Beck - Chapter 4 Discussion

Hi Everyone! I am early posting this but tomorrow I will be away from the house from 8am till 1am.. yes you heard me right! I have to work at the floral shop then go to my gym class and then a staff meeting at 10pm.. its about 40 mins from where I live so it will be close to 1am.. what a long day but hey I like to stay busy, its good for me. Thursday is also another busy day for me. Saturday i do another 5k! I am running for my Angel I am excited She has breast cancer and its a race for "the cure". I am still struggling with eating some but I have to say my days are far better and the scale is down a few lbs.. tired of the yo-yo. I am hoping to really listen to the Dr. Beck this time and make good changes. Chapter 4 - How to use the Beck Diet Solution She states that over the next six weeks we will develop a mindset that will allow us to gain the skills we need to make over our bodies. Her program is designed to help us solve the problems that have made dieting difficult in the past. She lets you choose any diet that is "reasonable" to work with her program. The diet doesn't begin until Day 15.. why? We need time to develop and build the skils that we will learn about and practice them beforehand. Now being gastric bypass patients I am sure this seems "weird" to hear. But for me its about making the small baby steps to get off the junk, eat right and create a program, eating schedule and plan accordingly. You fit it into your lifestyle how you see fit. ok? Readiness is more complicated than simply wanting to change she says.. so we have to get our minds mentally prepared for this "change" that we hope will become permanent. She is going to give us a task each day.. for us it will be a task 3 times a week since we only discuss on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It takes time to let new ideas sink in and to become proficient at changing your ideas and behavior. You need some inexpensive office supplies she says - 1) 3 x 5 cards, 2) sticky notes and lastly 3) a notebook. There are 42 steps in the six week Beck Diet Solution Program. So it will take us a bit longer than 6 weeks, but that is ok? If you wanna speed up I can try to accomodate that but with my busy schedule I may need some help. She explains all the benefits for following her program on pg. 47 -- sounds so nice right? I think so. Then she has an "in session" with Sandy who isn't very motivated but Dr. Beck finds a way to make her understand why she needs to try the program. So what are your thoughts so far? Are you excited?

I will be honest--and this is probably the reason for my obesity and other issues.......i have the propensity to forge ahead---i would like to complete the 6 weeks in 2 or 3 days! I am sure there is a good reason for taking the time to learn all of these things and incorporating them slowly BUT i want to start- um, today or yesterday..... I think that the "in sessions" are funny.....in the sense that she could have very well been talking to me in most cases.....(back in the day) I am much more optimistic these days. I am game for this..and i am excited.

WAIT!!!! Before reading / responding to Chapter 4's summary, inquiring minds want to know... RE: Beck Diet Solution Discussion - Chapter 3 Response from Do-over 2 at 7:37 AM PST on 05/14/2008 Hey!!!! Chocolate = Serotonin... Right??? serotonin (n.) An organic compound, CHNO, formed from tryptophan and found in animal and human tissue, especially the brain, blood serum, and gastric mucous membranes, and active as a neurotransmitter and in vasoconstriction, stimulation of the smooth muscles, and regulation of cyclic body processes. Let's not mess with Chocolate!!! No Flaming, Please!!! Is this open for discussion???

Good Luck and Happy Trails!!! U R !!! I think that I NEEDED this book a long time ago!!! Since WE are gastric bypass patients, some points should be included to include taking Supplements DAILY, Drinking Water, etc. What else??? I really think that "not knowing" what is supposed to be on the cards will trip-me-up with this program. Hopefully, we can "compare notes" on the daily steps... and get "good" at them too!

Hi! Please forgive me for being MIA...life has been crazy (what else is new???) and now I don't have control over my computer anymore. DS has messed something up and I have no mouse...trying to use the touch pad is so stressful! ACK!!!! I will try to get caught up as soon as I can get DH to work on my computer (hopefully this evening!). Am only going to do this one post, it is too hard otherwise so I'll add my Wednesday weigh-in here too... HW: 268 SW: 230 LW: 135.8 CW: 135...even! woohoo! I have several of my action response cards made out already from my beginning read-through on the book but need to re-read to catch up to everybody. I hope that going through this together will help us all. I am working on my 'sit down to eat' sticky notes and finding that hard to adhere to. It has been tough not stress eating lately. Our little boy kitty had an accident Sat. morning while he and sister were closed up in the bedroom (we had a repairman in the house) we think he fell off the bed and ended up tearing his growth plate from his tibia on left hind leg. (whew, big vet bills!) We are looking at 3-4 weeks convalescence for him, poor little guy. He has proven to be a real handful. I think instead of naming him Japanese for 'Master' it should have been something Japanese for 'accident prone'! Hoping to have a mouse later and see more of you all! HUGS, HUGS, HUGS! I miss you so much!!!! Molly

molly is the little boy kitty the same one who bit the end of the eyedropper too! Poor him......and i think renaming him 'accident prone' would be appropriate (but could give him a complex)

Hi Molly! So sorry your little guy is having a rough go of it.. poor thing. Funny you mention the mouse.. the mouse drives me crazy sometimes. I have to use the "feel" pad.. lol As for the stress eating.. I sat down the other night and developed a plan for myself... I wrote out all my favorite foods as a postop. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks... I then put them into action, creating a caloric limit, carb "there-about" limit and protein limit (didn't get too carried away about the fats as they usually land about where they should given the protein and carbs are monitored). I have found we don't need to watch all 3.. you do 2 and have a calorie limit the 3rd will fall into its place. Anyways.. my Angel is now a nurse (she graduated!) and *ironically* she works with the PA that left my surgeon's office.. (sigh, means I need to get acquainted to somebody new *again). But anyways.. she told her about my running and what not and the PA asked if I ever found a "calorie" level. She said no. She told her to tell me to REALLY try to stick to that magic 1200 level or I may be kicking myself hard later due to being almost 18 months out... I tell ya, I honestly have NOT eating 1200 calories in a very long time.. i feel so hungry by the end of the day but she might have a point. She also told her to tell me *if* and she said reiterated *if* I lose to the 120's that I would be fine but like I told my Angel, I am still wearing size 4 and I am around my original goal of 140 lbs.... what do you think Molly? Do you think this 1200 limit is right? She knows how much I exercise too (when I am being good lol). Anyway.. so I made my "Plan" to go along with the Beck Book again. I am already putting it into action or at least "attempting" to.. baby steps and I hope by the time we hit the "action" of this.. then I will feel good about it going along with the book. I hate that as a postop I feel like a "preop" in a way using "dieting". It is how I feel most days only because maintenance has been a struggle for me and of course I started eating foods I never ate before as a postop about a year out.. at least I still dump. Last night I had a luna bar.. my "treat" when I am on plan.. as it has more sugar than I care for.. I dumped for 2 hours.. in bed, fetal position and moaning. WTH? I have had them many times before.. never want that to happen again. So I guess, no more luna bars for Melissa.. a good thing anyway. Weird.. weird. I find that if I am not eating as much junk though.. I dump easier. Amazing how our bodies adapt to what we give it.. it is so smart. I am also still malabsorbing. Not sure when that will end.. wi**** would never. But I thin that is why Angie (the PA) is getting so "firm" with me in saying 1200, that I will be sorry later if I do not stick with this. She doesn't work for my doctor anymore so she certainly didn't have to tell my friend all this. Makes me think I better listen... what do you think? So if you are stress eating, maybe list all *your* favorite postop foods/treats and create a "plan". For some reason it makes me feel good and ya know whats funny? It is the same plan I followed before I started dabbling in other choices.. and it looks "yummy". I even made one of my snacks (well both really) portable choices.. my shake (of course) and some nuts (portioned out) so they can go with me to ball games, on the run, to the movies, etc... no reason to stray off plan as long as I have those. Have you tried the "vanilla bean or cinnamon sugar" almonds from blue diamond? OMG good! Only 3 sugars in them too. Sam's club also has "cocoa almonds" I saw in a large jug with only 1 sugar per serving. I am gonna get some of those the next time I am in KC. Having a plan though for me.. is best. I need as little "thinking" as possible I feel to help alleviate the stress. Then know there will be days when going off plan for "a meal" is ok here and there.. but even in THOSE situations make the best choices. Like at cook outs.. get the hamburger, forget the bun (which I never do white carbs anyways still) and get 2 pickle spears instead of the beans.. etc. ya know? I can go back to that.. I just need to be strong. Hope your little one is feeling better today. We will have to call him "rocky" or something. Miss you too Molls! Sorry for the long response! *HUGS* ~Melissa

Hmm, patience has never been my strong suit, but I'll give it a shot. Two weeks to learn and process everything, then start on day 15. Wow, that's longer than I gave any typical diet that I tried! I'm okay with it taking a little longer than six weeks, but if I suddenly disappear, it's not because I've dropped out. It's because I'm on an incident management team that responds to wildland fires and other emergencies and when we get called out it's typically for two weeks at a time and I may not have internet access available to check in. Six weeks is getting into the time of year when we usually start getting sent out. My thoughts so far? Sandy had the same fear as me - what if I can't do this? But part of my brain is telling me I can do this and is excited. So, I'm feeling a little scared and a little more excited. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right!?!?! Just checked and I have sticky notes and 3x5 cards. Already had a new tablet - bought some today for at home. Just a little concerned about the "pick two diets" part - other than a high protein & good veggies diet (fruits make me dump), is there any other kind of diet we can do? Yep, first thing on my diet list will be the vitamins and supplements. Got my 6-month labs back today and I'm doing excellent, so need to be sure to keep that up. I can see how easy it would be to start forgetting to take them, it's still not a habit for me to pack them up each day even though you'd think it would be a habit by now!

WooHoo!!! Incident Management Team Very Jodi, We'll be here waiting for you, when you are "out there battling"! Ro BTW... Great going on the Labs! PS: I think that Melissa might have an there about the "go to foods / amounts". That might be a good starting point for a "diet".

My two diets for myself include my "normal postop good for me diet" and then if I start cravings carbs too much high protein and only salad veggies or shakes only to detox as my back up diet. I think as long as your diet includes good wholesome postop foods and in good measured amounts.. such as 4 oz of meat and a 1 cup veggies or salad or 1 cup chili and side salad (if u can eat that much.. i can) and only whole grains for bread sources (include fiber in them) then you should be fine. It's a bit different with us.. this book wasn't written for WLS patients obviously so we have to remember its made for the rest of the world out there too.. I think you will be fine with the diet that works for you.. me its staying away from grazing and the junk and eating clean.. if i get to "snacky" i go to only protein solid or shake form for a while with salad only for carbs. Hope this helps.