HealthEvolution

#1) “Shrink Yourself:  Analyze the Payoff You Get from Excess Weight”.  Here, the author prompts you to ask yourself – what are the benefits you’re receiving from having all this excess weight?  Now, to someone who’s reading this article to lose weight, this may be an unexpected question, but it can be a valuable one.  Most people who are overweight will tell you that they don’t like it and that they don’t receive any benefits from it.  I recall feeling this way when I was very overweight, I couldn’t understand why people would think I must have liked living that way.  I remember watching an episode of Dr. Phil when he was promoting his whole weight loss program a few years ago and he told one woman that she must be getting some reward from being overweight.  Otherwise, why would she be going through all that extra work – the extra effort required to buy, cook, and eat all that food.  The time, the money, the effort she put into staying overweight and remaining fat must be worth something to her.  Why would she continue to put so much work into making herself stay fat if she didn’t want to be fat?  She must really want that if she was working so hard for it. 

I think that people may in fact operate this way, but it’s usually at a level that’s below their conscious awareness.  Most overweight people won’t or can’t tell you how the benefits they’re receiving from being overweight.  There may be things you’re afraid of or want to avoid and being fat makes it easy to do so – you can more easily avoid relationships, work, family, mowing your lawn, whatever it is for you.  Like many people, I subconsciously used my weight as a shield to avoid any close intimacy that might set me up for the kind of severe heartbreak I’d experienced in past relationships.  I felt like I didn’t want or deserve to be close to anyone, I was afraid of what kind of pain I would experience as a result of another relationships, and so part of the reason I was continuing to put so much effort into maintaining my excess weight was to keep myself isolated.  This behavior wasn’t really identified until much later, and I realized that by changing my body, I would have to overcome those fears that had been holding me back.  I began to accept the reality that I was worthy of companionship and that I could not only desire, but actually obtain, a close relationship with someone again.  By remaining overweight, I made myself undesirable because I felt like I wasn’t desirable.  Losing weight means that you will have to accept these changes and face some fears.  As you begin to progress, you will see the ways in which you were previously using weight to your advantage, and you will feel free that these fears are no longer holding you back.   

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