QuarterLife Girl Gets Fit!

It’s been over a week since I picked up the Beck Diet plan. I must admit I haven’t followed it 100%, but already it’s made a difference.

The most progress I’ve made is with my stress and emotional eating. Every time I find myself instinctively looking for a snack or craving food I’ve been able to stop myself and figure out if I’m really hungry. Usually I’m not. I’ve also stopped being a serial “chewer”. I realize this is just a matter of deciding you’re going to discipline yourself….and anyone can do it even if you don’t have the book, but I’m glad I found the book. I realize I’m not crazy for needing to be chewing on something….I just need to get it under control.

The two parts I’ve done terribly on is planning my meals (therefore I can’t say I’ve been “following” my meal plans) and eating slowly. For the most part I’ve been eating sitting down, but I’ve slipped on a few occasions. It’s still REALLY hard for me to remember to eat slowly. I’m eating slower, that’s for sure, but it’s not saying much because I’m sure it’s still faster than “normal”. (One highlight was when I realized I ate three slices of pizza in the same time my BF ate 4! We usually eat at the same pace, so that’s a big thing!)

I’ve done a decent job of resisting “unplanned foods”. Again, that’s a bit of a challenge due to my lack of planning to begin with, but one big example is that I had a pan full of ginger chewy cookies sitting on my counter for a few days. I didn’t touch them until the BF came over, and even then I just had two. And I sat and ate them slowly. I’ve also had a loaf of pumpkin bread sitting in my fridge since Saturday. Do you think I’ve touched it? NO, I haven’t!! I had once slice when I made it, and then half a slice one morning for breakfast (and that was only because the slice fell out when I was putting it in the fridge.) Finally, I went to a brunch last Saturday, and while there was tons of food for me to have 2nds and 3rd with, I served myself one smallish plate and didn’t have any more than that. Small victories, but I’ll take them.

While I haven’t officially started with their eating plan, I did read the Stage 2 information. I really like how they have it set up. Once you learn the formula it’s not too hard to find things to eat. My only complaints: it’s very calorie centered, and that’s just something I’m not used to doing; and there are so many combinations possible….I’ve been a bit too overwhelmed to start. I need to sit down with a notebook and figure out different meal options, as well as stock my fridge with vegetables and fruits that I can easily add to a meal and complete it.

I’m pretty excited about it, even if I’ve strayed away from filling out the sheets every night. It’s mostly due to a lack of preparation and I just haven’t given it that level of attention it needs. Even so, I’m going to keep at it until this becomes natural to me!

So many exciting things happened this weekend. Some good, some not-so-good….some have me in conflict. Either way, there was one highlight I’m excited to share!

Late last week Jen (Prior Fat Girl) asked if her readers wanted to read a book with her….the “Beck Diet for Life”. Normally I’m wary of any diet book that claims it’s “for life” (it’s GOT to be a marketing scheme, right?!) , but when she wrote some highlights the book claimed I was intrigued. It claimed that you will “ learn to think differently and overcome dieting pitfalls and sabotaging thoughts. Feel control in the most challenging situations – no matter what. Remain motivated to maintain weight loss for life”. My biggest problem is emotional eating, and sabotaging thoughts, so I thought this would be great for me.

So Saturday morning I head over to the library with my checkbook, paid my fines ($26, holy crap!) and then it occurred to me to see if they had the book. THEY DID! Two copies, at that! So I grabbed it and ran. (Not without legally checking it out though.)

I got home, and later that night started reading. And kept reading. And then read some more. I was hooked.

Now, they don’t lie when they say you need to commit yourself to doing what they say. Lots of the things seem a little cheesy to me, and I admit I must look like a pathetic loonie to others, but I need for this to work!

I’m going to go off on a tangent now, but I casually mentioned to the BF I was going to put myself through some Cognitive Therapy to get over my eating problems. (I didn’t want to tell him “I’m following the Beck Diet”, and cognitive therapy is pretty much the strategy they use to get you to control your habits as part of the plan.) His reaction really hurt me….he started lecturing about all I need to do is stop eating crap and eat healthy. Now, I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean any harm, but it’s so hard for me to talk about my stress eating and binging and whatnot to begin with….when he lashed out like that it made me feel like crap. Like I’m weak and useless for having these issues to begin with. I’m not an idiot, I know that if I just replaced the cheetos I keep binging on with carrots it wouldn’t be such a big deal. However, it doesn’t take away the fact that I need to comfort myself with food. Even if it’s not junk food I’m eating, I don’t want to have that issue. Lately I’ve been chewing through packs of gum as if I was a chain smoker (I’ve become a “chain chewer” again.) Sure, there’s less than 5 calories per piece, but a normal person wouldn’t have that urge, and THAT is what I need to fix.

(Now, if I could only relate that back to him without getting emotional and/or defensive.)

Oh, another tangent now. One of the things you have to do is weigh yourself every day, and only ONCE a day (it’s just a number!). So, I went to my parents house and picked up the scale. When I got home I stepped on, and got a REALLY bad wake-up call. I weighed in at 166 pounds. I hadn’t weighed that much since early 2008!!! Keep in mind I was weighing 157 when I moved back in August, and that was high. Ugh. I actually weighed myself the next day and it was down to 163.5, but still…..the “damage” had been done. (I’m not sure why I was so surprised…..my jeans haven’t been zipping, and I definitely look rounder.)

So yes, the Beck Diet…..right now I’m in Stage 1, which basically is just concentrating on monitoring your urges and whatnot. (I’m really over-simplifying this.) Already I’ve noticed a difference, I’ve even slipped up, but it’s ok. I deserve credit for taking the initiative and doing this on my own! (One of the tasks is to “give yourself credit”, hehe.) It’ll be at least a week before I move onto managing what I actually eat, but I’d say my hands are full at the moment.

I’ll probably be going into more detail as time goes on, but I thought I’d share the news!