| In addition to Reply .2:
I have made what I feel is considerable progress toward discovering
what I have been hiding behind food (and I'm smaller now than I
was 5 years ago, so it must be helping). But what I'd love some
assistance on could be termed Developing Real-Life Alternate Coping
Strategies. If one has been using food as a coping strategy/defense
mechanism, and one removes it, one of one's worst inner fears may be
realized: that one will fall apart from the stresses that one had
been using food to protect oneself from. How can we prevent this
from happening so that our lives and personalities improve?
Marcia
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| Professional advice/input would be great! I've seen lots of good
suggestions and insights here, but someof them seem to have come
about only after extensive soul-searching and thinking-through.
Not that we shouldn't do those things, but if someone could just
point us in the right direction from the start, just think how much
sooner we could get started!
I realized one of my defenses was hiding behind my
overweight-husband's-dog-allergy-induced asthma! My heart rate
was elevated because of my medication, so I wasn't sure where a
safe range would be. I was also using my husband as an excuse,
because I figured that as long as he was overweight, he couldn't
say anything to me. Well, I recently saw a review for "The Essential
Asthma Book" but it is not available yet from the publisher. Last
time at the library, I got a couple other books on asthma, got answers
to my questions about medication, exercise, what exactly asthma
is, etc., and consequently feel much more in control of things.
Have been exercising as recommended and it's great!!! Now that
I know what the asthma is, I am not nearly as afraid of the symptoms,
etc. Even dug out my ankle weights, and, boy, did my legs feel
heavy after a while - and to think I'm carrying around 4 times that
much all the time!! Have also started to think "what will this
do in my body?" when I start to eat something, and this has decreased
my appetite somewhat - I just imagine smearing butter directly on
my thighs instead of onto toast!!
Anyway, sorry for the rambling, but hope it just goes to show that
informed professional input is valuable!
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