Weight Loss Tip No. 2: It's Good to Feel Bad

Now that Oprah has come out about her struggle with weight, (I am glad she is going to get her audience back, I think she was alienating herself by getting a bit too thin; the rich part we can handle), more focus is going to the 'emotional aspects' of people's struggles with food.

The irony to me is that it is also coming during a period of time, where the exuberance and excess of the past is certainly crashing. Perhaps it will become fashionable to not only have less, but to be uncomfortable.

There is no way around it: We are facing months ahead of discomfort. Of having less 'stuff.' How this fits into any kind of diet plan, you wonder? I will show you how. In the same way that the group collective is beginning to get with the idea of sacrifice and struggle, we can gear up to feel good about feeling bad. In fact, in order to lose weight, there is no escaping one simple truth: "You need to practice feeling uncomfortable."

The practice takes this form:

1) You eat enough to make sure you are feeding your body physically. Now you don't need a degree in nutrition to figure this out and there is ample information out there for you to grab onto. You know the places you get stuck.

2) Contemplate those times. Prepare for them and anticipate feeling something. Learn what that feeling is. Get acquainted with it. It is your friend. As much as it will try to trick you, don't believe it. Don't keep the feeling in business by eating. It will always win and come back again if you don't practice keeping it a feeling vs. making it a fact

3) Practice, practice, practice. Even if you fail, try again. Increase the time between feeling something and putting something in your mouth. Your goal is to get to tomorrow morning, and notice then, how strong those feelings or the feeling was. Has it changed? Probably. If not, it will change through the course of the day. And if it stays at a 10 on a scale of 1-10 for more than a week and you can't handle it, consult a professional.

We don't get a lot of training to put up with uncomfortable feelings. Let's build a collective muscle. There can be a great relief in knowing that it is okay to feel bad. Try sadness, anxiety, mild agitation, boredom, you name it, on for size, and you diminish the chance of actually changing your size.

So to the good, the bad and the in between, let's celebrate taking the pressure off of 'being happy,' and learn how to feel good about feeling bad.

Visit me at: www.donnafish.com

Comments

[goodgravy]

i could not disagree with you more. losing weight does not have to be uncomfortable.

i was recently diagnosed pre-diabetic. i attended diabetes education class for a week. i'm eating delicious and healthy food, feel like a million bucks and have lost 25 pounds in two months.

this is not a diet. it's a lifestyle. when you combine the proper ratio of carbs, protein, fat and EXERCISE you can feel great, sleep better and lose weight.

my new exercise? simple. i go for a BRISK 30 minute walk every day. that's been it.

since i started this lifestyle change i can't believe how much energy i have, how much better i am sleeping and how happy it makes me feel to have to go to the tailor to have my clothes altered to my new body size.

and i'm no spring chicken. 53 years old here. and my blood sugar levels are completely normal again.

the notion that you have to starve yourself and be miserable in order to lose weight is bunkm in my humble opinion and personal experience.

[jbs902]

What a wonderful testimony! Thank you for your post correcting this wacky and untrue blog. You are an inspiration!