Tag Archive | Overeating

Losing Weight Shouldn’t Be a Contest

Mar27

Contests are meant to be motivating. They motivate through competition. Consider the size of the viewing audience of shows like The Biggest Loser.

Contests always have winners–and losers.  Contests can be fun, especially if you win the prize, as long as it’s the prize you wanted. And that’s where trying to lose weight in a contest can trip you up.

If you are a food addict or an emotional eater, you probably have put on some extra pounds. That happened to me, and when I was in my thirties I decided to try a popular weight loss system.

The program worked well for me. The packaged food was palatable, and all I had to do was to follow directions and check in for meetings and blood work every couple of weeks.

What I was learning about my body and metabolism was helping me understand myself more, and my food addictions seemed almost non-existent.  And the pounds were coming off.

When I had lost 22 pounds, had my flat stomach back and was feeling on top of the world, my counselor reminded me of something.

One of the incentives to losing those last few pounds was that a member could win back half of their original investment if they could hit the weight goal by a certain time.

I chose a weight that was too low for me but it was a contest and I was sure that the $150 prize would be enough to make my body obey my will. Yeah………..right.

The contest did work for some, I guess. Maybe they weren’t food addicts who overate because of emotional stress. I don’t know.

What I do know is that I wasn’t able to lose those last two pounds because of the pressure I put on myself trying to win that contest, and so I didn’t get the money.

It left me with a sense of shame, and it took much away from the earlier success I felt from feeling so alive. Why could someone else do it and not me? What difference did it make anyway?

I hadn’t figured it out yet when a big blowout with my ex-husband, who frequently made me feel like a loser, sparked a two-week eating binge and that was the end of that.

I did get to enjoy my slimmer figure for a couple of months first, but that contest spoiled my success with the weight loss program.

Once I transferred my attention to the cash prize, I forgot what my goal had been–to learn how to eat so that I could reach and maintain a healthy weight and thus, enjoy my life more.

Motivation is important but when it comes to losing weight, making it a contest might put unnecessary pressure on you to go after something you don’t even really want.

Contests have time limits. Good health does not. It takes a lifetime, and every day you remain alive is another chance to live a better life in the best of health, or at least on the road to it.

Whether you are an emotional eater, a food addict, or just someone who overate too many times or got lazy and stopped being physically active, if you’ve gotten a little too fluffy lately, you might want to take off a few pounds.

The only thing you need to win is your good health. If you have that, you won’t have to worry about your weight or anything else. You will have it all. It really is true.

No contest in the world can promise–or deliver–more than that.

Two Stressful Days in the Life of a Food Addict

Feb15

I’m not going to talk about the days, just the result of the stress . That’s how we size things up anyway, isn’t it? It’s the outcome that matters.

I don’t know what it is that makes a person feel so much rage against themselves that they engage in self-destructive behaviors. There’s a point when the incident that caused the stress begins to blend with the person who is feeling it.

I think it is at that point where the line gets blurred and we temporarily become what the situation has made us feel. Suddenly, the emotional tension becomes too much and we snap like a rubber band that is stretched beyond its limit.

Betrayal is a terrible feeling. The feeling of being victimized, especially by someone we trust, is so overwhelming that we bury it deep inside. We try to pretend that it never happened while our families and friends urge us to just get over it and move on.

But the truth is that most people don’t just get over it, because it isn’t something you just get over. Then one day the stress builds and the feeling reminds you of the incident that started it all. And you snap.

So what does all this mean to a food addict? Well, I can tell you what it means to me. I don’t drink and I am an ex-smoker. I never did drugs of any kind. My addiction is a food addiction.

I don’t know how a drug addict feels. I never will and I don’t want to. The battle with foods is hard enough to win. Sometimes I win and sometimes I don’t.

This week at the job I work, there was a constant, unrelenting low-level stress. I am a person who needs a break once in a while.

On the first of the two most stressful days last week, I took home a box of chocolates which I  consumed in less than two hours. No judgments, please. I’m sharing.

The second fall-off-the-wagon-at-top-speed incident was the following day. I took home a package of black Twizzlers. Two hours later they were gone.

Two days in a row of steady, constant low-level stress turned into unmanageable high-level stress and my food addiction took over. I wanted to sleep but I couldn’t. I wanted to exercise but my hours were too long and I was too exhausted.

I needed a break but there was none to be had, so the trigger clicked and I couldn’t get out of the way in time. Within 24 hours, I was back at the store but my shift was only four hours and I had gotten some rest and a sense of accomplishment from my non-store work.

My interest in food or should I say in eating compulsively was gone and I could breathe again. Mental and emotional anxiety were replaced with inner calm.

Unlike other addictions, a food addiction can come and go in a matter of hours with only the unpleasant side effects that usually occur as a result of overeating.

It takes a lot to put me in that unsafe place where food is my only suit of armor. I don’t offer excuses but I do know that I have to get back on track fast and break the cycle as quickly as possible.

I guess I have some work to do.

Overeating? Don’t Even Start!

Feb12

Don’t kid yourself. The best way to keep overeating from burying you is to just not start. It’s easy to convince yourself that a little extra pasta  won’t hurt.

A few more M & M’s, eating just enough ice cream to make it look even in the carton,  or one more candy from a box of chocolates is just enough to send you over the edge, so don’t start.

Eating stops when your stomach signals you that it is full. Overeating starts when we ignore the body’s signals. Cross that fine line and you’re in trouble.

So don’t cross it. Ha! Easier said than done. So what’s the answer? Can you repeat the question?

And that is precisely the kind of self-talk that gets us into the overeating mess. And it is a mess, that’s for sure. Easy to get into and hard to get out of, just like any other habit.

And therein lies the answer. Don’t even start letting it become a habit. As soon as you recognize that you are overeating, stop.

Focus on recognizing when you begin to overeat. Recognizing is not the same as realizing. Recognizing means you can see it coming and can do something about it. Realizing means you waited too long.

While you see your chance, take it. Stop overeating before it becomes a habit. If you can do that, you will buy yourself some time to figure out a real solution and avoid a real problem.

I’m talking about obesity. Habitual overeating is what gives obesity its foothold. If you have the discipline to stop the overeating cycle at the recognition stage, you will be empowered to one day break it altogether and create your life anew.

It’s Not Your Fault That You’re Fat

Jan18

Removing the blame from gaining excess weight due to overeating or emotional eating binges may sound good in the short run, but what do you do when reality sets back in?

If it’s only a few pounds and you’re disciplined enough to stick to an eating plan for a couple of months, you can blame your weight gain on the holidays, or breaking up with your lover, or short-term stress.

You hit the gym a couple of times a week, get back on track and no real harm done. In a few weeks, your weight returns to normal in a seamless transition, and life goes on.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case for millions of people who substitute food for affection, companionship, and love. Eating in order to avoid facing your fears is a symptom of a deeper issue.

Blame is not the concern here. Responsibility is what counts. No matter who or what got you into the mess that caused you to gain thirty pounds, or however much you gained, the only one who can change your situation is you.

If you’re ready to accept responsibility for making the changes in your life, then you should also know that your reality is the only one that matters.

It isn’t your fault because no judgment is necessary. You can assess your situation without judging yourself or blaming yourself for being weak. We are what we are, and that can change at any time.

We change when we experience something that makes us see the world and ourselves differently than we did before we had this new information. We can aid this process with affirmations that help put new ideas into our hearts.

One of the things I use and have used for more than two decades are Prosperity Cards, specifically HarMoney. Of course you can write your own affirmations too, but if you’d like a little help with them, click here.

Whatever happens, whatever you choose, responsibility grows on you. Feeling in charge of your life gives you a greater sense of freedom, which seems to become enhanced as we are willing and able to take on greater responsibility for our being.