Weighing In
It’s that time of year, the beginning of a new year, when, once again, you’ve made a resolution to lose weight. And your first act is to step bravely onto the scale, with your eyes open. Horrors! You didn’t think you ate THAT much over the holidays! Or maybe it’s been years since you were ready to face the scale, and just kept buying new clothes (with elastic waists) as your old ones “shrunk.” Reality sucks.
So, how are you going to tackle those extra pounds this time? Atkins? South Beach? Weight Watchers? Jennifer Hudson looks pretty good. Are you going to track your calories, fat, protein, sugar, carbs, and water intake on sparkpeople.com? Are you setting goals for running that half-marathon in six months?
According to The New York Times, four out of five people who make New Year’s resolutions will break them, and a third won’t even get to the end of January before giving up. And the top resolutions are always losing weight and exercising more (and getting out of debt and saving more). Where did all that self-control go? Where’s the willpower to resist that donut or bagel or mocha frappuccino?
There has to be a better way than struggling with those self-defeating resolutions and then quickly regaining whatever few pounds you managed to lose. And there is.
Like everything else in life, you can approach weight loss from a spiritual/holistic perspective, not just calories in/calories out. To really lose weight, you have to lose the weight between your ears, not just around your middle. You have to change your thinking, your emotional connection to food, and the psychological issues behind your weight. Without addressing the true root of your weight problems, even if you lose a considerable amount of weight, the chances are good you’ll gain it all back.
So how do your subconscious feelings drive your eating? Some spiritual teachers have said that the cause of excess weight is fear, which blocks feelings of love. So when you overeat, or eat the “wrong” foods, you are feeding your feelings, not your body. Emotional eating is an obsessive relationship with food. What are you trying to get from food? What is missing in your life? Are you using food to numb your pain? Are you beating yourself up because you can’t seem to lose that weight?
In order to approach weight loss in a new, positive way, you have to be ready to do the deep inner work that’s needed to suss out your personal connection to food, eating, and weight. Yes, those are all different. And we are all different. There is no one answer that works for everyone, just as there is no one diet or exercise program that works for everyone.
By now you’re all familiar with the tools I’ve used to do the work of uncovering my own emotional blockages, especially journaling, meditation, and energy healing. If you have trouble doing this type of inner work by yourself, find a therapist or teacher or healer who can help you unearth the hidden reasons behind your weight.
Basically, we’re talking about weight loss from the inside out instead of from the outside in. The stronger your connection to your own divine core, the more you open and listen to your intuition and guidance from your Higher Self, the more support you will have as you tackle whatever lingering childhood issues or traumatic residues are behind your problems with weight. The road to success lies within. When you lose that weight between your ears and release whatever blockages are in your chakras, you’ll be able to lose more than just emotional blocks.
The optimal way to go about it is to make gentle changes in your lifestyle, in your approach to nutrition and fitness and health, along with doing the inner work. Check out my article on www.healyourlife.com on “Five Surprising Ideas on Weight Loss” for some recommendations you may not have thought about. Think of it as an adventure in consciousness, not another plunge into a restrictive way of living.
This year, stop worrying about your resolutions and, step by gentle step, walk the high road to lasting weight loss, and a happier and healthier life all around.