177.2 Great Article/Interview

Here's a great article about food, money, Oprah, Geneen Roth, and Jean Fain. Jean Fain is a hypnotherapist in the Boston area. You can read more about her with links from the article. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jean-fain-licsw-msw/oprah-diet-money_b_870806.html

It's funny. Last night we went to a prime rib dinner at our golf course restaurant. I called ahead and asked if I could be served salmon instead, and they were very accomodating. The problem was that the salmon was extremely salty and I was extremely hungry and so I ate it. I think that's where the devil resides in my weight gain.

It is so beautiful out here right now. I hope your world is beautiful, too.

175.4 A Timely Conversation

One of my good friends who had lost a lot of weight recently told me that she is eating out of control. She described her weight loss as one during which she felt very deprived and she just can't sustain it any longer.

We talked about how factors such as gray weather, illness, and the resulting lack of exercise caused by the illness all contribute to a feeling of depression and then wanting to eat to feel better. She said she's rereading Geneen Roth's book Women Food and God to help inspire her. And I suggested putting notes in the pantry, a way of planting reminders that really helped me during my weight loss. I still have one hanging in my pantry that tells me I'm doing great, but to eat an apple rather than anything in the pantry :).

And if you read my post from yesterday you realized that I was feeling rather down about maintaining the weight loss, so having this conversation on the heels of writing that post was very timely. I do feel better today. I had a good night's sleep and the sun is shining. I've already walked with my friend and will do my water workout this afternoon before I head out for a meeting. I've also invited my friend to come visit me to enjoy the sunshine. I hope she'll come soon. And I hope you are having a great day.

177.2 Can't Hurt, Might Help!

A good friend and I were talking recently and after complimenting me on my weight loss, she said that she wished her daughter would be inspired to lose weight. As I told my friend, if I could bottle this kind of inspiration I know I could sell it and be a very wealthy woman. Or, maybe I would just give it away. Now there’s a thought. I like that even better. But anyway, I wish I could write or say something that would inspire/enable others to lose weight.

Sometimes I feel like a broken record about Geneen Roth’s book Women Food and God. The author talks about why we use food, and then how being fat shapes our view of ourselves, and how, even when we lose it, it often finds us and settles right back in exactly the same places we lost it from.

What’s really struck me is that as I've talked to several folks about this book, they appear to be very interested in it until I mention the title and they hear the word GOD. I can see it in their faces, the big turn off.

I wonder if Geneen Roth thought long and hard about putting the word God in the title of her book? Even if you don’t believe God exists, this is a very helpful, entertaining book. It takes a close look at why, what, and how we eat. It’s a great read and full of fascinating connections and insights and practices. If that word, that little 3 letter word, has stopped you, I encourage you to take a look at this book. You may not change your mind about God or what that means, but you might find some very interesting thoughts about why the bodies we inhabit become too fat! And, there are some very helpful ideas of ways to deal with the old entrenched behaviors that perpetuate the weight problems.

So I’m going to recommend this book to my friend to think about suggesting to her daughter. As I often say, it can’t hurt and it might help!

179.2 The Bottom Line

Yesterday I met with Jennifer and was telling her about being at a social event where a friend complimented me on my weight loss. And then she asked me if I would start drinking wine again once I lost my final 10 pounds. I just joked that only if I wanted to regain all that weight would I go back to my old ways.

Another gal asked me how I did it, how had I lost 70 pounds. As I told Jennifer I mentioned that I used hypnosis, cut way back on how much I ate, and upped my exercise and had done a lot of therapy. Jennifer suggested that I forgot the most important piece and that is that I wanted to change my life, and it was because I was willing to change that I was successful. It was about the fact that I no longer wanted to numb my emotions with food and alcohol, that I wanted to be fully present to live my life and experience the highs and lows and not dull them down, and that played an important role in my success.

The conversation reminded me of one I had with my daughter who occasionally works with folks who are preparing to have the lap band (gastric bypass) surgery. She's become aware of how many folks have it and lose weight, and then regain it after going through the surgery and weight loss. As she told me, it seems odd that these people will go through the pain and expense of the surgery and then return to their former eating habits. My daughter agreed with me that understanding why you became so heavy in the first place is key to knowing if/how much you want to change.

Where we live now, a lot of people are retired and are just kind of waiting. I'm not sure what all they are waiting for, but they often are waiting for it to be time to break out the wine everyday. Having a future filled with goals and joys seems to be really important as we get older. And, that means we have to change as we move from our familiar lives filled with work, to lives filled with new interests, purpose, and commitments.

So the bottom line, I guess the very bottom line, is that changing more than the number on the scale (or as Geneen Roth writes, "the size of your thighs") is of paramount importance in achieving and maintaining weight loss.

Oh, yes, this weekend is the long awaited (how about 50 years?) Palo Alto High School Class of 1960 50th Reunion, so I'm not sure how often I will post! Keep checking in. I'm taking my laptop and hope to do a few posts, without weight, okay? Other people's scales just aren't the same! :)

184.0 The Voices of The Past

If you've been reading the Geneen Roth book, Women, Food and God, you are in very good company as it was reported in the Wall Street Journal this morning that it is #4 on the bestseller list for non-fiction. In it she talks about the voices that we hear from our past that are still dictating how we think about food, our bodies, our weight, etc., and, how we need to get over it, erase those voices.

I was talking to my sister Barbara about the book and she reminded me that we were definitely raised with the concept that all good children cleaned their plates (not by washing them!), and then there was the guilt about all the starving children elsewhere. It is a challenge to erase those voices or thoughts but as I have learned, extremely important to do so. Living in the past is never helpful if you want to change your behavior. Jennifer Scott's slogan on all of her publications, websites, etc., is Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life. It is easier said than done, but can lead to wonderful benefits if you are able to do it. And for me, that's where the hypnosis has helped immeasurably. Replacing the old voices, the old thoughts, with new empowering ideas of how to handle life, and food issues, has been so helpful in this journey for me.

I still smile at the concept that by cleaning our plates as kids we were helping to feed the starving children of the world. I wish my mom was still living so I could ask her. I wonder if she ever really thought about it.