This blog explores how I lost 100 pounds without gastric bypass or a weight loss drug. Now while I could talk diet all day long, the bigger piece of the weight loss puzzle is psychology, what I call "mind over platter." For every food conversation there 15 mental health ones that need to be had. Because you can't heal obesity or any physical health problem without looking at the emotional component first. Ain't no gastric bypass can help if ya bypass that step.
Many of us got overweight from what Al-Anon calls stinkin thinkin. Today's anti-stinkin thinkin talk is on magnetic poles (positivity vs. negativity). The show "My 600-lb Life" reveals that many who struggle with obesity are stuck in the negative polarity. Depression can lead to obesity and being overweight is depressing. But changing the polarity can interrupt this dangerous circuit and help with weight loss.
To lose weight, "My 600-lb Life" get help with gastric bypass but also breaking that stinkin thinkin cycle. I did that too and it was part of how I lost 100 pounds. Like the folks on "My 600-lb Life" I had to root out and address unpleasant issues (some directly linked to how I got overweight), to sort it, as the Brits would say. Not compartmentalize, but sometimes that can help. Some problems, as Al-Anon teaches, I just had to accept would never be any different and move on.
The trick was to get out of the rut, or habit of negativity. I had to unstick from backward, downward thinking and cling to forward, upward thoughts to lose weight but also depression and anxiety. Does negativity still haunt me? You bet. It can really pull me down if I let it. So I work at positivity, one day (sometimes moment) at a time thing, as the Al-Anon slogan says.
There's an old Johnny Mercer song I use as a positivity mantra: "You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative and watch out for Mr. In-Between. You got to spread joy up to the maximum, bring gloom down to the minimum, have faith or pandemonium like to walk in upon the scene!"
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