November Beck Alumni Thread

[ermabom]

Nov 11 credits:
Good day, bad night

Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit
Exercised

Stuck to plan all day but I was very sore when I went to bed and woke up at 11:30 in a lot of pain. I think the flexibility exercise was a tough one yesterday and I was on my feet all day doing stuff around the house. End result, I had to eat something to be able to take an NSAID and I made bad choices.

[lani]

ermabom, liking your credits and that you are posting.  We do what we can.

Friday credits:  (why did I not post?)
Weighed - up 1 lb.
Read new posts, posted on WW Beck threads
Tracked
Exercised - mini-tramp for second time since surgery.  Balance is getting better.  And my other usual daily exericses.
Meditated - another 5 minute one
Ate sitting, mostly mindfully
Wrote plan for Saturday

Saturday credits:
Weighed - down 0.4 lb.
Meditated - 27 minutes
Ended day 260 calories under plan
Tracked
Ate sitting, mindfully
Exercised
Read new posts, posted - other thread again
Wrote plan for today
..

[ermabom]

Nov 12 credits:
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit

[lani]

Sunday credits:

Weighed - up 0.4 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Exercised
Meditated - about 20 min.  Another 5 min. before bed.
Tracked
Ate sitting, mindfully
Ended day 355 calories under plan
Wrote plan for today

[ermabom]

Nov 13 credits:
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit
Exercised

[lani]

Monday credits:

Weighed - down 0.8 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Meditated
Exercised
Tracked
Ate sitting, mindfully
Ended day 205 calories under plan
Wrote today's plan

[ermabom]

Nov 14 credits:
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit
I didn't exercise since I was sore and had to take naproxen the night before to sleep.

[lani]

Tuesday credits:

Weighed - down 0.6 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Exercised
Meditated
Ate sitting, mindfully
Ended day 230 calories under plan
Tracked
Wrote plan for breakfast today.  Going out to lunch with dear friend who became a widow on 10/25.  I'm not caring about food or drink at this meeting.

[Cyn]

Hi ladies,
Trying again.
Been OP for 4 days in a row, for the first time in a very long time.
Weighed myself for the first time since 9/27, and am surprisingly only 1.7 lbs up since then, and even more surprisingly haven't tipped over the 20lb mark.
Today I'm going to start tracking again.
I have a big salad planned for lunch.

[ermabom]

Welcome back Cyn! Good to hear from you.

Nov 15 credits:
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit


Going to try exercising today although my hips are still sore. I have not had a good couple of days.

[lani]

Cyn, yes, good to see you!

Wednesday credits are few:

Weighed - down 1 lb.
Read new posts, posted on other Beck thread
Tracked breakfast
Exercised - body weight exercises only
Wrote plan for today

Lunch with my friend.  Lots of food and drink.  Her husband's ashes were delivered while DH and I were at her house.  We were happy to be there so she wasn't alone at that moment.

[ermabom]

Nov 16 credits:
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit
Stuck to plan
Exercised

[lani]

Another fun-filled day.  Up at 4 to schlepp DH for an upper endoscopy.  Then we found out yet another friend has died, eerily enough, one day before the other friend died.

Thursday credits:

Weighed - up 1.2 lbs.  Not a surprise after Wednesday's eating/drinking.
Read new posts, posted
Tracked
Ate sitting, sometimes mindfully
Meditated - 5 minutes only
Wrote plan for today

[Cyn]

Yesterday credits:
Didn't overeat or overdrink at a small happy hour get-together I hosted for my friends from next door.
Filled up on my late lunchtime healthy salad.
Feeling happy because my apt is nice and clean and welcoming.
I have a birdwalk scheduled for later with my neighbor, around the 2 nearby ponds, so activity is planned.

[ermabom]

I'm sorry for your losses lani. It is tough especially when they occur close together.

Nov 17 credits:
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Didn't exercise - my hip pain was really bad yesterday. I think I've diagnosed it as a pulled muscle deep in my right hip and the rest of it is compensating for that. I am going to try a course of NSAIDs for a week and then gradually get back into exercise. I did buy some new shoe insoles and new shoes with more arch support to see if that helps but my feeling is that this was caused by the stretching.
Gave myself credit
Stuck to plan till late in the evening - but didn't over do the snacking. However, I did snack.

[lani]

Friday credits:

Weighed - up 1 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Exercised - mini-tramp and the usual
Tracked
Ate sitting, mindfully
Didn't really meditate, but listened to a guided one while doing my evening exercises
Wrote plan for today
Didn't finish pizza


ermabom, thanks.  I am not fond of socializing but DH and I are going ahead and planning trips and get togethers, much more than our norm.  Call it the gift of the departed.  We want to connect with the rest of our friends while we can.

[ermabom]

I'm going to be on irregularly this week due to family visiting. I can't spend as much time online when they are around.

I've also realized that my hip pain is coming from a badly pulled muscle deep in my butt and the rest of it is compensating for that pain. So I've decided on a course of rest (i.e. no exercise) and NSAIDs for a week. I am still active in the house because I am cooking and doing other things that need to be done. I think the stretching was aggravating it. I will go back to just walking next week and then add in strength training and yoga and possibly go back to stretching routines in January. My plan has also shifted because I need to eat something in the am before taking the NSAID (OTC naproxen). I have also gone back to a protein shake a day in case I need the protein for healing.

Nov 18 credits:
Went to my spinning guild meeting. Took a protein bar as I knew I'd be back late from lunch. Sadly I succumbed to some unusual donuts there. But that was it.
Resisted STs at night encouraging me to snack after dinner
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Did not meditate

Nov 19 credits:
Brother, SIL and sister were here. Cooked all morning. Was quite tired as I didn't sleep well on Sat night. As a result, ended up eating more sugar than I should have
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Did not meditate

Today's objective it to get back on track re: sugar avoidance and meditation.

[lani]

Where did I go?

Saturday credits:
Weighed - down 0.4 lb.
Read new posts, posted (on a different thread)
Worked out
Tracked
Ate sitting, mindfully
No formal meditation, only listened to a guided one during evening exercises 
Dinner out Sunday, only planned breakfast and lunch

Sunday credits:
Weighed - up 1 lb.
Ate sitting
Body weight exercises
Wrote plan for today
Dinner out was not too unhealthy food-wise, but too much alcohol for sure.

[ermabom]

Nov 20 credits:
Read cards
Logged food
Used habit tracker
Gave myself credit
Stuck to plan - resisted STs at night!

I did find a sathipattana meditation and downloaded it to my phone and started listening to it but I didn't finish the first one so not counting it as meditation. I think that is my commitment for today. 10 mins of meditation. Will report back tomorrow on it.

[lani]

Nov 21, 2023 9:04:24 GMT -5 ermabom said:

sathipattana meditation

Which one did you try?

Monday credits:

Weighed - down 1.2 lbs.  Lots of drinking previous night, probably dehydrated
Read new posts, posted
Evening exercises only
Ate sitting, mindfully
Ended day 190 calories under plan
Tracked
Wrote plan for today

Too pooped to meditate last night!  Didn't get to bed til midnight and rushing around to get house ready for guests beforehand.  I usually do meditation around 2-3 in the afternoon.  Going to make an effort to get one in today.

I have been reading nightly Compassion and Emptiness in Early Buddhist Meditation by my go-to scholar monk, Bhikkhu Analayo.  So I hope I am getting some insight even when not formally meditating.  This book has a lot of emphasis on the Brahmaviharas.  I am trying to get more metta (loving-kindness, benevolence) into my mind during daily life, and not just during sitting.

[ermabom]

I am using ones by him Bhikku Analayo through the Barre Center for Buddhist studies. So we're listening to the same person!

[lani]

Nov 21, 2023 19:08:34 GMT -5 ermabom said:

I am using ones by him Bhikku Analayo through the Barre Center for Buddhist studies. So we're listening to the same person!

Yay!  I love him.  I got his Satipatthana Meditation, A Practice Guide which I found very helpful to go along with the audios.  I have been alternating between Satipatthana, Mindfulness of Breathing, with the Brahmaviharas sometimes.  I find the instruction on how to invoke each Brahmavihara pretty vague.  Once in a while I will go for it with the Maransati Practice where you "die before dying".  That one is graphic, but if you are down with the death contemplation in the Satipatthana, it just builds on that.  

Tuesday credits:

Weighed - up 0.4 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Tracked
Exercised - walking and everything else
Ate sitting, mindfully
Ended day 80 calories under plan
5 min. meditation only.  It was a choice between 1/2 hour walk and a proper meditation.  Walking won.  I ran out of time cooking a recipe that had a lot of slicing and dicing prep.  
Wrote plan for today

One more bit about Analalyo.  I initially found him when I was looking for death meditations and the #3 of his Satipatthana was included in the selection I found on line.  Looked him up and was hooked, listening and buying his books.  In parallel I subscribed to Dan Harris's 10% Happier app.  His favorite teacher is Joseph Goldstein.  Analayo lives at his center and Goldstein references him from time to time on the app.  So I came to find him from two different directions which I thought was pretty cool.

[Cyn]

Hi ladies,
I'm going to take a bit of a break from the board again.
Too many triggering threads at this time of year, and I need to focus on my own issues and efforts. I don't really have the willpower to spend not reading things right now-if that makes sense.

I have been tracking diligently, and dusted off my meal planning pad to get set up with starting tomorrow.
I am planning on walking the local lakefront Turkey Trot course first thing tomorrow, before the race actually starts, so I'm not part of the crowd scene.

I hope you have lovely holidays!

[lani]

Cyn , we've all been at this long enough to know what helps and what hinders.  

I was about to post my credits, but Mr. Lani wants the desktop, so BBL.  OK, he's off to the gym.

Wednesday credits:

Weighed - up 0.8 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Tracked
Exercised
Meditated
Ended day 230 calories under plan
Ate sitting, mindfully
Didn't actually write today's plan until today, but I'm gonna list it here.

[lani]

Thanksgiving credits:

First of all, we didn't do anything special for the day.  Just had already existing leftovers.
Weighed - down 0.4 lb.
Read new posts, posted
Tracked
Meditated
Exercised
Ate sitting, mindfully
Ended day exactly on plan
Wrote today's plan


ermabom, BTW, you can also access Analayo's Satipatthana and Mindfulness of Breathing through Windhorse Publications Free Resources tab.  I find I prefer his reading, at least of Mindfulness of Breathing, on that site.  I'm not sure if the Satipatthana audios are any different going through Windhorse vs. the Barre Center free resources.  But, splitting hairs, for sure.  Buddhists would probably say it shouldn't matter which one you listen to.