How to Manage Your Weight

Yes, the topic is weight. How much do you weigh? Do you know? You’re hearing all those ads about losing weight. Do you need to? Most of us do. Weight loss is a major industry in this country. But is the issue really losing weight or is it being able to control your weight? Most of us will regain the weight that we lose in the months following our weight loss. Fad diets may work, but only in the short-run.

In this post and the next couple, I will argue that it is really a matter of controlling our weight and not losing weight. And that in order to do this we need to learn how to do this. Most of us don't know how. I don't believe it comes from taking a pill or being on a special diet. At least I don't believe that sustained weight control comes from these. And I will argue in this post and the ones that follow that the skills of resilience have a lot to do with weight control.

One of the key skills in resilience is caring for yourself and for others, like members of your family. Weight control is about caring for yourself. It also has a lot to do with managing the strong feelings that come up around this issue, with being able to solve the problem of weight control and maintenance, of feeling self-confident, and being flexible and persistent.

It also has a lot to do with paying attention to our bodies. Many of us don't like the bodies that we have and would prefer to ignore them if we could. But if we're going to control our weight, we can't. We have to pay attention. And again, if we are going to learn the skills involved and the information required to do this, we need to be active, not passive. We need to do our homework and, again, not rely on a pill or special food to do the work for us. Yes, this process is slower and the weight doesn't come off as fast. This can be very frustrating when we regain weight and struggle with losing another pound. But regaining a large amount of weight that we lost in a few short weeks is also frustrating.

So here are some suggestions if you want to manage and control your weight. Weigh yourself each day and keep track of it. Pay attention to what you eat each day. Some people refer to this as mindful eating. This means that we actually pay attention to the food we are putting in our mouths and to attempt to enjoy it. Focus on the process of eating, which means we don't focus on the internet or the television when we are having a meal.

We will continue our talk in the next couple of posts about using the skills of resilience in controlling our weight.