The Behavioral Component

Sorry it took me so long to come back! I moved to a new place, began classes again.... my life has been really busy!

But even if I am busy, I happily report that I have lost 17 pound already! A lot of my friends come to me asking what am I doing, and I tell them.. "My own program!". I have to say, I feel proud of myself for that! I tell them about the cognitive component, telling them about Learning the Guidelines, and the OCD Technique, ... but I realized I had left the Behavioral component out, I haven't told anyone about it yet! So, I will do this now.

First, you need to decided what are the changes you want to make. I wanted to stop eating after 8pm. So exactly at 8pm, I Brush my teeth, and if I feel I want to eat after that, I use a Mouth Wash. This helps me a lot when all I want is to have a good taste in my mouth. You might want to use this intervention if you want to stop snacking. You can brush your teeth after your meal, and then use mouth wash when you feel like eating something. If this does not work, try Chewing Gum, but chose the one you enjoy the most, you don't need to chew on a sugar free if you don't like it.

Second behavioral Intervention: Wait, smell, enjoy your food. what do I mean? Serve your plate, put it down, and look at it without eating for a minute. This will teach you to have self-control. it is not hard because it is not as you are stopping yourself from eating all together, all you are doing is waiting a little longer to start eating.

Third, Eat Slowly. I already told you that on the other post, but this is actually important. The act of eating fast is a compulsive behavior, and we want to learn more normal behavior right? So take your time chewing, give a little more time between bites. Put your fork/spoon down between bites. Cut smaller pieces of your food.

Forth, Don't get distracted while you eat. This tip I actually read on Geneen Roth's book, Women, Food & God. When you eat in front of the TV or reading a book or magazine, you are not eating consciously, you are in automatic mode, and therefore, not conscious of your behavior. If we are willing to modify behavior, we need to consciously make changes. As much as we consciously make a change, after a while, it will become automatic, and then you can relax a little more about this. But if you notice you are slipping back to your old ways, just go back to these interventions.

Fifth, Never Eat Standing Up. Eating has to become something enjoyable, natural. when you eat standing up you are failing to tell your brain you had a proper meal, and your brain needs this consistency to help your behavioral change.

Finally, Breath. When you get overwhelmed by a craving, of by any life event that makes you anxious and wanting to release your tension by eating... take some deep breaths. Relax. When you are anxious and tense, you are releasing cortisol in your body, and cortisol can actually interfere with your weight loss by making your body store fat. When you are more relaxed, you will produce Serotonin, the "Feel Good Hormone", and serotonin works with your hunger by decreasing your hunger, and consequently, helping you lose weight. So... if life gets hard... take 5... and breath. Enjoy the roses, my dear friend!

I will be posting more intervention ideas in the future, cognitive interventions, and behavioral interventions. If any of you have some good ideas to share, I will love to hear from you, and maybe post it here giving you credit for it, OK? I will also post some ideas to start exercising. I know that when we are overweight we do not feel like exercising, but there are also some interventions we can use that will help with that!

So, have a great weekend,
Love always,
Me