Have The Courage To Lose Weight

The famous Greek philosopher Aristotle once said “You will never
do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest
quality of the mind next to honor.”

Does it take courage to lose weight? You bet it does! The
question then becomes…..do we have the courage to lose weight?

Let’s take a look at some of the weight-loss pitfalls we may
need courage to overcome. Although all of these won’t apply to
everyone, we need to be aware of these traps.

* Sibling Rivalry: Do you have a sister that you’re always
competing with? Although we love our siblings, we need to
realize that our weight loss success may not always get the
warmest response! If we finally start exercising and drop that
extra 40 lbs., but our sister doesn’t, how will that impact the
sibling relationship? All too often our sister will get jealous
and react negatively to our success. A snide comment here, a
cold shoulder there, and soon we may find ourselves regretting
our own success.

* Guilt: Yes, we may even feel guilty about our weight loss
success! What if we lose that extra weight, but our best friend
doesn’t? Similar to ‘survivor syndrome’, we might even call this
phenomenon ‘success syndrome’. Consider the woman who, with her
mother, has been battling her weight all her life. This has been
a journey of 15-25 years!! Suddenly the daughter is thin, and
the mother is still obese…..these types of scenarios can
create feelings of guilt in the successful person.

* Attention: Once we start exercising regularly, we will start
to lose fat and tone muscle. It’s likely that, as we become
successful in our weight loss efforts, we will start to attract
attention from the opposite sex. As fun as that may sound, it
may be uncomfortable for some of us.

* Spouse: “In a marital or romantic relationship there may be an
equilibrium that is established over time. Take for example a
marriage where a husband smokes or drinks and does not get
promoted and his wife is overweight. If she then upsets the
equilibrium by losing weight, there is implicit pressure on him
to make progress in his own areas of struggle.

Another reason that someone may not want their partner to lose
weight: Let’s say one person is angry and has a difficult time
talking about their feelings, so they badger the other person
for having a piece of apple pie. If their partner loses weight,
then they no longer have that means to control or express
hostility.

Or someone may nag their partner, saying ‘You don’t look as good
as you used to,’ but then when their partner begins to lose
weight they may resist, not feeling ‘good enough’ for them any
more. One woman told me that her husband was actually feeding
her off his plate. He felt threatened when she lost weight and
did his best to undo her weight loss” (Source: Dr. Edward
Abramson, a clinical psychologist who specializes in body image).

* Courage: It’s easy to see that some of us may need courage to
cope with our weight loss once we’ve achieved it. But we can
find the courage to handle these issues! Some tips for
courageous weight loss:

- Invite the jealous sister to exercise with us. If the offer is
refused, then remember that we DID make the offer!

- Remember that we can only be responsible for our own failure
and success. If a friend or family member fails to lose their
excess weight it’s not our fault! We are only in charge of us!

- Invite our spouse to help us shop for healthier foods and cook
healthier meals.

Be courageous! We can do it!

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