Each of you has your own, unique weight gain story. One of the exercises I find valuable is for you to actually draw a graph of your recollection of your story. The vertical line on the graph would be your weight and the horizontal line of the graph would be time.
Most people will remember for example their weight in high school, college, upon getting married, after having children and with different life events such as an illness, stopping smoking, getting a new job or going through a divorce.
People gain and lose weight in different ways. Some experience a progressive, upward climb of their weight as they mature through the adult stages of life. Others experience an up and down, yo-yoing effect where weight loss attempts succeededd but were not maintained. Others gain their weight following one big life event.
Better understanding your weight gain story can give you new insight regarding how to lose weight. Here are some things you will learn by doing this exercise:
1. Stop blaming yourself. Seeing the relationship between your weight gain and being busy raising children or working long hours in your job or caring for an ailing parent will help you realize that competing priorities of life are the real culprit in the battle of the bulge. Now it’s time to practice forgiveness instead of engaging in the blame game.
2. See new things. Self understanding is often the springboard to change. By analyzing your weight gain graph, you may see new things like one of my patients who realized her job promotion had moved her into an isolated situation, leading to overeating as a way to find comfort. Seeking social support became as important a goal as weight loss itself.
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3. Learn from the past. You will gain insight by learning what worked for you in the past to lose weight. For example, if buddying up with a friend helped you stick to an exercise program in the past, buddying up can help you now also. Or if keeping a food journal helped in the past, this can help you again.
4. Know why this time is different. In the past, you most likely were on a 1- or 2-dimensional weight loss program – just diet or diet and exercise combined. You lost weight but then life probably got in the way and you regained your weight. With the Personality Type Diet program here on Diet.com, you have a program that covers 3 aspects of your lifestyle: eating, exercise and coping. You will learn to take control and will be aware of the habits that can potentially reverse your success. You will also learn better coping skills so that stress doesn’t derail your program.
Sometimes, you need to reach out to others to help you better understand your situation. I encourage our Premium Members here to reach out to your fellow diet buddies and the experts like me and our registered dietitian so we can help you reach your goals and sustain them!
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