We’re often focused on what we’re eating in an attempt to diagnose or correct a weight problem. The multi-billion dollar diet industry is evidence of that fact.
While it is true that we are what we eat – a critical component of weight loss that is often overlooked is – What’s eating YOU???
What do I mean by this?
Especially for we women and especially during the pre- and menopausal years, we are prone to emotional upsets and mood swings that lead us to reach for another french fry or chunk of chocolate cake. So whatever’s eating US on the inside causes us to eat more food on the outside.
This can become a vicious cycle as many of us have experienced: we’re mad, sad, or frustrated and we want to get rid of the feeling, so we eat a lot of rich or starchy food and then we feel guilty. So then we eat a candy bar to make us feel better, which only makes us feel worse, and so on, sometimes literally ad nauseum.
This cycle is no fun at all and leads many women in their 50s and beyond to think it’s hopeless to try to lose weight, that no matter what you do, you’ll never be able to break the cycle.
I believed this myself for a while and was pretty miserable about it, but fortunately I found the key to dealing with it lies within my own emotions and my own mind. I found that one of the bedrock emotions that leads to chronic overeating is resentment, which can be defined as long-lasting anger or bitterness at a real or perceived slight or loss.
Resentment over old hurts doesn’t bother the offender, but it sure does a number on our own health and our own attempts at weight control. Learning to clear your emotions of this silent thief of your well-being goes a long way toward getting control of your weight, for life.
Not that you can do this one time and be cured forever: we all get knocked around by life now and then and new resentments are bound to crop up. But if we learn to recognize and remove them as they arise, like weeds in a garden, we can pave the way for new healthy ways of eating and living that WILL get us to the weight and fitness level we’re looking for.
A major section of my Fit and Fabulous for the Fifties and Beyond program is devoted to helping you identify and get rid of the resentments that are holding you back.
There are specific exercises to help you let go and forgive both old and new resentments, which releases tremendous amounts of psychic energy you can use to achieve the goals you really want. You can read the exercises and do them at your own pace, or you can listen to the audio CD and I’ll walk you through them in a way that is relaxing and stress-relieving at the same time.
So don’t let the demons of buried anger and resentment keep you on the fat and flabulous treadmill, break free and let the Fit and Fabulous You come out!
Susan Blais
