Day 1: Introduction

I have read just about every diet and/or self-help for weight loss book out there. Finished reading some of them, too. But very few of them have enabled me to make permanent changes in my weight or my relationship to food.

Now I am starting The Beck Diet Solution, by Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. I have read very good things about this book, and her approach makes a lot of sense to me. The subtitle is Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person. The premise being that people who are overweight (and have been for a long time) think about food differently than people who are not overweight. I have long thought that my brain was different in this regard, so why not embrace it? And see if I can modify it.

Since I am just getting started with the reading and work, and I want to journal as I go along, I thought I'd like to do this in the form of a blog. It's easier for me to put my thoughts down in this format, and maybe I will be able to share some of what I'm learning with other people.

So I'll start at the beginning. In the Foreword, Judith Beck's father, Aaron T. Beck, M.D., talks about how he developed Cognitive Therapy as a treatment for depression, and how it can help people think more realistically about things in their lives. He explains that Judith Beck has used this approach to identify distortions in the negative thoughts of dieters; distortions which keep them from losing weight, and which often show up as self-sabotage.

Sounds very familiar to me!

In the Introduction, Judith Beck says that unsuccessful dieters often blame their failures on weakness, or a lack of willpower. But this isn't true, she says. The problem is that those dieters don't know how to motivate themselves continually. They don't know how to move forward after they cheat, instead of giving up. And they don't have the skills to motivate themselves to keep going, even when they feel hopeless or overwhelmed.

This resonates with me, because I am very good at starting new eating or fitness plans with great enthusiasm. I have started many times. Where I tend to have trouble is in staying with it, in being less than perfect and being able to forgive myself and keep going. This is what I want to learn. And if that means changing my thinking, so be it.

Here is a list of statements from dieters who Dr. Beck has been working with for a while. Things they know now that they wish they'd known years ago. This isn't the full list from the book, just some of the statements that I think apply to me:

• I can control my eating if I plan in advance what I need to do and if I practice what I need to say over and over to myself.

• When I'm tempted to eat something I shouldn't, I need to pull out my list that contains all the reasons I want to lose weight.

• Cravings go away, and there are things I can do to make them go away faster. I don't have to give in to them.

• If I don't follow a nutritious diet, I am more likely to cheat.

• I have to make time for dieting and exercise.

• I have to prepare in advance for sabotaging thinking.

• If I eat something I shouldn't, it's just a mistake. It doesn't mean I'm hopeless or bad. I don't have to make it a bigger mistake by continuing to eat whatever I want for the rest of the day.

• I have to watch out for fooling myself. Every single time I put food in my mouth, it matters.

• I need to give myself credit every time I do what I'm supposed to do.

• If I regain weight, I can go back to using the skills I learned to lose it—every time,

• I can do it! I have the skills now. I know how to do it, and I'll have these skills forever.

Tomorrow I will dive into the body of the book. Chapter 1: The Key to Success.