Learn "Pre-dieting" Skills Before Embarking on Weight Loss

I was delighted to receive my most recent issue of the Psychotherapy Networker, a professional magazine for therapists. It is loaded with articles on the psychology of weight control, diets and keeping lost weight off.

One author and esteemed psychologist, Dr. Judith Beck, hit the nail on the head in her article, I Think, Therefore I Eat. She writes, "It's too difficult for most people to change their eating plan and simultaneously learn the skills that will enable them to stick to it".

Dr. Beck has developed a 5-stage plan for weight control. She recommends practicing skills to keep healthy habits in place before changing any thing about their eating. Brilliant.

Her first stage is the most important one: Develop pre-dieting skills which includes learning how to stay motivated, getting use to new eating habits, dealing with hunger and cravings and relapse prevention.

So the idea is that if you have mastered say dealing with hunger and cravings before going full force into changing how you eat and exercise you probably will have more long-term success.

The only gripe I have about her writing is the use of the word “diet”. The word diet makes my skin crawl, but it gets the point across to readers. (The word diet assumes a starting and an ending point to healthy eating versus a lifelong change.)

To learn more about Dr. Judith Beck please visit her website: www.beckinstitute.org. She has authored : The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person and the workbook The Complete Beck Diet for Life.