I think I was born with a broken appetite gizmo, which I undoubtedly made 10 times worse (albeit innocently) with bizarre diets, starving, not eating fat and over-exercising, among other things. But, if all those things didn’t work, what was I to do?
Turns out, with all its pain, self-recrimination, and seeming failure, my history could actually be my greatest teacher. If I could just reach beyond the paralyzing self-condemnation and disappointment, I would be able to see the clever but insidious justifications and rationalizations that kept me stuck in the same sabotaging food patterns. Once I could find the common threads, my particular Achilles heels that consistently undermined me, I could come up with specific strategies which worked like lynch pins or tipping points to turn me around and move me in a different, more effective direction.
Once I could get to the truth of what pushes me over that edge (and I know you know the edge I mean), and especially where it starts, I could learn to get ahead of the self that doesn’t care and effectively “head myself off at the pass” before was too late – before that other me got a grip.
While I’m sure there are components of my psyche and spirit that also drive my urge to overeat that I’ll no doubt be working on till I’m dead and buried, I now know that I don’t have to wait to solve these to manage my weight. So, while they may still bury me with a bit of that food addict alive and kicking inside of me, they won’t bury me overweight and unhealthy!
After 16 years in practice, I have found that virtually everyone, with a little analysis of their patterns and the proper coaching, can come up with tools that we can tailor to their personality and life circumstances. These tools can effectively change what ends up in your mouth and just how you live your day to day. Better still, the actions you learn to take will actually generate the motivation that you thought had to come from outside you. I call this process, “weight management for the otherwise competent”.
And, here’s the best part: the fact that you are reading this is proof enough that you still have the one critical component that ONLY YOU can bring to the table – the desire - that little seed of hope that I’ll call grace - to find a way to change. If you will but stay the course, I promise you, the rest can be learned.
So, here’s the sure fire recipe for yoursuccess: You provide: your history, your honesty and staying power. I’ll provide: insight, compassion and creative solutions. You bring the grace and I’ll bring the shovel. Together we will move mountains.
