Day 42 - Beck Diet Solution, Practice, Practice, Practice

Some people say that “practice makes perfect.” That may be true with some things, like practicing a musical piece until it can be played perfectly. But in weight loss we’re not aiming for perfection, because everybody slips up sometimes and that’s normal and human. Maybe the better saying for BDS is “practice makes automatic.” That’s what we’re really aiming for – to think like thin people, and to do it automatically.

In the Army once, when we were in the middle of a 12-mile road march, everybody was starving and we were standing in the pouring rain, one of the drill sergeants encouraged us “This can only last so long.” True with everything, isn’t it? You’ll hit rough patches in your weight loss journey, where you’ll question all your accomplishments and whether it’s worth it to continue. Suck it up and drive on. Everything is temporary and this transient wave of difficulty will soon wash away.

Keep reviewing and practicing the core skills we have learned over these past 6 weeks. Build on them. Make new response cards and checklists that better fit the changing you. Take up new hobbies and pursuits to support your goals, like studying yoga or meditation to help with relaxation and stress reduction. Keep learning and developing yourself towards skinny thinking and living.

For honing on your best goal weight and maintaining that weight, read the next two chapters of BDS. There may well be a difference between the weight you think you’d like to be and your Lowest Achievable Weight, the weight at which you naturally plateau. The book gives you further tips and suggestions on how to decide whether to stop at your plateau weight or to keep going lower. The book also gives you pointers on how to stay at the goal weight you’ve chosen.

Dr. Beck encourages us to get in touch with her and let her know what strategies and tips we have that weren’t included in this book, and also wishes us the best of luck!

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Inigo Montoya: Who are you? Man in Black: No one of consequence. Inigo Montoya: I must know... Man in Black: Get used to disappointment. Inigo Montoya: 'kay. The Princess Bride (20th Century Fox 1987) Just as Inigo shrugs off the disappointment of the Man in Black’s declining to reveal his identity and gets right back into the duel, so too must we shrug off those discouragements that go hand-in-hand with losing weight and keep truckin’ down the weight loss trail. It’ll go easier for us if we do. What if we just lay around bellyaching about how horrible it is that we can’t have that donut, can’t eat/drink exactly what everybody else does at parties, can’t just open the fridge and eat whenever we felt like it? How much would we really accomplish that way? Even if we do stick to our plans for a little while under that mindset, we’d be fighting an exhausting battle with ourselves every day and eventually give in. Even the patience an...

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