WEDNESDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2008

This is an old post from my original blog

Shrink Yourself

My new book has arrived 'Shrink Yourself' - Break Free From Emotional Eating by Roger Gould, M.D the guy who wrote the previous articles.

From what I've read so far, which isn't much coz I'm at work, it looks like its going to be really helpful. I've just read a bit that discusses one of the main reasons i have never stuck to any other diet plan like WW or SW. He points out that as an EE (emotional eater) I am used to the immediate payoff that food gives. Whatever the problem or feeling the second i eat i will feel immediately better than i did. But, he explains, the reward you get from dieting - losing weight, happens slowly over time. So no matter how motivated you were at the beginning of the diet, after a while in your head you start to evaluate the future benefits of being slim versus the immediate payoff of overeating. For me that has generally happened about 2 months in to whatever plan i was on. I would have big enough losses for the first 2 months (usually about 2 stone) to be enough of a reward to keep motivated and not need to overeat to feel better but there would always be that one week where you get weighed and you have only lost a pound or 1/2 pound and i would think that at that rate it would take me years to lose all of the weight. That would be it for me - straight to the take-away for the immediate relief that food brings. Then I would fall into the shame spiral and not go back to the plan/class. And the next thing i know i have gained that 2 stone i lost and another 2 as well. Well on Cambridge i have got past that 2 month mark and by doing this work on emotional eating i have had a small loss week and i haven't relapsed back to the food to make me feel better. Yea me! Its not till writing this post that I've understood the book title - SHRINK yourself - not just because you'll lose weight but because you will be your own therapist i.e shrink!!!

POSTED BY MUNCH AT 14:48

LABELS: FOOD ADDICTION, ROGER GOULD, SHRINK YOURSELF, WEIGHT LOSS