Transcripts

Judith S. Beck PhD:
To remind yourself constantly by writing it down and reading it on a card of all of the reasons that you want to lose weight. " I want to look better, I want to feel better about myself, I want to have more energy."

Psychologist Dr. Judith Beck, author of the book The Beck Diet Solution…

People need to not only write down these ideas but have them on a card that they can pull out periodically throughout the day so that when they're faced with a chocolate chip cookie they can say to themselves, "Hmm would I rather have the ten seconds of pleasure of eating this cookie and then feel bad afterwards? Or would I rather feel better, look better, be more attractive?"

Few dieters take the time to write this stuff down they rely instead on their mental willpower, but Judith says…

It's not enough just to do it mentally; it's very hard to do battle with these sabotaging thoughts. When you have a craving, when you really want to eat something, your tendency is to focus only on that food that you want. And you need to be in the habit of having pulled these cards out. A lot of dieters do say to me, "Well, why do I have to write down the reasons on a card? - I'll always remember them." And I'll say "So the last time when you deviated from your diet, were you remembering them then?" So, it's a good illustration of how their more logical ideas just don't stick when they feel a craving.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net, I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.