Chapter 1: The Key to Success

I've been preparing to start this program for a few weeks now. That means that I've been eating compulisely, overeating and eating junk on a daily basis. No one knows this since I'm very good at eating in secret. I ate an entire package of chocolate wafers in less than an hour at my desk. I didn't do this once, I did this twice last week and three times the week before!

I do this so I can eat all the tempting foods in whatever quantity I want since I can no longer eat this way once the diet starts. My distorted thinking rationalizes this behaviour to provide me with a motivation to change since I am so thoroughly disgusted with myself. However, this time no matter how many wafers, chocolate and ice cream I've consumed, it's been harder to get in the proper "headspace" for dieting. I'm just not feeling the will to eat sensibly and a strong-sense of motivation I have experienced previously. Perhaps this is another area that the "Beck Diet Solution" (BDS) will help me.

Day 1: The Key to Success
According to Beck, the key to success in dieting is knowing how to diet.

I already know how to diet: what to eat, what not to eat, eat less calories than my body burns and I'll loose weight. My interpretation of this statement means that this procees will help on the implementation part of the diet: how to avoid cheating, how to resist tempting foods, how to cope with hunger, cravings, stress, avoid using food for comfort and how to "talk back" to the sabotaging voice in my head.

There are no specific tasks for day one, but from reading this chapter, I've come to realize that many dieters think and rationalize like I do. Beck's book will also help provide solutions to problems that frequently come up with diet. Examples from the book that are some of my favorites are: "You felt upset and thought that eating would make you feel better." "You were too polite to turn down the dessert that your friend baked." "You felt like treating yourself." "You were too tempted by the sight of food when shopping."

Can you relate to these same problems? Do you have any other dieting problems you need a solution to?

Coming up tomorrow: Day 2: What really makes you eat...