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

April 27, 2009

Wait on Your Weight Goal

A new dieter, Alan, consulted me this week. He weighs 265 pounds and is 5'6". He would like to weigh 100 pounds less. "It's a mistake," I told him, "to set a big goal like that. First, we really don't know whether 165 pounds is a reasonable weight for you to get down to and maintain. Second, it's too far away." Alan immediately became discouraged and we had the following discussion (see pages 113-114 of the Beck Diet Solution). Read More

April 20, 2009

Reworking the Plan

Melanie, a dieter who consulted me a few months ago, recently contacted me for a "booster" session. She was doing great, still losing about 3 pounds a month. She was no longer writing down her food plan in advance, nor did she need to. Instead, she was able to decide at each meal and snack what she wanted to have and to eyeball her portions instead of measuring her food. Read More

April 13, 2009

Talk Back to Cravings

This past week, I met Jon socially, at a party. We had known each other slightly. He told me he had read my cognitive therapy books on dieting and wanted me to know which technique had helped him the most. It had been emailing his "diet buddy," when he was tempted to eat something he wasn't supposed to. With his permission, I cut and pasted below an old email he forwarded to me. Read More

April 6, 2009

Spring Holiday Eating

A number of dieters have come to see me in anticipation of the holidays. Here's what I asked them:

When Passover or Easter is over, how do you want to feel about yourself?

Proud that you followed your holiday eating plan? Motivated and in control? Pleased with yourself? Confident that you'll return to your usual eating routine?

Upset that you abandoned your plan, distressed that you gained a significant amount of weight, and unsure that you can get back on track? Read More

March 30, 2009

What a Relief

When Mark sat down in my office this week, he said, "Before we start, can I just tell you how relieved I feel?" When I said, "Of course," Mark told me:

"I finally get it. I do. Cravings go away. I don't have to eat to make them go away. When I'm tempted, the more I say, ‘Don't worry, you're going to eat again at ______ o'clock, the easier and easier it gets.' "

I asked Mark to give me an example.

March 24, 2009

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. Read More

March 16, 2009

“Best Diet” Research Misses the Boat

There has been a good deal of research lately on what constitutes the best diet for weight loss: low fat? low carb? high protein? high fiber? I think the researchers are asking the wrong question. Read More

March 12, 2009

Regularize Your Eating

It was important for Emilia to learn how to regularize her eating by sticking to three meals and three snacks a day-before she started dieting. I demonstrated how important this skill is (pages 89-93), by asking Emilia to set aside one day where she would make a note every time she wanted to eat when it wasn't a meal time or snack time. Read More

February 23, 2009

Why Is It So Hard to Throw Away Food?

Some dieters are so surprised when I suggest that throwing away food is an essential skill for long-term success (pages 82-83 of The Complete Beck Diet for Life). Stella told me that she usually nibbled on the food her children left on their plates and on the small amount of food left in serving dishes. “It’s only a little,” she would rationalize. Read More

January 6, 2009

How to Keep Your Weight Loss Resolution

DON'T START OUT BY DIETING! In my experience, the major reason that people have difficulty losing weight or keeping it off is that they jump right into following an eating plan before they have learned how to diet. Read More

Books by Dr. Judith Beck

The Complete Beck Diet for Life: The Five-Stage Program for Permanent Weight Loss

The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person

Beck Diet Solution Weight Loss Workbook: The 6-week Plan to Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person

Diet Basics

Why do we wrestle with what we eat and how much we eat? Sometimes we eat the right foods in the right portions, and sometimes we eat the entire dinner table and all the wrong foods. Why is it so hard to eat healthfully? Whether you're trying to lose a few pounds or maintain a nutritious diet, you'll find answers to your questions here.

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