The Problem with Losing Weight

The problem with losing weight is that under most circumstances, with the exception of illness and eating disorders, we view it as positive, even though it contains the word losing.  It is peculiar how we use words.  A similar situation is occurs with the phrase falling in love.  Aren’t we really rising to love? Falling seems so helpless.

Here is how I turn losing weight into a gain that actually helps the pounds stay off.

In my family there is a prevailing tendency to gain weight easily. It is in our genes, and to make matters more difficult, we are stress eaters, recreational eaters and we so often love what we shouldn’t eat. Many of us are continually putting on weight, taking it off, putting it on again, and the losing it.  It is a vicious cycle that we would love to stop.

Then, if that’s not bad enough, we cannot stop ourselves from commenting on it. When I hear the comment, “Gee, you look like you have lost some weight!” I presume that the last time the person saw me I looked fat.  When I hear, “Gee, you have put on a bit of weight.” I know that the person thinks I look fat.  I would prefer people not comment at all!  How about you?

Anyway, I have lost weight before and I am losing it again.  I have found something that serves to help me feel good about the loss, and keep it that way.  Try replacing each pound lost with something positive, uplifting and fantastic so there is no room for the pound to come back.

Some of things I replace a lost pound with are:

Self care, loving myself, forgiving myself, humor, care for others, love for others, optimism, idealism, calmness, quiet, relaxation, exercise, vegetables, fruit, appreciation, counting my blessings, a walk, coffee with a friend, taking a bath, giving or asking for a hug, a good joke, a piece of celery, a cucumber, a cherry tomato, a good book, a poem, a massage, calling and old friend, bubbly water, something new, signing up for a class, dancing, singing your favorite song, volunteer work, you fill in the rest:

1. ___________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________
4. ___________________________________________

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Make yourself a list, so that when you lose a pound, you can celebrate it by replacing it with something lovely, nurturing and self-soothing.  We deserve to feel good, we are worthy of feeling good.  Let’s remember to not comment on each others’ weight.  There are so many other things to comment on.  “Wow, you seem happy!”  “You look good!” “You are radiant!”  Almost anything is better than commenting on someone’s weight.  When we re-frame it as a gain, it feels even better!