Day 14 - Beck Diet Solution, Plan for Tomorrow

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In homage to all the insurance commercials we see today - if we had an insurance policy for losing weight and keeping it off, chances our policy rates would go way down with today’s Beck component in place: writing out and planning all our meals and snacks in advance. Planning our meals out carries multiple advantages:

• When we plan out our meals, we can also plan out how to get and prepare the designated food;
• Instead of wondering about when we’re supposed to eat and hoping we make the right choices, it becomes automatic.  It’s like we’re riding a weight-loss train which makes all the right stops and which will take us straight to our destination – all we need to do is stay on;
• Speaking from over 20 years of counseling, Dr. Beck has identified the habits which keep the weight piling back on – and spontaneous eating/grazing is one of them.
• When you encounter occasional hunger/cravings but stick to your plan, you’ll learn that you can withstand these urges.
• The decision to stick to your plan and not to give in to urges and triggers is already made.  That way, if someone offers you something delicious at dinner or a yummy snack at the office – the decision is already made: “No, thank you” (unless you’ve planned for it)

Planning out your meals is easier than ever today.  If you follow WW, you can do it within their system.  You can also enter all your food using free online sites such as MyFitnessPal or Fitday.

The first BDS weigh-in happens tomorrow as well.  Dr. Beck reminds us that it really doesn’t matter what the scale says because we are going to be following these principles for a long time.  

Some people vigorously resist the concept of planning out all meals/snacks for a lifetime.  Beck says you don’t have to make that commitment – just commit to a week of planning at first.  At the end of that week, decide whether to commit to another.  For some people, a few weeks or months of food-mapping is enough. If you ever go back to spontaneous eating and start to backslide, you can always resume the meal planning until the good habits have become automatic again.