Why Can't Losing Weight Be As Fun As Gaining Weight?

Let's face it-- people love to eat. Have you ever noticed that almost everything that people do has to surround food? One might think that it's just an American thing, but it's not. Look at the British tea time-- it's like an organized afternoon snack-- ha, that works for me. Even back in the day when I was dating, the guy would call you up for dinner and a movie. Even when you meet someone for coffee, it most often involves some type of decadent pastry.

I love to eat, and I think that's what caused my weight problem.(One of my coach collegues would disagree with that; he thinks that I never eat-- ha, the joke's on him!) Back when I weighed in a lot more, I used to tell my friends that if I had three wishes that the first one would be to wake up anorexic and have to eat my way back to health. I still really would want that one-- wouldn't that be great? "Hey, you're way to thin, why don't you have another serving of that?" I think though now, I would probably tweek that wish to one of going back in a time machine and telling my thin self about all of the problems I would have trying to get back to a normal weight.

I have discovered that you can still have really great food and not go crazy-- I don't think that it's so much about will power as it is about allowing yourself to have a few of what people consider "naughty" foods every now and then. For example, if you want chocolate, have it-- but instead of having milk chocolate, have some dark chocolate instead. You might have to acquire a taste for it, but it is lower in fat and actually contains FIBER!!!! Yea, that's what I'm talking about!

If you have a weight problem (ha! I'm actually assuming that I might have someone read this someday!) don't let anyone lead you to believe that you are fat, lazy, have no will power, etc., because that it not true. There is something out there that is your trigger-- it could be a certain type of food, a stress factor, or both! I know that there are certain foods that I absolutely have to stay away from because I know that I can't stop at one piece or one bite. (Pizza-- I could eat it until I'm sick and then still eat one more piece!) You also have to examine what makes you want to eat-- is it when you are tired or stressed out? I have discovered that I can handle tired or stressed, but tired and stressed makes me have a constant case of "hand-to-mouth" syndrome. You just have to do some self-examination.

It may take you a while to sort through what makes you want to eat, but you can do it! It took me 20 years-- I had finally come to a place where I had decided to just deal with being over weight-- I am still dumfounded, but in the end I have discovered that losing weight CAN be as fun as gaining it!