Pink Hoodie - For me to be successful in my weight loss journey, I had to finally work through the loss of my mother. I ate instead of let myself feel anything. I found a few books written by Hope Eidelmann that really changed me - or helped me change myself. They are certainly not weight loss books, but for me, it had that affect. Going along with what Oprah and the author were saying - we eat to hide emotions - so dealing with the underlying problem was the only way for me to able to be successful. The primary book is called Motherless Daughters. I highly recommend the book to anyone who has lost thier mom - although those who have lost thiers more than 6 months ago would get the most from it.

I watched the Oprah show, but it reminded me of some other books that I read called Overcoming Overeating and When Women Stop Hating Thier Bodies. While both books had a lot of great ideas and I certainly learned a lot, they are not weight loss books, but books geared towards helping women (and men) figure out what the underlying issues are and giving tools to help solve it. For me, I had this internal work to do before I could work on the outside. When we lose the crutch that helps us cope, replacing it with nothing doesn't work. We either have to choose a healthier subsitution or solve the underlying problem. I've seen people turn to fitness and healthy eating in obsession as a replacement. Not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely a sign that they have some "internal work" yet to do. But just willpower won't solve it.

Thin people are thin because they don't use food to help them work through thier problems.

They may have other things like smoking or controlling behaviors or alcohol or making poor life choices but its not food. The cupcake is just a cupcake - no comfort or care implied in it. I don't have the illusion that I will ever be like that, but I think that learning to deal with my demons and replace cupcakes with watermelon 99% of the time is a good balance that will serve me well.