Author: Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN

Last night, Brock and I were coaching some folks who are working on impulse control. And more than one of them described times when an urge to eat something felt almost like an addiction. The more they tried to resist, the more overwhelming it felt. Sometimes, giving in–even though they knew they’d have regrets–felt like the only option.

But framing a desire as an addiction can make us feel really powerless. It also shifts all the focus onto the object of our desire, rather than our own thoughts and feelings–which is where the action really is.

Brock suggested that it might be more helpful to think of that part of ourselves as our inner toddler rather than our inner addict.

Deciding to resist an urge or craving can easily trigger a temper tantrum from your inner toddler. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of an actual toddler’s temper tantrum, you know how easy it is to get caught up in that emotional storm–and when you do, you have lost control of the situation.

But if we can step back and access our mature adult brains, we realize two things:

1. We can see that the drama is totally out of proportion to the reality. For the toddler, getting the thing they want literally feels like a matter of life and death. As adults, we can see that it is merely a passing squall. We may even be able to see the humor in the situation, which allows us to respond more gently.
2. We may also be able to see that the toddler needs something–just not the thing they are demanding. Perhaps they need a nap, or a cuddle, or less stimulation, or something more interesting to do. This can turn irritation into compassion and allow us to care for our toddler more effectively.

The next time you find yourself in the grips of a desire or craving, see if you can visualize that inner toddler who truly believes that they cannot live without this thing. Recognize the adorable absurdity of it all.

And then, instead of trying to reason with your screaming toddler, disciplining them, or simply giving in to an unreasonable demand (thereby perpetuating the behavior), see if you can figure out what that little person really needs.

There’s so much to discover and explore on the road to weighing less. (Good thing we give ourselves plenty of time!) And, as people begin to see progress–and especially when they start to get close to their “goal,” they are sometimes surprised to discover that they feel a sense of fear or dread.

Many of us has been trying to solve this problem for years–or decades. So, why on earth would we find ourselves suddenly afraid of suceeding?

There’s not a single answer. But some of the things that others have articulated are:

• fear of backsliding and not being able to maintain their weight loss
• being unsure who they are or how to be in the word without the identity of someone who needs to lose weight
• fearing that people will see them differently and perhaps expect something new or different from them
• fear that it might change their relationships with other people
• dread that once they have solved this “problem,” they’ll be forced to confront other challenges that they had been putting off until they’d lost weight.   

Once we uncover thoughts like these, we can obviously investigate them. But if they remain below our conscious awareness, they can (and do) sabotage our efforts.

So if you find that your progress is kicking up some unexplained nervousness–it’s worth some introspection to discover what might be going on for you. Do any of the above strike a chord?

It’s easy to get discouraged when your goal feels too far away. And that’s why it’s so important to celebrate your incremental progress.

To that end, I have to share this idea that one of the members of the Fall 2020 group shared with us during Office Hours the other day.

When she reached her 5% milestone, Kris bought a beautiful sun-catcher and hung it in the large window of her master bath. When she reached 7.5%, she bought another smaller one and added it to the window. She’s already got her eye on a larger one for when she reaches 10%.

“My plan, when I reach my goal, is to have one custom-made, maybe with a bright red cardinal, for the very center. It’s going to be a while, but I figure I’m not going anywhere, so I’ll just enjoy the periodic additions to my collection.”

How brilliant is this?

Every morning, when she steps into her bathroom to get ready for her day, Kris is greeted by this heart-lifting display, signifying what she’s accomplished and reminding her of her goals for the future. An ongoing, tangible celebration of her decision to be someone who weighs less.

I want you to steal this idea!

Step 1: Think of something that would bring you genuine pleasure–ideally something that you could enjoy in an ongoing way.
Step 2: Head over the forum and tell us how you plan to celebrate your next incremental goal.
Step 3: When you reach that milestone (whatever it is), reward yourself! And post a picture!

A lot of us use food as a coping mechanism. 

We eat to cope with stress, fatigue, boredom, anxiety, anger, grief…did I mention stress?

This might be OK — after all, coping is good, right? Unless all that “coping” is leading to unwanted  consequences. We gain weight or we can’t lose weight…and that is creates stress, fatigue, anxiety, anger, grief. 

Maybe we actually need to do less coping. 

If you stopped using food to “cope,” maybe you’d be compelled to make changes that made your life less stressful, boring, or exhausting. 

And maybe that’s the difference between coping and self-care.

So, here’s a question to consider: Is self-medicating with food allowing you to tolerate things that maybe you shouldn’t be tolerating?

What about your life might you be moved to change if you stopped “coping”?

We’ve talked about why our weight may fluctuate from day to day and how this does not reflect fat loss.

• A high-salt meal (or hormonal swings) can lead to water retention
• A high fiber meal (or slow digestion) can increase waste in the system
• Strenuous exercise (or other issues) may lead to inflammation

All of these can cause your weight to fluctuate from day to day, or even week to week.

And here’s the truth: Becoming someone who weighs less doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t continue to experience these fluctuations.   If your weight fluctuates a good deal now, it will likely continue to.. And that’s OK. 

As you practice more weighless behaviors, your entire range will slowly slide down. So instead of your weekly checkpoints fluctuating from 175 to 180, they start fluctuating between 170 and 175 and then between 165 and 170, and so on. 

So, we may expect that if we’re doing this “right,” our graph will look like this:

But often, they look more like this:

Both have lost approximately the same amount of weight.

The point here is that fluctuation is not a problem–unless we allow it to throw us off our game. Unless we make it an excuse to give up. So if you’re a high flux individual, try to take those weekly ups and downs in stride. As long as that bumpy curve is trending bumpily down. you’re doing fine.

And if it’s not, let’s figure out where your most impactful wins and missed opportunities are lurking.