Customer Reviews

The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person

5 star:		(103)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have lost 90 pounds using the principles and techniques in this book. How can that be true when the book has been out for only one week? No tricks here - early in 2006 ( a year ago) I began a self-designed plan of eating right and exercising based on 2 things: 1. my many years of familiarity with every new diet and nutritional research discovery regarding weight loss; and 2. participation in a cognitive therapy-based group called DBT which teaches skills to increase emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, etc. A couple of months ago I started getting the Amazon plogs regarding Dr. Beck's new book, and I enthusiastically pre-ordered. After almost a year of steady weight loss and working my way up to walking 3 miles a day (with Leslie Sansone DVDs)I had stalled out at minus 90 lbs, and need to lose about 30 more pounds. Receiving the book, I was amazed, because almost everything I did to motivate myself over the last 13 months was contained in this work. Of course, the principles are set forth much more methodically, professionally, and with more of a well-developed theoretical basis, than in my home-made plan, but every sentence in the Beck Diet rings with honesty, integrity, thoughtfulness, compassion and hope.
To be more specific, the book does not contain a "diet" and you are told to find a suitable nutritious food plan to follow, along with an exercise plan of your own. The strategies presented in the book do indeed 'talk' you through cognitive retraining techniques which change your thoughts about food and eating and hunger: identifying positive outcomes; ways to make a choice NOT to indulge; how to effectively deal with set-backs and limit the damage done; how to say no to friends /family who show love by sharing good food (I'm Italian; I know a LOT of them!)
Interestingly, in the first 2 weeks you don't diet at all - this is time spent planning and strategizing to re-train your thoughts. This involves completing motivational cards where you write statements to counteract any sabotaging thoughts that will come up. I found the process to be so similar to the strategies I used when I was successful in meeting the inevitable temptation, so I know that it works "in action."
On the 15th day you start your eating plan, and each day you have a checklist for reviewing the motivational materials (Advantage Cards, for example, list what YOU want to accomplish in losing weight.) Some of the basic concepts are to pre-plan for dangerous situations, acknowledge your accomplishments even if not perfect, and realize that resisting hunger and cravings is possible when you commit to using the skills Dr. Beck presents.
I have read many, many books both on weight loss and psychology, and this book is "the one" for me, and I hope for you. You have to be willing to think ahead about eating, hunger and cravings. You have to commit to following the techniques daily. If you do, this WILL WORK!!!!
I am going to be bold enough to add one additional technique that worked very well for me, and that is to "Redefine Your Treats." I admitted to a friend one day that I am basically 'treat-driven.' That is, I feel deprived and inferior in some way if I can't have a dessert, or eat a hearty portion of food. So I redefined treats - to me now it is buying bottled water; drinking Harry and David Tiramisu Coffee (no calories!!); playing Sudoku on the computer for 20 minutes. I feel like I'm indulging but it has nothing to do with actual food. So if you are "treat-driven" like me, try defining and then indulging in your own rewards.
Reading this book made me feel positive; it made me feel like I can make it happen to lose the remaining pounds; it made me admire and respect Dr. Beck for producing a non-judgmental, encouraging, 'mindful' book that is written in an engaging style. I recommend it with 90 stars and more to come.

Six to eight years ago, I stopped spending money on diet related products. Because nothing has worked for me. Maybe initially they seemed they were working, but it was just temporarily. I saw one diet book, while I was just browsing around on amazon, "you on a diet", I thought I might wanna try that, thinking like "who knows maybe this is the thing for me", so I bought it. Even though I spent lots of money on diet products, as a book, "you on a diet" was the first book for me on dieting. And, in couple of months I purchased some other diet books, hoping one would include the missing ingredient on those.
This book,Beck Diet Solution was just released, and was at the best sellers list. I read the description. It sounded very promising, but since, at that moment I already had couple of diet books which none of them really fit in to my problem, I was skeptical. For two weeks, everyday I read the reviews, trying to see if some of the reviews was gonna convince me. I finally got it, I am so glad I did. Because that was the kind of help I was looking for.It is tryin to solve my physchological problems about eating and it is triying to re-program my brain about food.
I knew myself, I can never count calories, I can never follow a menu plan written by some other people, I can never count my steps, I can never count carbohydrates, etc...etc... My diet should be without all these stuff. So that's why this is the book for me.
She, the author asks you to make your eating plan, or if you want you can use any diet that already is out there. For me, I created my own eating plan.
Then, she just teaches you some skills which is the missing skills in people who struggle with weight and skills which all the thin people has. And these skills/behaviors are not difficult to adopt. All you need to do is just practice, practice and practice... until they are your habits. Everyday, for fourty two days, you keep learning one skill at a time, until you complete all of them in that given order. You may take your time if you need, as she suggests. For example I am in my 13th day, but it has been already 23 days since I had started. Some examples of the skills are, first day you write down the reasons you wanna get thin; third day, you learn and practice sitting down whenever you eat; fifth day, you start to practice to eat slowly, and so on. At the end of the program, you have all the equipment to think like a thin person, and to be a thin person. So far I have lost 6 pounds, and I feel like I will be able to follow my plan for a long time. She gives you that confidence. She sounds very sincere about the advice she gives. And she just takes you step by step through the journey and to the very end of the journey. With other diet books, I felt like I am just left somewhere with the tons of information I did not know what to do with, or maybe they just dictate you what to do, or sometimes have fun with your eating habits, and you feel insulted and hopeless. But in this book, BDS, I felt some love and caring about the people, she sounds like she truly wants you to lose weight.
By the way, I never write a review even though I enjoy reading them. That's how happy I am, it made me write one:) I hope this review is helpful for the people who cannot decide whether to buy it or not.

This book uses cognitive psychology to help you lose weight. Cognitive psychology is based on the concept that the way you think affects how you feel and what you do. Cognitive therapy, then, helps you identify your self-defeating thinking and helps you respond to it so you can feel better and behave in helpful ways. Instead of leading you step-by-step through a diet plan, this book addresses the psychology behind why you can't get yourself to follow one and lose weight. In this book, you pick the diet (and an alternative as a back up), and the book helps you follow it.

The set-up of the book is a six-week plan. Week 1 is laying the groundwork, where you pick 2 diets. Week 2 is getting prepared to diet, Week 3 is starting the diet, Week 4 looks into responding to sabotaging thoughts, Week 5 is about overcoming challenges, such as staying in control when you go out to eat, and Week 6 is fine tuning things.

All-in-all, I'd have to say that its a great resource to address the psycholgical side of eating. There's no magic to it, just a little looking inside yourself and addressing any barriers you have that may be holding you back. Readers may also benefit from Exercise Beats Depression as well.

I first learned about this book a few months ago on a weight loss message board, then later, at a WW meeting, a member who had been losing consistently shared how following the tips in this book totally made a difference to her success. After hearing that I had to read it.

I will say, if you have been watching your weight for any length of time, or read women's magazines, or belonged to any formal diet program, much of the content will be very familiar ground to you. But even a veteran weight watcher like me will probably find at least one little tip that will be useful.

It is not a diet per se, but a way at digging into the underlying practices and thoughts that lead to overeating. You could follow any of a number of regimes and use this as extra guidance. And the thoughts always precede the behavior, even if the thought is "I am now going into a trance so I can devour all this food and pretend like it was out of my control".

The author's advice is based on cognitive therapy and research comparing behavior and thoughts of overweight and slender people.

It helps in learning to recognize and change destructive thought patterns that lead to poor eating, overeating and bad lifestyle choices.

The practical tips in learning HOW to notice these thoughts, and in using notecards to replace those thoughts, is useful.

What I especially appreciated was the fact that the information is garnered from real people.

The two nuggets that most benefited me was 1) the finding that chronically overweight consistently have a sense of unfairness (that they can't eat whatever they want), and destructive thought patterns of self pity, "why me?", and black and white thinking ("I ate one cookie I might as well eat 20"; "I can't be a size 0, so I may as well stay fat"..etc), and 2) that 'craving tolerance' is a muscle that grows stronger with use. That was helpful and encouraging, and I think very true. You won't always feel out of control or like it's hopeless to try, if you hang in there.


The realization that the 'unfairness' thought is a real stumbling block to lasting weight loss was a real 'aha' for me, because I realized I frequently entertained the thought ''why me''!? regarding a very slow and thrifty metabolism. So just for that reason alone, it was worth it, because when I start that thought process now I know catch it in time before it can sabotage my efforts at moderation.

One thing I did NOT like was the constant use of the word 'diet' and 'dieter'. After all, if it's a lifestyle change, it is not a temporary 'diet'. Using this word repeatedly flies in the face of the author's central theme, in my opinion.

I am a medical student and have a bachelor's degree in psychology. It is widely known in both medicine and psychology that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the most successful type of therapy intervention, which is why I decided to give this book a try to help myself with dieting.

Much has been made about the reasons people eat. I've heard obese people on TV say, "Food was my best friend," or "I ate to fill a void." This book does not focus on the emotionally-based underlying reasons for eating that may plague a minority of overweight people, but rather the more mundane reasons that most overweight people have for overeating - boredom, fear of hunger, cravings, etc.

The book provides very useful ways of countering overeating do to various causes. Dr. Beck asks the reader to change both sabotaging thoughts (the cognitive portion) and sabotaging behaviors, such as eating quickly and eating standing up (the behavioral portion).

The book provides a day to day guide with predetermined goals and homework assignments. You must be motivated and very willing to submit to following someone else's advice. In addition, as the other reviewers have pointed out, the book does not give you specific advice for what to eat or to avoid. You must pick a separate diet to follow.

I am about half way through the book and I feel that it has definitely helped me to control my overeating. I tend to eat out of boredom in the evening. I lacked the willpower to deny myself the snacks that I knew I didn't need. Now, I look at my advantage card (which is a list of reasons I want to lose weight) whenever I feel like snacking in the evening. The book also made me realize that I ate something right before I went to bed because I was afraid that I might be hungry later. I used this "fear of hunger" as an excuse for eating when I wasn't actually hungry. As the author points out, food is almost always around, so it hardly ever makes sense to eat just to avoid getting hungry. The author really does a great job of examining the reasons why most people overeat and gives solutions for how to overcome those sabotaging thoughts by countering them with more rational, helpful thoughts.

I had been trying unsuccessfully to diet prior to starting this book. Now, since I got it 7 days ago, I have lost 2 pounds. I am recommending this book to my family and friends, and in the future I will recommend it to my patients.

Obesity is a complex problem, and there are many reasons why it occurs. No one book will ever be written that solves everybody's problems. If you're considering this one, read the reviews, and use the 'search inside' feature to take a look at it.

There was a time in my life when I was thin, and although I just got the book, I can tell that this is what will lead me back to a normal weight. I used to resist food simply by using the techniques that are outlined in this book. When tempted, I thought about all the reasons why I wanted to keep my weight down, just like this book recommends. A lot of the other things I did then, are also recommended for changes to make on subsequent days. When I stopped caring; when I started nurturing myself with food (a subject Beck also addresses), is when I started gaining weight.

If you have found diets that you think would be workable for you if you could only stick to them; if you want to change the way you think about food and the role it plays in your life, if you're willing to put forth some effort in return for results, this book will help you. The author discusses how to deal with hunger and how to distinguish it from desire and from cravings. She addresses all the issues I need to address. If you're looking to change your thinking, so that you can control your weight for the rest of your life, help is right here. There's no BS in this book. You have to pay attention, you have to try. You have to risk. This is an honest approach to weight loss that works with people, as they really are. The affirmations aren't "I am a good person" affirmations. They are affirmations that come from your own hopes and dreams for yourself.

If you want a quick fix, and to effortlessly drop a bunch of pounds and have them magically stay gone, this ain't it. Go watch an infomercial.

If you have OCD or anorexia, this might not be the book for you. But not all overweight people are overweight because of those problems. If you suspect you need to take a problem-solving approach because you've succumbed to a bunch of bad habits, and listened to too much advertising, this is the way to go. If you put food in your mouth, not understanding why, and are upset because you don't know how to stop doing that, buy this book.

This book has been a God send! I have tried so many diets, and always lose weight .... feel deprived, binge and put it all back on! Its a vicicous cycle that has made me literally hate my body and lose a lot of confidence in my abilty to accomplish my goals. I am getting married in 23 days and this book has really helped with emotional eating. You cant stop eating emotionally until you control your thoughts, and you cannot control your thoughts until you see clearly how badly they often sabotage your efforts. It is for you if you know what to do, eat etc, but cant seem to follow through with actually doing it! Losing weight it very much a mental feat, and having the right mindset is essential to getting through temptation and maintaining the lost weight.

I have found this book to be very helpful. I have been obese since childhood and have had no success at weight loss. Its been 8 weeks since I started reading the book and I have, so far, lost 28 pounds. (UPDATE: 28 weeks, 75 lbs lost.) What's amazing is the fact that it has been easy and pretty much painless.

Here's the catch. For this to work, you must be willing to change the way you think, to admit that you might have flawed thoughts that need to be addressed. I was ready to swallow my pride, admit that it was possible that my thinking wasn't always as crystal clear as I believed, and to give this approach an honest effort. I'm glad I did.

Cognitive Therapy involves homework, and this book requires you to do some exercises every day. I doubt you can have success without doing the exercises. This book talks nothing about what diet is best. Its all about how to think about eating...and exercise as well.

I think Dr. Beck is really on to something here. I heartily recommend this to anyone who wants results. Personally, I have every confidence that I will continue to lose weight (I have a long way to go) over the next year. And that I will keep the weight off forever.

I have read many dieting and weight loss self-help books and I have never found a book that has made this much of an impact on my eating habits. This book is helpful because it gives you all of the TOOLS you need to be successful to lose weight. In the book, Dr. Beck gives you specific tasks to do. You read a small chapter each day for 6 weeks and it gives you a new lesson or task. If you can promise yourself to commit 20 minutes per day to your dieting and do EVERY step that she asks you to do, then you can not help but lose weight. This book works with any diet you choose because it's more about changing the way you think about eating. We all have so many sabotaging thoughts that prevent us from being successful in losing weight. Mine were "oh, this cookie doesn't really count - it's just a small treat" or "I'm really stressed/anxious/tired and I just need to eat this" or "It's a birthday/wedding/party and so it's okay to eat more". All of these thoughts are what have made me overweight. Now I have specific techniques to counter these thoughts and I will use them for the rest of my life. My hope is that as I use the techniques, those excuses will just go away all together. I am very happy to say that in the past 3 weeks, I have dropped 8 lbs. I feel wonderful and I'm so excited for the ways that I have re-trained my thinking about food. If you want to lose weight and can commit to doing the tasks set forth in this book, get it today. This is one of the best gifts you can give yourself.

I ordered this book from Amazon, got it earlier than the April 1st publication date and immediately started to read it all the way through. As a veteran of Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Trevose Behavior Modification, Atkins, South Beach, Cabbage diet et al, I know that there are no magic notions about what to eat. What Judy Beck shows so brilliantly is that the key is learning how to talk to yourself. On other diets or programs, I was always saying "no" to myself - and that was doomed to failure since, eventually, I ended up saying "yes" to the wrong foods; with "The Beck Diet Solution" I am learning useful, targeted ways to respond to my urges to eat the wrong things, at the wrong times, or too much food. In addition, I have learned a new mantra: "It [everything you put into your mouth] matters" and I can refer back to my cards on a daily basis for reminders of why it matters.

A few reviewers have complained that some previous reviewers have raved that the book has already made a permanent difference in their lives. I agree that such opinions are premature. However, the book does provide a truly useful road map, and this is one map that I intend to read, re-read and re-read again until the pages are well-used and I reach and maintain my goal weight.