Can you think your way thin?
How cognitive behavioural therapy can help you achieve your weight-loss goals
By Lesley Young
The obstacles to weight-loss could be all in your head. According to a new school of thought in weight management, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can help us examine our eating patterns and the thoughts associated with food to change unhealthy behaviour—and help us lose unwanted weight.
CBT is a technique that dissects how our thoughts and perceptions (that’s the cognition) affect our actions (and that’s the behaviour). It has shown success in treating conditions such as depression, anxiety and addiction. And now the treatment is being applied to help modify eating behaviours.
“Diets don’t work, because you can’t stay on them forever,” explains Dr. Valerie Taylor, director of the Canadian Obesity Network’s mental health program. “You need to learn alternative strategies to cope with the [craving] triggers in the first place. CBT gives people the ability to analyze their behaviours and question their perspectives. It really challenges people to identify their emotional and interpersonal triggers around food.” For example, once you identify a negative thought (such as “Showing emotions means I’m weak”), you can develop and practise a countering thought (“It takes a lot of personal strength to face emotions head-on”). “And it works,” says Taylor.
A 2010 study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry showed that CBT works in the long run, unlike some weight-loss techniques. The study followed 205 men and women with binge eating disorder, and found that CBT helped prevent binge eating for at least two years.
For more insight on why the pounds aren’t dropping off, try the self-help CBT tool co-authored by Taylor, The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Weight Management. The book is structured to be used either by individuals at home or with a CBT instructor; check with your doctor to see if there are any classes in your area. The book is available at chapters.indigo.ca and amazon.ca.
This article was originally titled "Mind over food" in the Summer 2011 issue of Best Health. Subscribe today to get the full Best Health experience–and never miss an issue!
Best Health Magazine, Summer 2011
My binges are killing me. Then I kill myself trying to work out. What I do is just compensate but I don't want to compensate for my binges anymore and I can't stop. It's like there are 2 different people battling themselves in the kitchen. What can I do?
As a binge eater when I was a teenager and into my twenties, I can suggest based on personal experience that a thought which is causing anxiety can trigger the binges. The role of binge eating is to "numb out" with food and in that way lessen the anxiety. To the lady who says she knows she binge eats but doesn't know why: next time you find yourself with your head inside the fridge or cupboard try to recall what you were thinking just before you found yourself there. Write it down, then try to find better more constructive and less anxiety causing ways to say it to yourself, something which is not self-critical. Example: "I will never lose weight so I might as well eat!" Firstly, never say never! no really, that's such a blanket statement to say to yourself. So now you catch the thought, then try to say something nicer to yourself: "I haven't lost the weight I want to lose quite yet, but I'm doing my best and working on it."
I used to work at home more often than I do now. I would find myself with my hand in the cupboard grabbing a cookie or two. I'd think: now how in the heck did I wind up here? I'm supposed to be working. Then I realized I'd come across a problem or a difficult question and my knee jerk reaction would be to head to the cupboard. It is really a question of being mindful. To everyone trying to lose a few pounds, I wish you all the best, ladies! If I can lose just ten, I will be a very happy camper.
Wow. I know I binge eat, but I am having real difficulty identifying my triggers. Thanks for the article. This gives me another avenue to research.
Renee
http://whereverthewindblowsme.wordpress.com/
This is nothing new. I've personally have used this diet a number of years ago. You do not need a doctor or buy books in order to lose weight. Use your head and take it 5 pounds at a time. Look at yourself and your clothing and make your own judgement as to if you could or should lose more. This is how this diet works. Think thin and slim. Your brain will tell you stomack when it's full and when it's hungry. Follow your body. It will tell you what you need if you listen to it. Then exercise! You need lots of this if you want to lose weight. It's simple folks.
The difficult part is that this is not why why people are over weight. Other factors come into play. Thyroid, hormones, diseases and food. If you eat food your body can not digest you are no farther ahead! It piles up in your stomack and stays there. Your body can not get rid of it. I know as this has happened to me and my daughter is going through this now.
There is no medical testing for this and there is simply no easy answer to solve this problem. Everybody has a different body and you can not put all apples into one basket.