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Acne Can Be A Problem At Any Age
Adult, teenage and baby acne have something in common; no one likes the problem. Adult, teenage and baby acne problems are surrounded by myths. Adult, teenage and baby acne myth #1: This myth concerns babies. People believe babies do not have...
Healthy Eating Made Simple
The confusion about eating healthy and dieting will now be cleared up, all in one easy sentence. Are you ready? Everyone is different. What is healthy for one person is not going to be the best diet for everyone else. You are different than...
Quit Smoking Treatments
Nicozan is a new generation aid to help you give up smoking. Nicozan gives you the best possible chance of success and our workplace trials with thousands of smokers over ten years have demonstrated this. If you've decided to quit, you've come to...
Weight Loss - Low Fat Vegetarian Diets
Low Fat Vegetarian Diet Helps in Weight Loss
If you are struggling to find a diet that is both healthy and
successful, you may want to look into an all vegan diet. Vegan
is a term that is used for people that do not eat any meat,
dairy...
Why Do You Say You Want To Lose Weight?
Why Do You Say You Want To Lose Weight? How many of your New Year's resolution start out with "I want to lose x amount of pounds"as if just saying it were some kind of magic mantra. As if the weight would just fall off, in response to the spoken...
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Pick Up Your Pen and Lose Weight!
Although every dieter knows that keeping food records is a key to permanent weight loss, few understand the importance of also keeping an “emotional journal.” In fact, one dieter lost 100 pounds, thanks in part to the insights gained through daily journaling.
Dieting for weight loss can be as simple as keeping that food diary, or (the more challenging) dipping into the dark waters of the psyche. For example, which emotions motivate, sabotage, side-track, or inspire? Which people are supportive, which ones undermine your focus with snide remarks or constant invitations to ice cream? All will be revealed inside your private journal.
Of all the journal exercises for gaining insight, a favorite is the “Letter to My Body.” In this exercise, the dieter actually pens a letter to self, being as honest as possible. A sample might be “Dear Fat Body, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. I hate your rolls of fat on me, I hate that my knees hurt, I hate that you’d rather have a Danish than let me feel good about myself. I hate that you’ve been good all day and I know that tonight you’ll be a pig.”
What does that type of letter accomplish? For many—instead of adding to an already huge portion of self-loathing—it provides a powerful way of recognizing and reversing trigger situations.
In this example, when nighttime does come and the journaler heads for the pint of Ben and Jerry’s, there’s a good chance the letter will be remembered. And, an even better chance that instead of eating a pint, some or none will be chosen.
Journaling to lose weight also involves writing about how your food choices will make you feel tomorrow when you get on the scale, or when you sit down to journal again. And, as you write these letters to self, you’ll quickly begin to connect the dots, and track the ways in which everyday life impacts your food choices.
Keeping a journal will also help with weight loss because it’s almost impossible to get to know yourself on a deep, intimate level and then continue with self-destructive behavior. Fortunately, we’re just not made that way.
So tonight, instead of settling in with a pizza and beer, take some time to write a letter to yourself and analyze what your hunger is really about. I guarantee you, it isn’t food.
Copyright 2004 Patti Testerman
About the Author
Patti Testerman is content manager at JournalGenie.com, the only online site that analyzes your writing and then gives you instant feedback. Want to discover self-defeating patterns, or find better ways to communicate in a relationship? Check out our site.
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