By You’re smart. You’re beautiful. You’re competent. You feel lucky to have so many close friends, but it’s really because you’re friendly and kind and you genuinely care about people. People can rely on you to accomplish any task: throw parties, host dinners, do their taxes, organize pageants, support them through sickness. You continuously juggle work, family, and volunteer commitments. You have proven you can do ANYTHING you set your mind to except one thing – lose weight.
Losing weight is so hard. You might have tried counting calories, counting steps, low-carb, low-fat, or maybe you’re more like me. I adamantly refused to count calories or macros, but I did toy with diets that allowed me to eat unlimited portions like Eat Right for Your Blood Type and Wheat Belly. Between myself, my close friends and family, we tried EVERY diet, lost some weight, and gained it back.
Why did I refuse to restrict calories? Among several other reasons, I knew I couldn’t count calories for the rest of my life. It’s unsustainable. It sucked the joy out of eating. It’s not that I didn’t WANT to lose weight. Of course I did. I just didn’t want to fail, which I believed was inevitable on a restrictive diet.
Doug Lisle, a clinical psychologist at TrueNorth Health Center, describes this as the “Ego Trap.” People who are generally smart and successful will often procrastinate and make only half-assed attempts at losing weight because they know the task is monumental! We know it’s supposed to be simple, but we’ve tried before and haven’t been successful. We have a strong innate drive to protect our pride and our reputations. Since we’re not confident that we can actually lose weight and keep it off, we don’t try very hard, and we hang onto our “fat clothes.”
So how did I overcome the Ego Trap before I even knew what it was? I didn’t. I made a half-assed attempt to be healthier, and you can too.
For more information on exactly how I did that, read Finding the Slow and Sustainable Path.
She Shapes 