Day Four is all about giving yourself credit. When you choose to sit down to eat, you say to yourself, "good decision." Every time you check something off your day's To Do List, you say "good job". You reflect on your eating behavior whenever you finish a meal or snack. You celebrate your good food choices, eating mindfully, stopping eating, etc.

Beck says people with weight problems are generally very hard on themselves. They need to consciously counter that tendency by building in positive recognition. She suggests putting sticky notes around that say "credit" to remind yourself, buying a golf swing clicker to keep track of all the positive things you do, and using stars on your To Do List.

She gives an example of using giving credit to stop overeating, too. In a restaurant there is a woman who tries to resist that wonderful smelling bread basket, but finally she gives in. She tells herself that she was so weak, she has no willpower, she'll never succeed. Another person in the same situation uses different self talk. "Okay. So I gave in. But I did wait 10 minutes. I deserve credit for that. I only ate one slice. I'll just eat a quarter of the baked potato I ordered so I stay within my calorie limit."

As anyone who regularly reads my blogs knows, I love to celebrate and brag on myself. I'm all for it and do it pretty regularly. But I think in the areas I'm still struggling, including overuse of artificial sweeteners and occasional binge eating, I can benefit from giving credit on progress rather than being too hard on myself.