The Beck Diet Solution: Expectations + Intro + Ch 1-4
Jul 25, 2016 19:59:57 GMT -5
francesdances, gemster, and 17 more like this
Post by mare on Jul 25, 2016 19:59:57 GMT -5
I'm glad there is so much interest! Once you have your pink book, you can get started reading the introductory material. I'm going to self-plagiarize most what I said last time I led things both today and likely other days as well.
I have three goals for this way longer than what will be the average Beck post –
1. Set up some ground rules/expectations
2. Comment on the material from the introduction and chapters 1-4
3. Set up a tentative schedule
Ground Rules/Expectations:
1. These exercises are for you. If you have time to respond to others, that’s great but by no means expected, especially if the pressure to do so makes you lose motivation to keep going. There are days I can get back here 10 times and others not even once. When you do respond, it should be constructive. One reason Dr. Beck says our thread is better than others is that it has accountability and not just back pats. If you have a specific question that does not get answered, please feel free to repeat it in the next day’s thread or GSO me.
2. This is a do not dabble book. By posting here, you are agreeing to do every exercise no matter how ridiculous it seems. Here’s why – you are not that special. Your brain works by creating neural pathways like everyone else's does. You also are not Dr. Beck, who is a world renowned expert in how brains work and how to change them and is to be trusted. The other why is that past participants have found the exercises most resisted end up being the most beneficial. To quote Sharkie, the original discussion leader, just give into the brainwash.
3. If you are already Becked out, please keep comments here to the topics covered thus far and use the Big Tent threads for more advanced work. We want newbies to feel welcome and not get overwhelmed by what is ahead or feel out of the loop.
4. Speaking of Dr. Beck, I am in fairly regular email contact with her and sometimes pass along exceptional posts or questions I am unable to answer. She is very invested in helping you to succeed with the program and asked me specifically when I attended a 2 day workshop at the Beck Institute if there were ways she could help all of you.
5. This is getting slightly ahead of things but if you are not currently dieting DO NOT START YET. The program is meant to cover 14 exercises/skills first before trying to lose weight. Because of taking weekends off to practice, diets will officially kick off right after Labor Day. However, because of the nature of what we are about to do, it is likely you might accidentally drop some before. But please do not hurry this piece. There’s plenty of time for point counting/carb cutting/LoseIt-ing out. Further, if you have stopped and started this process before, don't try to go back to where you were. Just follow along slowly from the beginning with the rest of us.
6. A word of warning, this process can often be uncomfortable. I don't enjoy honestly facing about irrational I can be when it comes to food. However, what I have learning in 2 years of working with these principles is that I am not alone in any of my thoughts, behaviors, or habits that I want to change. I've learned so much from all of you and am excited for new insights this time around.
Introduction/Chapter 1
This material sets up why the BDS is different than a diet. It is teaching you to change the way that you think and this helps you to respond in a different way.
Or, as was stated in the workshop I attended last summer and I think is one of the core ideas to eventually absorb–
“It is NEVER the situation that leads to eating (or not eating.) It is ALWAYS the thought that leads to eating (or not eating.)”
If you have struggled with weight loss in the past, much of it is due to thoughts that hamper your progress. These thoughts may feel automatic, like unavoidable demands, and incredibly powerful. If you practice the principles here, all of these feelings can be overcome. These thoughts will decrease in both frequency and intensity, and eventually new thoughts will answer. From here on out, thoughts that will interfere with losing/maintaining weight are called Sabotaging Thoughts (ST).
The key to all of this change is applying the principles of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) to a weight loss setting. CBT relies on taking thoughts that are unproductive and countering them. From a brain perspective, we are giving the part of our brain that controls inhibition a chance to fight the part that makes impulsive and emotional decisions. We are also learning new behaviors that can substitute for those that were not productive.
Chapter 2 introduces 2 critical concepts.
1. You do think before eating even when it feels automatic. BDS helps you learn to recognize, pause, and respond to these thoughts, particularly the ones that are trying to derail your efforts called Sabotaging Thoughts (ST). ST’s occur in a variety of domains from emotional (I’m so stressed!) to interpersonal (If I don’t eat this, I’ll offend my colleague) and there will be many chapters covering how to handle them. One primary way is to answer with a Helpful Thought (HT). According to Beck, and I agree, much of what makes dieting hard is the conversations between the HT and ST causing tension. This is relieved when a decision is made whether that decision is listen to the HT or the ST, not necessarily from giving in and eating (see p. 30 for more discussion).
2. Eating decisions can have effects on one of two “muscles” – the giving in muscle or the resistance muscle. The stronger you make the resistance muscle, the easier it will be to counter the giving-in muscle the next time.
Chapter 3 goes over 8 characteristics that impair one from losing weight and keeping it off. The BDS will help with overcoming each of these including having a hard time being hungry (if you're even hungry in the first place), getting frustrated by the scale progress, using food as a comfort measure, and allowing feelings of unfairness to make giving up seem appealing.
What I think is important about this list is that it makes it clear that it really is not about the food, it's about how one thinks about food that can lead to responses that include ST. By building the HT responses, these problems are easier to deal with instead of relying on grit or willpower because there is an alternative.
Finally, chapter 4 gives you an overview and instructions for what you need to get started.
We'll start chapter 5 with week 1 day 1 on Monday August 1. If I really have it together, I'll put up the thread the night before. Then we'll tackle a new "day" on MWF. When there are holidays, we'll wait to move forward. Feel free to take a slower pace if you need the time.
Enough from me. Any questions/comments/suggestions?
I have three goals for this way longer than what will be the average Beck post –
1. Set up some ground rules/expectations
2. Comment on the material from the introduction and chapters 1-4
3. Set up a tentative schedule
Ground Rules/Expectations:
1. These exercises are for you. If you have time to respond to others, that’s great but by no means expected, especially if the pressure to do so makes you lose motivation to keep going. There are days I can get back here 10 times and others not even once. When you do respond, it should be constructive. One reason Dr. Beck says our thread is better than others is that it has accountability and not just back pats. If you have a specific question that does not get answered, please feel free to repeat it in the next day’s thread or GSO me.
2. This is a do not dabble book. By posting here, you are agreeing to do every exercise no matter how ridiculous it seems. Here’s why – you are not that special. Your brain works by creating neural pathways like everyone else's does. You also are not Dr. Beck, who is a world renowned expert in how brains work and how to change them and is to be trusted. The other why is that past participants have found the exercises most resisted end up being the most beneficial. To quote Sharkie, the original discussion leader, just give into the brainwash.
3. If you are already Becked out, please keep comments here to the topics covered thus far and use the Big Tent threads for more advanced work. We want newbies to feel welcome and not get overwhelmed by what is ahead or feel out of the loop.
4. Speaking of Dr. Beck, I am in fairly regular email contact with her and sometimes pass along exceptional posts or questions I am unable to answer. She is very invested in helping you to succeed with the program and asked me specifically when I attended a 2 day workshop at the Beck Institute if there were ways she could help all of you.
5. This is getting slightly ahead of things but if you are not currently dieting DO NOT START YET. The program is meant to cover 14 exercises/skills first before trying to lose weight. Because of taking weekends off to practice, diets will officially kick off right after Labor Day. However, because of the nature of what we are about to do, it is likely you might accidentally drop some before. But please do not hurry this piece. There’s plenty of time for point counting/carb cutting/LoseIt-ing out. Further, if you have stopped and started this process before, don't try to go back to where you were. Just follow along slowly from the beginning with the rest of us.
6. A word of warning, this process can often be uncomfortable. I don't enjoy honestly facing about irrational I can be when it comes to food. However, what I have learning in 2 years of working with these principles is that I am not alone in any of my thoughts, behaviors, or habits that I want to change. I've learned so much from all of you and am excited for new insights this time around.
Introduction/Chapter 1
This material sets up why the BDS is different than a diet. It is teaching you to change the way that you think and this helps you to respond in a different way.
Or, as was stated in the workshop I attended last summer and I think is one of the core ideas to eventually absorb–
“It is NEVER the situation that leads to eating (or not eating.) It is ALWAYS the thought that leads to eating (or not eating.)”
If you have struggled with weight loss in the past, much of it is due to thoughts that hamper your progress. These thoughts may feel automatic, like unavoidable demands, and incredibly powerful. If you practice the principles here, all of these feelings can be overcome. These thoughts will decrease in both frequency and intensity, and eventually new thoughts will answer. From here on out, thoughts that will interfere with losing/maintaining weight are called Sabotaging Thoughts (ST).
The key to all of this change is applying the principles of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) to a weight loss setting. CBT relies on taking thoughts that are unproductive and countering them. From a brain perspective, we are giving the part of our brain that controls inhibition a chance to fight the part that makes impulsive and emotional decisions. We are also learning new behaviors that can substitute for those that were not productive.
Chapter 2 introduces 2 critical concepts.
1. You do think before eating even when it feels automatic. BDS helps you learn to recognize, pause, and respond to these thoughts, particularly the ones that are trying to derail your efforts called Sabotaging Thoughts (ST). ST’s occur in a variety of domains from emotional (I’m so stressed!) to interpersonal (If I don’t eat this, I’ll offend my colleague) and there will be many chapters covering how to handle them. One primary way is to answer with a Helpful Thought (HT). According to Beck, and I agree, much of what makes dieting hard is the conversations between the HT and ST causing tension. This is relieved when a decision is made whether that decision is listen to the HT or the ST, not necessarily from giving in and eating (see p. 30 for more discussion).
2. Eating decisions can have effects on one of two “muscles” – the giving in muscle or the resistance muscle. The stronger you make the resistance muscle, the easier it will be to counter the giving-in muscle the next time.
Chapter 3 goes over 8 characteristics that impair one from losing weight and keeping it off. The BDS will help with overcoming each of these including having a hard time being hungry (if you're even hungry in the first place), getting frustrated by the scale progress, using food as a comfort measure, and allowing feelings of unfairness to make giving up seem appealing.
What I think is important about this list is that it makes it clear that it really is not about the food, it's about how one thinks about food that can lead to responses that include ST. By building the HT responses, these problems are easier to deal with instead of relying on grit or willpower because there is an alternative.
Finally, chapter 4 gives you an overview and instructions for what you need to get started.
We'll start chapter 5 with week 1 day 1 on Monday August 1. If I really have it together, I'll put up the thread the night before. Then we'll tackle a new "day" on MWF. When there are holidays, we'll wait to move forward. Feel free to take a slower pace if you need the time.
Enough from me. Any questions/comments/suggestions?
