Got this article in an email from my medical group. I thought it had some good info.
by Sinatra, Stephen
Total Health
Jul/Aug 2002
Whether you want to shed 15 pounds or 215 pounds, if you want to be successful at long-term weight loss, you must examine your attitudes, beliefs and behaviors around food. Otherwise it is almost guaranteed that you will backslide into old eating patterns at the first sign of emotional stress.
Theoretically, losing weight is one of the easiest things to do -- you simply expend more energy (measured in calories) than you take in. But as you probably know from experience, the process is not that straightforward in practice. This was evident when I directed the Optifast program, an intensive, hospital-based regimen where patients dieted for 16 weeks on shakes prepared under strict medical supervision. What other medical personnel and I observed was that the leading root causes of weight gain are a lack of discipline and a lack of support.
No Support System
The combination of poor discipline and inadequate support is a disastrous one for weight loss. By support I mean that coworkers, friends and family help reinforce you in the process of weight loss or whatever personal goal you are trying to reach. Sadly, many overweight individuals lack support, often from the time they were children. They usually come from families where achieving was more important than being and where there was little acceptance of the children as they were. Their parents let them know in one way or another that they didn't measure up.
But the truth is that too much pressure, for adults or children, only tempts people to rebel or to loathe their shortcomings, and consequently themselves. What they need more than anything is acceptance and encouragement. The supportive atmosphere among the participants of the Optifast program, for example, was a big factor in their individual successes. The group met once a week but members would also call one another when in danger of "slipping" and get encouragement to make healthier choices. By contrast, if a woman cooks for a family and family members put their desires for unhealthy foods over her needs, then it is almost impossible for her to lose weight.
Of course we all need to support ourselves from within, too, and have the courage of our convictions in interactions with others. But some people back away from such confrontations, externally acquiescing to everyone else's wants and needs while padding themselves with fat rather than dealing with their anger at their own self-betrayal.
Stuffing Emotions
For people who are chronically overweight, food becomes a vehicle with which to block uncomfortable emotions -- usually anger, fear, shame, frustration, guilt, loneliness and sadness. In their book Overcoming Overeating (Random House, 1998), Jane Hirschmann and Carol Munter distinguish between "stomach hunger" (when you eat to fill your body because your stomach is empty) and "mouth hunger" (when you are reaching for something to put in your mouth because you are experiencing a difficult emotion).
People who eat from stomach hunger have a healthy relationship with food, whereas those eating from mouth hunger do not. Some of you may find yourself doing both at different times but it is an important detail to acknowledge. For many of us it is hard to take in love but easy to take in food. So in a cruel irony, we can be physically full, yet emotionally starved. The fact that obesity is rising in the United States means that we all must have something in common when it comes to abusing food . . . and yes, that is a strong statement but I believe many of us do abuse food.
Get a Handle on What's Eating You
To help understand what role emotions play in my patients eating patterns, I have them ask themselves some tough questions. Try it yourself. Any "yes" response indicates a situation where you are eating out of month hunger.
* Have I ever found myself looking for something to eat within an hour or two of eating?
* Do I sometimes overeat?
* Do I feel guilty or have thoughts of self recrimination after eating?
* Do I overeat to "treat" myself after a long, hard day?
* Do I feel less anxious after eating?
* Do I rush through meals, not even tasting the food?
* Do I need to have large helpings of food to feel full?
* When I done with loves ones, am I more concerned about the food than the company and surroundings?
* Is food replacing something that is missing in my life?
* Do I make excuses for being overweight?
* Do I think I will feel better (calmer, more relaxed, lathargic) after I eat?
If so, then you need to take an honest look at your relationship with food. To help uncover your own unconscious drives I suggest writing out answers to the following questions:
* Am I able to take in love from my partner? My children? Family? Friends? Or do I keep certain thoughts and feelings to myself to avoid possible rejection?
* When in pain, do I turn toward loved ones for support or do I push them away and isolate myself? Why do I react this way?
* Am I getting something out of being overweight? Does it get me off the hook for sexual intimacy? Is it an excuse not to be more active? Does it get me help and sympathy from others?
If you have identified that emotions are ruling your eating, then you can start to change the way you think. For example, are you a card-carrying member of the "Clean Plate Club"? Many of us are. It may have started in childhood, when you were pushed to clean your plate out of guilt for the "starving children." If you still feel that it is somehow wrong to leave food, even if your body signals that it is full, then this unconscious belief is probably part of what is driving you. Bring it to consciousness and you are then free to choose whether to clean your plate.
This is what needs to be done at every turn. Especially when you get the urge to dig into your favorite comfort food. Stop and ask yourself what is really going on. Writing about it for a minute or two is even better. If you keep a journal like this for a few weeks, patterns will start to emerge and I think you will be happily surprised at the insights you gain.
Nuts and Bolts of Losing Weight
Today we have more fad diets, diet pills and low-fat foods on the market than ever before and yet we also have more obesity and obesity related illnesses than in decades past.
The only way you can lose weight is to combine increased physical activity with healthy eating. The goal is to gradually and consistently lose because if you lose any more than one to two pounds a week, your body will be shedding lean muscle mass rather than fat and that is not good at all.
In fact, the more lean muscle mass you lose, the more your basal metabolic rate (BMR) drops, which means your body becomes better and better at existing on very little food. (BMR is a measure of the body's ability to burn calories at rest -- sleeping, reading a book, watching television, etc.) This is what happens to most dieters who achieve their goal weight very rapidly and it is why so many are unsuccessful at maintaining their weight loss.
Haul Your BMR Out of the Basement
Those of us over age 40 are also familiar with steep declines in BMR. Part of it is just the aging process but the vast majority of people in this culture also tend to be more sedentary as they age and all that uninterrupted sitting around really sends BMR into the basement. Hormonal imbalances can also play a role and they result from a variety of factors, from thyroid dysfunction to drug side effects to excess carbohydrate intake.
Therefore, if you are serious about weight loss, you need to look for every opportunity to increase BMR. Exercise is going to give you the biggest most noticeable payoff. There is just no getting around it, so you might as well find activities you like to do. As you probably know, I am a big advocate of walking, combined with a little weight lifting and regular stress-reducing activities such as yoga, t'ai chi or qigong. But that may not fit with your lifestyle. Maybe you would rather work out to an exercise tape and then garden when the weather permits. Or perhaps you like to take classes at a gym.
Whatever you prefer, schedule at least some of your sessions for the morning because research shows that individuals who exercise early in the day are much more apt to stick with it. That is not surprising. The later in the day your workout is, the greater the possibility that life's events will intervene.
Mountain Climbing as an analogy for weight loss
Which is more difficult -- ascending a mountain or descending it? If you have climbed mountains or read stories about people who have, you know that more climbers die on the descent than the climb. So often, in both mountaineering and life, we view reaching the summit as the victory but it really is not. It is only half the story. Experienced mountaineers know this and that is why they do not celebrate until they return to base camp.
Losing weight is similar in that attaining your goal weight is the mid-point. Maintaining this ideal weight is the part of the story we often do not hear about, partly because so few are successful at it. What I would like you to consider as you embark on your weight loss journey is the second half of the story.
Keeping your sights set on maintaining a certain weight and level of fitness, rather than on simply reaching a target weight, will change your perspective. So instead of focusing on how to get down to a certain clothing size as fast as possible, you will be more concerned with what enduring lifestyle changes you can make. It is the difference, for example, between telling yourself you will give up white bread with every meal just until you reach your goal and finally deciding to make more nutritious carbohydrate choices from here on out.
