| If you're a woman who has struggled for years with | | | | 6. You feel guilty and shameful when you overeat |
| being overweight, feeling afraid of eating real food, | | | | 7. You think your inability to lose weight is all your fault. |
| caught in a cycle of binging and dieting, then you may | | | | 8. The success of your day depends upon what |
| have to consider that you are a part of the majority of | | | | number the scale says. |
| those for whom dieting does not work. | | | | 9. You skip meals in an attempt to reduce calories or |
| Recently it has been revealed and admitted by the | | | | fat. |
| medical community that diets just don't work for | | | | 10. You avoid parties and other social gatherings |
| 90-98% of all people. In the April 2007 issue of The | | | | because you hate your body. |
| American Psychologist, the Journal of the American | | | | 11. You avoid speaking up and letting your feelings be |
| Psychological Association, UCLA researchers reported | | | | known because you are afraid of people judging you |
| that diets don't work in the long run. | | | | and saying that you're fat. |
| According to the latest results of a composite study | | | | 12. You don't want people to see you eat. |
| done at UCLA, Traci Mann, Associate Professor of | | | | 13. When you are out at a social gathering, you'll order |
| Psychology at UCLA and lead author of the study | | | | what you think you should and then go home and eat |
| said, "We found that the majority of people regained | | | | more food to satisfy the feelings of emptiness. |
| the weight, plus more. Sustained weight loss was | | | | 14. You'll avoid sex or being intimate because you don't |
| found only in a small minority of participants while | | | | feel attractive. |
| complete weight regain was found in the majority. | | | | 15. You refuse to buy clothes in a size that really fits |
| Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health | | | | you |
| benefits for the majority of people." | | | | 16. When you're stressed, all you can think to do is eat |
| The thing is you probably already know deep down in | | | | 17. You have a closet full of clothes that you can't fit |
| your heart that this may be true for you. However, | | | | into |
| most likely you have no idea what to expect if you | | | | If you have 5 or more "T" responses, then you are |
| stop dieting and more importantly how to make it work | | | | unfortunately overly concerned with your weight and |
| for you so that you can once and for all overcome | | | | probably an emotional eater. If you have less than 5, |
| your emotional eating and eventually lose all your | | | | you may still be dieting and it could be working for you. |
| excess weight as you eat real food. | | | | If that's the case, then don't change anything unless |
| These fears of yours are very natural and | | | | you feel that you are ready to get off the diet roller |
| understandable because the years of dieting that | | | | coaster. |
| you've endured has conditioned you to think about | | | | Whatever your results, take heart, it's never too late to |
| yourself and your relationship to food in a very | | | | begin again. You can overcome weight and body |
| disempowering way. | | | | obsession and learn how easy it is to trust your body |
| You've been taught to rely on diets to solve your | | | | by taking the first step to decide to stop dieting. |
| weight problem, and to believe that you are helpless | | | | However if you are an emotional eater, it's important |
| over food, when the problem is not actually what you | | | | to balance your decision to embrace non dieting and to |
| are eating, but what is eating you. The diets are | | | | integrate that with learning some solid stress relief |
| actually a part of the problem because they have | | | | techniques to handle the emotional tug that you get |
| probably made you become obsessed about food | | | | when you recognize that you're not really hungry. |
| and caused you to hate your body. | | | | The next thing that you need to learn how to do is to |
| Here's a checklist to see if you are weight and food | | | | be gentle with yourself and change the way that you |
| obsessed. Go through the list and see how many of | | | | think about yourself and food. The way to do this is to |
| these items are true for you. Then mark a "T" for true | | | | learn new ways of coping with stress and to take |
| and "F" for false. Then tally up your "T" responses. | | | | action to increase the juicy factor in your life, which |
| 1. You start each morning by getting on the scale. | | | | just means to have more fun and do what you love |
| 2. You think about food all the time | | | | more often. |
| 3. You take your mirror too seriously. | | | | By learning to handle your emotions and knowing the |
| 4. You tend to be an all or nothing person | | | | difference between when you are really hungry and |
| 5. You judge yourself harshly. You think of food as | | | | not, and setting aside time for you, that is the key to |
| good or bad and when you eat the bad foods, you | | | | making non diet weight loss work for you. |
| criticize yourself for being weak. | | | | |