Day 21 - Weight Management - If It's There You'll Eat It
Posted by Alicia Leeds on Tue, Jun 23, 2009 @ 02:38 PM
Seems simple, really. And, if I had to pick one statement that would sum up years of clinical work as an HMR Health Educator it would be, "If it's there, you will eat it".
Had a couple of conversations with clients today. One was with a client who was struggling with her weight management this week because she had been eating too much candy. Candy is her downfall and occasionally she picks up a couple of bags of candy, brings it home, and then has trouble managing her calories because she eats the candy until it's gone. It might take a few days - and, if she's in a rut, she heads to the store for another bag to replace the one she's finished. We have worked on the candy eating for a long time.
In January she made a resolution to not buy bags of candy. She still ate candy occasionally, but she kept her not buying resolution for about 8 weeks and throughout that time she didn't gain any weight as a result of eating too much candy.
Another client had a breakthrough today - he actually lost weight while visiting his family for four days. Usually these visits are the perfect storm for overeating and underexercising - so he comes home discouraged, crabby and sluggish, usually having gained a pound or two. Family visits can be emotional, and he has blamed the emotional stress with his family for his struggle with his weight in the past.
"Wow! Great Job this week", I said - "What was different about this visit?"
"Well, the cabinets were empty when I got there, so I went out and bought fruits and veggies. Also, the dog was restless so I took her out about six times a day. One night we ordered chicken and steamed veggies form the Chinese Place, and my sister has been doing Weight Watchers so she didn't bring along her famous baked goods."
Which brings me to the logical negative of ,"If it's there you'll eat it"... "IF IT'S NOT THERE YOU CAN'T EAT IT!"
Client #1 eats candy because it is there. Client #2 stayed on track this week because the foods that he typically eats with his family were not there.
Dr. Kessler, former head of the FDA, has written a new book called, "The End of Overeating". One of his main messages is that overeating is not due to an absence of willpower, but a biological challenge made more difficult by the overstimulating food environment that surrounds us.
Control your environment if you want to succeed at weight management! Work on accepting the "If it's there...If it's not there..." rule, (which means stop kidding yourself that you are buying the goodies for the kids...) and you will make the changes necessary to be more successful managing your weight!