREVER. This is one of the critical skills of the Beck approach. When I emailed with my success story, the response was to ask if I was still giving myself lots and lots of credit. Not whether I was still sitting or whether I was still reading cards or any of the things coming up in the book. The question was "Am I still giving myself credit?"

There has already been some mistake lamenting here. We are all going to make about 1038274827 more mistakes so get used to those being normal. What needs to shift is the response. Giving yourself credit helps to change the brain by pointing out how much you are doing for this and just how many choices need to be made.

Speaking of mistakes, I forgot to talk a lot about it seated and MINDFUL eating on the day 3 thread. So pay mind to your location and your attention to the food, please.

Here's a list from a typical morning until 6:30am using only what in the book we've covered so far:
1. Read ARC
2. Ate breakfast seated
3. Didn't lick pb knife
4. Did not pop in snacks when packing my lunch
5. Did not pop in snacks when packing J's lunch
6. Put Joyce's uneaten food in the trash rather than nibbling it when I walk it over there

In one of the other books, Beck suggests finding 10-15 credits a day. You might not quite get there yet w/o a lot of the other credit boosters to be covered later. I'd ask those who are "in the know" to just point out those credits we've covered so far. I don't want people to feel like they aren't doing enough b/c that is incompatible with our purposeful slow pace. Feel free to make 100 item credit lists over on Big Tent though.

If you are rolling your eyes or feeling resistant, I suggest making a card about this step. Maybe this is the first time in your life you have been so nice to yourself. I can tell you that the science says this is an effective approach. Shaming and berating is not.

Remember, it's work. But it works.

[Coffee Goddess]

Gah, this one. I have to admit that this was one of the first things I dropped off. It's really difficult for me to get out of the mindset of "this is what I should be doing anyways why do I need to give myself credit for it". When I actually do give myself credit for doing good, it does help out with getting through some of the tougher things and not feeling so down about what I didn't do. Usually that's because I've done more of the things I should be doing then what I shouldn't.

Credits for today:
I read my ARC
I ate breakfast sitting down
I didn't eat "tastes" before sitting down

[pirouette]

Funny, I haven't even read the chapter yet today but I was instinctively giving myself credit for a number of things earlier today when I was out walking. I'd completely forgotten the importance of giving myself credit.
It's one of my favorite exercises in the book.

[chazel1972]

I too like this exercise.
I ate breakfast sitting down
I bought a very cute little card holder for my arc (and will move them from my notebook after this post)
I realize my reminder system isn't working and am going to find a new one.
I ate lunch sitting down
I read the Beck thread and chapter!

[lumberjack55]

Ooh! Ooh! I have a big one! I ordered just a salad and soup at a very fancy family dinner at a very nice restaurant and ate them slowly.. Everyone else had these gain dinners but I was totally ok with my choices.

Also I missed lunch and had a protein bar and was also totally fine with that as opposed to thinking I should eat a meal because I missed lunch.

[ontosomething]

I think that giving myself credit will be very important on this journey that we are taking. 


Today I credit myself the following:

• Reading my ARC cards
• Meditating 
• Buying healthy foods at the grocery store 
• Eating while sitting down -  most of the time
• Being aware of taking a bite of watermelon before I sat down to eat it
• Not eating popcorn at the movie theater 
• Planned a healthy supper

I like the idea of giving myself credit for what I did do instead of criticizing myself for what I didn't.

[SharkPhin]

I have been doing a much better job of reading my ARC email pop-ups. I had been getting lax on that one.

I caught myself taking a bite of breakfast on the way to sit down with it and reminded myself no more of that.

[Deleted]

I struggle with this one because I tend to give myself TOO much credit and then use it to reward myself.

So I find it easy to say "I ate sitting down all day! I rock! ....which means I can now have two glasses of wine."


This one is tricky for me.

[sunmoonstars]

If I don't give myself credit, I slip. This needs to be added to my phone daily reminders.

- Even though some family members acted like road trips should be easy, I'm giving myself big time credit for safely navigating us on the road. It's tiring and a lot of work.
- even though I'm exhausted, I'm doing laundry at the hotel.
- got us safely to see MIL who was very happy to see us
- ate healthy today

[jonik]

Giving myself credit is what keeps me going. And, accountability to this (or the big-tent group) has given me the strength to do something difficult so I could count it as a credit and report to the group. Sounds kind of silly but it has worked for me. I find when I type the credits from the previous day it reminds me to do them again today. Listing credits and not debits keeps my head in a good place. If I list mistakes it re-enforces the bad, credits re-enforces the good.
*Read my cards
*Ate meals while seated
*Had my adult beverage while sitting

[melbre]

I do have a hard time giving myself enough credit, as I tend to focus on my errors and not my successes. But, I do remember from last time with Beck how much this step prevented me from backsliding at times.
Today's credits:
- read ARC's
- ate while sitting
- caught myself eating a carrot while preparing lunch and stopped before eating two
- did not sample while making dinner
- read Beck chapter
- ate (mostly) healthy today
- prepped food for the week to make meals easier

[wayward1]

When I read Beck a couple of years ago, this is something that stuck with me, but I don't do it enough.

My main positives today:
- read my ARCs
- kept away from the tempting samples at the farmers market
- prepped protein and vegetables for the next few days so I have lots of healthy options
- tracked all my food

[meeshers]

I just had a big one...not finishing Jessica's leftover macaroni and cheese (that I don't even like!). I've always finished her leftovers, as long as it wasn't "too much."

I've also been doing well with not eating out of boredom. Keeping those ARCs in mind has really made a difference for me.

[Deleted]

Ok, today:
-only ate sitting down
-got the house fully back in order after getting back from vacation so I don't fall into the post-vacation slump and can hit the ground running tomorrow
-dug out my old SBD book

[lindabee]

I enjoy this exercise. I don't have too many credits for today (Sunday) but here they are:

Ate while sitting down
Read chapter in book
Read ARC
Did not open and/or scarf down potato chips that DH bought yesterday

I am awaiting delivery of my new Fitbit so I can have a better reminder system to read my cards. I just can't seem to email them to myself or set reminders on my phone properly

[bunnysocks]

Sunday: I read my ARC, planned meals for the next few days, and ate only while sitting down. I also was content with my food choices yesterday and did not covet other people's food.

I plan on writing my victories in my food diary today.

[coffeequeen63]

Good morning!

I also think giving myself credit is an important skill. It's so easy to focus on the one time I popped a piece of unplanned food in my mouth and not the 10 times I resisted it before that. I'll list my credits for yesterday and today so far as its only 5:30 AM here.

1. Read ARC x 2 yesterday and once so far today.
2. Ate all 3 meals seated yesterday.
3. Put the PB knife in the sink instead of licking it
4. Stopped myself from taking a bite of my lunch on the way to the table
5. Did not nibble as I was prepping dinner last night

[teddytiger]

Good morning all. I like giving myself credit-I think I'm a little self-absorbed! I use a little 3x5 notebook that I keep in my pocketbook. At the top of the page I write what I want to focus on that day, or reminders. For instance today it says: read cards (that's every day), eat 3x, no food while standing. Under that I list credits. Yesterdays credits:

1. Read my cards 2x
2. Noticed when I popped food in my mouth while prepping or on the way to the table.
3. Ate 99% of food while seated.

I keep all the notebooks that are completed. Even though I don't read them (I did glance through them during this round of Beck), just seeing them is evidence to me of all the work I've put into this over the last 18 months. I think it is helpful. Have a great day, everyone!

Phyllis

[thread2fabric]

Read my ARC.
looked up and tracked points for frozen yogurt I ate last night
sat and ate breakfast before heading out to work.
Drank 16 oz of water before drinking my coffee.
Have dinner planned for this evening.
Activity planned for this afternoon.

[Byrd]

I'm still in.
I'll write my credits for the day after dinner tonight. And every night. In a shiny new memo book!

[starlit5]

This is one of my favorite exercises and one that's really stuck with me since the last time I read Beck. I've been really lax about reading my ARC this weekend so I need to work on this.

1. Credit. I was up 4.8 this week and really felt like throwing in the towel. Instead, I went for a walk and made healthy eating decisions.

2. I will read my ARC card and write down all the credits I give myself today.

[texasless91]

I see this as one of the more critical lessons from Beck because it directly addresses self esteem, which is at the core of successful weight loss and maintenance. Most of us do not give ourselves credit for all we do, thinking that's just part of life.

So far today I am giving myself credit for:
Getting out of bed (I didn't want to)
Reading my ARC
Eating a healthy breakfast
Making a plan to get things accomplished today.

I wish everyone much success in giving yourselves credit for all you do.

[smithie]

I have never liked this exercise, so I will do it this time.

Read my ARC
Packed my stuff for lunches this week.
Remembered to bring said stuff.
Ate while seated.

[kaycee]

I sometimes concentrate too much on the things I'm doing wrong instead of what I'm doing right, so this is a good lesson. Today I give myself credit for:

- Read ARC and this lesson
- Ate breakfast sitting down
- Tracked breakfast and healthy meals for the day
- Made healthy meals for the week last night even though I didn't feel like cooking

[quinn915]

Checking in! Although I have not planned my eating or restricted calories yet (that comes later!), I am really proud that I am internalizing the skills and taking the time to practice and feel good about each one. Yesterday, I was at a family gathering and everyone was standing around eating a variety of flavored potato chips. My husband asked me if I wanted some and when I said no, he looked at me in question and I just said "I'm standing up." It felt awesome to say that!

Today, I was up at 5am walking and my meals and snacks are somewhat planned for the day. I'm going to rack up some credits! Hope everyone has a great day!