Behavior Mod

I’m now in Phase 6 of my Behavior Modification program. I must do the tasks from Phases 1, 2, 4, and 5 (I skip Phase 3) and learn the new Phase 6 task. Here’s what I must do:

Phase 1: I must write down everything I eat and when, where, and with whom I eat it and be sure to do that within 15 minutes of eating.

Phase 2: I must eat the following meals and snacks:

A meal is anything I want to eat in the same setting at the specified time. I must eat three meals a day and I must begin them within the following time frames:

Breakfast 7:00am - 9:30am
Lunch 12:00noon - 2:00pm
Dinner 6:00pm - 8:30pm

A snack consists of one beverage plus one food item. I must eat two snacks a day and being them within the following time frames:

Mid-morning 10:30am - 11:30am
Mid-afternoon 3:30pm - 4:30pm

In addition I can, if I want, have a cup of tea when I first wake up in the morning (prior to breakfast) and a snack (one beverage plus one food item) before bed.

Phase 4: For every meal and snack, I must follow these rules:

1) Sit down when I eat.

2) Use a full place setting when I eat.

3) Cut out distractions when I eat. No working, walking, radio, television, reading, smoking, etc. The only thing I may do while I eat is talk to another person at the table.

4) Drink water before each meal and snack. Ultimately, I must drink 8 ounces of water; I began by drinking 2 ounces of water and when I moved to Phase 5 began drinking 4 ounces of water. I’ll add 2 more ounces when I move to the next Phase.

Phase 5: Learn To Eat Slowly

Loading Your Fork

When you now eat a meal or snack that requires a fork or spoon, you can no longer reload that fork or spoon until you have completely swallowed your last mouthful. You must not pick up any more food until your mouth is empty. (If this is difficult to remember, the authors recommend actually putting the fork or spoon down after every mouthful. This is my preference.)

Eating without a Fork or Spoon

If your meal or snack is something that you eat with your hands rather than with a fork or spoon - sandwiches, toast, hamburgers, etc. - you must now put the food down on your plate or napkin after each mouthful and pick it up again only when you have completely swallowed the mouthful.

This method of eating is often recommended in weight loss programs regardless of whether they are strictly behavior mod based or not. It can be summarized as: When there’s food in your mouth there’s nothing in your hand.

Phase 6: Leave Something On Your Plate

At each and every meal (not snacks) you must now leave something on your plate: something of each food item no matter how small, even if it’s only one bite of meat, one teaspoon of potato, one string bean. You must leave something.

The intention is not that you should go hungry. This is not a directive to eat less. It is an exercise designed to strengthen your own self-control, when faced with a plate of food in full view. You must learn to estimate how hungry you are, and then take as much food as you think you need. Then add an extra spoonful of each item when you serve your meal so that you can leave that extra bit on your plate. When the meal is over, scrape that leftover food from your plate and into the garbage. Under no circumstances should you over it to - or force it upon - anyone else at the table. Neither can you give it to your dog or cat or parakeet. It has to go straight into the garbage.

I must score how well I’ve done each day. Each time I fail to record something I’ve eaten; miss an require meal or snack; eat or drink something outside the specified meal and snack times; fail to follow one of the four rules; fail to eat slowly, fail to leave food on my plate at meals, I get points. The fewer points I have at the end of a day, the better I’ve done. Phase 6 is the last required phase of my Behavior Modification program. There is a Phase 7 which is optional and which I will not do. In other words, I’ll be on Phase 6 forever.

The scoring ranges are:

The scoring ranges for Phase 6 are:
0: Excellent !
1-31: Good
32-49: Fair
50+: Start Again

Once I’ve completed seven days at Phase 6 with a score less than 50, I move into maintenance mode. This simply means I continue at Phase 6 and continue my recording and scoring. If I then complete 21 consecutive days with a score of Excellent or Good - in other words, a score less than 32 - I can, if I want, stop recording and scoring and rely on my having learned the program well enough to stay on it without constant tracking and feedback. Alternatively, I can continue recording and scoring forever if I want.