Vacation, have to get away!!! 4 days, in 4 glorious days it will be my favorite week of the year, I will be on vacation with my loves and I just can't wait!!
This is just a quick check in because I ought to be doing some other things, but my WI last week was -.6 for a total of -4lbs in 4 weeks, I'll take it!!!
I also took my measurements today and saw progress everywhere, but my hips *these hips don't lie*
BDS is going well, it's helping me to retrain my thoughts in a different way. I don't agree with every task but so far so good!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
BDS Days 5-8 and WI Week 3
So the good news first, I was down 2.6 lbs. this week! I feel good and happy and well on my way to reaching my first 5% goal. This is where I have to be careful because it's about this time that I lose motivation and fall off the wagon. However, I still feel motivated and I am convincing myself to not focus too much on the scale and more about my behaviors. Theoretically, if I follow the WW plan every day, I will lose weight, so if I focus on doing that then the weight will fall off.
I've slacked on writing since my last post, but have been keeping up with the Beck Diet Solution. So far I haven't found any revolutionary information about weight loss that I didn't already know. I think the biggest benefits so far have been to constantly remind myself daily of why I'm doing this and to learn to recognize sabotaging thoughts and behaviors and counteract them with a more positive helpful thought.
The biggest behaivor change that I didn't really realize so far was eating sitting down. While I always eat my meals sitting down, I did not realize how much I sneak food in the kitchen whether it's one last bite of chicken from the pot, or a handful of chips from the pantry. Every time I put something in my mouth that I eat standing up, I'm reminded of the fact that I probably don't need to be eating that and if it were that important I could sit down to eat it. It's a learning process. The other thing is to eat slowly and mindfully. I've always been a faster eater and I am more conscious of the fact that I need to slow down and savor each bite. I actually feel more full as a result which is preventing me from overeating.
All good things, I'm happy to report that I feel good and healthy and totally in control!
I've slacked on writing since my last post, but have been keeping up with the Beck Diet Solution. So far I haven't found any revolutionary information about weight loss that I didn't already know. I think the biggest benefits so far have been to constantly remind myself daily of why I'm doing this and to learn to recognize sabotaging thoughts and behaviors and counteract them with a more positive helpful thought.
The biggest behaivor change that I didn't really realize so far was eating sitting down. While I always eat my meals sitting down, I did not realize how much I sneak food in the kitchen whether it's one last bite of chicken from the pot, or a handful of chips from the pantry. Every time I put something in my mouth that I eat standing up, I'm reminded of the fact that I probably don't need to be eating that and if it were that important I could sit down to eat it. It's a learning process. The other thing is to eat slowly and mindfully. I've always been a faster eater and I am more conscious of the fact that I need to slow down and savor each bite. I actually feel more full as a result which is preventing me from overeating.
All good things, I'm happy to report that I feel good and healthy and totally in control!
Saturday, August 4, 2012
BDS Day 4 and Extreme Makeover: Weight loss edition
Today is day 4 of the Beck Diet Solution. Yesterday I did pretty well and I'm going to practice today's task by giving myself credit. I had a particularly bad day at work and on my way home I bought the ultimate bad thing, "Phillies Graham Slam" ice cream by Turkey Hill.
This could have been a disaster and I definitely ate more than I should, but that was the only food I used as comfort yesterday when honestly I could have eaten every snack in my desk or every candy bar in the vending machine. I think considering what my history is with bad days I did pretty well and did not get completely off track. I even exercised when I got home although it was like torture because I did NOT want to do it, but did it anyway.
So today's task is to give myself credit which I'm not very good at and I'm trying to be better at, hence the earned reward for last week. It was not a "perfect" week, but it was still good and definitely on the right track. I'm not going to be perfect, but trying my best is all I can ask of myself.
Last night I watched Extreme Makeover: weight loss edition and I must have cried at least 4 times during the show. The girl on it lost over 200lbs. in just one year. It made me think about how in 10 years I can't loose 150 lbs. But I did lose 75 and then gained some of that back, but I still have maintained a weight loss of over 50lbs. and that's nothing to scoff at. Again, I need to give myself credit for what I have done in order to continue to feel good about doing it. Watching her transformation over the course of a year was amazing, she was a completely different person both inside and out. I want that to be me so bad. I know that losing that amount of weight is not possible or even healthy for me. The girl on the show quit her job in order to devote her whole life to losing weight and I just can't do that (though I really wish I could). And I want to be able to maintain my weight loss, so slow and steady it is for me. Which, I'll take slow, as long as it's steady!
So today's task is to give myself credit which I'm not very good at and I'm trying to be better at, hence the earned reward for last week. It was not a "perfect" week, but it was still good and definitely on the right track. I'm not going to be perfect, but trying my best is all I can ask of myself.
Last night I watched Extreme Makeover: weight loss edition and I must have cried at least 4 times during the show. The girl on it lost over 200lbs. in just one year. It made me think about how in 10 years I can't loose 150 lbs. But I did lose 75 and then gained some of that back, but I still have maintained a weight loss of over 50lbs. and that's nothing to scoff at. Again, I need to give myself credit for what I have done in order to continue to feel good about doing it. Watching her transformation over the course of a year was amazing, she was a completely different person both inside and out. I want that to be me so bad. I know that losing that amount of weight is not possible or even healthy for me. The girl on the show quit her job in order to devote her whole life to losing weight and I just can't do that (though I really wish I could). And I want to be able to maintain my weight loss, so slow and steady it is for me. Which, I'll take slow, as long as it's steady!
Friday, August 3, 2012
Week 3 Reward, BDS Day 3
Well here I am ending week 3 of my newest installment of my ongoing WLJ. Though this week was by no means perfect, I decided that I needed to reward myself for the behaviors that I did change. For example, I tracked everything (except last Saturday). I could have easily been derailed at the beginning of the week when on Monday I ate a 20 PP crab cake (yikes!). But I have been staying on track, earning AP's, and following the plan as best to my ability. So I rewarded myself because those are all amazing things! This weeks reward was going to be a Cosmo magazine, but Wegman's doesn't sell them so instead I got these two:
I never buy myself magazines so this is a real treat and I'm totally looking forward to reading them. I'm also looking forward to picking next week's reward as I will totally earn that one as well. WI will be on Monday again as G and I are going to Philly overnight on Saturday and I will not make the 9am meeting on Sunday. But whatever the results are I will be happy because I know that I am doing what I can do.
Now I came to a realization when I was reading BDS Day 3. This day challenges you to eat while sitting down. At first I thought "Done! I always eat my meals and snacks sitting down." You see, I love to eat and I can't really enjoy it enough if I'm standing, so my meals are always eaten while sitting down, always.
However, I read on and she asked if you ever grab something from the fridge or the pantry, swipe bites while you're cooking, etc. And I thought, "duh, yeah I totally do that." Now her method is to change your thoughts and this behavior does not always have a thought preceeding it. It's more of an action that has developed overtime and is done pretty mindlessly. So I wrote myself a response card that says something to the effect of:
Action: Eating something while standing up.
Response: Odds are this is not a healthy choice. If I am hungry for a snack I can look at my remaining PP's and see what is available. Then I will eat that snack sitting down.
It is the truth. I am a person who will take a couple of chips out of the bag when I'm packing my lunch and eat them, or grab a cracker or 2 (or 10) from the box and eat them standing up in the kitchen. I will definitely break myself of this habit because it is a bad one!
In other news, this weekend G and I are spending the night in Philly, just because. I'm super pumped because our hotel room has a jacuzzi tub. We're going to dinner at Hawthorne's which I've been dying to do, and then going out in Old City. I'm really looking forward to it!
Now I came to a realization when I was reading BDS Day 3. This day challenges you to eat while sitting down. At first I thought "Done! I always eat my meals and snacks sitting down." You see, I love to eat and I can't really enjoy it enough if I'm standing, so my meals are always eaten while sitting down, always.
However, I read on and she asked if you ever grab something from the fridge or the pantry, swipe bites while you're cooking, etc. And I thought, "duh, yeah I totally do that." Now her method is to change your thoughts and this behavior does not always have a thought preceeding it. It's more of an action that has developed overtime and is done pretty mindlessly. So I wrote myself a response card that says something to the effect of:
Action: Eating something while standing up.
Response: Odds are this is not a healthy choice. If I am hungry for a snack I can look at my remaining PP's and see what is available. Then I will eat that snack sitting down.
It is the truth. I am a person who will take a couple of chips out of the bag when I'm packing my lunch and eat them, or grab a cracker or 2 (or 10) from the box and eat them standing up in the kitchen. I will definitely break myself of this habit because it is a bad one!
In other news, this weekend G and I are spending the night in Philly, just because. I'm super pumped because our hotel room has a jacuzzi tub. We're going to dinner at Hawthorne's which I've been dying to do, and then going out in Old City. I'm really looking forward to it!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
BDS Day 2
Today's task for the BDS is to choose and commit to two diet plans. I am sort of skirting by this one and only choosing one. The idea is to have a back-up plan for if the first diet plan fails. I sat and thought long and hard about another diet plan that I would want to try if WW failed and realized that WW has not failed me ever. I was able to stick to the plan enough to lose 75lbs. When I stopped following the plan completely is when I gained, it wasn't the plan, it was me. Obviously if you stay true to any of these diet plans, they will work. It's simple math, calories in vs. calories out. However, WW is the only plan that I've managed to live with without feeling deprived and have been successful.
So WW is my first choice and also my backup plan!
Every day I am supposed to read my Advantages Response Card at least twice a day. Breakfast is always provided at my Thursday morning meetings. I typically try to avoid this breakfast because it usually consists of bagels, donuts, etc. I always eat breakfast at home so that I do not feel compelled or tempted to eat the food. However, there have been times in the past when I eat breakfast at home and eat more breakfast at the meeting. Today I really worked hard to avoid this and I am proud of myself. By usuing a combination of WW and the BDS I was able to resist eating the unhealthy food at the meeting. Here's how I did it:
WW: I ate a little bit larger breakfast than I usually do and spread it out through my morning so I felt satisfied at the meeting and not hungry. I filled up my breakfast with Power Foods to help keep me satiated (the meeting is 2 hours long). First I ate an egg fryed in a tsp oil on two pieces of light bread. Then I made myself a WW brand coconut smoothie with almond milk and pineapple and drank that on my ride to work. During the meeting I did not feel any hunger and was not tempted to eat.
BDS: Being satisfied is only half the battle for me. There have been plenty occasions when I am not hungry but still choose to eat because it smells good or looks good. Today I read my ARC before going to the meeting to remind myself of all of the advantages of losing weight. On the way to the meeting I gave myself a pep talk and decided if there was any food at the meeting that I really wanted I would take it and eat it as a snack later (I have 6 DP's to play around with today for snacks). Turns out that even though the food smelled good, there was nothing that I wanted enough to take for later and was able to resist eating anything in the meeting.
I am so proud of myself for using my skills today! This was my first test on how I would be able to utilize the BDS to assist me in making the right choices. The next test will be Saturday night when I go out to dinner with my boyfriend in the city.
I would also like to comment on some of the reviews I read about the BDS. Though many of them were extrememly positive there are always the negatives. In the instance of one review the writer states that Beck asks you to treat losing weight like it's your job and has you place constant reminders of your reasons for losing weight around you, they say:
"Though it sounds harmless, I found the work to promote unhealthy obsessions with what I'm eating and how I feel about how I look."
For me, since beginning WW and most likely for the rest of my life I will spend a large portion of my day thinking about food, what I'm eating, when my meals will be, when I can get activity in, how many points I've used, etc. etc. etc. The days that go by without the consistant thoughts about the food I'm eating are the days that I do not stay OP. It's all about when you do with those thoughts and it's only unhealthy if it disrupts your life (i.e. not going to work because you're planning your weekly meals).
they also write:
"The reason why I am reviewing this book in particular and not shouting from the rooftops about what is wrong with Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or Atkins is that I believe that the book promotes obsessing about dieting, your personal imperfections (in a roundabout way, as the focus is on what you want to change positively rather than what is wrong with your body) and takes the deprivation of dieting to extremes by asking that you starve yourself temporarily"
CBT in general is about taking your negative thoughts and turning them around to make them positive. If you are trying to lose weight there is a reason whether you don't like how you look physically or you have to do it for health reasons you are already looking at your personal imperfections...but the point is to try and change your thoughts about them and make your thinking work for you and not damage you.
I haven't read much of the book, but I can't comment of the part about asking you to starve yourself temporarily. My feeling is that Beck is saying that you will be fine if you miss a meal or snack, but I doubt that she would be asking you to "starve" yourself in the literal meaning of the word, but I could be wrong. And that's where your own judgement comes in, like I said in my previous post WW has taught me it's okay to have a snack between meals as long as it's a healthy option and also that I shouldn't let myself get too hungry because that puts me in the danger zone.
The writer then goes on to say that she hasn't lost any weight, has beeing dieting for 20 years and is at the heaviest they've ever been. To that I say clearly your cognitive thoughts are not where they should be, it's not 20 years of diets that have gotten you to the heaviest you've ever been, it's you that's gotten you to the heaviest you've ever been. Stop blaming the diets or the people like Beck who are trying to assist people in altering their thoughts from negative to positive and take ownership of your own behavior.
That review sort of got under my skin (clearly) and probably deserved a post of its own. But we'll see, I haven't finished the book or the program so I can't say for sure if it will help me, but it is worth a shot!
So WW is my first choice and also my backup plan!
Every day I am supposed to read my Advantages Response Card at least twice a day. Breakfast is always provided at my Thursday morning meetings. I typically try to avoid this breakfast because it usually consists of bagels, donuts, etc. I always eat breakfast at home so that I do not feel compelled or tempted to eat the food. However, there have been times in the past when I eat breakfast at home and eat more breakfast at the meeting. Today I really worked hard to avoid this and I am proud of myself. By usuing a combination of WW and the BDS I was able to resist eating the unhealthy food at the meeting. Here's how I did it:
WW: I ate a little bit larger breakfast than I usually do and spread it out through my morning so I felt satisfied at the meeting and not hungry. I filled up my breakfast with Power Foods to help keep me satiated (the meeting is 2 hours long). First I ate an egg fryed in a tsp oil on two pieces of light bread. Then I made myself a WW brand coconut smoothie with almond milk and pineapple and drank that on my ride to work. During the meeting I did not feel any hunger and was not tempted to eat.
BDS: Being satisfied is only half the battle for me. There have been plenty occasions when I am not hungry but still choose to eat because it smells good or looks good. Today I read my ARC before going to the meeting to remind myself of all of the advantages of losing weight. On the way to the meeting I gave myself a pep talk and decided if there was any food at the meeting that I really wanted I would take it and eat it as a snack later (I have 6 DP's to play around with today for snacks). Turns out that even though the food smelled good, there was nothing that I wanted enough to take for later and was able to resist eating anything in the meeting.
I am so proud of myself for using my skills today! This was my first test on how I would be able to utilize the BDS to assist me in making the right choices. The next test will be Saturday night when I go out to dinner with my boyfriend in the city.
I would also like to comment on some of the reviews I read about the BDS. Though many of them were extrememly positive there are always the negatives. In the instance of one review the writer states that Beck asks you to treat losing weight like it's your job and has you place constant reminders of your reasons for losing weight around you, they say:
"Though it sounds harmless, I found the work to promote unhealthy obsessions with what I'm eating and how I feel about how I look."
For me, since beginning WW and most likely for the rest of my life I will spend a large portion of my day thinking about food, what I'm eating, when my meals will be, when I can get activity in, how many points I've used, etc. etc. etc. The days that go by without the consistant thoughts about the food I'm eating are the days that I do not stay OP. It's all about when you do with those thoughts and it's only unhealthy if it disrupts your life (i.e. not going to work because you're planning your weekly meals).
they also write:
"The reason why I am reviewing this book in particular and not shouting from the rooftops about what is wrong with Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or Atkins is that I believe that the book promotes obsessing about dieting, your personal imperfections (in a roundabout way, as the focus is on what you want to change positively rather than what is wrong with your body) and takes the deprivation of dieting to extremes by asking that you starve yourself temporarily"
CBT in general is about taking your negative thoughts and turning them around to make them positive. If you are trying to lose weight there is a reason whether you don't like how you look physically or you have to do it for health reasons you are already looking at your personal imperfections...but the point is to try and change your thoughts about them and make your thinking work for you and not damage you.
I haven't read much of the book, but I can't comment of the part about asking you to starve yourself temporarily. My feeling is that Beck is saying that you will be fine if you miss a meal or snack, but I doubt that she would be asking you to "starve" yourself in the literal meaning of the word, but I could be wrong. And that's where your own judgement comes in, like I said in my previous post WW has taught me it's okay to have a snack between meals as long as it's a healthy option and also that I shouldn't let myself get too hungry because that puts me in the danger zone.
The writer then goes on to say that she hasn't lost any weight, has beeing dieting for 20 years and is at the heaviest they've ever been. To that I say clearly your cognitive thoughts are not where they should be, it's not 20 years of diets that have gotten you to the heaviest you've ever been, it's you that's gotten you to the heaviest you've ever been. Stop blaming the diets or the people like Beck who are trying to assist people in altering their thoughts from negative to positive and take ownership of your own behavior.
That review sort of got under my skin (clearly) and probably deserved a post of its own. But we'll see, I haven't finished the book or the program so I can't say for sure if it will help me, but it is worth a shot!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Week 2 WI and the Beck Diet Solution
I went to my week 2 WI, which was a victory in itself. I missed my Sunday meeting because I slept in and instead of skipping a week (which I was tempted to do) I went to the meeting on Monday afternoon. The scale showed a 3.6 lb. loss which with the previous week's gain is -.8 overall. I wil admit that I spent 3 of the 7 days of last week not OP and completely in the red, so I will take the hit on the chin. I did not earn my week 2 reward. I am doing much better this week and I am looking forward to another week of being OP.
While reading the WW message boards I came across The Beck Diet Solution. After a little more research and reading what people said about it I decided to buy the book. Now for anyone not familiar with this program, it is a 42 day program that assists you in the cognitive aspect of losing weight. I love this. I love WW because it has taught me how to eat right and how to exercise, it has also taught me better choices for options of food. The Beck Diet Solution will supposedly teach me how to stop sabotaging myself and to continuously make the better choices outlined by the WW program. I love that I can do both and that this new program is not designed to discount what I have learned at WW.
So far I have read the first 3 chapters and began day 1 today. A couple of notes about my dislikes before I continue on with what I like so far.
1. I don't like how she uses the term "thin" to describe people who are not struggling with food like I am. I know plenty of "thin" people who eat more food than I do. Naturally thin people don't always have a smaller appetite. They may just be lucky to have a high metabolism, or they may be very active people. Whatever the case, that sort of rubs me the wrong way, but I can ignore that for the time being.
2. One of her examples of responses to self-sabatoging thoughts is when you feel hungry to think "I don't need to eat now, lunch is in two hours." For me, when I feel hungry, my body is telling me something. I drink all of my water so I know I'm not thirsty. I believe a better thought would be for me to think "I feel hungry, lunch is in two hours, I will eat this (insert piece of fruit) now in order to hold me over." Things get dangerous when I get hungry and WW Simply Filling Technique has taught me how to be more aware of my hunger signals. I know I get hungry at certain in-between meal times and if I'm prepared with a healthy snack that has been budgeted into my daily PointsPlus values then it shouldn't be a problem.
Now on to what I like. I am a big believer in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. That is my general approach in my job (Music Therapist). So I can see exactly how it will work for me. Day 1 asks me to write down a list of reasons why I want to loose weight. While the majority of them have to do with health reasons with a few vanity reasons sprinkled in, the number one reason is to not be obese for the rest of my life. I have spent my entire life overweight or obese. I cannot wait for the day when I've reached a healthy weight and have defeated obesity. The task then asks you too read your list multiple times a day. This will be helpful to me when I'm struggling in the afternoons (between lunch and dinner) and on the weekends. I will chronicle my experience with the Beck Diet Solution as I am really looking forward to changing my thought process regarding food!
While reading the WW message boards I came across The Beck Diet Solution. After a little more research and reading what people said about it I decided to buy the book. Now for anyone not familiar with this program, it is a 42 day program that assists you in the cognitive aspect of losing weight. I love this. I love WW because it has taught me how to eat right and how to exercise, it has also taught me better choices for options of food. The Beck Diet Solution will supposedly teach me how to stop sabotaging myself and to continuously make the better choices outlined by the WW program. I love that I can do both and that this new program is not designed to discount what I have learned at WW.
So far I have read the first 3 chapters and began day 1 today. A couple of notes about my dislikes before I continue on with what I like so far.
1. I don't like how she uses the term "thin" to describe people who are not struggling with food like I am. I know plenty of "thin" people who eat more food than I do. Naturally thin people don't always have a smaller appetite. They may just be lucky to have a high metabolism, or they may be very active people. Whatever the case, that sort of rubs me the wrong way, but I can ignore that for the time being.
2. One of her examples of responses to self-sabatoging thoughts is when you feel hungry to think "I don't need to eat now, lunch is in two hours." For me, when I feel hungry, my body is telling me something. I drink all of my water so I know I'm not thirsty. I believe a better thought would be for me to think "I feel hungry, lunch is in two hours, I will eat this (insert piece of fruit) now in order to hold me over." Things get dangerous when I get hungry and WW Simply Filling Technique has taught me how to be more aware of my hunger signals. I know I get hungry at certain in-between meal times and if I'm prepared with a healthy snack that has been budgeted into my daily PointsPlus values then it shouldn't be a problem.
Now on to what I like. I am a big believer in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. That is my general approach in my job (Music Therapist). So I can see exactly how it will work for me. Day 1 asks me to write down a list of reasons why I want to loose weight. While the majority of them have to do with health reasons with a few vanity reasons sprinkled in, the number one reason is to not be obese for the rest of my life. I have spent my entire life overweight or obese. I cannot wait for the day when I've reached a healthy weight and have defeated obesity. The task then asks you too read your list multiple times a day. This will be helpful to me when I'm struggling in the afternoons (between lunch and dinner) and on the weekends. I will chronicle my experience with the Beck Diet Solution as I am really looking forward to changing my thought process regarding food!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Week 1 WI
Okay I weighed in week one and although it was rather disappointing, I'm not going to sabotage myself.
The scale showed a gain of 2.8lbs. which I know is not an accurate reflection of the effort I put it. I exercised every day and I know that has something to do with it. I also worked on Saturday night and by the end of the night both of my knees were incredibly swollen. I know that also affected my WI because I could still feel the water I was retaining from the night before.
Like I said, I won't let it get me down and I'm glad I went to my meeting and weighed in despite knowing what the scale would say.
Today I had a back spasm when I was putting my puppy's food on the floor. So I'm taking it easy and resting for today, hopefully I can get back to my normal routine tomorrow!
The scale showed a gain of 2.8lbs. which I know is not an accurate reflection of the effort I put it. I exercised every day and I know that has something to do with it. I also worked on Saturday night and by the end of the night both of my knees were incredibly swollen. I know that also affected my WI because I could still feel the water I was retaining from the night before.
Like I said, I won't let it get me down and I'm glad I went to my meeting and weighed in despite knowing what the scale would say.
Today I had a back spasm when I was putting my puppy's food on the floor. So I'm taking it easy and resting for today, hopefully I can get back to my normal routine tomorrow!
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