Monday, December 27, 2010

Back to the Present -

We spend most of our time living in either the past or the future. We are either thinking about what we have already done, perhaps with regret, or we are spinning off into the future, perhaps overwhelming ourselves. This may be human nature but it is not helpful to us when we are trying to let go of unhealthy habits and change our approach to life in general and to emotional eating and food control behaviors in particular.
If we allow ourselves to focus on the past, we are setting ourselves up for trouble. It is tempting to obsess about mistakes we have made and things that have gone wrong. Seldom do we concentrate on all the things we have done right or that have gone well. This is one of the many tricks of our Chew. Keeping ourselves stuck in the past ruminating about things we cannot change is futile. It is a waste of our energy and keeps us in a negative frame of mind. You can think about the whole package of Girl Scout cookies you ate until the cows come home but it won’t change the fact that the cookies are gone. There is nothing you can do now about a choice you made last night. Continuing to beat yourself up about it only makes matters worse. This is a time to remind yourself to come into the present. Let the thoughts of cookies go and think instead about what you want for yourself in the present moment. How do you want to behave right now? How can you take the best care of yourself and get your needs met in the moment? Tell your Chew that you are not listening and to “stop!” Turn your energy and attention towards nurturing yourself in the present moment.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Moving Helps

I have noticed that most people who come to see me have abandoned their physical selves. Our hearts beat, our breath enters and exits and we are oblivious. We generally do not take the time to acknowledge the miraculous tasks our bodies can perform. If we are not aware of what our bodies are doing, we will not cultivate appreciation for them and this lack of appreciation will make it even easier to abuse them. Conversely, if we take the time to notice and marvel at our wonderful bodies, we will be much more likely to attend to them with awe, compassion and love and it will be harder for us to abuse them.

We need to treat our body in a friendly way. Attending to ourselves in this fashion represents one part of a picture that is forming as we learn about our overeating behavior. To understand compulsive eating and to change old patterns, we must eventually look at the whole picture. For now just know that moving your body is a central piece of the puzzle. Doing so will help you feel better about yourself and overeating will lose some of its appeal. As you feel better, your attitude will change, your emotions will brighten and you will know you are moving along nicely on your Chew Tamer’s Journey.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

My Body, My Enemy?

Not only do professionals lack knowledge of the physical reasons for overeating but society in general does as well. We are socialized to be preoccupied with weight and physical appearance and, in the process, we often cut ourselves off from our physical selves. We can maintain a negative image of our body within our subconscious mind while, in fact, having little actual awareness of ourselves as being in a body that feels and performs and moves about for us all day long. Many women look in the mirror only from the neck up. They apply creams and make up and often give little attention and nurturance to the rest of their beings. From the neck down is regarded as “the enemy” – that body which adamantly refuses to cooperate and conform to society’s unrealistically thin image. How can we expect to love and care for our body if we detach from it and think of our body as an enemy?

Monday, November 15, 2010

Overeating is not all psychological either

Many of us, perhaps particularly in the profession of psychology, fail to realize that overeating is only partly psychological, that there is a strong physical component to our behavior. Our clients may think, and we may join them in thinking, that if we can only find that one old emotional wound that needs healing or that one major conflict to solve, eating issues will magically disappear, as if that knowledge and that process alone are powerful enough to put a stop at last to the years of food-abusive behaviors.
It is true that much research has been done on the effects of various foods on our emotions. What does it mean emotionally if we eat too much or too little salt or fat? What happens inside our body if we choose only refined foods instead of whole foods? We may wonder why we race around in search of potato chips or chocolate with such fervor: what is our body trying to tell us that we are unable or unwilling to hear? Where can we acquire the knowledge we need to figure this out? Here is a good reference for you. In their best selling book, Make the Connection, Bob Greene and Oprah Winfrey offer clear explanations of some of the ways our body works. Some topics they address are: natural “set point” weight, water retention, ways we burn and store fat, metabolism, effects of different types of exercise and substances on our body and ways to manage compulsive eating behaviors and weight. Their presentation is clear and comprehensive and I highly recommend their book to learn more about these topics.

Monday, November 1, 2010

What Do Clothes Have To Do With Overeating?

What do clothes have to do with it?

Have you ever stopped to pay attention to the ways men and women are expected to dress? I’m not talking about casual wear. Fortunately, much of that is “gender friendly.” I am talking about clothes for work, for a date, for the office or an evening out, for example. Have you ever looked at a fashion magazine and compared images of both genders? The men are seen standing comfortably in some combination of pants and shirts or jackets. Women, on the other hand, are often found in various uncomfortable positions balancing precariously on shoes with high heels that offer no support to their feet.
These women often appear in tight skirts or dresses and, unless they are as thin as pencils, they may have tight undergarments on that pinch when they exhale. In some outfits women look and feel constricted. The clothes they have on just don’t fit. Now this is a sensitive area for some people and I am not saying there is anything wrong with wearing the latest styles. What I am saying is that some of these styles are not a comfortable choice of clothing for many of us. It is hard for us to relax and feel okay about being ourselves. In clothes that make us uncomfortable on the outside it is even harder for us to feel comfortable on the inside. And when we are uncomfortable within, that so often leads to overeating to soothe our discomfort.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Start Moving, Stop overeating

I grew up in a house with a large wooded area behind it. When I was small, I would run as fast as I could along the paths trying not to break a single twig or make a sound. I would run swiftly (like a deer, I thought). Sometimes I imagined I was an Indian princess or a brave running to save my village (I never knew from what). The wind would race past my ears. I would feel free and light as I hopped over tiny streams and logs. Moving was a game then. It was about having fun. Do you have a favorite memory of feeling comfortable like that in your body as a child? Many people do, but many do not, especially if they became physically self-conscious early on. For many of us though, moving stopped being fun at some time early in our lives.
I don’t know when I stopped running like a deer, but at some point I did. Maybe I just got too busy with life and the business of paying attention to everyone else. Maybe I got self-conscious as I developed breasts. Maybe I realized that having fun being in my body was for “little kids” and I got too old for that sort of thing. I don’t know. Whatever messages I did receive about my body did not encourage grace and speed unless they referred to competition or exhibition, like dancing class or team sports. What I do know is that the less I moved, the more junk food I ate compulsively. How about you?

Monday, September 20, 2010

Understanding Spirituality

Nurturing our spirit is essential to Taming our Chew. Many of us have a hard time defining spirituality for ourselves. In December of 1995, a conference called Spirituality and Healing was co-sponsored by Harvard Medical School and The Mind/Body Institute of the Deaconess Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Spirituality was defined at this assembly as “the belief that we all have meaning and purpose in life and that on a profound level we are all connected.” This may ring true for many of us. However, each of us is unique and thus our perceptions of spirit are as varied as we are. Let me take a moment here to clarify that when I speak of spirituality, I am not referring to religion. Most of us were raised within an organized religion. Many of us chose to stop attending to that religion when we became adults. I am not suggesting a return to religious practice, although for some that may be helpful. I am suggesting that you develop the ability to turn inward and listen to your own voice – that voice which is heard (faintly at first) deep within your core self. To hear this voice, however, you must be still and listen to yourself.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Self love, not emotional eating, is the answer

People who come to see me frequently report a sense of being alone in their struggle. As I have said before, we all have a strong need for connection – to feel loved, accepted, and cared about. Without the presence of these feelings, at least some of the time, life’s battles quickly become overwhelming and the task of treating ourselves with compassion, respect and nurturance seems impossible. It is then that we turn to sugar, salt and fat and try to soothe ourselves through emotional eating. We cannot count on others or on food to give us these good feelings. We must learn to give them to ourselves by finding the love, connection and energy we have deep inside. Our work is to learn to love ourselves.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Dr Denise Returns

Please excuse my long absence. Chew Tamer’s blog was moved but now I’m back and I hope all of you faithful readers will return. Starting next week I will once again begin posting information that will help you along on your Chew Tamer’s Journey. I look forward to reconnecting with all of you. I will be addressing emotional eating issues from physical, emotional, social, spiritual and environmental perspectives. Please e-mail your concerns and questions to me at denise@deniselamothe.com. I will answer in my weekly bloggings as swiftly as I can and please visit my new website www.drdenise.org. There is much info for you there as well...
My warmest wishes, Dr. Denise

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Blog move

As of now, my Chew Tamer's blog will continue at a new address: www.drdenise.org . Please join me there for future posts. Thank you, Dr. Denise

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Benefits of being overweight

When I suggest there may be something you are getting out of your extra pounds, you may think my idea is absurd! But, as a Clinical Psychologist, Weight Loss Analyst and someone who has struggled with and survived the entire spectrum of eating disorders with over 25 years of personal and professional experience, I know this to be true.

Being overweight is not simple and generally there are at least a few hidden, unconscious agendas behind the eating behavior. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and think for a few minutes about the advantages you get from being overweight. Then return to the present. Write those advantages down. Perhaps your weight provides the illusion of safety. For example it can keep you from taking the risk to be in a romantic relationhip or it gives you an excuse to stay home and hide.

Now note any other, more nurturing ways you can take care of yourself and your feelings and write these down. Next, choose one area where you would like to make a change. For example, if you have discovered that one advantage of overeating has been to numb feelings of grief, you might plan to talk with a friend about your loss. In this way, you allow your feelings to surface and find expression and you no longer need food to anesthetize yourself. You can do this exercise often as a way of checking in with yourself and changing your compulsive behavior.

It works!

My best,
Dr. Denise

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Inspiration from Dr. Denise Lamothe

A few days ago I received an e-mail from a young man who had been struggling with eating problems throughout his life. His had yo-yo dieted for many years before his weight skyrocketed to 495 pounds. He was dianosed with a debilitating, frightening heart condition and this was indeed his wake-up call. He consented to lap band surgery and began educating himself about his self-destructive eating -- looking at the physical, emotional, spocial and spiritual aspects of this frustrating issue. He was kind enough to write and tell me that reading The Taming of the Chew gave him the hope he so desperately needed to begin walking down his own path to a healthier life. He is working now on loving himself, staying in the present, giving up perfectionistic self expectations and being gentle with himself. He is embracing his challenge and he has inspired me! That's why I am sharing him with you!

Enjoy Spring!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Stopping emotional eating

To be your very best, naturally healthy, vibrant, beautiful self and to stop eating for emotional reasons, you must consider your total wellbeing. It is no longer possible for you to think in terms of calories in/calories out as your guide.

If you think self-destructive thoughts such as “I really am fat. I need to lose these ugly pounds” you will feel bad and you will attract more” bad feeling” thoughts. Then you are likely to get stuck in a loop of negative thinking leading to negative behaviors, extra pounds, increased worries, stronger efforts to diet, more deprivation, discouragement, guilt, shame and fear of gaining more and more weight. This can lead to depression, increased anxiety and eventual apathy. You are likely then to submerge yourself in sugar and simple carbohydrates to shield yourself from these painful feelings for the few moments, hours or days of relief that you know these substances can and reliably will provide.

Going on a new diet plan is likely to leave you more frustrated, discouraged and depressed than before. You know that fad diets won’t work. They cause weight gain.

Make friends with yourself. Don’t expect to be perfect all the time. Stop, relax and really give yourself what you truly want and desire. Once you accept who you are and become gentle and non-judgmental with yourself, you will be able to achieve your ideal weight and vibrant health. Each of you must figure out precisely your own ways to soothe yourself during difficult times.

You can take advantage of the Bach emotional eating support kit which contains three powerful remedies to help you learn to appreciate your body (Crab Apple), remain in control of your eating (Cherry Plum) and to stop repeating your same overeating mistakes over and over again (Chestnut Bud). For more information about this extremely helpful resource, visit www.emotionaleatinghelp.org.

Pause, breathe and substitute positive thoughts to turn around negative thinking. As you courageously shift your perspective in this way, you move quickly towards the life of radiant health and balance that you have longed for. Pay close attention to your feelings. They represent your internal guidance system (which is never wrong). When you identify what you are feeling you will know what to do every minute. If you make yourself number one and heed the messages your feelings are delivering through this system (as consistently as possible) you will move closer and closer to meeting your goals.

Remember that this is your life and your body to do with as you wish. It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing, thinking about or telling you. Emotionally eating and keeping yourself murky and drugged with unhealthy foods will never bring you the happiness that you deserve. To be happy, healthy and whole is up to you and the time is NOW!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Educate yourself to stop overeating

Many of us grew up in families where there was little awareness of healthy eating. The media encouraged our mothers to give us “love” by filling our lunchboxes with white bread and sugary cupcakes. One client told me that she had been raised by her grandmother who decorated cakes to make a living. Her grandmother had little money left over for healthy foods and my client would often be given the leftover cake tops and frosting (frosting sandwiches) for her dinner. In my home, we sometimes had what my mother named “assorted sandwiches.” We loved this meal of little sandwich triangles (on white bread, of course) made from various jellies, butter, white sugar, marshmallow, molasses and peanut butter. Fortunately my mother did not feed us this very often. She did have some nutritional common sense, but many mothers did not and many women suffer today with unhealthy habits left over from childhood.

Although many women come to see me having read nearly everything they could get their hands on regarding diet, it is surprising that they often lack knowledge of the basics about food, nutrition and the effects of substances on their health and body size. To change compulsive eating behavior, you must have basic knowledge about ways in which you are impacted by various foods and beverages, exercise and other physical factors. If you do not, you will continue to feel helpless and to eat in an out of control way.

Remember to register for the exciting webinar This Time I Mean It! This will be 90 minutes of helpful information from myself and two other weight loss strategists. Register now and you will receive the information you need to hop on to the call. Hope to have you there.... This coming Sunday at noon eastern standard time, 3 Pacific.

Have a great week! Dr. Denise

Monday, February 22, 2010

Teleseminar notice - This Time I mean it!

Do you want to acheive your weight loss and health goals? Then, please join me for a 90 minute teleseminar, This Time I mean It, sponsored by Bach Flower Remedies
Now is the time to stop doing what you've been doing and start doing something that will actually work! You can get clarity and direction!
On March 7, 2010, three nationally-known experts will come together to an interactive motivational teleseminar:
Scott "Q" Marcus, Motivational Weight Loss Expert
Denise Lamothe, Emotional Eating Expert
and Rich DiGirolamo, Expert on Keeping People Engaged in Process
>>Every person who attends gets SEVERAL FREE weight loss tip booksthe opportunity for a personal consultation...and a FREE download of the entire recording!<<
REGISTER NOW AT www.thistimeimeanit.com

Make friends with your body

Over the years we often become so focused on weight and appearance that we lose touch with the magic of our own movement. Also, our bodies mirror our emotions and if we feel rigid and tense, our bodies will likewise constrict. Moving our bodies is necessary if we are going to take care of ourselves. Remember, to achieve and maintain a reasonable weight, we must change our focus from how we look to how we feel. If we don’t use our body, we can’t appreciate it. If we don’t appreciate it, we can’t love and accept it. If we don’t love and accept it, we will not take the steps necessary to nurture it.

For many of us the thought of making friends with our body is frightening and may sound impossible. It is not. Begin paying attention to the things about your body that you appreciate. Nothing is too little to note. For example, be happy if your eyes can see, your ears can hear, your feet can move and you can walk. We may not all have these abilities but we all can still find things to be grateful for. Appreciate yourself and start being your own friend. Emotional eating will fade into the background!

Monday, February 15, 2010

We need energy

Watching the winter Olympics in Vancouver reminds me of how essential it is that we feed ourselves well. We all need this – not just top athletes! Of course, food gives us energy and we need the right amount of the right nutrients for our body to function properly. We require nourishment throughout the day.

Often, however, we fool ourselves into thinking we need to eat when our body actually does not need more food. For example, when we are tired (i.e. when we need to sleep), we might think we need to eat food to energize our body. Although this may be the case at times, such as in a life or death situation, usually, for compulsive eaters, the food is being used to save us from experiencing our feelings. When we feel tired, angry, frustrated, anxious, bored, lonely, unappreciated or afraid, for example, food becomes a quick and easy way to seemingly perk us up and fill the void we are experiencing. It is easier to tear open a bag of chips or pull a chocolate bar out of the candy machine than it is to sit with those painful feelings.

Feelings of hunger are tricky and often have nothing to do with the fueling of our body. Our body doesn’t need excessive amounts of potato chips, chocolate or macaroni and cheese to function optimally, so when we tell ourselves we need them for energy, we are not telling ourselves the truth. Fats, sugar or caffeine may give us a temporary rush of energy – but this is short-lived, and masking discomfort will leave us feeling even more “tired” than before because we are not giving our body the nutrients it really needs to “energize.” So, when we choose sugars, fats or excess carbohydrates we may not be truly, physically hungry -- we are most likely eating for emotional reasons.

Cravings we experience deliver valuable messages to us about what we really feel and what we really need. Our job is to pay attention to these messages and to give ourselves what we really need at the time. Proper rest, a healthful diet, and a peaceful lifestyle give us energy – not junk foods. They may be what our Chew clamors for from time to time, but they are never what we really need.

Nurture yourself this week! warmly, Dr. Denise

Monday, February 8, 2010

About body image

How do you view your body?

Most of us see our bodies unrealistically. Often we are not even aware of them. We can go through days and weeks never giving a conscious thought to our bodies. It is easy to take them for granted. We don’t always pay attention to how our bodies feel and we don’t view ourselves realistically. Try this: Stand in front of a mirror first thing in the morning before you have eaten anything and look at your body. Now, go eat a bite of something, like a cookie, and come back to the mirror. Do you look different? Does your body look noticeably larger? Most of us will see ourselves as larger than we did just moments before. Intellectually we may know that one small bite of food cannot double our weight in less than a minute, but our perception changes dramatically anyway. This is a clear example of distorted body image and most of us suffer with this to some degree.

We cannot see ourselves objectively. Most of us look at pictures and see only the areas we are unhappy with (and in exaggerated ways). Our hips or bellies may look enormous to us at the time. Later, when we see the same pictures, we may see them differently. This depends upon how we are feeling about ourselves at that time. I often ask women who come to see me to bring in pictures of themselves as children and/or as adolescents. We look at these old photographs together and often women, who thought they were fat at the time, are able to see that they were, in fact, average weight children. For most this is a surprise and, for some, can open the door to looking in the mirror a bit less critically than they have in the past.

How we see ourselves has much to do with how we feel about ourselves. The more we focus on the negative in our lives, the more negatively we will view images of ourselves. It is vital to change negative attitudes into positive ones. Our perceptions of ourselves can be grossly inaccurate and they change as our feelings about ourselves change.

So give yourself a little extra nurturing and see if you don't look just a bit better in that mirror. You may be surprised!

BY THE WAY, YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS THIS EXCITING EVENT!

March 7, 2010
90 minute Webinar: This Time I Mean It!
12 PM EST
to register, go to www.thistimeimeanit.com
$24.95 early bird discount
register now and the number to call for the conference will be sent to you
Hope you'll join us. It will be FUN!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

From Dr Denise, Emotional Eating Expert -- Food: Reward or Punishment?

Food can be a reward or a punishment! When we were children we were most likely both rewarded and punished with food. Desserts were likely withheld until all of the vegetables had disappeared and you may have been given candy if you behaved. You may have been sent to bed without supper as a punishment or not allowed the ice cream or candy others received because you had been “bad.” For most, if not all of us, there are memories of food being used in these ways. Food is a powerful motivator. Behavior modification programs use candies, for example, to change difficult behaviors in children or in people who are learning impaired. Once the child or adult learns that he or she will receive a candy when they perform a specific behavior, they become motivated to perform that behavior again to receive another treat. It is extremely effective.

We have all been conditioned in this same way to some extent. If we learned as children that food is a reward, we may continue to use it in that way and the deprivation we experience on any diet plan may translate to us as punishment. If food was withheld from us when we were little to keep us in line, we may feel angry now when we experience any hunger. We may rebel against those who punished us then by eating even more now than we really want or need. Begin to notice how often you give yourself a “treat” as a reward. Notice how often you feel deprived and punished at times when you are restricting food.

Taking responsibility for what we put into our mouths means, in part, releasing some of our old beliefs about food. If we can appreciate food as neutral – not good or bad – we can begin making more thoughtful choices. Food is a powerful force in each of our lives. It is hard to untangle our present eating behaviors from the ways we viewed and experienced eating in our childhood years. It is helpful to recognize this and to begin paying attention to the ways you may be using food to reward yourself or how you may be experiencing even mild hunger as a punishment. If you realize your tendencies to do this, you will be less compelled to act on impulse, eat for emotional reasons and you can give yourself time to decide whether you really want to eat or not.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Dr. Denise, Emotional Eating Expert -- Is it OK to fall off the wagon?

Not only is it OK to "slip" at times but it is beneficial and important to do so.

I find that most of the people I have worked with over the past 25 years hold fast to self-perfectionistic expectations. They often feel like failures if they don't do everything perfectly. Although I believe we are all perfect just as we are, it is impossible to behave perfectly every minute.

If you insist on perfection, you automatically set yourself up to fail. If you break your "diet" for example by eating one cookie you may soon find yourself beating yourself up emotionally and shoveling more cookies in to anesthetize yourself (with sugar and fat) from the feelings of frustration and disappointment you are experiencing. You may feel like a failure and this leads to more hyper eating, resulting in even lower self-esteem and guilt and more cookies.

I often recommend the Bach Emotional Eating Support Kit to my clients. Using this helps improve body image, stop that "out of control" experience and helps them get back on track in a self loving, not restrictive, way. They can then give up the idea of perfection in all areas of their lives, accept themselves as human beings and learn from their "slips."

The heart of the matter is that many people feel that if they behave in a way that conflicts with their idea of perfection then that makes them "bad." They are not "bad." They are simply reacting as all humans do, sometimes doing better than other times. It is essential to learn that there are no mistakes, only lessons and an important lesson here is to give yourself a break. The pressures of trying to be perfect at all times takes a tremendous toll. Life is just too short for that!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Dr. Denise, Emotional Overeating Expert -- Social reasons to overeat

Another common reason to overeat is connected to social situations we frequently face. It is impossible to be harmonious, balanced and content all the time in such situations or in life in general. If we feel too successful or unsuccessful, for example, we find ourselves off balance and anxious. Anytime things are a little too “good” or a little too “bad” we find ourselves racing to the refrigerator in search of something to help us find emotional balance. We mistakenly think food can provide this for us. It can not. It can only soothe us temporarily. Only we have the power to cope with our own assortment of feelings as we negotiate our way along our own life’s path

All this can be very confusing and discouraging. At times it is hard to keep our needs in the foreground and to nurture ourselves. Even in settings where opportunities to sabotage ourselves abound and our Chew is screaming for “treats,” we do not have to feel helpless and victimized. We don’t have to be emotional eaters! It may be hard for you to believe, but it is possible to feel under control even in the most food-focused situations.

Remind yourself to slow down, breathe and regroup. Take a quiet minute to reaffirm your commitment to yourself and your health. Remember that the goal is to create the most joyful, vibrant life. You can actively pursue that instead of reacting to everyone else and their comments and ideas. Your path is yours alone and no one else’s opinions need to affect you unless you allow them to.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Denise Lamothe, Emotional Eating Expert -- My New Year's Message to You

Happy New Year to you! If you are like most, you have made your commitment to change your lifestyle and to treat yourself in healthier ways than you have in the past. Perhaps you have the goal of getting rid of those extra pounds. Well, you can do it! But, and it’s a big but (not butt) because we live in a food focused environment.
Have you ever paid attention to how focused our culture is on food? Virtually every occasion we experience has food as a central theme. Think of Thanksgiving without turkey and pumpkin pie or Easter without candy eggs. How about Valentine’s Day with no chocolate, birthdays or weddings with no cake or even meetings without refreshment breaks? How often do we get together with friends without including food? We ask people to meet us for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. We invite them over for coffee or a drink. When was the last time someone asked you to get together just to spend time enjoying each other’s company? Food is everywhere and a part of nearly every occasion.
It is important for us to ask ourselves these questions. How can we take care of ourselves in this food-oriented culture? How can we socialize with friends, celebrate birthdays, go to fine restaurants and relax about it? How can we manage to enjoy ourselves, eat only some of what is offered and feel satisfied? How can we survive this constant exposure to food? If we eat too much, the result is anxiety and we will want to eat to medicate this feeling. If we eat too little, we feel deprived and set ourselves up to binge later. If we have weight to lose, we feel anxious about that and if we have lost the weight we wanted to lose, we feel anxious that we will gain it back. (Many women report that they find it much harder to maintain weight loss than to lose the weight in the first place.) So we eat because we have not lost weight and we eat because we have lost weight. What a dilemma! At either end of the scale, anxiety lurks and if we don’t know healthy ways to cope with the anxiety, we eat.
Focus your energy on taking gentle care of yourself. Make your resolution to be as self-loving and joyful as possible and do what you love. The rest will be ever so much easier to manage and emotional eating will recede into the background!