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Previously on PastaQueen.com!

PastaQueen regained fifty pounds during a period of chronic pain and depression, but vowed to lose the weight one more time in 2010. She bought a copy of The Beck Diet Solution, a cognitive therapy program, and is reporting on the results each week. Unfortunately, due to thee days of nausea induced by the H1N1 vaccine, she put off Day 8 of the plan for three days, which ironically is called, “Create time and energy.”

Day 8 – Create time and energy

Once I finally found the time and energy to read this chapter, I was tasked with writing a schedule for when I would exercise and complete other activities necessary for weight loss. As a freelancer, my schedule is pretty flexible, so it wasn’t hard to schedule time to exercise. I also decided I can spend two hours on Saturday or Sunday planning and preparing dinners for the week to get it all over [...]

• Continue reading "PastaQueen does the Beck Diet Solution: Week 2 – Get Set: Prepare to Diet"

The Beck Diet Solution is a six-week program of cognitive therapy which aims to make you change the way you think, which in turn helps you change your behavior. Cognitive therapists believe that all actions start with thoughts. You think about scratching your head, so you scratch it. You think about eating a bowl of cereal, so you eat it. Our thoughts and behaviors are a bit more complex than that, but if you can change the way you think, it is believed that you can change the way you act.

I will be following the Beck Diet Solution for the next six weeks and blogging about it every Monday. I’m actually at the end of week two right now, but I’ll try to catch the blog up with my real time behavior in the next few weeks. The book assigns you one task a day, letting you gradually change your behaviors little by little until you’ve changed the way you think about food and exercise. Dr. Judith Beck says it’s sometimes ok to do two [...]

• Continue reading "PastaQueen does the Beck Diet Solution: Week 1 – Get Ready: Lay the Groundwork"

Photo by steviewonderbaby / CC BY-NC 2.0

Last week I was watching an episode of Glee, the hit Fox show that everyone has told me to watch. The plotline of this episode involved the temporary school nurse giving some student members of the glee club pseudoephedrine, a chemical commonly found in cold medicine, which can also act as a stimulant. They were using it to feel alert and souped-up to perform. In between my laughter at the jokes and my humming along to the songs, I found myself thinking, I should totally try that. It might help me get through the day. At which point I sighed and thought, Oh, Jennette. That is so, so, completely wrong. You are obviously depressed. Because, seriously, no one should be contemplating the abuse of cold medicine as a method of coping with day-to-day life.

For those of you just arriving at the party, I have had a chronic headache for almost two years which has really effed up my life. (And OMG, do not send me suggestions. If you do, [...]

• Continue reading "The big D (and we’re not talking donuts)"