Introduction
Dr. Judith Beck is the Director of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research, and the author of The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person. The book is based on Beck’s experiences with patients who have lost weight using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The Beck Diet Solution is not a diet plan, but instead, an approach, which utilizes CBT – a technique, focused on the relationship between feelings, thinking, acting, and weight loss.
Promise
Learn to change the way you think about weight loss and you can lose weight and keep it off.
Premise
All too often, dieters experience difficulty sticking to a weight loss program, not because they have no willpower or motivation, but because they lack the knowledge necessary to succeed. That knowledge, according to the Beck Diet Solution, is having the skills necessary to resist temptation, cope effectively with setbacks, and develop strategies to set appropriate goals. Expand this base of knowledge — conveniently provided within the pages of The Beck Diet Solution — and you’ll experience success.
Program Overview
The Beck Diet Solution is not a diet. It is an approach geared to showing dieters how to use specific cognitive therapy techniques that can teach them how to think differently and overcome dieting pitfalls. Dr. Beck rationalizes that dieters need to learn how to think like a thin person. That if a dieter can learn the behavior, mindset, lifestyle, and habits of a thin person; they will likely be more successful at losing weight and avoiding the urge to unconsciously sabotage their own success.
The Beck approach helps people learn to overcome sabotaging thoughts, how to maintain that feeling of control, and how to remain motivated throughout the weight loss process. After all, good intentions and willpower can only take you so far on a diet, right? Dr. Beck believes dieters need much more as well and sets out to provide those resources.
Resources provided in the book include employing practical exercises and activities, as well as several easy-to-use tools, hunger monitoring scales, daily planning schedules, weight loss graphs, and ingenious motivation cards designed to help dieters handle a variety of dieting hurdles.
Plan Strengths
The Beck Diet Solution addresses the psychological side of losing weight, and for many, this is often the side of weight loss that is overlooked and/or underestimated. Therefore, learning how to change the behaviors that led to weight gain, and improve self-awareness remains essential to long-term weight loss maintenance. In fact, it should rank right up there with sensible eating and exercise in any diet program.
Dr. Beck’s approach, which is one that favors weight loss in moderation and at a slower pace, has also proven more effective over the long run. The book is filled with real-life examples of people who were able to use the techniques presented in the Beck Diet Solution and succeed, which can prove to be highly motivating to others.
Plan Weaknesses
Individuals looking for a specific diet and exercise plan will be disappointed. The Beck Diet Solution does not offer one. Instead, it is left up to the dieter to find a “reasonable” diet plan, in fact, two (in case the first one doesn’t work out). Participants must also select an exercise plan and are encouraged to hook up with a diet support coach to ensure success.
For those who want “scientific” proof this approach works, there is none at this time. While the book offers several case study examples as illustrations of the approach’s success, it lacks any controlled studies, comparing the Beck approach to other weight loss programs out there.
Conclusion
The Beck Diet Solution deals with the psychological side of losing weight, a factor several traditional diet plans often fail to fully address completely. It does not provide a specific diet plan, but if used in conjunction with a reasonable diet plan would likely provide dieters with that added boost often needed to ensure weight loss success.
The information provided here is for educational or informational purposes only. Dave DePew does not endorse any of the programs/services reviewed here.
Additional Resources
The Beck Diet Solution (official website), www.beckdietsolution.com
The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person by Judith Beck, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Book Reviews, 2008, Vol. 4, No. 5. http://www.the-iacp.com/files/CBTBR-Vol_4_5_a2.pdf
Health: The Beck Diet For Life, CBS3, http://cbs3.com/specialreports/Health.Alert.Stephanie.2.900698.html