Food and weight obsession has become a national pastime.
Nearly 4 out of 5 women hate their bodies. This leads to
incredible feelings of shame and self denial. Most of us
have been taught to idolize the skinny models that adorn
fashion magazines. We were also led into years of dieting
dysfunction by our well meaning families and friends
attempting to help us achieve society's thin ideal.
As a woman who has struggled with emotional eating for 35
years, I thought the answer was finding the right diet. Now
I know better.
Recently it has been revealed and admitted by the medical
community that diets just don't work for 90-98% of all
people. In the April 2007 issue of The American
Psychologist, the Journal of the American Psychological
Association, UCLA researchers reported that diets don't
work in the long run.
According to the latest results of a composite study done
at UCLA, Traci Mann, Associate Professor of Psychology at
UCLA and lead author of the study said, "We found that the
majority of people regained the weight, plus more.
Sustained weight loss was found only in a small minority of
participants while complete weight regain was found in the
majority. Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or
health benefits for the majority of people."
For so many years, I bounced back and forth from diet to
diet, until I found Weight Watchers and followed through,
going back as many as 20 times in an attempt to lose
weight. Then in 2001, I finally reached my goal weight. I
managed to keep the weight off for over 6 years, thinking
that I had it all figured out. Yet my life was miserable. I
was caught in patterns of overeating, skipping meals,
over-exercising and in constant fear of regaining the
weight. I thought if only I could control what I was
eating, I'd be okay. I was wrong. The problem was not what
I was eating, but what was eating me! Now I realize that
the dieting was a part of the problem that distracted me
from looking at parts of my life that were unfulfilling.
As a Professional Coach, I've learned that the reason why
diets don't work is because they fail to address the
emotions that push you to eat when you're not hungry. When
you are carried away by the momentum of your emotions, it
is not possible to attend to what you are eating, be
mindful and nurture yourself.
You're too busy battling with your feelings and dealing
with the little critic that sits on top of your shoulder
and spouts negative comments about your weight and your
body. The good news is that you can transform that critic
to a supportive coach but it requires that you change your
thinking. By taking that step, you generate new empowering
habits that support your new empowered self image.
Today I'm no longer restricted by a diet. I eat what I
want, when I want and pay close attention to how hungry I
am and what I am feeling. I look in the mirror and see all
of me. I'm no longer made up of disparate parts. I don't
see myself as a pair of flabby arms, dimpled thighs or a
tummy. I love myself as I am. I'm still on the road and
haven't yet arrived at my destination, but I am loving the
journey.
Now I eat like a naturally picky eater. I am no longer a
slave to food because I've learned some very important
principles that have changed the way that I think about
myself and my relationship to food. Since the focus has
come off of what I am eating, I spend more time doing
things that I love, enjoy my life more and appreciate
myself and love my body as it is. As a result, the excess
weight on my body and in my life are slowly and surely
melting away.
If you're a woman who has struggled for years with being
overweight, feeling afraid of eating real food, caught in a
cycle of binging and dieting, then you may have to consider
that you are a part of the majority of those like me, for
whom dieting does not work. I'm here to tell you that there
is an alternative and it doesn't include dieting.
----------------------------------------------------
Andrea Amador, CEC, M.NLP is President of The Juicy Woman.
She is devoted to empowering women to love themselves more,
yummy up their lives and lose weight without dieting. To
get started on the road to changing your thoughts to shape
your body, take her quick assessment, "Are You Struggling
with Food and Weight Obsession?" http://tinyurl.com/ysob74
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