Relationships in Your Weight Loss Journey

Today is Mother's Day and I want to say Happy Mother's Day to all of you!!!  Holidays (even those that Hallmark and the florists come up with) give everyone a chance to get together, celebrate and enjoy the day.  Usually food is involved, but so are our emotions.

Some of the things I hope you are learning from your Weight Watchers journey is that there are a lot of times the hunger we feel is not really in our stomachs, it is in our heads.

How often has someone told you to eat something to make you feel better?  We all remember the promise our parents told us if we had to get our tonsils out.  "You can have all the ice cream you want!"  "You're wasting away, you need to eat!"  Have a bad day..."Drown your sorrows in _____ (you fill in the blank).

I think the thing I have learned from my journey is that I don't have to listen to those things anymore.  I am free to decide what I want to eat, when I eat and when to make good choices and if I do need something extra, I can have it.  I just can't have it every day!!

What I have found is that I don't live or lose weight in a bubble.  The people around me, my loved ones, my friends, neighbors and my co-workers can either help or hinder my weight loss.  Some people may intentionally or unintentionally try to torpedo my efforts-because they may not like losing their eating or drinking buddies or because they may feel threatened by the way I am changing.

We all have to learn which relationships and social networks present challenges or roadblocks to our success.  Find out who those saboteurs are and learn how to assert ourselves and gain the support we need.  Easier said than done but this week's meeting will help you learn to understand that in order to lose weight you must learn how to manage problematic relationships and in some cases, seek out or create new ones.

It truly is important to have those supportive friendships so you can ask for help.

I think the best quote I have to fully encapsulate what it is about is the following quote by Stephen Covey, a personal development author and speaker.

"Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us."

Remember it is up to you...I am here for you!!!  If you have questions or concerns, let me know...

Until Thursday,

Carol