DENIAL-I
don't have a problem. I'll
start tomorrow. I'll start after the party next week. I'll start after
my birthday. I'm not really THAT big. I'm not getting on a scale.
Eating off plan over the weekend and on plan during the week really
should still work a LITTLE. This BLT shouldn't hurt anything.
ANGER-I'm so angry I have to deal with this every day! "Normal" people don't have to watch every single little thing that goes into their mouth! Why do I have to do this? I'm sick of it! I'm sick of the soup. I hate the shakes. How can they expect me to succeed if they can't get this website fixed?! I can't stomach the chili.
BARGAINING- I am sure that more than 3 condiments is totally fine. I know what 6 ounces of chicken looks like, I don't need to weigh it. I'll drink this green machine juice smoothie and call it my green for the day. This 100-calorie pack of oreos can be 1 of my Optavia Fuelings today. It's just a little taste. How 'bout if I just have this and get right back on track tomorrow. It's such a small piece, I'm sure it won't hurt anything. But this is such a special dinner for (anniversary, birthday, child's birthday, Ash Wednesday) I really just want to relax and enjoy it.
DEPRESSION-I can't believe I did that. I'll never lose this weight. I'll be fat my whole life, I may as well deal with that fact. I can't understand how I got this way. Why am I this big? What did I do to deserve this? I can't see a way out. Why me? I'll never do this. I'm hopeless. I'm useless. I'll never change my life so I might as well eat this Samosa.
ACCEPTANCE-I will do the Optimal Weight 5&1 Program using the Optavia Fuelings (or Medifast Meals) as written, and enjoy the success that I deserve and that so many people who have stuck to this program are enjoying every day. I will check in with my Optavia Health Coach once a week and I'll thoughtfully read Dr. A's Habits of Health and begin implementing those habits into my life, and mastering them. My body has caloric limitations that perhaps other people don't have, but I will not view this as a reason to think life is not fair, I will simply find out what those limitations are once I reach goal and transition to maintenance, and then organize my eating around those limitations. I will do this. I can do this. I am doing this.
I think the emotions we go through on this program, although unique to us, are indicative of the same pattern in the 5 stages of grief. After all, we are "losing" something. Our weight. Some of us have had a relationship with our weight our whole lives. The fat has been a friend, just as food has been a friend. It has made decisions for us. It has dictated what we wear, where we go, whether we sit in a booth or a regular table, what rides we go on Disneyland, whether we can go through the turnstiles at Disneyland or have to go through the gate, how many seats we need to buy on an airplane (you know your fat is like a person to you if you need to buy an extra seat for it...what an appropriate analogy). Our fat tells us whether or not we can go to the beach or wear a bathing suit (NOT!), what section of what store we can buy our clothes in. Our fat dictates whether or not we can buy life insurance, or health insurance, and eventually, our fat dictates when we die. Many of the adult diseases that become fatal are more likely to happen to fat people. Diabetes. Heart disease, and certain cancers are closely tied to weight. So our fat dictates how and when we will die. It may be our friend or our closest companion for years, but it is a treacherous one with your ruin in mind. Get rid of it. It's not worth keeping. Some of us are as comfortable with our fat, and unwilling to get rid of it, as someone in a physically or emotionally abusive relationship. Our identities are so wrapped up in us being fat, we can't see life without it.
We have also lost a relationship, the relationship with food. This relationship was nurtured by us, and we put a lot of time and effort into it. How much of our day was spent thinking about, planning to eat, shopping for, preparing, and then eating, food? It took a lot of emotional investment and likely to the detriment of other things or people in our lives who got the short end of the stick as regards our attention and care. Food was our savior. Food was our friend. Food celebrated with us when we were happy, mourned with us when we were sad, cheered us up when we'd had a bad day, and gave us a distraction from our otherwise too stressful lives. So, the fact that this relationship has GOT to, necessarily, CHANGE, can definitely bring with it a sense of great loss, of grieving, of mourning.
Please, please, do this for you. Do it for your health. Mourn the fat, mourn the food, yes, maybe, but get through it and get rid of it. You'll be better off, I promise!
Head into the ACCEPTANCE stage and stay there. Have a great week!
ANGER-I'm so angry I have to deal with this every day! "Normal" people don't have to watch every single little thing that goes into their mouth! Why do I have to do this? I'm sick of it! I'm sick of the soup. I hate the shakes. How can they expect me to succeed if they can't get this website fixed?! I can't stomach the chili.
BARGAINING- I am sure that more than 3 condiments is totally fine. I know what 6 ounces of chicken looks like, I don't need to weigh it. I'll drink this green machine juice smoothie and call it my green for the day. This 100-calorie pack of oreos can be 1 of my Optavia Fuelings today. It's just a little taste. How 'bout if I just have this and get right back on track tomorrow. It's such a small piece, I'm sure it won't hurt anything. But this is such a special dinner for (anniversary, birthday, child's birthday, Ash Wednesday) I really just want to relax and enjoy it.
DEPRESSION-I can't believe I did that. I'll never lose this weight. I'll be fat my whole life, I may as well deal with that fact. I can't understand how I got this way. Why am I this big? What did I do to deserve this? I can't see a way out. Why me? I'll never do this. I'm hopeless. I'm useless. I'll never change my life so I might as well eat this Samosa.
ACCEPTANCE-I will do the Optimal Weight 5&1 Program using the Optavia Fuelings (or Medifast Meals) as written, and enjoy the success that I deserve and that so many people who have stuck to this program are enjoying every day. I will check in with my Optavia Health Coach once a week and I'll thoughtfully read Dr. A's Habits of Health and begin implementing those habits into my life, and mastering them. My body has caloric limitations that perhaps other people don't have, but I will not view this as a reason to think life is not fair, I will simply find out what those limitations are once I reach goal and transition to maintenance, and then organize my eating around those limitations. I will do this. I can do this. I am doing this.
I think the emotions we go through on this program, although unique to us, are indicative of the same pattern in the 5 stages of grief. After all, we are "losing" something. Our weight. Some of us have had a relationship with our weight our whole lives. The fat has been a friend, just as food has been a friend. It has made decisions for us. It has dictated what we wear, where we go, whether we sit in a booth or a regular table, what rides we go on Disneyland, whether we can go through the turnstiles at Disneyland or have to go through the gate, how many seats we need to buy on an airplane (you know your fat is like a person to you if you need to buy an extra seat for it...what an appropriate analogy). Our fat tells us whether or not we can go to the beach or wear a bathing suit (NOT!), what section of what store we can buy our clothes in. Our fat dictates whether or not we can buy life insurance, or health insurance, and eventually, our fat dictates when we die. Many of the adult diseases that become fatal are more likely to happen to fat people. Diabetes. Heart disease, and certain cancers are closely tied to weight. So our fat dictates how and when we will die. It may be our friend or our closest companion for years, but it is a treacherous one with your ruin in mind. Get rid of it. It's not worth keeping. Some of us are as comfortable with our fat, and unwilling to get rid of it, as someone in a physically or emotionally abusive relationship. Our identities are so wrapped up in us being fat, we can't see life without it.
We have also lost a relationship, the relationship with food. This relationship was nurtured by us, and we put a lot of time and effort into it. How much of our day was spent thinking about, planning to eat, shopping for, preparing, and then eating, food? It took a lot of emotional investment and likely to the detriment of other things or people in our lives who got the short end of the stick as regards our attention and care. Food was our savior. Food was our friend. Food celebrated with us when we were happy, mourned with us when we were sad, cheered us up when we'd had a bad day, and gave us a distraction from our otherwise too stressful lives. So, the fact that this relationship has GOT to, necessarily, CHANGE, can definitely bring with it a sense of great loss, of grieving, of mourning.
Please, please, do this for you. Do it for your health. Mourn the fat, mourn the food, yes, maybe, but get through it and get rid of it. You'll be better off, I promise!
Head into the ACCEPTANCE stage and stay there. Have a great week!
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