Thinking Thin

Training your brain to think like a thin person, and other psychological techniques for healthy weight loss.

Dr. Judith S. Beck PhD, is Director of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research and author of The Complete Beck Diet for Life (Oxmoor House). See full bio

March 24, 2009, Diet

Back to Basics

Weightloss: Back to basics

Marta was dismayed. After 20 months of maintaining her weight loss with relative ease, she had gone off track and had gained back five pounds.

"I wouldn't mind it so much if I had decided in advance to eat more," she said, "but that's not what happened. A couple of weeks ago, we had company for the weekend. I was fine at first, but then everyone else was eating and drinking so much, that I wanted to, too. I just stopped using my usual weekend plan. So by Monday morning, I had gained two pounds. I felt really bad about that, and I was okay for the next couple of days. But then, for some reason, I started snacking too much after dinner. I'd have that old sabotaging thought, ‘I've eaten too much. I might as well start again tomorrow.' I didn't go way overboard the way I used to, but I did eat more than usual for the rest of that week and this week, like larger portions at meals, bread and butter at dinner, and extra snacks at night. I keep promising myself that I'm going to get back in control but I can't seem to do it. My weight is up and I'm afraid I'll just keep gaining more."

Marta and I talked about the two choices she could make:

She could plan to eat extra food, including bread and butter at dinner and an extra snack at night. It would be planned eating, though, not spontaneous deviations from her plan. Depending on how many extra calories she planned to have, she might gain a little more weight, plateau at her current weight, or lose a little.
She could go back to her previous plan and lose the five pounds she had gained.

Either plan was completely legitimate and either way, she'd need to go back to practicing her daily CT skills (e.g., reading her Advantages Deck and Response Cards right after dinner, going to her Distraction Box if she felt the urge to eat unplanned snacks).

Marta called me several days after our "booster" session. She was back on track, felt in control, and didn't need another appointment. I asked her what had made the biggest difference. She said going back to the basic CT skills had done the trick.