Beck Diet Solution Discussion - Chapter 3

Hi Gang.. ready for chapter 3? Here we go.. For me this chapter really hits home to me. I really need to change my Thinking! This chapter is titled. "How Thin People Think". She outlines 8 characteristics that can make dieting difficult. Many of them I can relate to.. 1) confusing hunger with desire to eat 2) having a lower tolerance to hunger and cravings 3) liking the full feeling 4) you fool yourself about how much you eat 5) you comfort yourself with food 6) you feel hopeless and helpless when you gain weight 7) you focus on issues of unfairness 8) you stop dieting once you lose the weight She states she is going to teach us skills to help us conquer these "characteristics" that you may possess (maybe not all, but some of them most likely). We have to stop looking at hunger as an emergency. I totally do this. Not sure why. I was never deprived of food as a child. I also eat too fast.. why? Nobody has ever taken food away from me.. its very odd. Also, the author states that people who are thin either naturally just don't gravitate towards those characteristics stated above or they really DO (she says most do) try to stay thin.. that there is thought process involved and accountability that must occur. She says very few people just are thin naturally and don't think about staying that way. I found this very interesting. She also covered a discussion with a patient about the unfairness of her problems with eating. We can focus on it being unfair or we can "suck it up" and just deal with the cards that are dealt with us. Many things in life are unfair she says.. nobody has a "breeze" life and have to struggle in maybe other ways if it isn't with food.. we need to realize this and stop having a "pity party" for ourselves if we are. Like I said, I deal with many of these issues myself.. it may not hit home to so many of you. Maybe its because I do have an eating disorder that I can relate to this book so well. I really hope you feel so far you are getting something out of it. I do feel everyone can get something from it. So keep reading and lets discuss our feelings on this chapter everyone ok? Cheers!

Hello fellow readers, yes this chapter got me too. I eat because it is there and sometimes because I think I will miss out on some special taste sensation when usually it never really tastes that good and then I go through the guilty feeling that I ate something off program. But of course I never remember all this until after I have eaten said goody. I hear everything the Dr says but I am waiting to see how to fix my problem of eating for the wrong reasons and especially the cravings. I want to know why I crave chocolate after I eat a meal and I want to know how to get rid of the cravings. Cravings are what get me in trouble and have caused me to not be where i want to be at this time. So I am ready for answers. Guess you can say I am a bit sceptical and impatient. Hey maybe that is my big problem in life LOL. I know in due time. But even as I read this book I am still thinking that I will sabatoge myself. It worries me. But I will read on and pray that the strategies this Dr has will help. Anyway I will read on, hope you all are enjoying the book too. thanks Melissa for leading us, take care and I will go read Chapter 4, Kelly

Hey!!!! Chocolate = Serotonin... Right??? serotonin (n.) An organic compound, CHNO, formed from tryptophan and found in animal and human tissue, especially the brain, blood serum, and gastric mucous membranes, and active as a neurotransmitter and in vasoconstriction, stimulation of the smooth muscles, and regulation of cyclic body processes. Let's not mess with Chocolate!!! No Flaming, Please!!! Is this open for discussion???

Characteristic 4 "Fooling myself about how much i eat" is a real issue for me- goes along with something else Dr Beck suggested- you should only eat sitting down. Realizing how many bites of something or tastes of something that i potentially have that i dont count- those really can add up! 25 "bites" of something while i am passing through the kitchen could add up to a whole pie eventually...so i posted a response card on the fridge that simply says "sit" - when i see it i will either 1) take pause and decide whether or not i am hungry 2) have a meal or a legitimate snack if i am truly hungry. Characteristic 6 "Feel helpless or hopeless when i gain weight" - the way i deal with this is i dont weigh all that often. I dont want to get discouraged and as long as i know that i am doing the right thing - my clothes are going to tell me my progress. This is not to say i will never weigh....but i am not a slave to the scale.

Pre-op... I obsessed over food... next meals... taste... etc. Post-op... I obsess over weighing my food. Better, but still "out there" thinking. Early childhood and adult comments ranged from... "do you really need to eat more?" to "how much weight do you need to lose... 5 lbs?" at over 300 LB. Bad Videos Here! #4... Guilty of eating, call it "tasting", in the kitchen, before eating with the family... #8... Once thin... begin to eat again... Old Thinking! I hear "sit" to this day from DH. Sitting is harder than I thought it would be to do!

I struggle with a lot of these. Biggest one for me - #4 - "Fooling myself about how much I eat." And I fooled myself thinking that I could eat whatever I wanted and no one would know - I could eat healthy foods in front of everyone, but eat anything behind closed doors and no one would know I wasn't "dieting" all the time. Kind of obvious when you just keep getting bigger and bigger that you're not existing on a few lettuce leaves all day long. Also, stopping to really notice how much "testing" I did when cooking. I really see how much of this I did now that I don't do it. Now I'm obsessed with weighing and measuring foods to the point that I don't test anything I'm cooking because it's not in my special portion-sized dishes I've trained myself to use. I literally feel like I'm doing something wrong if I'm away from home unexpectedly when it's time to eat and don't have one of my bowls with me to put the food in. What if I misjudge the portion size and eat a teaspoon or two too much!! #3 is one I never really thought of before, but I have learned that it's okay to leave food and not eat my whole portion if I'm full and don't want anymore. I used to think I had to clean my plate and would eat until it was all gone, even when I knew I was beyond full and was going to be miserable if I ate one more bite. But I did feel one of the reasons they gave - that I might get hungry before I was able to eat again. You know, like food might cease to exist before I could find any and I might starve to death! The solution to #6 is something that's been pounded in my head for as long as I can remember, but not pounded hard enough to actually do it. I don't know how many times I'd "slip up" and just tell myself that was it for the day, might as well keep eating now. Now I'm able to tell myself, oops, you had one too many bites of this or that, but it's okay, it will just be longer before you're hungry again and I plan ahead for that next meal to be smaller and packed with protein. #8 - you stop dieting once you lose weight. I wouldn't completely stop, but I felt like it was okay to add just a little bit more of this or that and eventually it was back to the huge portions and the cycle continued.