Exorcise Those Demons
What kind of emotional demons are lurking in your closet (or refrigerator)? Not sure? Well, it's time to find out, and to exorcise them once and for all. To succeed where you have failed, sometimes you have to take three steps back to take that first step forward. In terms of reaching your goal weight, "stepping back" means reviewing past and current self-defeating behaviors to identify where you got stuck, discouraged, or overwhelmed.
Here are several of the most common causes of overeating. I want you to list in your journal all the excuses that are familiar to you.
Emotion
Do you overeat as a coping mechanism, to numb suffering, allay fears, combat loneliness, and so on?
Reward
Do you indulge in eating to reward yourself when you've done a good job on something?
Seeking acceptance
Do you overeat because you're seeking social acceptance? Do you eat fattening foods at parties so as not to offend the host? If you're out with friends, do you feel the need to have a drink just to fit in?
Add to your list any other situations that have derailed your success.
What's the Point?
By doing this exercise, you can isolate specific problems and work on finding solutions for them. Find out (and conquer) what has locked you into self-defeating habits, and develop healthy, affirming behaviors instead. Whatever your downfalls might have been in the past, there is a way to deal with them in the present. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but if you hang in there with me, you will succeed!
What kind of emotional demons are lurking in your closet (or refrigerator)? Not sure? Well, it's time to find out, and to exorcise them once and for all. To succeed where you have failed, sometimes you have to take three steps back to take that first step forward. In terms of reaching your goal weight, "stepping back" means reviewing past and current self-defeating behaviors to identify where you got stuck, discouraged, or overwhelmed.
Here are several of the most common causes of overeating. I want you to list in your journal all the excuses that are familiar to you.
Emotion
Do you overeat as a coping mechanism, to numb suffering, allay fears, combat loneliness, and so on?
Reward
Do you indulge in eating to reward yourself when you've done a good job on something?
Seeking acceptance
Do you overeat because you're seeking social acceptance? Do you eat fattening foods at parties so as not to offend the host? If you're out with friends, do you feel the need to have a drink just to fit in?
Add to your list any other situations that have derailed your success.
What's the Point?
By doing this exercise, you can isolate specific problems and work on finding solutions for them. Find out (and conquer) what has locked you into self-defeating habits, and develop healthy, affirming behaviors instead. Whatever your downfalls might have been in the past, there is a way to deal with them in the present. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but if you hang in there with me, you will succeed!
Dr. Simmonds, I love your program and it has worked for me in the past amazingly. I need your help and need to know if you have any clients that like to drink wine and if so how it's known to have negative effects for weight loss? I've been super stressed lately and find myself drinking Moscota every night. This is an automatic weight-gain for me and I know this but the stress doesn't seem to want to go away so I keep feeding the stress with wine. Does this sound like an alcoholic?
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