Cognitive Therapy

I am happy to report that I've dropped an amazing 21 pounds in the last nine months, two thirds of which "fell off" in the last 10 weeks.  "How?" you ask.  Cognitive Therapy.

What is Cognitive Therapy?  Cognitive Therapy, aka Cognitive Behavior Therapy, is "the most highly researched and effective form of talk therapy in the world," according to Judith S. Beck, Ph.D.  Cognitive Therapy focuses on correcting distorted thinking.

In early January, I heard of a book, The Beck Diet Solution, through some other Weight Watchers online members.  I thought to myself, "Why are you going to buy a book about weight loss?  What is it actually going to teach you that you haven't already tried or read somewhere?"  I did a lot of reading through posts about the book and how it works.  I decided to give it a try, because I really felt that I was lacking the mental aspect of weight loss.  I can eat healthily; I can exercise.  What I can't do is continue consistently without falling off the wagon at some point.  (In the late 1800s, the "wagon" was actually a water cart used to hose down dusty roads on hot days.  Saying that a person was "on the wagon" was shorthand for "they would sooner climb aboard a water cart to quench their thirst" than have a drop of liquor.  Source:  Ask Yahoo)

So I bought the book (for around $10 on Amazon).  I was hooked from the second paragraph:  "...there's a completely different reason that you haven't been successful.  You just didn't know how to diet. ... You can end the weight loss-regain cycle - permanently."

What is it about the Beck book that makes dieting different?  The claim on the front cover:  "Train your brain to think like a thin person."  It really is brain training.  By working through the book, which conveniently breaks things out into a 2-3 page "lesson" each day for six weeks, I discovered that hunger is not an emergency and that I can talk myself out of eating anything and craving anything.  I also found out that I felt much better at the end of a meal if I only at to satisfaction and not "full."

The best part about the Beck process?  It really does correct your thinking.  I have a few prime sabotaging thoughts that are now counteracted almost automatically by a helpful response from my brain.

Don't you want to join me in thinking like a thin person?  I will shamelessly admit that I'm advertising for this book.  Buy it; you won't regret it if you really do the work.