Having spent my adult life regaining weight that I have lost on sporadic diets (most recently a full five stones) and each time ending up heavier than before, I have realised that I'm fully capable of losing weight but that my underlying problem is an inability to keep it off. Losing weight is not enough. I also need to address the eating habits that make me gain weight when I am not officially on a diet.
So, in parallel to using Exante, a few days ago I started working through a book called "The Beck Diet Solution" by Judith Beck. It's a do-it-yourself Cognitive Behaviour Therapy sort of thing, covering a 42-day programme which can be used in conjunction with any diet. I don't know if I actually believe in all this stuff, but I reckoned that I had nothing to lose beyond the £5.27 it cost to download the book to my Kindle, and a few minutes each day to read and do the activities, so I am giving it a shot.
By giving it a shot, I don't mean just reading the book - I am actually reading the entries one day at a time without skipping ahead, and I am dutifully performing the exercises, however silly it feels. It's tempting just to read the whole book and pick out the bits that appeal most but, since I know nothing about CBT, I have decided to put myself in the author's hands and follow the programme as suggested. (I did cheat a bit at one point, and did Days 1 to 3 on the same day, but only because the author suggested this might be possible. And if I'm honest, I don't think that Exante meets the author's criteria for a "reasonable" diet, but I can live with that.)
So far, I am surprised to discover that when I try to remember all 16 of the reasons I want to lose weight, which I identified and wrote down on Day 1 of the programme, I can almost never recall the entire list. How can I possibly forget things like that?
And I find that I pay more attention to my food if I sit at the dining table to eat/drink it, rather than lounging about on the sofa as I usually do, and I think that makes me feel fuller at the end of the meal. It feels very silly making an Exante shake in the evening then sitting at the table to sip it meaningfully, but my husband has started coming through to join me while I drink it, so it's getting less odd as time passes. (The book actually advises just to sit down when you eat, without specifying a location, but I very seldom eat standing up, so I thought it would make more sense to make a rule to "sit at the table" for meals. Which will hopefully stop me from mindlessly scoffing things on the sofa.)
Is anyone else reading this book while on Exante? Do you find that it's helping at all?
So, in parallel to using Exante, a few days ago I started working through a book called "The Beck Diet Solution" by Judith Beck. It's a do-it-yourself Cognitive Behaviour Therapy sort of thing, covering a 42-day programme which can be used in conjunction with any diet. I don't know if I actually believe in all this stuff, but I reckoned that I had nothing to lose beyond the £5.27 it cost to download the book to my Kindle, and a few minutes each day to read and do the activities, so I am giving it a shot.
By giving it a shot, I don't mean just reading the book - I am actually reading the entries one day at a time without skipping ahead, and I am dutifully performing the exercises, however silly it feels. It's tempting just to read the whole book and pick out the bits that appeal most but, since I know nothing about CBT, I have decided to put myself in the author's hands and follow the programme as suggested. (I did cheat a bit at one point, and did Days 1 to 3 on the same day, but only because the author suggested this might be possible. And if I'm honest, I don't think that Exante meets the author's criteria for a "reasonable" diet, but I can live with that.)
So far, I am surprised to discover that when I try to remember all 16 of the reasons I want to lose weight, which I identified and wrote down on Day 1 of the programme, I can almost never recall the entire list. How can I possibly forget things like that?
And I find that I pay more attention to my food if I sit at the dining table to eat/drink it, rather than lounging about on the sofa as I usually do, and I think that makes me feel fuller at the end of the meal. It feels very silly making an Exante shake in the evening then sitting at the table to sip it meaningfully, but my husband has started coming through to join me while I drink it, so it's getting less odd as time passes. (The book actually advises just to sit down when you eat, without specifying a location, but I very seldom eat standing up, so I thought it would make more sense to make a rule to "sit at the table" for meals. Which will hopefully stop me from mindlessly scoffing things on the sofa.)
Is anyone else reading this book while on Exante? Do you find that it's helping at all?
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