EMOTIONS AND WEIGHT

I started this blog for kicks last year. And I was very humbled that people I work with came back to me and said they read the one and only post I had and liked what I had to say. Since then I have been requested to write more, and since I love doing it and have a lot to say most often :) I plan to update my blog more often.

As I am trying to take stock of my own life, which I tend to do quite often, I realized in my most recent contemplations that life isn’t simple for women. Don't get me wrong, this is not heading into a feminist rant but some reflections on what I experience dealing with so many women in a day.

Women were born to love, nurture and protect. A woman’s physical and chemical structure is designed to be emotional, intuitive and demonstrative. It’s rare to find a woman who is uncaring, cold, calculating and lacking in maternal instincts.

As a result women battle with weight issues far more than men. Women feel their weight far more than men. They are far more conscious of their weight than men are. The secret to why women are far more insecure than men is because of this very same chemical structure. It’s a strange situation, it’s because of our ability to nurture, empathize, emote and protect that we are insecure. Without insecurity we would never feel those feelings. So being insecure is another form of being very cautious. It’s a defense mechanism, it’s a warning system. Men too face insecurities but largely related to business and other more practical aspects of life. They are happy to let the woman do all the worrying.

However it’s this very same insecurity which becomes our worst enemy, we forget to draw the line between worry and obsession. We use food as a source of comfort to get through the trying times.

We focus on everything else other than ourselves. And one day when all our kids are grown and have lives of their own we look at ourselves in the mirror and are shocked at what we see. Very few women are able to then get a grip of the reigns they lost so long ago.

Life is very simple as long as we live each day for ourselves. We make better wives, mothers and daughters in the process. We begin to control those instincts to nurture, protect and worry for our benefit rather than have them control us making us lose sight of ourselves in the process.

I went through school and college at my own pace. I never let my friends or my environment pressurize me. I never crammed for exams for months before the exam, I never felt the need to stand first in class or excel in academics. All my friends always said “you barely study but how come you get decent marks finally”. All I said was my time to excel will come when I face life. When I find my calling and work in my chosen field will be the day I will excel. Even to this day I feel I do what I love and am blessed to be able to do so, and that is why I excel at what I do. I got married and continued to work though my three pregnancies and yet managed to be a decent wife, mother and professional. My self worth lies in doing well in all these areas. It’s very important to find your purpose in life – whatever that may be and dedicate your life to that purpose. If your spirit is nourished so will your body be nourished!

I work with cases everyday where women whine about how difficult it is to stick to the diet, they complain about feeling weak, irritable and sometimes extremely odd symptoms.  After addressing all possible causes quite often I find that there is no reason for these symptoms, so I start to discuss their life, stress levels, personal pressures and invariably these are women fully devoted to their homes and families and their needs. Very intelligent women who have more often than not given up their careers and deep down are very resentful, or are unhappy with their personal lives. I generally urge them to take a hobby or a part time job or start a business and the ones who do – immediately stop complaining and drop kg’s on the scale very rapidly.

Losing weight is very much a psychological process. Unless your mental framework is not in tune with the cause - chances are you won’t achieve your goals. For some women losing weight becomes an obsession to prove something to a boyfriend, husband, in law or a friend and though you may achieve your goal you can never sustain it because you do so with a rush of adrenaline motivated by hurt or revenge. But to sustain your weight loss you must adopt a new way of life. I have been down this road, what I speak about comes from experience. I used to try crash diets to lose weight for someone else. Then came a day when I met someone to whom my weight did not matter and without realizing it I lost it all because I did it for myself and I was secure within myself.

The secret to sustainable weight loss in SECURITY – believe in yourself, get control of your life, find your purpose and everything will fall into place.

“RESPECT YOUR BODY AND LOVE YOURSELF”