I often promote cognitive behavioral techniques because they are proven to work for habit change. IMHO weight management is 98% about stuff other than food and eating. Our brains have what I call “monkey minds” that can lead us astray. CBT tools like challenging thoughts and re-framing can tame that primate brain and direct it positively.
I’ve had weight issues like everybody else. Nutrition coaches aren’t immune. I strive to be transparent about how I manage as part of being a coach focused on peer support and and being a “guide on the side.” Judith Beck‘s work has helped me more than any other tool.
I love her book “The Beck Diet Solution.” It gives you six weeks of daily exercises to change certain ways of thinking which make it difficult to eat nutritiously and maintain your weight. They aren’t exercises that you need to get through in six weeks. Beck realizes that learning to incorporate each exercise into your life consistently can require practicing one at a time until the technique is solidly part of your daily routine.
I love it most of all because it helps with self-love and reminds one that change is possible. I continue to use many of the practices from the book which got me to my healthy size and help me maintain it.
[…] was using cognitive behavioral therapy tools quite successfully already when I ran across Judith Beck’s book, “The Beck diet solution” , which has become one of the things I love. Even if you already know some CBT techniques, […]