Beck Diet Solution
Beck Diet Solution Day 10
Set a realistic goal
Setting attainable goals is important to staying motivated. Too big of a goal can be intimidating and daunting, and you may give up before you get there. The goal of this exercise is to set a realistic, short-term goal, and 5lbs is suggested. I have set my short-term goal to lose 5 more lbs. No deadline or timeframe, I just want to get to 225.5. At that point, I’ll set another 5 lb goal.
I’ve read my response card once so far today.
I sat down to eat every time, and did eat slowly and mindfully last night at dinner, this morning at breakfast and again at lunch.
I gave myself credit for healthy behaviors, specifically for getting back on track yesterday and back to my full exercise schedule today.
I’m working to continue making time and energy to exercise and meal plan.
Posted by Matt on 03/12 at 12:04 PM
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Nana korobi ya oki (fall down 7 times, get up 8)
nana korobi ya oki is a Japanese proverb that translates roughly as “fall down 7 times, get up 8”. Well, I fell yesterday, and fell hard. I’m feeling a ton of stress personally, professionally and financially, and yesterday I made some sad choices in a very misguided attempt to deal with my feelings using food. Of course, those problems are still there, and I only caused myself guilt and regret. I’m still struggling today, but I have made a conscious choice to do whatever it takes today to resist eating or acting out any other way to deal with those feelings. They are just feelings, and I refuse to let them own me. I will call my diet coaches, do an exercise out of The Beck Diet Solution, and anything else I have to in order to stay on program. My life, my health and my sanity are worth more than any food.
The lesson that I’m learning is that I need to focus on the process. I’m struggling in part because I’ve already skipped two days of exercise this week, I haven’t been posting on the Weight Watchers boards much, I haven’t been doing the exercises from The Beck Diet Solution, and I haven’t been making daily phone calls to the guys in my support group. Losing 130 lbs is a huge task, and I cannot do it alone. Heck, I can’t even really control whether the weight comes off, but I can control what I eat today, whether I exercise or not, and whether I use the tools I have available to assist me. I need to surrender to the process and stick to my program.
Today, I get up again. And if I fall, I will get up yet again. I will persevere-the stakes are too high to give up.
Posted by Matt on 03/11 at 11:58 AM
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Beck Diet Solution - Day 9
Choose an exercise plan
Exercise is a very important factor in losing weight for me. It helps me manage and reduce my stress, makes me feel better, reaffirms my commitment to living a healthy lifestyle, and in general, I struggle far, far less on days that I exercise than I do on days that I don’t. I’ve developed an exercise plan over the past year that I like and will stick to.
The plan is:
Mondays: 60 minutes of cardio (elliptical), lift weights for 30 minutes
Tuesdays: 60 minutes of cardio (elliptical), yoga for 30 minutes
Wednesdays: 60 minutes of cardio (elliptical), lift weights for 30 minutes
Thursdays: 60 minutes of cardio (elliptical), yoga for 30 minutes
Fridays: 60 minutes of cardio (elliptical), lift weights for 30 minutes
Saturdays: 60 minutes of cardio (elliptical)
Sundays: yoga for 60 minutes
Yoga on Tues & Thurs is from the Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga DVD, which focuses on core strength and gives your legs a really good workout-I generally get a pretty sweat going. Sunday yoga is using a Rodey Yee DVD and is much less physically intense-lots of stretching, not much in the way of sweat. Instead of having a day of complete rest, I thought it might be good to just get my body moving and work on flexibility, which doesn’t stress my body much.
I’m also planning on increasing my spontaneous exercise by playing soccer with my daughter and spending more time outside playing with her-riding bikes, etc. In addition, since spring is just around the corner, I’ll be spending quite a bit of time out in the yard doing yard work.
I’ve read my response card once so far today.
I sat down to eat every time, and did eat slowly and mindfully last night at dinner and this morning at breakfast
I gave myself credit for healthy behaviors, specifically for not eating pizza last night at the in-laws when I really, really wanted to.
I’m working to continue making time and energy to exercise and meal plan.
I planned my exercise program, scheduled time for it, but did not exercise this morning due to recovering from a cold, but will pick up the full plan starting tomorrow.
Posted by Matt on 03/01 at 09:42 AM
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Beck Diet Solution Day 8
Create Time and Energy
This has definitely been a challenge. It’s important to create the time to exercise, meal plan, make and read response cards, take extra time preparing meals, talk to your diet coach, etc. You also need the energy to do those things and incorporate them into your daily life. I’ve done a pretty good job so far in setting aside time to exercise (I get up at 4:45 a.m. to meditate, exercise and stretch), I try to dedicate time to plan meals and I have fallback meals that I keep supplies on hand for so if I’m in a bind for time I can throw together a healthy meal quickly. So far so good, although I do have times when I try to convince myself to skip exercising to get caught up on work, or I’m too tired, or whatever. However, skipping exercise is not an option. Eating unhealthy food is not an option.
I’ve read my response card twice today.
I sat down to eat every time, and did eat slowly and mindfully this morning at breakfast and again at lunch
I gave myself credit for healthy behaviors, specifically for exercising six days last week and resisting brownies and candy at the in-laws on Valentine’s Day..
I’m working to continue making time and energy to exercise and meal plan.
Posted by Matt on 02/16 at 06:03 PM
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Beck Diet Solution Day 7
Arrange Your Environment
It’s important to remove food temptations as much as possible, and where you can’t remove them, try to rearrange your environment to make them less tempting. Move tempting items to a high shelf or out of site, get rid the food items that are really triggering, ask for help from your family at home and your coworkers at work.
I work from home, so my office and home are the same environment. The kitchen is just a few steps away, and I can actually see the fridge from where I’m sitting right now. I’ve removed the really triggering foods I used to keep around, like Red Vines, cookies, chips, etc. My wife like to keep those things around some times (although Red Vines are off-limits-they are far too tempting for me, and once I start, I can’t stop eating them), so when she buys foods that are tempting, we also keep healthy snacks like fruit around, and keep the cookies, chips, etc. in the cupboard out of sight.
I’ve read my response card once so far, and will read it again this afternoon.
I sat down to eat every time, and did eat slowly and mindfully this morning at breakfast and again at lunch
I gave myself credit for healthy behaviors, specifically for exercising every day this week, and not snacking yesterday afternoon when I really wanted a snack that would have gone over my points for the day.
I’ve arranged my environment to remove and minimize my temptations as much as possible.
Posted by Matt on 02/11 at 12:55 PM
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Beck Diet Solution - Day 6
Find a Diet Coach
First of all, I’ve been incredibly busy and haven’t been keeping up with the Beck book as I should. I’ve been doing well with staying OP, eating right at my target points and exercising at least 6 days per week, though. I do want to make sure the weight loss sticks this time, though, so I need to make sure I’m taking care of the emotional aspects of eating as well as the physical ones.
The purpose of finding a diet coach is to have someone you can be accountable to, turn to for problem solving and support, and rely on to remind you of your goals, etc. It’s really tough to lose large amounts of weight by yourself, and having someone to rely on for support can be a huge factor in your success. It makes it tougher to minimize, make excuses, justify bad eating habits, and gives you someone to look to for help when you are going into a dangerous situation (like going out to dinner unexpectedly) or feel like you just can’t do this anymore.
To this end, I’ve actually chosen several sources to act as my diet coach. I post on the GOAD and Spiritual Space boards on the Weight Watchers site frequently and use the boards for support. I also touch base via email with another guy from WW who lives here in Denver. My primary “diet coach”, though, is the men’s support group I belong to. We meet every Monday and I give an update on my WW progress for the week-how much I’ve lost, how many times I’ve exercised, and how many times I’ve eating outside of my WW eating plan. I also call each of the guys in that group at least once a week, and if necessary, talk about any food/exercise/diet issues.
I’ve read my response card once so far, and will read it again this afternoon.
I sat down to eat every time, and did eat slowly and mindfully this morning at breakfast.
I gave myself credit for healthy behaviors, specifically for resisting eating outside of my food plan yesterday. I was struggling emotionally and desperately wanted to eat, but resisted the temptation and ate only at meal times.
Posted by Matt on 02/08 at 10:05 AM
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Beck Diet Solution Day 5
Eat Slowly and Mindfully
There are some good benefits to eating slowly and mindfully: when you eat slowly, your brain has time to register that you feel full, and when you eat mindfully, noticing and enjoying every mouthful of food, you feel more satisfied when you’re done eating.
This is a big challenger for me. I’ve been a fast eater all my life, and I tend to go numb and eat mindlessly. This exercise is actually what sparked the renewed interest in Zen for me-all too often I get distracted, lose focus on what I’m actually doing, and drift off into my own thoughts. When I’m eating and this happens, it’s easy to over eat, to feel unsatisfied even though I’ve actually taken in enough sustenance. Part of my goal in sitting zazen every morning is to learn to be mindful of myself, my body and my feelings. My goal for each meal is to slow down, enjoy every bite, and pause every few bites to drink some water, put my utensils down, and be mindful of how full I’m feeling.
I’ve read my response card once so far, and will read it again this afternoon.
I sat down to eat every time, and did eat slowly and mindfully this morning at breakfast.
I gave myself credit for healthy behaviors, specifically for doing 60 minutes on the elliptical even though I really, really didn’t want to, and for taking the time to prepare steel cut oatmeal with blueberries, a tsp of honey and a touch of cinnamon, rather than the chocolate covered donuts my daughter had for breakfast.
Posted by Matt on 01/31 at 10:10 AM
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Beck Diet Solution Day 4
Give Yourself Credit
All too often, we beat ourselves up for our poor choices but forget to celebrate our good ones. To change your thinking around food, it’s important to celebrate your victories, your good decisions, and even your progress towards those. For many of us who are overweight, and certainly for me, I tend to become angry, depressed, full of despair, frustrated or disappointed at my poor decisions. In order to cope with those feelings, I act out with food, perpetuating the cycle. To break this cycle, it’s important to give yourself credit when you make a good decision, complete a task on your weight loss to-do list, or any other healthy behavior you want to encourage. Dr. Beck even suggests getting a jar and tossing a dollar or coin in every time you make a good decision, then periodically treat yourself to something you would normally pass up (non-food, of course).
Today, I read my response card twice.
I ate sitting down every time.
I gave myself credit for making a good decision about lunch, for exercising even though I slept in a little, and for not grabbing a snack this afternoon even though I wanted one.
Posted by Matt on 01/15 at 05:31 PM
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Beck Diet Solution Day 3
Eat Sitting Down
The purpose of this exercise is to set a boundary around your eating times and places. Since it’s so easy to lose track of how much you eat when you’re standing at the kitchen counter, walking around at an event, etc., making the rule of only eating while you’re sitting down with all of your food in front of you helps you learn to watch your portions and face the reality of how much food you’re eating. Sitting down every time while eating also encourages you to be more conscious of what you’re eating and helps with making you more psychologically satisfied, since all your food is right in front of you and it’s easier to keep your conscious mind on your food, rather than being distracted by something else going on and eating mindlessly.
Today, I read my response card once so far and will read it again before dinner.
I created a response card and reminder system to help me remember to sit down while eating.
I ate sitting down every time.
Posted by Matt on 01/13 at 01:07 PM
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Beck Diet Solution - Day 2
Choose Two Reasonable Diets.
I guess the point of this is that if you have a backup diet and the first one doesn’t fit well, you have another one ready to choose from. I’m not going to do this-Weight Watchers works really well for me, I just choose to jump off the wagon from time to time. There’s some great advice for choosing diets in this chapter, though, including the pros and cons of choosing a counting type diet vs. an eating plan diet. Eating plans don’t work well for me, but counting plans do, since they provide more flexibility.
Today, I read my Response Card (which has the advantages of losing weight) on it once so far, and will read it again this afternoon.
Posted by Matt on 01/11 at 11:28 AM
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Beck Diet Solution Day 1 (starting over)
The first exercise is to record the advantages of losing weight. There’s a huge benefit to doing this, and to the follow-up, which is to read those benefits several times a day and to keep them handy so you can read them when you feel discouraged, tempted, frustrated, or any other emotion that would lead you to unplanned eating. I highly recommend reading the entire chapter carefully-there’s some great information there.
My Advantages to losing weight:
I’ll live longer
I’ll feel better
I’ll have more energy
I’ll reduce my chances of getting diabetes
I’ll reduce my chances of getting heart disease
I’ll be able to enjoy activities like hiking and aikido
I’ll have more self confidence
I’ll be able to be more active with Emmie
I’ll be a better role model for Emmie
I’ll be able to shop for clothes in places other than Walmart
I’ll look better
I won’t be as uncomfortable in social and business situations
Posted by Matt on 01/09 at 01:52 PM
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The Beck Diet Solution
Posted by Matt on 01/06 at 09:58 AM
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Matt Meeks