weight loss and sabotage

Great comment yesterday....it was in response to my posting about getting attention when we lose weight. The comment was about the fact that some people will almost intentionally try to derail your weight loss efforts by bringing cookies and other high-caloric food sources to the person trying to lose weight. The word used was having to "please" others by succumbing to their gifts of food.

"Pleasing others" has no place in your quest for weight loss. YOU are choosing to become healthier and happier...it is a GREAT choice....Anyone who intentionally tries to derail your efforts has some psychological issues and you have NO obligation to "please" them by eating the cookies or cake that was made especially for you. Politely smile, take the gift, explain that you are trying to become healthier and happier, and you will give their gift to someone who does not have a weight problem. if they are offended, too bad.

Your choice to lose weight is a great one and people around you who attempt to derail these efforts are either not thinking or not caring. In the case of an elderly relative, they just do not understand the ramifications of weight issues and elderly use food to show love. In the case of "friends" it is more likely to be jealousy. In either case, please yourself by sticking to your mission.

weigth loss and sabotage

First, I want to thank Donna for writing the entry this morning....Donna has been with us now over 8 months and has done an INCREDIBLE job here....

I had a patient today who discussed with me the concept of "self-sabotage" referring to eating food sources that will derail weight loss efforts...stress eating of high caloric foods and snacks....we also discussed the "external" sabotage that our friends and famiuly will often do to us. Despite seeing an obvious weight problem, people around us will offer up desserts, "treats" and other sources that will hurt our efforts to become healthier and happier.

We must learn to NOT self-sabotage and certainly, not allow us to be sabotaged by well-intentioned friends and family.

weight loss and sabotage

Thank you for the comments yesterday Ellen and Suzanne.

Concerning the "special" promotions that our fast food friends inundate us with to try to get more of our business...yes, it seems ludicrous that when the nation's leading health problem is obesity, corporate America tries to fatten us up even more. But, I guess we can understand this somewhat because profits are involved and these are companies trying to turn more profit, keep peole employed, etc. But how anout what we do to each other??? No offense to the nursing and teaching professions, which I believe to be two of the most noble professions of them all, but I hear stories all the time from my patients in those fields about how there is constantly high-caloric snack foods being brought into the break rooms. All one has to do is to look around to see the extent of weight problems to realize that bringing cupcakes and chocolate into work for others to eat, when , in fact many of the "others" are overweight, is HARMFUL. Is it really a "nice" or "good" act to harm others? Would you bring alcohol into a workplace if you knew there were a significant number of alcoholics working there? Would you bring discounted hotel coupons for Las Vegas hotels if you knew many were gamblerholics? Why is bringing high-caloric snack foods to a workplace with many overweight people any different?

Yes, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Ben and Jerry's all want you to spend lots of money buying their foods and snacks, and I am sure that it is nothing personal and it is not their agenda to get you to die early from heart disease, diabetes, etc. Keeping a social awareness of the obesity epidemic is something we all, individually, should keep vigilant of, and not harming people's efforts to change to a healthier lifestyle

weight loss and sabotaging each other

I had a nurse visit yesterday for her follow-up appointment and it was a challenging week for her with much work stress. She related that she was making too many trips to the break room/kitchen area and there bountiful amounts of backed goods that were brought in my other nurses. When I go to the hospital, I would similarly notice incredible amounts of high-caloric foods that were brought in by the nureses for other nurses.

In a similar manner, many of my tracher patients tell me that their break rooms look like the Old Country Buffet. Teachers, similar to the nurses make it a habit to bring in for others a variety of cookies, cakes and other high-caloric food sources. This is all done inakind manner to try to make their peers feel recognized for their hard work.

However, with weight problems afflicting 67% of Americans, how much "good" are we doing hy tempting overweight people with these "gifts"? Would you tempt an alcoholic with a bottle of wine? Tempt a drug dealer with a fix? Then why tempt your overweight colleagues with food?

We tend to "nurture" or as a sign of caring, by bringing people food. Taking a step back, by feeding overweight people wrong food sources, you are hastening their early death. Why would anyone do this?

Whether you are a teacher, nurse, or in any other profession where there is a break room/kitchen area, if your intention is to bring in somethoing for everyone, I would urge you to think hard about what you are bringing in, the make-up of the people you are bringing it to, and assess whether you are really being kind or unconsciously hurting people.

weight loss and sabotage

Yesterday I was thrilled to have 2 patients come in and refer to chocolate as "saboteurs".

Sabotaging of your weight loss efforts by friends or family can be disruptive to meeting your goals. Yesterday I had a patient tell me that she told her mother, before February 14, NOT to give her candy as a holiday recognition. It would seem intuitive for people around you to respect your weigth loss efforts and not do anything to try to derail your plans. However, nurturing being what it always has been, parents and friends will provide calories as a form of love and recognition. Taking a step back, providing this to an overweight individual would be akin to handing an alcoholic a drink, but society does not look at this action in the same vane.

Please be upfront and direct with your friends, family and co-workers and explain that you are on a weight loss mission so you can be happier and healthier and you would greatly appreciate their help along the way. That "help" can be nothing more than NOT tempting you with food sources that will make you fail in your efforts to be healthier and happier. When framed this way, there is no way that anyone in your sphere who cares about you would do such. This will in fact make it easier for you.

Do not "hide" from people your intentions to lose weight...make it known. You will get support along the way which can be of great help!