You can Think Yourself Thin!

I have a client who needs to reward herself. She works over eight hours a day and uses alcohol as her reward to de-stress. And apparently her anti-depressant meds weren’t doing it for her either.

Although anti-depressants can be of value sometimes they can be a wrong match for a person. Doctors admit that sometimes you have to try several different ones before you find the right match and even then medications seem to have a life span working only so long before a switch may be needed again.

A continuing class on stress reduction which I attended suggests this, and the fact that meds are not exactly the magic bullet either. Usually you have to work on cognitive behavior therapy too. This is simply re-framing any negative thinking into something more positive.

The client mentioned above, had lost 30 pounds, a significant amount yet was still beating herself because her weight had stalled, giving no positive thought to all that she was doing right most of the time. Alcohol was her “reward,” now and then, and the way to enjoy summer. So the re-framing here could be, “There are other festive beverages I could still enjoy...” and she could also work on other ways to de-stress.

A great book on cognitive behavior and how it is linked with our thinking patterns is The Beck Solution.

Readers what are other ways  do you “re-frame” your thinking when it comes to weight loss, especially when it comes to finding rewards for yourself and de-stressing?