Staying Connected to The Weight Management Center - March 30, 2009
March 30, 2009 – 7:18 am
“Just let them eat pizza,” my father said after I spent ten minutes detailing the completely overwhelming experience of moving, working, homeschooling my 15 year old son, trying to get enough sleep, exercise and eat something remotely nutritional this past week. “The only problem is I’ve given them pizza for the last three days in a row,” I replied, exhausted, irritable, feeling a bit like a fraud. “I’m supposed to know how to hold it together and eat well.” But it happens to everyone. Pizza and all.
Truth be told, the stress level in my life has been higher than it has in quite some time. The result of this disruption in my routine has me making decisions I might not normally make where food is concerned. Simple things that were on autopilot now need my full attention, and I’m not sure what to attend to first.
On the horizon, I can see the edges of a new normal beginning to form. I’ve started back on my regular walks, and my meals are roughly planned out for the rest of the day (notice I didn’t say week). However, while we’re in the midst of a crisis, a hurricane or move we tend to lose sight of the toll these stressors, if left unaddressed, take on our weight, our bodies, our relationships and especially our ability to think and act clearly. We rationalize our decision to go out to eat again (rather than unpack the boxes of pots and cook at home); we put on blinders (and stay off the scale). We let our healthy lifestyle commitments ever so gradually edge off the radar because it’s just plain hard to maintain focus and stay on track when so many other things seem more pressing and urgent.
The problem isn’t eating pizza. The problem is that we can’t think about what we need in this moment because we are overwhelmed, so we stop thinking at all. We use one indulgent meal or one day of hectic eating on the run as a reason to say, “I blew it. I’m off now; I’ll just get back on it Monday.” Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. As one patient I spoke with today said, “It’s just too easy to let this stuff slide. If I put it out of my mind, the weight comes back on twice as quickly as it took me to get it off.” With this sort of return, it would seem that the most urgent matter at hand is to take care of what needs attending in this moment, deciding to stay with it, one meal at a time. One day at a time. It’s Monday.
We hope to see you in class soon!
Stefanie C. Barthmare, M.Ed., LPC
Licensed Professional Counselor, Supervisor
Weight Management Center
The Methodist Hospital
6501 Fannin, NB1-001
Houston, TX 77030
713-441-4944
Email: sbarthmare@tmhs.org
http://weightloss.mymethodistblog.com
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