My Seven Deadly 'Weight Gain' Sins

Let me start by saying this list is not in any order - all Seven Sins are equally to blame as am I. This post is going to be about numero UNO

1. Stress

2. Gluttony (love of FOOD) - and actually one of the seven deadly sins - HA

3. 'H'Anger

4. Boredom

5. Availability

6. Peer/Family related situations

7. Laziness (Sloth - another deadly sin...reallly?!)

I want to break these 'little nasties' down a little more; explaining how they each played a roll in my weight gain over the years and also how I managed to lose the weight and maintain that loss despite them. Let's begin with.... STRESS

STRESS: It's a loaded gun, it can arise from so many situations; work, home, family, and health or sometimes from all of the above. One thing is for sure, regardless of the reason, stress is bound to happen again and again, therefore I knew I had to deal with it some way other than stuffing myself with food. The food felt like it melted away the angst, but the moment was fleeting. This only lead to feelings of guilt which led to beating myself up emotionally, then the vicious circle started again. So HOW to Deal With It. There are lots of wonderful self-help books and great advice out there, I found a lot of what worked for me, in the beginning, came from 'distraction'. I learned that if I could play the ol' magic trick of watching what the left hand was doing I would distract myself long enough from feeding myself with the right. Distraction also works for a lot of the 7 Sins, but it didn't work for very long when it came to stress, at least not for me.

Food is like a warm blanket on a cold day - comfort - and when you don't have any other real known vices to speak of - I convinced myself that it was okay to find solace in food for just about every stressful moment. From a crazy last-minute catering order, to something banal like getting the wrong coffee order at the drive-thru, I could find a valid reason to rip open a bag of salt n'vinegar chips. So how do you re-train those habits? How do we coexist with stress eating?? Catering gigs were still going to come, goodness knows my coffee order was going to get screwed up again. So you need to learn to care for yourself. You need to ask yourself when you reach for that bag of chips "where's the benefit of this an hour from now? or tomorrow?" If the answer is - feeling guilty...or bloated... or a stomach ache, then maybe you need to slice up an apple or make a mug of your favourite tea. Pause and deep breathe for 5 minutes. Think about why or what that food is going to DO for YOU. If the answer is nothing, or even worse it's going to make you more stressed by feelings of remorse, then drop that chip bag!!!

Coexisting with these 'weight gain' sins, is paramount to a successful weight loss outcome. Stress, love of food, birthday parties, feeling lazy are not going to disappear from my life or yours, so learning to live with them is what MUST be achieved in order to live a healthier lifestyle. If you eat that muffin or bag of popcorn, savour it, don't berate yourself, enjoy the decision that you mindfully made. BUT MAKE IT MINDFULLY! However, that moment was just a moment and not the whole day, so maybe next time you'll take a bite and remember YOU and YOUR JOURNEY are worth the effort - trust me when I say that every time you take back control, you will get stronger. This strength goes a long way to coping with stress too - so it's a waist line and mental strength win!