CBI FPA

Background to CBI: Where I work, CBI is a term familiar to everyone. CBI, or Cognitive Behavior Intervention, is a key element to the treatment programs the residents of our correctional facility receive. The emphasis here is that we are a correctional facility, not a penal facility. The penalty for our residents is in the fact that they’ve lost their freedom and are separated from their loved ones for an extended period of time. Our facility exists to provide corrective programming in preparation for their eventual return to society. CBI for different needs in our population plays its role significantly, and I have heard many residents speak positively of the results CBI has played in their lives being changed for the better.

My CBI: A month ago, I began participating in a CBI program on my own, not at our facility. It addresses Food and Physical Activity, hence the FPA in the title of this post. This CBI FPA, as I call it, speaks to our relationships with food and physical activity, and learning to understand our needs and wants, and how to maintain healthy choices as a way of life without driving ourselves crazy. The program is called, “Noom,” and it costs about $25 per month at the introductory rate I got for seven months. I’m not sure that I’ll want to keep paying for this program after the 7 months are up, but having paid for that already, I’ll willing to give it my best shot and see if I can establish healthier habits of eating and physical activity between now and then.

The daily routine: There are several elements to the daily Noom routine (autocorrect keeps changing Noom to Zoom, Room, Doom, etc..very annoying).

1. I am supposed to log my meals, which include morning, afternoon, and evening snacks. Calorie counting is encouraged to keep me on the path to awareness of good eating. (More on that later.)
2. I log the number of 8 oz. glasses of water I drink. My goal is 5, though I frequently drink much more than that.
3. I have articles to read, along with short quizzes to take and questions to answer to reinforce the lessons I’m learning. These articles dismantle distorted thoughts about food and replace them with new understandings, such as “There’s no such thing as good foods or bad foods! Moderation and portion control are key! Put the rider in control and tame the elephant! (The elephant in the room being the beast that wants instant gratification of calorically dense foods that will weigh us down while making us crash a little while later, and the rider is the one in control that chooses a lighter, less dense snack that satisfies the cravings without compromising on the goals.) The readings take about 15 minutes a day. If I don’t finish them one day, they’ll be there for next time.
4. There is a step count section, where the app will estimate my steps each day, but I can enter an adjusted amount if I walked more than it estimated. I can add other kinds of physical activity, too, such as yard work, treadmill, exercise bike or other gym equipment, and so on, with settings for low, medium, and high intensity of activity, and duration, with which the app will determine approximate number of calories burned. My most frequent addition to the walking is lawn mowing for 30 minutes. It burns about 320 calories.
5. The other item on the daily list is the weight log. I must admit that sometimes I’m eager to do this and sometimes, not so much. However, since losing weight is one of my primary reasons for taking Noom’s approach, I press on.

30-Day Assessment: After the first thirty days with CBI-FPA, the jury is still out regarding its ultimate effectiveness. I can acknowledge some progress toward my goals, but I am not prepared to declare myself reoriented to Noom’s ways of thinking regarding food and physical activity in all the ways they recommend. That said, I do like how Noom addresses common distortions about food, in particular. For example, instead of calling this food “good” and that food “bad,” they address foods according to caloric density. Foods that have high water content are “green” foods, and should make up about 35% of our daily intake. Foods with middling’ water content fall into the “yellow” food category and are recommended to be about 45% of our intake. The last category is “red,” the densest foods, such as dried fruit, full fat dairy and meats, white breads, and so on. Reds should constitute 20% of our daily intake, or less. As I input my daily meals, the app identifies each item according to its color, so I begin to learn how to recognize where I can make adjustments to what I’m eating. Instead of dried fruit, I can choose fresh fruit. Instead of white bread, I can choose whole grain bread. Instead of milk chocolate, I can choose dark chocolate. Moderation and portion control can go a long way.

In my first thirty days, my weight dropped, rose, dropped, dropped, rose a little, dropped a lot, rose slightly, and then it held steady. My attitudes toward eating have begun to change. What I choose to eat IS different today than it was a month ago. I AM more physically active. I am more likely to get up and move than I used to be, and less likely to be a bear in a chair. These are changes I was looking for. This personal challenge has six months to go, but for now, it’s going in the right direction.

What do I think about CBI-FPA so far? Well, if I can maintain this pace, I’ll reach my goal. In my first month, I lost 8.4 pounds. I’d be happy if I lost 7 pounds/month from here on out.

UPDATE: As of end of November 2021, I reached 46 pounds lost with Noom, and maintaining. I’m still following Noom’s principles, and I’m still a fan of the program. Over the course of the five months I’ve learned that every food in moderation is acceptable, even red meats and nuts. When it comes to red meats, though, the leaner the meat, the lighter the caloric content, which makes lean meats healthier choices.