I’ve never been one for “affirmations”. I can’t picture myself looking into a mirror and repeating, “I am beautiful” and “I am a confident leader” and “the universe will send good things to me”. But, a cornerstone of the weight loss program my group is using is learning skills, such as “motivating yourself” and “remembering in the moment why you really don’t want that brownie”.
My group is using a format devised by psychologist Judith Beck, PhD., who applies the principles of cognitive therapy to weight loss. (You can read my review of the Beck Diet Solution here.)
A basic tenet of cognitive therapy is that our self-talk imprints on our brain and affects our mood. All of us “say” things to ourselves in our heads all day long, often without realizing it. We think, even fleetingly, “It’s not fair that she can eat whatever she wants and not gain weight,” “I’m so depressed—nothing seems to be going right”, “My boss won’t respect me no matter what I do,” “I’m not disciplined enough to stick to an exercise routine,” “I am not the type of person who goes to parties,” etc.
We rarely stop to question these statements. Is absolutely nothing going right? Is there no area of our lives in which we have shown discipline? Can we predict with such certainty how our boss will respond ? Can that woman really eat all she wants without worrying about weight?
Before we even began dieting on the Beck plan, we were assigned to notice and record things we found ourselves saying when we reached for food. We found we had thoughts such as “I’m so stressed,” “I’m starving,” “This calls for a celebration!” or “I’m too busy to sit down and eat a real lunch.”
Our next step was to brainstorm with each other and write down possible responses to each of our objections. For example, we could say, “I’ll be even more stressed if I eat unhealthy food and gain weight,” “I can celebrate by calling friends instead of eating cake,” “It’s okay to be hungry for a little while.”
Repeated reviewing of the responses to our temptations can imprint them in our brain so they are accessed when we are tempted to say, “I don’t care.”
Repeated reviewing of the reasons we want to lose weight can imprint positive images and words in our psyche so that they are a motivating factor in our daily lives as well.
Beck suggests reading these reasons over twice a day to begin with. Perhaps put a list near your bed so you see it on waking up and going to sleep, and just read over it.
No chanting into a mirror required.
Please see these related blogs:
What Can You Be Grateful for Today?
Visualization and Affirmations for Single Parents