I don't have a weight problem - I have an overeating problem!

8^th September 2011

Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly. Earl Wilson

Losing weight seems to be the most difficult task anyone can undertake, I should know, I’ve done it more times than I’ve had hot dinners (pardon the pun) but it’s so worth the effort.  This week I’ve had some wonderful successes, there was Amy who hit gold on Tuesday morning just in time to take her daughter to the gates for her first day at school, she told me she joined because she didn’t want to feel like a ‘fat mom’ (her words) instead she looked like a yummy mummy ;D.  Then last night Nat finally did it too, 39.5lb to get to goal and has she enjoyed the journey, it’s taken her a year but she’s managed to enjoy life along the way, she told us last night she didn’t want to rush, she wasn’t bothered about not losing every week, she just wanted to get there whilst enjoying the plan and she did.  So yes it’s difficult but it’s achieveable, and once you’ve done it the secret is to realise your weight problem isn’t solved, it’s under control and you need to continue attending your meetings to keep it that way especially as their free once you’re a gold member.

Sometimes we’re all guilty of just looking at the numbers on the scales for the results but I’ve realised I don’t have a weight problem: I have an overeating problem and the first step in succeeding at ‘losing weight’ is to look at the real problem, as most people never actually do this. You’ll probably have always measured your success in weight loss but if you are to find a real solution, you will have to understand and acknowledge that being overweight is just a symptom of the real problem. The actual problem itself is the action of overeating.

So take a tip from Natalie and don’t rush to see the numbers dropping on the scales, start to focus your efforts on learning how to stop overeating. Your weight (and your health) will take care of itself and the scale results will follow.  Paradoxically, dealing with overeating - is the ONLY way to lose weight in the long term.

The reason I like the ProPoints system is because it puts you in control of the decisions of what you eat, because one of the problems with some diets is that they take away your self-responsibility and you end up not making ANY decisions at all.   You’re told what to eat, you’re given, sachets, bars or shakes or a ‘diet sheet’, and you’re told what you should eat and how much you should eat and you follow the instructions like a robot.

If you’ve been following those kinds of diets for a long time, you might have no idea how to choose how to eat for yourself. This means that you’re always looking for instructions from outside about what and how much to eat.

You might have no real idea, for example, when your body needs food, might not even know what hunger feels like or if you are hungry you might feel panicky because your daft fat diet says you’re not ‘allowed’ to eat until later.

Whenever you make a choice about anything in your life what do you do? You weigh up the pros and cons. You think: ‘I could do this or that.’  Then you ask yourself: ‘What’s the best outcome for me? Which one of these is better for me?’  Then you decide which one you want to choose based on which one has the most advantages for you.

Imagine if someone else took over all of your other decisions and you couldn’t choose anything without some sort of instruction book or some method that you have to live by.

Imagine if you took the same amount of self-responsibility as you do about eating when you’re deciding who to marry, for example?

‘Darling, will you marry me?’

‘I don’t know, hold on a minute I’ll have to flick through my copy of the South Beach Lifestyle to find out. Plus, my counsellor says I should abstain from all marriage because once I start I won’t be able to stop.’

That’s how odd it is IF we choose to live in this strange ‘fad diet’ world because all of our decisions about food are taken from something OUTSIDE of us. We are not deciding anything for real.

All real decisions are based on free will and choice. If you don’t act on your own free will, you will continue overeating for the rest of your life, constantly looking for someone else to give you some sort of solution to your problem.

So when a member asks me at the scales a question such as, “well what can I eat instead of bread”, my reply is and will always be, “anything you like as long as you have the ProPoints for it”.  I base my decisions of what I eat on what I think will taste nice, what I fancy and what ultimately will help me keep my body healthy and my weight in check.  I know it’s all to easy to quit and overeat, hell I’ve done it more times… (oh I’ve said that already!), but now I always just manage to not go too far, to overindulge a little but not so much that it leaves me feeling down and miserable about my body and my weight.  If however I HAD to eat what I was told to stay healthy, I couldn’t do it because I like to eat, what I like to eat.

It’s great to get meal ideas, meal plans and recipes to give you ideas, but following a rigid plan or fad diet isn’t the answer because it isn’t long term, we can all be our own diet guru and work out how to adapt ProPoints to suit our lives, not everyone would enjoy eating 1/2lb of boiled ham for breakfast but I love it, it’s quick, tasty and nutritious, I’m not a huge fan of pasta but I know plenty of people who are. 

This time decide to lose weight for the last time, and remember there’s no rush.