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Today we are honored to consultation Dr. Judith Beck on how cognitive proficiencies may be used to give rise to a number of essential mental skills. The latest application of these?. Losing weight. Dr. Judith Beck is the Director of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, and author of Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond. Her most recent book is The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person. Alvaro Fernandez (AF): Dr. Beck, thanks for your time. What does the Beck Institute do? Judith Beck (JB): We have 3 main activities. One, we train practitioners and researchers through a potpourri of training programs. Two, we provide clinical care. Three, we are involved in exploration on cognitive therapy. AF: Please explain cognitive therapy in a few sentences JB: Cognitive therapy, as formulated by my father Aaron Beck, is a comprehensive scheme of psychotherapy, based on the idea that the way persons grasp their experience influences their emotional, behavioral, and physiological responses. Part of what we do is to support persons solve the troubles they are facing today. We likewise instruct them cognitive and behavioral achievements to change their dysfunctional thinking and actions. AF: I understand that cognitive therapy has been tested for a heap of years in a potpourri of clinical applications. What motivated you to fetch those proficiencies to the weight-loss field by writing The Beck Diet Solution? JB: Since the beginning, I have principally treated psychiatric outpatients with a assortment of diagnoses, specially depression and anxiety. Some people who are in need of medical care indicated weight loss as a secondary goal in treatment. I found that some of the same cognitive and behavioral proficiencies that helped them win a victory over their other difficulties could likewise aid them to lose weight-and to keep it off. I became exceptionally fascinated in the problem of overweight and was competent to discern specific mindsets or cognitions when it comes to food, eating, hunger, craving, perfectionism, helplessness, self-image, unfairness, deprivation, and others, that necessitated to be purposed to support them reach their goal. AF: What exploration results back your finding that those proficiencies help? JB: Probably the best published study so far is the randomized controlled study by Karolinska Institute’s Stahre and Halstrom. The results were striking: closely all 65 persons who requires medical care finished the program and this short-term intervention (10-week, 30-hours) showed significant long-term weight reduction, even larger (when equated to the 40 people in the control group) after 18 months than right after the 10-weeks program. AF: That sounds impressive. Can you explain what makes this approach so effective? JB: A distinguishable feature is that the book doesn’t offer a diet but does provide tools to create the mindset that is required for sustainable success, for modifying sabotaging thoughts and behavings that specifically follow people’s original good intentions. I support dieters acquire new skills. We have sold over 70,000 books so far, and are planning to release a associate workbook this month to further support readers apply the 6-week program and track progress. AF: So, in a sense, we could say that your book is complementary to all other diet books. JB: Exactly-it will aid readers at setting and reaching their long-term goals, assuming that the diet is healthy, nutritious, and well-balanced. The main message of cognitive therapy overall, and it is application in the diet world, is straight-forward: difficulties losing weight are not one’s fault. Problems plainly reflect lack of skills–skills that may be acquired and mastered through practice. Dieters who read the book or workbook learn a new cognitive or behavioral skill each day for six weeks. They exercise a heap of achievements just once; they mechanically comprise others for their lifetime. AF: What are the cognitive and aroused accomplishments and habits that dieters need to train, and where your book helps? JB: Great question. That is precisely my goal: to show how everyone may learn a great deal of critical skills. The key ones are: 1) How to motivate oneself. The original task that dieters do is to write a list of the 15 of 20 reasons why they want to lose weight and read that list each single day. 2) Plan in advance and self-monitor behavior. A typical reason for diet failure is a strong preference for spontaneity. I ask persons to prepare a plan and then I instruct them the accomplishments to stick to it. 3) Overcome sabotaging thoughts. Dieters have hundreds and hundreds of thoughts that lead them to engage in unhelpful eating behavior. NOTE: the consultation proceeds now in the article The Beck Diet: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person (Part 2). |
Most helpful customer reviews
340 of 363 people found the following review helpful.
Making it Happen
By minniecatt
I have lost 90 pounds using the principles and techniques in this book. How can that be true when the book has been out for only one week? No tricks here – early in 2006 ( a year ago) I began a self-designed plan of eating right and exercising based on 2 things: 1. my many years of familiarity with every new diet and nutritional research discovery regarding weight loss; and 2. participation in a cognitive therapy-based group called DBT which teaches skills to increase emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, etc. A couple of months ago I started getting the Amazon plogs regarding Dr. Beck’s new book, and I enthusiastically pre-ordered. After almost a year of steady weight loss and working my way up to walking 3 miles a day (with Leslie Sansone DVDs)I had stalled out at minus 90 lbs, and need to lose about 30 more pounds. Receiving the book, I was amazed, because almost everything I did to motivate myself over the last 13 months was contained in this work. Of course, the principles are set forth much more methodically, professionally, and with more of a well-developed theoretical basis, than in my home-made plan, but every sentence in the Beck Diet rings with honesty, integrity, thoughtfulness, compassion and hope.
To be more specific, the book does not contain a “diet” and you are told to find a suitable nutritious food plan to follow, along with an exercise plan of your own. The strategies presented in the book do indeed ‘talk’ you through cognitive retraining techniques which change your thoughts about food and eating and hunger: identifying positive outcomes; ways to make a choice NOT to indulge; how to effectively deal with set-backs and limit the damage done; how to say no to friends /family who show love by sharing good food (I’m Italian; I know a LOT of them!)
Interestingly, in the first 2 weeks you don’t diet at all – this is time spent planning and strategizing to re-train your thoughts. This involves completing motivational cards where you write statements to counteract any sabotaging thoughts that will come up. I found the process to be so similar to the strategies I used when I was successful in meeting the inevitable temptation, so I know that it works “in action.”
On the 15th day you start your eating plan, and each day you have a checklist for reviewing the motivational materials (Advantage Cards, for example, list what YOU want to accomplish in losing weight.) Some of the basic concepts are to pre-plan for dangerous situations, acknowledge your accomplishments even if not perfect, and realize that resisting hunger and cravings is possible when you commit to using the skills Dr. Beck presents.
I have read many, many books both on weight loss and psychology, and this book is “the one” for me, and I hope for you. You have to be willing to think ahead about eating, hunger and cravings. You have to commit to following the techniques daily. If you do, this WILL WORK!!!!
I am going to be bold enough to add one additional technique that worked very well for me, and that is to “Redefine Your Treats.” I admitted to a friend one day that I am basically ‘treat-driven.’ That is, I feel deprived and inferior in some way if I can’t have a dessert, or eat a hearty portion of food. So I redefined treats – to me now it is buying bottled water; drinking Harry and David Tiramisu Coffee (no calories!!); playing Sudoku on the computer for 20 minutes. I feel like I’m indulging but it has nothing to do with actual food. So if you are “treat-driven” like me, try defining and then indulging in your own rewards.
Reading this book made me feel positive; it made me feel like I can make it happen to lose the remaining pounds; it made me admire and respect Dr. Beck for producing a non-judgmental, encouraging, ‘mindful’ book that is written in an engaging style. I recommend it with 90 stars and more to come.
132 of 144 people found the following review helpful.THE Diet Book for me!
By B. BESER
Six to eight years ago, I stopped spending money on diet related products. Because nothing has worked for me. Maybe initially they seemed they were working, but it was just temporarily. I saw one diet book, while I was just browsing around on amazon, “you on a diet”, I thought I might wanna try that, thinking like “who knows maybe this is the thing for me”, so I bought it. Even though I spent lots of money on diet products, as a book, “you on a diet” was the first book for me on dieting. And, in couple of months I purchased some other diet books, hoping one would include the missing ingredient on those.
This book,Beck Diet Solution was just released, and was at the best sellers list. I read the description. It sounded very promising, but since, at that moment I already had couple of diet books which none of them really fit in to my problem, I was skeptical. For two weeks, everyday I read the reviews, trying to see if some of the reviews was gonna convince me. I finally got it, I am so glad I did. Because that was the kind of help I was looking for.It is tryin to solve my physchological problems about eating and it is triying to re-program my brain about food.
I knew myself, I can never count calories, I can never follow a menu plan written by some other people, I can never count my steps, I can never count carbohydrates, etc…etc… My diet should be without all these stuff. So that’s why this is the book for me.
She, the author asks you to make your eating plan, or if you want you can use any diet that already is out there. For me, I created my own eating plan.
Then, she just teaches you some skills which is the missing skills in people who struggle with weight and skills which all the thin people has. And these skills/behaviors are not difficult to adopt. All you need to do is just practice, practice and practice… until they are your habits. Everyday, for fourty two days, you keep learning one skill at a time, until you complete all of them in that given order. You may take your time if you need, as she suggests. For example I am in my 13th day, but it has been already 23 days since I had started. Some examples of the skills are, first day you write down the reasons you wanna get thin; third day, you learn and practice sitting down whenever you eat; fifth day, you start to practice to eat slowly, and so on. At the end of the program, you have all the equipment to think like a thin person, and to be a thin person. So far I have lost 6 pounds, and I feel like I will be able to follow my plan for a long time. She gives you that confidence. She sounds very sincere about the advice she gives. And she just takes you step by step through the journey and to the very end of the journey. With other diet books, I felt like I am just left somewhere with the tons of information I did not know what to do with, or maybe they just dictate you what to do, or sometimes have fun with your eating habits, and you feel insulted and hopeless. But in this book, BDS, I felt some love and caring about the people, she sounds like she truly wants you to lose weight.
By the way, I never write a review even though I enjoy reading them. That’s how happy I am, it made me write one:) I hope this review is helpful for the people who cannot decide whether to buy it or not.
40 of 40 people found the following review helpful.Inside the Mind of the Thin
By Western Gal
This book uses cognitive psychology to help you lose weight. Cognitive psychology is based on the concept that the way you think affects how you feel and what you do. Cognitive therapy, then, helps you identify your self-defeating thinking and helps you respond to it so you can feel better and behave in helpful ways. Instead of leading you step-by-step through a diet plan, this book addresses the psychology behind why you can’t get yourself to follow one and lose weight. In this book, you pick the diet (and an alternative as a back up), and the book helps you follow it.
The set-up of the book is a six-week plan. Week 1 is laying the groundwork, where you pick 2 diets. Week 2 is getting prepared to diet, Week 3 is starting the diet, Week 4 looks into responding to sabotaging thoughts, Week 5 is about overcoming challenges, such as staying in control when you go out to eat, and Week 6 is fine tuning things.
All-in-all, I’d have to say that its a great resource to address the psycholgical side of eating. There’s no magic to it, just a little looking inside yourself and addressing any barriers you have that may be holding you back. Readers may also benefit from Exercise Beats Depression as well.
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It really really really helped me, more than any other “diet” or “plan” out there.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I picked this book up from the library during a week I was totally going to become dead set on losing weight. I didn’t have that much to lose, but 25lbs was a lot for me! I had steadily gained weight over 3 years after quitting smoking, taking bc pills, and plain ole gettin’ older. I had pictures taken of me at some friend’s BBQs and was cringing and begging my friends not to post them! The Beck Diet Solution book has helped me regain control and I’m 10 lbs lighter thanks to it.
My faves from the book:
Being hungry isnt an emergency (I’ve gone for a couple days w/out eating before, a couple hours is nothing! it is a craving, not hunger)
Stregnthen resistence muscle and NOT THE GIVE IN MUSCLE
Eat only sitting down (don’t put stuff in your mouth in passing, nothing, no nothing!!!)
Figuring out the diff between a craving and hunger
______
I wish my friends would read this book, but they think it is just another fad. But, its not.
Thinking differently – then eating well
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a book that really gets down to the reasons we eat poorly and gain weight. Not only does it use sound psychological principles, it’s written for REAL people who don’t want to, or don’t have time or money for loads of special ‘diet’ foods. When someone says ‘it’s just a case of eating less and exercising more’ – this book helps you actually do that, without tears!
From the very first few chapters, before you’ve even started the diet properly, the steps to take help you think more clearly about food intake, how, when, where you eat – and then provides very simple ‘rules’ that reduce that thoughtless reaching ‘just for a tiny bite’ or ‘a little more of that’ or ‘I’ll just clean these wee bits up’.
Don’t buy this book if you want quick solutions. Don’t buy it if you don’t want to look closely at yourself. Don’t get it if you think the latest diet food will get you there more easily. This is an in-depth book that helps YOU take control.
Good purchase!!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
It was gift to a dear family member. I read a lot of reviews and then bought.
The Beck diet Solution
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The book came in great shape. I would definitely purchase again from this seller.
Good motivation.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a well thought out book. I have read 100s of books on weight loss. This one does take a different approach. I would recommend this book as another arsenal in the weight loss war.
WOW- Finally for the psychological side!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
For years, people have been suggesting to me that I have a Weight Loss Surgery. But for me, my problem is 100% in my head. My stomach and other body parts are literally innocent bystanders. Cutting out an organ or two still would not help me with eating and weight issues.
I’ve been searching for a book that deals with the psychological part of weight loss and this is it! This deals with so many psychological issues and I love the tools of ‘talking yourself down’ so to speak-and how to talk yourself out of those decisions that we all make that we end up regretting.
This isnt a diet book, its like a diet helper book on how to really succeed.
Highly recomended.
At last, the solution for real weight loss
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Like many moms, I carried around the last of my baby weight until my “baby” wasn’t a baby anymore. And I had plenty of excuses – the dryer shrank my clothes, it’s my thyroid, I don’t have time to deal with it – you name it. Then I was browsing on Amazon (actually looking at a book about a new diet called “The Skinny”) and I came across the Beck Diet Solution. This collection of tips and activities really is the solution. The author lets you choose whatever diet you’d like – because it’s not which diet you choose, but about your approach to the process. It’s not someone saying “my diet is the only one that works” – it’s a voice saying that the strength and resolve to lose weight comes from within ourselves. How refreshing.
Dr. Beck gives us the tools to lose weight, and arms us with knowledge about how to deal with difficult situations. From the office candy bowl to spouses who sabotage our eating to how to handle celebrations and holidays, it’s all in this book.
Thanks to Dr. Beck there will be many moms fitting back into their pre-pregnancy jeans!
Inside the Mind of the Thin
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This book uses cognitive psychology to help you lose weight. Cognitive psychology is based on the concept that the way you think affects how you feel and what you do. Cognitive therapy, then, helps you identify your self-defeating thinking and helps you respond to it so you can feel better and behave in helpful ways. Instead of leading you step-by-step through a diet plan, this book addresses the psychology behind why you can’t get yourself to follow one and lose weight. In this book, you pick the diet (and an alternative as a back up), and the book helps you follow it.
The set-up of the book is a six-week plan. Week 1 is laying the groundwork, where you pick 2 diets. Week 2 is getting prepared to diet, Week 3 is starting the diet, Week 4 looks into responding to sabotaging thoughts, Week 5 is about overcoming challenges, such as staying in control when you go out to eat, and Week 6 is fine tuning things.
All-in-all, I’d have to say that its a great resource to address the psycholgical side of eating. There’s no magic to it, just a little looking inside yourself and addressing any barriers you have that may be holding you back. Readers may also benefit from Exercise Beats Depression as well.
Helpful in making a permanent change in eating
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Change from just dieting to thinking differently which is more likely to lead to permanent change
north shore mom reads
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
The book is everything I expected. Haven’t finished it yet but I think it’s good advice for everyone trying to stick to a food plan.
Beck Diet Solution – the BEST Diet Solution
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This book is not a diet book but a book that teaches you how to think differently. I am amazed at how much it is helping me make better choices in the foods I eat. It is based on Cognitive Behavior Theory; she works on helping you change how you think. She helps you rethink your sabotaging thoughts. She is very encouraging and upbeat. I do think this is the perfect solution for some people, but it will not work for everyone. You have to be willing to do all that she says or it won’t work for you. If the approach interests you, it might be worth looking at the book.
All I can say is…. AMEN!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I didn’t buy this book, but I bought her AUDIO CD version. I listened to the whole book in 1 day (while I’m at work), then I listened to it again the next day, and this time sinking into my thinking and subconsious. I am amazed how it changed my way of thinking towards food, and helps me combat cravings. I am in my 3 weeks now and I lost 12 pounds with the help of running 5 days a week (originally 202.5 lbs when I started, I’m 5’8″). The audio book seems like Dr. Beck is talking to me directly. It is so convincing! My aim is to lose 40 or more pounds, and I will continue to strive to that goal. Whenever I have time, I just listen to it with my iPod, along with the other free Podcasts regarding WeightLoss topics (Podcasts can be downloaded in ITunes for free). I highly recommend this book/audiobook especially if you need motivation to start up.
5th week update:
I strayed from my exercise due to a work-related stress, but kept my diet. I lost another 2 pounds after week 3, now I’m 188 lbs (202 lbs originally). Still very happy, and will continue moving forward. I still listen to the audiobook at least 3 times a week. Very handy.
Much obvious to diet vets, but some practical in depth help too
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I first learned about this book a few months ago on a weight loss message board, then later, at a WW meeting, a member who had been losing consistently shared how following the tips in this book totally made a difference to her success. After hearing that I had to read it.
I will say, if you have been watching your weight for any length of time, or read women’s magazines, or belonged to any formal diet program, much of the content will be very familiar ground to you. But even a veteran weight watcher like me will probably find at least one little tip that will be useful.
It is not a diet per se, but a way at digging into the underlying practices and thoughts that lead to overeating. You could follow any of a number of regimes and use this as extra guidance. And the thoughts always precede the behavior, even if the thought is “I am now going into a trance so I can devour all this food and pretend like it was out of my control”.
The author’s advice is based on cognitive therapy and research comparing behavior and thoughts of overweight and slender people.
It helps in learning to recognize and change destructive thought patterns that lead to poor eating, overeating and bad lifestyle choices.
The practical tips in learning HOW to notice these thoughts, and in using notecards to replace those thoughts, is useful.
What I especially appreciated was the fact that the information is garnered from real people.
The two nuggets that most benefited me was 1) the finding that chronically overweight consistently have a sense of unfairness (that they can’t eat whatever they want), and destructive thought patterns of self pity, “why me?”, and black and white thinking (“I ate one cookie I might as well eat 20″; “I can’t be a size 0, so I may as well stay fat”..etc), and 2) that ‘craving tolerance’ is a muscle that grows stronger with use. That was helpful and encouraging, and I think very true. You won’t always feel out of control or like it’s hopeless to try, if you hang in there.
The realization that the ‘unfairness’ thought is a real stumbling block to lasting weight loss was a real ‘aha’ for me, because I realized I frequently entertained the thought ”why me”!? regarding a very slow and thrifty metabolism. So just for that reason alone, it was worth it, because when I start that thought process now I know catch it in time before it can sabotage my efforts at moderation.
One thing I did NOT like was the constant use of the word ‘diet’ and ‘dieter’. After all, if it’s a lifestyle change, it is not a temporary ‘diet’. Using this word repeatedly flies in the face of the author’s central theme, in my opinion.
Great concepts, another temoporary solution
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
This book definitely offers some wonderful ideas (such as stopping some of the negative thoughts associated with dieting), and I can see how, upon first read, it gives a great deal of hope to most dieters. The problem? While this book is camouflaged as a healthy lifestyle change, it is still upholding the dieting mentality. It requires a huge amount of willpower that is just not feasible for long term maintenance. If willpower was all that people needed, any diet would work. Bottom line, I tried this, it worked off an on for a few weeks, and the result was just like any diet-I was still waaaay too preoccupied with food and ended up giving up and binging.
I decided to check out the Intuitive Eating book, instead, and I really recommend this for others who are just tired of failing diets. Intuitive eating will not work for you if you aren’t willing to accept that diets don’t work, and if you want fast results (even if they don’t last). The idea is that if you stop dieting and restricting yourself, food will lose some of it’s guilty allure and you will, hopefully, find it easier to enjoy what you want, when you want it, but with moderation. I just think that this book makes more sense with human mentality. The Beck Diet solution might work if you can actually afford to visit a therapist continually to avoid relapse, but that just isn’t feasible for most of us.
This approach works!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I lost 40 lbs over about 6 months and am now at my “ideal weight” (from size 14 to size 6) — something that I haven’t seen during my adult life (I’m turning 50 this year). The book revealed the simple truth that my problem was not really WHAT I ate or even WHY I ate, but HOW I ate, which of course links to the others but is something you can systematically control. Seemingly simple changes in behavior (do not eat standing up) had both huge direct benefits and also made me realize how much control I have over my own behavior. Interestingly, in addition to dealing PERMANENTLY with eating and exercise issues, I’ve figured out how to apply the Cognitive Behavior Therapy approach to other problems in my life, to good effect. Very powerful stuff. (Of note: I got the audiobook version, and I think that was helpful in really “implanting” the voice of reason into my head, plus I can get a “refresher” easily when I’m driving to work or even out to dinner!!)