Buy It Now!

Buy It Now!
Today I was talking to a woman about weight loss,
congratulating her on the fact that she did not gain any
weight since her last visit, especially since she had been
on vacation. But she was in a grouchy mood and couldn't
seem to find anything positive about my comments. She was
only able to focus on a number she had seen on the scale, a
number that hadn't moved down (and she couldn't be happy
that it hadn't moved up!) Then she said "there were so many
nice clothes-I can't wait until I lose another 20 pounds so
I can buy myself something new."

Unfortunately, I just sat there and didn't say anything. I
suppose since I had already congratulated her on not
gaining weight I simply did not feel I could add anything
to the conversation. I didn't want to sound redundant,
although in retrospect, perhaps it would have been helpful
to remind her that her weight maintenance was an amazing
accomplishment for someone who had been on a cruise. So
instead we discussed goals for her next visit, including
continuing her activity, maybe increasing her walking,
planning for her son's Bar Mitzvah, and then she left.

Afterwards I began to think-why do we have to wait until we
lose weight to reward ourselves? Why do we feel the scale
has to show a certain number before we are allowed to go to
a nice store and get something pretty and comfortable? What
is the need we have to punish ourselves? Why do we feel we
have to walk around in clothes that don't feel right, are
too tight, and make us feel unattractive?

And suddenly I realized-we don't.

I have decided the next time this woman comes in to see me
for nutrition counseling, and talks about what she is going
to buy AFTER she loses more weight-, I am going to tell her
to "buy it now." I am going to make sure she hears me tell
you she is absolutely deserving of getting herself
something new, something she likes. She is a mother, a
wife, a school teacher-three full time jobs! In my book,
that alone entitles her to a buying spree.

Buy something NOW-buy something you like, that is
comfortable and makes you feel good-right NOW.

When you feel good about yourself, you treat yourself
better. There are too many times in my past when I turned
to food when I didn't feel good about myself, almost as a
punishment. I felt undeserving of any type of attention,
any type of reward. I was overweight and that made me
unworthy of trusting myself to treat myself with anything
besides food. It's as if I was saying "see, I told you so,
you can't take care of yourself." The reality is-I do the
best I can. Some days are more difficult than others, but I
do my best. We all do.

So don't wait to buy that dress, those pants, that skirt.
Buy it now.

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