[LuckyLadyBug]

Greetings to all lurkers and posters.
This is going to be a new thread topic focused on "studying" Dr Phils The Ultimate Weight Solution
We invite you to read the entire book or take it one chapter at a time, following the discussion within this thread.

Each Sunday we will start discussing a new chapter for that week.
This will be a 12 week program. We hope all of you join in every week.

If you just now found this site... be sure and go back and read all the threads for each previous chapter we did.
If you are joining us late... just go back and read each chapter and add your comments in that chapters thread. Be sure to let us know in the current thread so we can go back and read your comments.

It is recommended you have a pen, pencil and/or a colored highlighter with you as you read.
Mark every word, sentence, phrase or paragraph that hit home for YOU.
Read each chapter as if you are going to be tested .. (You're not going to be tested)
Then come to this thread and share what hit home for you... what you took away with you from that chapter and how you are incorporating it into YOUR life.
Feel free to post often ... you may get a dozen different topics you want to share per each chapter.

I know many can read the entire book in an evening... others will need a week... while some of us may need the entire 12 weeks. There are 12 chapters ... plus a few extra topics at the end. But the idea of this thread is to share what we learned from each chapter and learn from others insights.

You do not have to be a Dr. Phil fan... many here are not. BUT... let's face it... we can all learn something new that just might be what will make a difference.
Each Sunday anyone can feel free to copy and paste this introduction and then start the new study.
Be sure to title it Book Study /Chapter #/ date-date
We are looking forward to reading everyones input.

[LuckyLadyBug]

Well, this chapter is a puzzeler for me. I don't have "bad" food in my house so why am I fat?

One thing I do incorrectly (like that, I didn't say I was wrong) is I drink too many calories. I love Chai Tea. It is creamy, soothing, comforting.

Hmm I have to think on this a lot more because I don't have sweets or chip type food in my house so WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? Oops!!!!

I do NOT like preparing food so I do tend to get easy to prepare stuff. I do use the Foreman Grill to cook ground turkey, make tons of broccoli to go with it but I am certainly comsuming something to maintain this weight.

I had better get back to reading.

[ageoldie]

I agree with you Lucky, I don't keep no-no foods in the house either, and we almost never eat at fast food place, and I cut out all carbonated drinks about 2 1/2 years ago so it's not that. When I eat at home, I know my portions are not too big, hummmmmmmm... like you I need to figure out what the real problem is.

[Terri in MO]

I've gotten started on Chapter 6. I took the assessment and scored pretty well but do have room for improvement. I talked to DH tonight that I want to change how we serve dinner. He cooks and we put all the food on the table. He has trouble understanding portion sizes. So with all the food on the table, it is easy to get extra helpings. Even if we cook healthy meals, it is still extra calories. I have asked that I fix my plate of appropriate portions and not sit the other food on the table. And then I won't get up to fix extra helpings for myself. We'll try that.

Hmmm, Barb.G - Don't keep no-no foods? Did you lose the 10 pints of ice cream you bought on sale?? Just checking!

I say the same thing about the "we don't keep the bad stuff in the house" however for us, it is portion size and the choices we make when eating out. When eating out, portions are way too big. Most of us don't eat a half cup of anything which on a lot of foods, is a portion size.

[LuckyLadyBug]

Dang it I lost my post.

Anyway, the short version is I have to buy all the things I never do because of my family coming to stay with me for a week. 7 people coming plus the 7 that live across the road from me. I need A LOT of food.

BarbG: I think as much as I hate it, I have to write down everything I eat and then use Fitday. I will do that the next week & a half but then "coast" from July 1st through the 5th. I probably won't even have time to turn on my computer let alone log into Fitday.

I defintaly do things wrong I just don't recognize them.

Terri: Oh, you are so "right on" with your idea. I was thinking that my cooking is the MAIN issue for me because if I make it - no matter how much -I feel I have to eat it!!!! I was toying with the idea of must eating pre-made food or nutrition bars for a week and see what happens. I have tried SlimFasts mac & cheese and really like it. I can make one serving eat it and am done. TA DA!!!

Hopefully I can finish Chapter 6 this weekend and be ready for Chapter 7.

I will still work on my Chapter 5, since I know most of my issues are "emotional" ones.

I REALLY want to get IT this time.

[Terri in MO]

Continuing on with Chapter 6:

I found the discussion about the cues very enlightening. I had never recognized how external cues make my body react physically. Especially the comment....if you are overweight, you typically fail to respond to biological internal cues - you literally do not know when you are physiologically hungry. When I think back to the times when I used to do binge eating, that is so true. I would eat all day long because I thought I was hungry. And the sight of food when I am home by myself, is a powerful cue for me to eat it. All while the food is traveling from the counter to my lips, my head is saying, I will not eat that..

Every time you even think about food, your body starts reacting at a physiological level to heighten your desire to eat. Again, I never put much thought into that concept. It is hard to not be hungry when you're watching TV and all you see are high-calorie foods on the commercials. All the more reason to turn the TV off and get up and do something.

As far as eliminating cues, we have made a lot of progress on that front in the last year. I do now recognize and fully believe that if its not here, I won't really miss it. I discovered this after doing South Beach for the first time. I can be perfectly happy not eating certain foods (bread, sugars, etc) until I eat them and then lose control. I haven't had pizza in a long time. I walk by it in the cafeteria and it just doesn't have the appeal that it used to. I used to eat it once a week. I don't even bother with WW frozen pizza anymore.

I also found interesting his theory on willpower. We've been led to believe that we're fat because we don't have willpower. We're failures as rational human beings because we aren't "strong enough to resist". He is right about willpower being nothing more than a short-lived burst of energy that will lead to some temporary changes..but is never going to be enough. How many times have we made today the day to be focused and we're so thrilled to have exerted willpower over foods in our lives and only to lose that strength in a week or so?

We rely on willpower thinking instead of dedicating our efforts to reprogramming our environment and our thinking.

I don't keep any binge food around anymore. Because I know if its in the house, I'll eat it whether I'm hungry or not. What I want to do is to make myself aware of any external cues that tempt me to eating and then working on how I can change that cue.

I've already started eliminating fat clothes from the closet. I don't want to go back to where I was.

[LuckyLadyBug]

Terri: You sound like you are really "ready" this time. You have made so many changes already.

Well, on the test I had 6 yest and 14 no.

Fast food - very rarely - maybe a couple times a year.
TV - I don't watch much TV but I do watch when I eat dinner. Maybe 10 to 15 min a day.

I can't throw out my fat clothes because I WEAR THEM EVERY DAY

I beleive my BIG problem is QUITING eating. Once I start it's a fast ride down hill. Hopefully this will come up soon in the book.

Onto chapter 7.

[dixiedarlin]

My score on the Environment Audit was 7; my "yes" answers were to #2, #8, #10, #11, #13, #15, and #19.

#8 - there is one restaurant here that has a breakfast buffet every morning, lunch buffet and dinner buffet. I tend to go there and wind up getting one a buffet.

#10 - I have been spacing out my meals by the clock as my diabetic counselor instructed me to eat at certain times, but I am not always hungry at those times.

#19 - I don't like to throw food away, I can still hear my mother saying "food is too expensive to waste".

#15 - I'm single, no children; my kitchen is not self-cleaning (I don't think he considered single people with this question)

To make sure my environment is safe I will:

1. Not buy family size packages

2. Not keep food in my locker and desk at work.

3. Not carry $1 bills or change to work.

4. Keep foods out of site in my kitchen.

5. Replace junk food with healthy food.

I have now completed Chapter 6.

[ageoldie]

WOW Connie, those are some goals!!! And they are very practical and should really work. I'm proud of you. Now if I could just get that committed!