May 2022 Beck Alumni Thread

[ermabom]

Getting on the scale regularly has not worked for me. My weight goes up when I exercise - I don't know if it is retaining water or what. That immediately sent me into a tailspin in the past where I would feel depressed, either eat a lot less, which led to a spiral downwards, or eat more because I didn't care and I was upset.

What has worked for me is focusing on the behaviors and actions - reading cards, logging food, planning and sticking to plan, exercising regularly - believing that if I do the right things, the weight will go down. I also let go of the idea that a lower weight was not as important as my overall health. By doing the right things, I would be healthy and strong even if I didn't lose weight.

And guess what? my weight has been going down slowly. I get weighed every time I go to a doctor and even though these are different scales and I'm wearing different clothes/shoes, the weight has been slowly creeping down. It is not an absolute measurement as one can't compare two weights but it is a good relative measurement and the trend is in the right direction.

Hindu philosophy says that it is the actions that matter, we have no control over the actual results. Buddhist philosophy is the same. Follow the eight-fold path which includes right thinking, right action, right thought, etc. and focus on the moment. The past is over and the future is out of our control. So this focus on doing the right actions and behaviors also fits with my philosophy. The weight will come off or it won't. But overall, my body will be happy for the actions and behaviors and stay healthy, strong and flexible.

[peacemama]

I use to be a daily weigher, but now only do twice a week. Monday is my official WI day and I also hop on the scale Friday morning for a pre-weekend accountability check.

[bonzee]

Big win for me yesterday. No after dinner snacking (we won't speak of after lunch snacking...), walked at lunch, tracked all of my food.

[pirouette]

Boy howdy. True true true again.

After devouring my feelings for 3 months I stepped on the scale again today to face the music. Nasty shock is an understatement. I tend to avoid the scale to reduce dysfunctional thoughts (one noom excercise was daily weights to counter this) but I need to have periodic accountability in order to stay out of denial. I don't know how many more rounds of Beck it will take but I will keep trying.

ETA-not daily weights, though. Once to twice weekly will probably work for me.
I am also working to focus on behaviors and choices like the ones ermabom listed, but I tend to do things halfassed. I will make healthy choices for foods but I completely disregard serving sizes, or I add higher density condiments, etc. And I defy reason and logic in thinking "if it's a healthier choice, I should eat more of it, RIGHT?".

Edited for multiple typos.

[lani]

Daily weighing works for me.  Got me used to normal daily/weekly fluctuations so I can differentiate between the usual ups/downs and a continuing upward trend.

Monday credits:

Weighed - up 0.8 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Meditated - at last
Strength & flexibility exercises.  Pruned Wisteria.
Ate sitting, mindfully
Ended day 190 calories under plan
Tracked
Wrote today's plan

[ermabom]

A decent day yesterday. Ate a bit too much for dinner. When I eat two meals a day, it takes a decent amount of balancing to get the amounts right for each one so I feel hungry about an hour before the other one. Oh well. Managed to fit the exercise in with shopping, working in the yard, meetings and other time commitments.

Credits:
Exercised
Read cards
Logged food
Stuck to plan
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit

[mare]

Wednesday Sabotage: I can’t believe I gave in to that craving. I can’t do this. I should just give up.

Response: Learning to gain control of my eating is a process, and it takes time. I’m not going to learn it overnight, and I’m not going to be good at it overnight. Just because I gave in once, doesn’t negate all the other times I didn’t. I need to take an accurate picture of how things are really going and acknowledge that while I’m not perfect, I’m better than I was. As long as I keep working at it, I’ll keep moving forward.

Cyn, bonzee, corgi, Emily.Postal, mooselady12, fitin14, irisinnia, cj59, lioness, ontosomething, pirouette, crewer, peacemama, faithmtw, ermabom, squintco, chazel12345, wendroz, lumberjack55, mary~m, celtickat, digplantweed, jonik, lindabee, dragonflyaz, lunabear, @happydaze, cindylouwh, gemellus, SharkPhin, elle, melbre, charlotte21, brenlin, wendroz, boop, sparkles, tigrib, JJ, lisabee, hadas, peacemama, gemster, healthyjoy, moxie, gracie, smkd, lumberjack55, Tinkamom, Eve Dallas, madeafan, phil467 digplantweed, charlotte21, sweetmarsh52, mary~m, Cyn, juicy246, lumberjack55, lunabear, melbre, wendroz, hipmom, ontosomething, ermabom, lindabee, abacusfinch, @happydaze, delfie, Eve Dallas, gemellus, bonzee, JJ, madeafan, celtickat, peacemama, ASL, jonik, Emily.Postal, SharkPhin, fitin14, faithmtw, squintco, corgi, Tinkamom, mooselady12, phoenix, Gypsy3n8, mumsalot, taraan, fitin14, beherenow

[bonzee]

Day two of tracking is under my belt. I made progress with work snacking, better than Monday. I need to start taking my vitamins at work again. Getting over a head cold makes me hate my vitamins for whatever reason.

[ermabom]

Re: tip - Whoo boy! Is that not true. It is a process and a very difficult process but it works over time.

[pirouette]

I'm also on day two of tracking again after my rude awakening. I decided to pay for Noom through the end of the year but not get frazzled about the calorie counts and numbers. More for accountability and getting in more green and yellow group food items.

[ermabom]

Yesterday went all pear-shaped on me. My garage door opener died on Tuesday after I returned from food shopping. SO fiddled with it all afternoon and determined that the motor had died. He had another one. So he started replacing it yesterday and did most of it on his own. But he'd periodically need an extra pair of hands and so I kept getting called out to help. Which made it hard to work out or do anything that required a fixed amount of time. After it was installed, we had to futz with reprogramming my car and the key pad on the outside of the door. The car is now fine (whew!) but the key pad isn't getting reprogrammed. We tried a few times yesterday with different instructions each time. So that was another set of interruptions. Not because of this, but sort of because of it, I was sitting around bored watching some stupid show instead of doing useful things. And I snacked,

I did stop myself and start drinking water instead but I wasn't hungry at dinner and so ate a small dinner. I did get some phone calls and other work done on my computer. Logged everything. I give myself credit for stopping and compensating with a small dinner.

I meditated! Got up half an hour early and started meditating in the am like I used to do.

Today is another crazy day. I have a number of errands and I need to do some gardening and I have to cook. I am not sure I'll get to exercise outside of the garden work.

Credits:
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit.

[lani]

Wednesday credits:

Weighed - up 0.8 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Tracked
Meditated
Ate sitting, mindfully
Strength & flexibility exercises
Ended day 160 calories under plan
Wrote today's plan

[mare]

Thursday Think Tip: If every time you make a mistake you start thinking, “I can’t do this. I’ll never succeed,” remind yourself that that is just your hopeless/helpless mode talking. It’s not an accurate depiction of reality. You CAN do it and you ARE doing it, but that doesn’t mean you’ll never make mistakes!

Cyn, bonzee, corgi, Emily.Postal, mooselady12, fitin14, irisinnia, cj59, lioness, ontosomething, pirouette, crewer, peacemama, faithmtw, ermabom, squintco, chazel12345, wendroz, lumberjack55, mary~m, celtickat, digplantweed, jonik, lindabee, dragonflyaz, lunabear, @happydaze, cindylouwh, gemellus, SharkPhin, elle, melbre, charlotte21, brenlin, wendroz, boop, sparkles, tigrib, JJ, lisabee, hadas, peacemama, gemster, healthyjoy, moxie, gracie, smkd, lumberjack55, Tinkamom, Eve Dallas, madeafan, phil467 digplantweed, charlotte21, sweetmarsh52, mary~m, Cyn, juicy246, lumberjack55, lunabear, melbre, wendroz, hipmom, ontosomething, ermabom, lindabee, abacusfinch, @happydaze, delfie, Eve Dallas, gemellus, bonzee, JJ, madeafan, celtickat, peacemama, ASL, jonik, Emily.Postal, SharkPhin, fitin14, faithmtw, squintco, corgi, Tinkamom, mooselady12, phoenix, Gypsy3n8, mumsalot, taraan, fitin14, beherenow

[ermabom]

I think it was one of the Beckers here who taught me 'Progress, not perfection' and that has really helped me with Backing. I make mistakes all the time but focusing on not compounding them, trying to problem solve ways not to repeat them, and thinking about how much time/calories I really spent on the mistake vs on the rest of the day has really helped me a lot. I still make the same mistakes over and over again but I keep trying new things to prevent them. Some work and some don't.

Yesterday was as expected- crazy busy and running around due to a lot of appointments and errands. I did OK eating wise till I finally collapsed at night. Ate some chocolate chips that weren't on my plan. I didn't exercise but I got a lot of steps in. So many that my Fitbit decided that I had worked out and gave me credit for it.

Meditated.

Credits:
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit

[lani]

Didn't stick to my plan well but managed to come in 20 calories over plan.  There was leftover wine, leftover bites from DH's lunch.  Also, coming into pizza night hot (tonight).  My justification is condo sale really and truly closed, and funds are in our accounts.  So there will be more celebrating tonight.  Literally a once in a lifetime event.

Thursday credits:

Weighed - down 0.4 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Tracked
Ate sitting, mindfully - even the unhealthy unplanned stuff
Strength & flexibility exercises
Wrote plan for tomorrow
Sort of meditated in bed, not sitting practice but did my best

[mare]

Friday Weekend Warm Up: It takes less willpower to stick to an eating decision that you’ve made ahead of time than it does to try to use willpower in the moment to make a good decision. This weekend, plan in advance!

[ermabom]

I had a normal day yesterday. I managed to both exercise and get my yard work done. It suddenly turned hot so I'm thirsty all the time and that has cut down even my meals.

I meditated. So far I am finding it pretty easy to get up 30 mins early so I can mediate for 20 mins.

Credits:
Exercised
Read cards
Logged food
Stuck to plan
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit

[crewer]

It's taken awhile for me to get back on track after our trip. I came back several pounds lighter but quickly went back up to where I'd been. I'm back down a bit, which I chalk up to finally getting out of that evening snacking habit. That is my nemesis; I can kick it for awhile but have not formed a strong habit to not do it. I weight daily, which takes the sting out of it and no gain is going to be so large that I'd get demoralized by it. Honestly, I find the daily weighing is motivating to stay on track.

[lani]

Friday credits:

Weighed - up 0.4 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Usual daily exercises plus cardio
Tracked
Ate sitting, mindfully
Wrote plan for tomorrow
Didn't do too bad on pizza/wine night - ended 55 cals under my (generous) plan

[ermabom]

Normal day yesterday. It was a rest day for exercise. Meditated. I've been strengthening my resistance muscle

Credits:
Read cards
Logged food
Stuck to plan
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit

[lani]

Saturday credits:

Weighed - down 0.6 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Meditated
Strength & flexibility exercises, marathon vacuuming session
Ate sitting, mindfully
Tracked
Ended day 230 calories under plan
Wrote plan for today

[ermabom]

Normal day yesterday. Again, very busy but I had to sit around for a while in the pm waiting for timers to pop. I didn't snack. That is usually a trigger for me.

Meditated

Credits:
Exercised
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit

[mare]

No Monday Motivation tip yet so just tags from me

Cyn, bonzee, corgi, Emily.Postal, mooselady12, fitin14, irisinnia, cj59, lioness, ontosomething, pirouette, crewer, peacemama, faithmtw, ermabom, squintco, chazel12345, wendroz, lumberjack55, mary~m, celtickat, digplantweed, jonik, lindabee, dragonflyaz, lunabear, @happydaze, cindylouwh, gemellus, SharkPhin, elle, melbre, charlotte21, brenlin, wendroz, boop, sparkles, tigrib, JJ, lisabee, hadas, peacemama, gemster, healthyjoy, moxie, gracie, smkd, lumberjack55, Tinkamom, Eve Dallas, madeafan, phil467 digplantweed, charlotte21, sweetmarsh52, mary~m, Cyn, juicy246, lumberjack55, lunabear, melbre, wendroz, hipmom, ontosomething, ermabom, lindabee, abacusfinch, @happydaze, delfie, Eve Dallas, gemellus, bonzee, JJ, madeafan, celtickat, peacemama, ASL, jonik, Emily.Postal, SharkPhin, fitin14, faithmtw, squintco, corgi, Tinkamom, mooselady12, phoenix, Gypsy3n8, mumsalot, taraan, fitin14, beherenow

[lani]

Sunday credits:

Weighed - up 0.2 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Meditated
Tracked
Ate sitting, mindfully
Strength & flexibility exercises
Ended day 305 calories under plan
Wrote today's plan

[mare]

Tip showed for yesterday -

Monday Motivation: Achieving a really big goal (like losing and maintaining weight) is really a matter of achieving many smaller goals along the way. This week, commit to a smaller goal, like eating everything sitting down or deciding in advance when and how many treats you’ll have. Eventually, the small goals lead up to big ones!

Cyn, bonzee, corgi, Emily.Postal, mooselady12, fitin14, irisinnia, cj59, lioness, ontosomething, pirouette, crewer, peacemama, faithmtw, ermabom, squintco, chazel12345, wendroz, lumberjack55, mary~m, celtickat, digplantweed, jonik, lindabee, dragonflyaz, lunabear, @happydaze, cindylouwh, gemellus, SharkPhin, elle, melbre, charlotte21, brenlin, wendroz, boop, sparkles, tigrib, JJ, lisabee, hadas, peacemama, gemster, healthyjoy, moxie, gracie, smkd, lumberjack55, Tinkamom, Eve Dallas, madeafan, phil467 digplantweed, charlotte21, sweetmarsh52, mary~m, Cyn, juicy246, lumberjack55, lunabear, melbre, wendroz, hipmom, ontosomething, ermabom, lindabee, abacusfinch, @happydaze, delfie, Eve Dallas, gemellus, bonzee, JJ, madeafan, celtickat, peacemama, ASL, jonik, Emily.Postal, SharkPhin, fitin14, faithmtw, squintco, corgi, Tinkamom, mooselady12, phoenix, Gypsy3n8, mumsalot, taraan, fitin14, beherenow