Changing behaviour with The Beck Diet Solution

BijouHope

Full Member
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?
 
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I've read the intro and the first task (the list making bit) but haven't gotten as far as actually doing it as I got ill and so have put it off. I need to though. When I was reading through all the intro bits I kept nodding my head, everything she says resonates with me and I think it can definitely work. I made a list of reasons why I wanted to lose weight on this forum (I think in my diary) when I first started this diet so I need to go back and find that and that can be my list. I haven't read ahead as I also think that for it to work, you need to do each step as it's written. A lot of what I've read so far though is similar to what I was told when I had hynotherapy to lose weight a few years ago. Of course I stopped listening to the cd I was given so it didnt work. I guess listening to the cd would be similar to reading that list over and over, making the reasons for losing weight so important that it overcomes the desire for temporary gratification with food we shouldn't have.
 
I was trying to find a hard copy of this but will download it to my iPad and ill let you know what I think!

This is my third time doing TFR so i totally need something to help me change my behaviour towards food!
 
You know, I wondered at the beginning whether Exante counted as a "reasonable" diet in terms of the Beck Diet Solution, and I find on Day 10 that it almost certainly isn't. The plan involves doing daily activities, and today's was to make an achievable weight loss goal. By which, basically, the author means "focus on losing 5 lbs", with 1 to 2 lbs a week being the highest loss you should aim for. That doesn't really seem like a worthwhile goal for Exante. And apparently I should be rewarding myself with non-food treats for achieving each of these little goals -- but surely the weight loss is itself the reward? Hmmm.

All things considered, as my aim is long-term weight control rather than just shedding weight on a diet, I would prefer to focus on doing the right things rather than fixating on the weight losses. So, although I fully intended following the plan more-or-less to the letter, I have had to change today's activity to something more appropriate for me. I have scrapped the suggested goal, and instead have made my first goal to be completing an initial 28 days on Exante. This is a real goal that I had anyway, so it is meaningful to me.

To be honest, I can't remember a time in my life when I would have found focusing on a 5 lb loss to be motivating in any way, whether I was losing, gaining or maintaining weight. Grumpy now. :(
 
I personally have set a goal of 14 days on complete meal replacement, then intend to have a protein based meal to reward myself! Which is the opposite of Judy Beck's 'non food treat' philosophy. Five pounds is, I agree, hardly a goal I would be buying myself a present to celebrate.

How are you doing today? I was so grumpy yesterday my husband was frightened to be near me! Much better today, and I agree having my carbonara whilst my husband ate his dinner next to me was far more sociable than sitting alone in a separate room.
 
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