| O.K. You went on a diet and you “lost” 10 pounds. You think that’s quite an accomplishment. You’re very proud of yourself. You went through a lot of anguish to get those 10 pounds off. So now you think you deserve a “treat.” What are you going to do to celebrate? Why, go out to dinner to splurge, of course. Really? Why did you choose going out to dinner to eat foods that you know will cause you to gain back some weight? Why didn’t you go to a movie or a concert or buy a book to read? Why more food? Then, of course, you’ve been here before. You’ve “lost” 10 pounds lots of times, but you’ve always “gained it back.” So why are you celebrating? Do you think you might be kidding yourself to say you’ve “lost” 10 pounds when you know, in your heart of hearts, that you’re going to gain it back? You kind of know that it’s only a question of time until you weigh exactly what you weighed when you started your diet, if not more. Why do you think that is? It should be the easiest thing in the world to weigh 10 pounds less that you used to. Your weight was stable before you went on the diet and you knew what to eat to stay at that weight. It wasn’t a big deal. Why can’t you do that now? You could eat the same way you did before and just weigh 10 pounds less. It sounds so logical and simple, so why can’t you do it? You’ve tried it so many times it seems like the impossible dream. The reason you will almost certainly gain those 10 pounds is that you have become emotionally comfortable weighing 10 pounds more and you, and everybody else, can only weigh what you are emotionally comfortable weighing. You are a person who now weighs, say 150 pounds, and you can no longer weigh 140 pounds. That’s who you have become. You aren’t comfortable weighing 140 pounds. You got that way by eating for emotional reasons. You were trying to satisfy your emotional needs with food. You still are. You want to think that this is crazy and that you can weigh 140 pounds if you put your mind to it. But you have put your mind to it and you still end up weighing 150 pounds, or more. So have your friends. There is no logical reason in the world that you can’t weigh 140 pounds but you are still stuck at 150. You are going to continue to weigh 150, or more, unless you eliminate your emotional need for food. That is why you must understand those needs both intellectually and emotionally. Then you can be emotionally comfortable weighing whatever you want to weigh. |
