Day 17

Okay, lots to report today!

I did really well with eating today...TONS of vegetables, and I made my own South Beach Diet friendly salad dressing too (I think it needs to be 'kicked up a notch', but not bad for a first effort). I've been on a roll this week, so I'm hoping I can keep it up for the long weekend (Canada day tomorrow!) 149.2 on the scale today, but whatever. I'm doing really good.

Today for exercise I went on a really long walk, and checked out a cool street with all kinds of trendy stores. I went browsing through the Williams Sonoma store (LOVE that place! If I was a richie I would buy EVERYTHING!), and they had a free sample of something-or-other, and I didn't even bother checking what it was, I just said NO CHOICE to myself, and carried on. Judith would be so proud.

In other news, I got an offer for the job I had an interview for last week! hurray! It doesn't pay that well, and it is only a 6-month contract, but I think I will accept it anyway, because let's face it, I need a job! I'll probably start on July 12th, and the place I'm working has a gym and a cafeteria with lots of healthy options, so hopefully it will be diet friendly. I have a bit of a dilemma though, because I DESPERATELY need some new clothes before then. (Like, for real. I'm not one of those people that actually has a closet full of clothes as says "oh, I don't have a thing to wear"...I seriously have nothing that is work-appropriate. My last job was super super casual, and in California, so I wore jeans, tshirts, and flip-flops every single day of the year.) Anyway, I certainly don't want to buy a lot of clothes at my current weight. Hell, I don't even want to TRY ON clothes right now. So I think I will just buy as little as possible, and save the real shopping spree for when I hit 135.

So, day 17! Today I'm supposed to put food on my plate, and then not eat it. And also put something that is not on my diet on my plate, and not eat thing. I can do that!

Okay, now that I have written a novel, I think I should go clean up now. (Watching Hoarders does that to me...ever seen that show? YIKES.)

Day 16

Another good day! I changed around what I planned on eating, but still stuck to the general plan, and ate all South Beach Diet friendly food. (Or mostly, I guess...my salad dressing has sugar in it. But tomorrow I'm going to try making my own balsamic vinaigrette, because it is super easy to do, and my current bottle is kind of bleh anyway).

I weighed 149.0 today, so that will be my official starting point for my chart. Oh man, I will be SO glad to be in the 130s again. But, one step at a time!

Day 16 is Prevent Unplanned Eating. I just finished making a NO CHOICE card, which I'll look at when the opportunity or desire to eat something that's not on my diet arises. It seems so easy!

As for tomorrow's meal plan, this is the rough outline:

6am: sugar snap peas
9am: eggs w/ ham & veggies
12pm: salad w/ balsamic vinaigrette & feta, and 2 chicken sausages
1pm: non-fat latte
3pm: coleslaw salad
6pm: chicken fajita salad w/ grilled veggies and salsa

I sure eat a lot of salads these days, but I kind of love them. You can eat a huuuuge salad for like, 300 calories. Or if you eat regular 'main course' type stuff (like chicken fajitas) on a big pile of spinach instead of a tortilla, you get way more nutrients for less the calories!

Off to bed!

Day 14 Report, and Day 15

Today I did awesome! I stuck to eating the stuff I planned exactly, except that I didn't have the latte, and I had a bit of extra feta cheese after I finished eating my salad. So overall, a success. It feels really good to be back on track.

Week 3 starts tomorrow, which is the official start of the diet. I have to weigh myself in the morning, and that will be my starting weight for a chart I use later. (Note: I didn't weigh myself this morning, because I totally chickened out after all the stuff I ate this weekend. I'm fully expecting to be back in the 150s tomorrow, but oh well. MOVING FORWARD.)

I thought that planning what I was going to eat was a one-day thing, but it looks like I'm supposed to keep this up for a while. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with some friends again, and I'm not sure what I'm going to eat with them, so I'm going to allot 500 calories and just stick to that. So here's tomorrow's food plan:

9AM or so: eggs w/ ham & veggies (325 cals)
mid morning: almonds & sugar snap peas (300)
lunch: leftover stir-fry (400)
afternoon: salad (200)
dinner: ~500 calories

For about 1725 total. I'm going to do a big hike tomorrow, so I think that will be a good amount.

See ya later!

And I'm Back!

Gotta make this quick because it's late!

This weekend was really fun. I also ate too much. boo. HOWEVER, I am going to focus on the positive here, and remember that I am a work in progress. I may not eat the perfect amount of food all the time, but at least I didn't let a bit of overeating turn into an all-out eating bender.

Good things that I can get myself credit for:

- My sister had a lot of delicious junky things in the house (chocolate, chips, etc), and I didn't eat any of them.
- On Sunday night, I said "no thanks" to dessert. (And then hit the road really fast before I could change my mind!)
- I overate, but a least a lot of it was healthy food.

Areas of Improvement:

On the drive there, I brought a bunch of healthy snacks for the road, and to eat for the weekend. Good idea, right? Planning ahead so that I always have access to healthy food! The problem is, I put them in the passenger seat, and while I am driving I get bored. And I will eat ANYTHING within reach, because there is nothing else to do! Including SIX cheese strings. Aaaand an entire pack of sugar snap peas. (Don't judge...I know I have a problem!) So I pretty much ate my healthy snacks for the weekend in the first 2 hours of the trip, and I wasn't even really hungry! Moving forward, I should just not bring food in the car, or I should put it in the trunk where I can't reach it without stopping the car. Lesson learned.

I really need to work on the stop-and-reevaluate-your-hunger thing. When I get hungry, I get all panicky about it, and I eat a snack (like a pack of almonds), but then I'm still hungry, and I eat a bunch of other things, and then I'm way full. If I waited, the hunger would go away. I just gotta keep working on this. NOTE TO SELF: When you are hungry, CHILL OUT. YOU WILL NOT DIE OF HUNGER. AT LEAST NOT FOR SEVERAL DAYS.

Okay, moving on to Day 14! This is the day where I plan everything I'm gonna eat. And then I eat only what I planned. Easy, peasy! (ha ha, if only it was...)

So here is my plan tomorrow:

Sugar snap peas (~100 calories) at ~6AM
Eggs w/ ham & veggies, and probably another handful of ss peas (~425 calories) at 9:30AM
2 chicken sausages & salad w/ feta cheese & balsamic dressing (~500 cals) at 1PM
latte (~100 cals)at 3PM
chicken stir-fry w/ loads of veggies and sesame ginger sauce(~500 cals) at 5pm

That's ~1600 calories of good healthy food. And I'm going to prep the stir-fry stuff good and early, like maybe right after lunch, so that I can't decide it will take too long and change my mind!

Alright, off to bed...goodnight!

Day 14

So...lots to report! My interview yesterday went well...they asked me some tough technical questions that I fumbled through badly, but all the talking parts were good.

As for food, I ended up drinking 2 glasses of white whine, 1 mojito, and then 3 (very small) pieces of bread with butter. I resisted the bread all night, but towards the end I was hungry (and I wanted to sober up faster!) I thought "no problem, I'll just each the little pack of almonds I always carry in my purse"...but then I realized I brought my other purse. doh! Anyway, still not too bad for a night of going out with friends, and I didn't eat too much during the day either. I got these turkey burgers from Costco that are made of turkey and spices and that's it (200 cals each, and 36g of protein!), and anyway they are GREAT for filling me up! I'm not hungry for hours after eating them! I'll definitely buy some more this weekend. Also, the scale said 147.2 today! (I'm sure it's because I slept in more today, and I'm dehydrated from the drinks...but I'll take it!)

Day 14 is Plan for Tomorrow. You're supposed to write down EVERYTHING you're going to eat for the entire day in advance. I'm actually going to delay this one until Sunday (and write down everything I'm going to eat for Monday), because I'm headed off to do some wine tasting this weekend. (I SWEAR I don't normally drink this much!) Weekend trips like this are usually total diet sabotage, so I plan on staying on track by doing the following:

- not drinking too much (perhaps I'll volunteer to drive, and then I won't have a choice)
- continuing to write down everything I eat
- buying lots of healthy food so that there are no excuses if I get hungry (we're having a picnic lunch at the winery, so I'm thinking lots of fresh veggies, and a bit of cheese)

I probably won't be posting tomorrow, so stay tuned for a full report on Monday. Have a good weekend!

I should add...

Tonight I'm meeting up with some friends for drinks. I plan on just having one or two drinks, and going for low-cal(ish) ones like white wine. I'm going to eat a big salad before I leave so that I'm not hungry, and just get a small appetizer if people are eating there.

In past diets, I would end up eating a whole lot, and then say "screw it" to the whole diet. This time, I am going to read my ARC cards, and visualize how great it will feel to be able to do a happy report here tomorrow!

Day 13

I did it! I was freaking HUNGRY yesterday, but I made it all the way to 4pm. (I did have a skim latte at around noon, because it has like 80 calories and I don't think it really counts as "food", and that actually held me over for a couple hours). So yeah, I think I learned the lesson that being hungry is not the end of the world...and today the scale said 148.4! hurray!

Today is going to be a super busy day, because I have an interview! I'm sure I'll be super nervous, but for now I'm excited. I'm don't know if I actually want the job, but at least the interview will be good practice. This meant that I had to go to my least favorite place on earth though yesterday...THE MALL. I hate hate hate shopping for clothes, but I needed something to wear in a bad way. I was really hoping to lose more weight before buying new clothes, so I just bought some cheap pants and a shirt, and hopefully they'll be too big soon!

Today is also day 13 - Overcome Cravings. When I get a craving for something, I'm supposed to identify how long it lasts, how uncomfortable it is, and what anti-craving techniques I used.

Here goes!

Day 12 Update

Okay, it is now almost noon...and I am HUNGRY. After all, I have been awake for 6 hours, I did a little workout at the gym this morning, and I have only eaten ~400 calories. On a normal, healthy eating day I would be chowing down on a massive salad right now, perhaps with some chicken. (I won't get into what I would be eating on a normal not healthy eating day...ha ha). BUT, I am staying strong, and not eating, in order to learn this valuable lesson that Day 12 is teaching me. But, it's only for a few hours. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger, and this certainly won't kill me. I will read my little ARC cue cards, and drink some diet coke, and basically suck it up. And then at 4:01pm I will have the best salad known to man!

Day 12

150.2 this moring...ugh. I mean, I know that 1-2lbs/week is a good amount for weight loss, so I shouldn't be expecting the scale to go down every day. And yesterday, I ate TONS of stuff...I was hungry all day long! Most of it was vegetables, and what wasn't vegetables was lean meat, eggs, and a handful of almonds. So healthy stuff, but still A LOT of food (like, probably around 2000 calories or so).

The point of yesterday's exercise was to evaluate your hunger, and I deemed myself to be about a 6, or "annoyingly hungry" pretty much the whole day. But perhaps I wasn't reeeeally hungry...I was at home for most of the day, and doing a bunch of work on my resume, which I hate doing. So it's entirely possible that food was handy and accessible, and I just procrastinating and putting off doing actual work.

Today is Practice Hunger Tolerance, which I think will be good for me to assess how hungry I really am. I plan on eating some eggs w/ veggies & FF ham in a bit for breakfast, and then I WILL NOT EAT until 4pm. I know that 4pm is not really dinner time, but usually I eat like every 2 hours, so this will be tough. Like, really tough. It's supposed to help me get over my fear of hunger, so we shall see!

In other news, I have an interview tomorrow, so I'll have to go shopping for something to wear. (I need new clothes in SUCH a bad way). I was hoping to be skinny before buying new stuff, but I guess I will have to get one "fat" outfit. boo. (I don't think I really want this job, because it starts with a 6 month contract, and I want something permanent..but I haven't had an interview in years and years, so it will be good practice.)

Moving forward, I just need to eat less! I think when I feel hungry, I will look at the clock and say "I feel hungry, but this is not an emergency. If I still feel hungry at X O'clock, I will have a snack then". Also I need to step it up in the exercise department. I think I will set up my bike on the bike trainer, and try to do at least 30 mins of cardio (in addition to weights) each day. I think once I have a job and i get into a good workout routine this will be much easier...back when I lived in the USA, I had SUCH a good routine going!

Day 10 and 11

(Note: I think once I get to week 3, I'll do just one day at a time...but for now since it's just the planning stage, I think I can handle 2 days).

The scale said 150.0 this morning...BOOO. But I ate healthfully and did a really tough hike yesterday, so I am not discouraged...these things happen when you weigh in every day.

Day 10 is Set a Realistic Goal. Where by realistic goal Judith means 5lbs. I'm cool with that...5lbs would be a great start. So, 5lbs it is...when I get to 145 lbs, I will treat myself to a pedicure! Fun! (And I think I'll get myself some Lululemon pants when I reach 140...EVEN BETTER!)

Day 11 is Differentiate Between Hunger, Desire, and Cravings. I would say right now that I'm pretty good at identifying which one of these I am experiencing...aaaand not so good at not eating if it's not hunger. But whatever, that's why I have the book. I'm supposed to write down how I'm feeling and stuff in the little chart...I already ate breakfast, so this is how it would go so far.

Before breakfast --> 8. I am HUNGRY. (I went to the gym first)
Midway --> 7. Still hungry. (I made eggs w/ some ham and vegetables)
After --> 6. Still hungry. (So then I drank some herbal tea and ate a big handful of sugar snap peas)
20 minutes later -->3 Not full, but not hungry anymore. Good, overall.

I guess I could have waited longer before eating the sugar snap peas to see if the hunger went away. But they're a VEGETABLE (like, 100 calories max) so I'm not going to stress about that too much. I'll try the wait-and-see strategy at lunch though.

I took a sneak peak at Day 12 and it looks like I have to skip lunch. On purpose. YIKES.

Off to work on my resume!

Day 8 and 9

148.6 this morning...moving in the right direction...

Yesterday I did pretty well. I was STARVING all day, so I ate a whole lot of roasted vegetables...the calories were more than I planned on eating, but I made all healthy choices, so hurray for me!

For day 8 of the beck diet, you're supposed to Create Time And Energy. This one should be pretty easy for me, because in my current sad existence, I have nothing BUT time and energy for losing weight. This will hopefully change soon when I make some friends here, and find some gainful employment, but for now, easy peasy.

Day 9 is Create an Exercise Plan. I've been doing pretty well with miscellaneous exercise every day, but I think I will get a gym membership with spinning classes I can do. Today I'm going to head out on a hike!

Day 6 and 7

149.8 this morning...let's hope we've seen the last of the 150s FOREVER!

Yesterday was pretty good...I ate only SBD foods, said "no thanks" to a bunch of samples at the farmers market (and then gave myself credit for it!), and tried to eat more slowly. I wouldn't say that I ate slowly per se (I don't want my food to get cold!), but slower, and I paid a lot more attention to what I was eating.

I am DEVOURING sugar snap peas these days...man, I love those things!

For day 6, you're supposed to find a diet coach. I plan on using this blog as my coach, sort of...If I write here every day, then I have to be accountable if I get off track. So leave me a comment if I'm slacking!

Day 7 is Arrange Your Environment. I just moved into my new apartment a couple weeks ago, so I already have that taken care of...there is NO junk in this place! (Also, since I don't have a job yet, I'm not really exposed to bad food in that situation...I guess that's one positive of being unemployed...)

Speaking of which, I should go apply to some jobs now. Wish me luck!

Day 4 and 5

The scale said 150.2 this morning. Obviously I did not lose 2.6 pounds since yesterday (I think I am just really dehydrated) but the sooner I get out of the 150s, the better!

I did really well with all my goals yesterday...I ate only SBD foods (tons of vegetables!), wrote it all down (~1700 calories total), ate sitting down, and went on a nice long hike at some trails I heard were really nice (and they were!)

Moving forward...today I'm tackling day 4 and 5 in the Beck Diet Solution. (And again, I'm combining two days in 1 just to speed things up a bit at the beginning, and because Judith says it's okay. Yes, Judith Beck and I are on a first name basis now!)

Day 4 - give yourself credit. I'm supposed to tell myself things like "Good Job!" and "You're doing Awesome!" whenever I follow my diet plan. That shouldn't be too tough. I know next weekend when I'm on my wine tasting trip it will be VERY difficult to follow my diet, so I think I'll plan some sort of reward incentive if when I do. Maybe a new workout shirt from Lululemon!

Day 5 - Eat Slowly And Mindfully. This one will be trickier, because I usually wolf down my food while watching tv. So, I plan to eat meals with a big glass of water or tea, and put my fork down in between bites, and take a drink, and generally just chill the heck out.

This morning I'm going to go check out a gym that's in the area and see if it's somewhere I'd want to get a membership. It has spinning classes that are included in the price, so it looks promising! I really like having classes to go to, because it's so easy to put off a workout until later, or wimp out on it.

So far so good!

Day 2 and 3

Sooo...this morning I got on the scale. Now, I knew that it was going to be bad. I knew that I am probably heavier than ever before. But still.... The scale said 152.8. That is a full 8 pounds heavier than my heaviest. AAAAAH! I feel all panicky about this now. How did I let this happen? Crisis Situation! I must go run 4 marathons and never eat again!



Okay, yes, this is bad. I let this happen because I was overwhelmed by a lot of changes that were going on, and I didn't care about making healthy choices, I just wanted to EAT. Also, I was travelling around a lot, and hardly exercising at all. Of course I gained 8 lbs!

Well, the good news is that 152.8lbs is the heaviest I will ever be, because I am now taking charge. Also, I don't have a job here yet, so I have plenty of time to prepare healthy food and workout. And, the first time ever, I am living by myself, so I won't have unhealthy food around unless I bring it home. And I have the Beck Diet Solution to help me. This is not the end of the world. It is a temporary setback from looking good and feeling great.



Okay, so the scale was a good kick in the pants for me. Now, I am a girl with a plan! And goals! Here they are:

Goals:

Lose 22.8lbs
Stop Binge Eating
Train my brain to "Think Like a Thin Person" (that's what Judith Beck says I can do!)

Plan:

Follow the Beck Diet Solution book, and post about it here every day.
Follow the South Beach Diet
Write everything I eat down in my note book
Exercise every day

(The South Beach Diet doesn't tell you to write everything down, but when I followed it before I found myself eating low-fat cheese like it was going out of style. I'm hoping that writing it down and will prevent that.)

Alright, moving on to the Beck Diet Solution! Judith (the author) says it's okay to do multiple steps in one day, especially at the beginning, if you're anxious to get started. And oh, I AM.

For Day 2, the task is to pick 2 reasonable diets, the idea being that if one doesn't work out for you, you'll have a fall back plan. I'm picking the South beach Diet as #1, and just regular calorie-counting as #2. For regular days when I'm at home, following the south beach diet shouldn't be a problem, but there will be situations (ie next weekend, when I'm going wine tasting with my sister) where the SB diet won't be an option. I guess I could always skip these events (or go wine tasting and not drink the wine...) but I really hate to miss out on a social event, especially because I have so few friends here! So I will plan ahead for situations where I won't be able to follow the SB diet, and I will track the calories that I consume, and keep my indulgences under control. Sounds good so far!

For Day 3, the task is to only eat sitting down. This prevents you from doing a lot of mindless eating.

Onwards!

Day 1

Week 1 of the Beck Diet Solution is 'Laying the Groundwork'...you don't even actually start dieting until week 3. (I will we watching what I eat anyway though, seeing as how I would like to be able to wear my regular pants VERY SOON.)

The task for Day 1 is to create an Advantages Response Card where you write down all the advantages of losing weight. The idea is, you read the card and you're reminded of the reasons you want to lose weight, and you'll be able to resist tempting food.

I think we'll be able to put this theory to the test pretty soon, because I am tempted to eat the feta cheese in my fridge right now.

Lizzy's Advantages Response Card:

1. I won't have to wear these ugly stretchy pants and too-tight jeans. And then I will be able to go shopping for new, skinny pants!

2. I will feel more confident. This will be great for meeting new friends in my new city!

3. I will look better. This will be helpful in my task of finding a new boyfriend!

4. I won't feel all out of control and frustrated with myself for binge eating crappy food, like I often am now.

5. I will be fitter, and better at sports.

6. I won't feel like such a fatass when I hang out with my skinny sister.

7. When I see my old friends at an upcoming wedding in October, they will say I look great!


Okay...those are the reasons I can think of for now. I'm going to set up my email so that my reasons get sent to me several times a day, and I'll also read them whenever I feel like eating food that I shoudn't.

Alrighty, task 1 is DONE! And I haven't eaten the cheese, and I'm not going to either...so far so good!

I'm Lizzy!

Hi There! My name is Lizzy, and I've been trying to lose 15lbs since...forever. I recently made some big changes in my life (breakup, quitting job, moving), which is great except that I also did a lot of eating during the transition, and now none of my pants fit! The situation is DIRE!

I recently picked up a copy of Judith Beck's "The Beck Diet Solution", and it looks really promising. I'm hoping that posting my progress here will help me stay on track, and might be helpful to other people too.

Let's get this party started!