2008-09-03 The big question, does it work?

Firstly, I should state that I haven't read the accompanying book so can only comment on how effective this excercise was for me. The claim is that by completing the journal every day you will change your relationship with food and that will ultimately make you thin but of course we all know is that eating less and excercising more will make you thin not reading a book so whats this guys silver bullet.

The point is I think that part of loosing weight is about determing the reasons why you are doing it and making sure that you can sustain that weight loss. My doctor told me that less than 10% of people who loose weight keep it off so its true that the long term solution is as important as the hunger pangs and gym time. The two main aspects of the plan are firstly only eat when you are hungry and secondly positive thinking and reinforcement of positive messages - which I found the most interesting as it encourages you to turn any negative idea or thought into something positive so mental as well as physical gymnastics.

The book itself contains 90 pages and on the left hand side there is a daily idea from our mentor, for example, taking the time to think positively about some part of yourself. On the right hand side is a daily checklist and space to put in some comments to two questions a) One positive thing I noticed today and b) What I'm looking forward to tomorrow. The checklist asks if you have if you have moved your body, drank lots of water, eaten only when you are hungry, looked in the mirror and thought about how great you. The second key to this plan or idea is only eat what you want and only eat when you are hungry. The idea being not to enter into a negative cycle of deprevation but embracing what you like eating but only eat when you need to and as much as you need.

All these ideas are great and important to long term success. I also found that writing in a journal and having checkpoints is a good way to keep on track. But whether any diet works is up to you not the author, so the book is a tool to help you as an overweight individual feel more positive about yourself, more committed to a diet and build a long term sustainable relationship with food. So did it work for me? well it helped me think about why I was dieting and the postiive thinking was a very good excercise which I much appreciated and I honestly did change some things in my relationship with food such as only eating at the table - not in front of the TV and to think about the enjoyment of food rather than using it as a comfort blanket and I started doing more sport - I do however admit that although I kept on the diet I gave up with the journal after around 1.5 months as the daily questions are the same but ever so often I go back and have a peek.