Whatever It Takes

Imagine for a moment that you are at your wedding. Your beloved stands across from you with hopeful eyes and great anticipation and professes undying love and support. It is your turn to recite the vow that you wrote for this special occasion and you begin with “I vow to be 80% committed to you all the days of my life”! You wouldn’t say that, right? Right, because on your wedding day you are both there, 100% committed to making this relationship work, whatever it takes.

So, now you are recovering from an addiction to food/eating. Maybe you come into group week after week but have not completed the homework, Daily Goals or reached out to a buddy when triggered during the week. You are frustrated because you haven’t lost weight and are starting to think that maybe the program isn’t right for you. But is the program really the problem?

What gets in the way of success in recovery or making other positive changes in our life? We do! We get in our own way!

I will take a look at some effective and time-tested principles that people who are successfully recovering from their addiction are doing. Implementing these principles with a whatever-it-takes attitude will help you to get out of your own way and achieve success in your recovery from food/eating addiction.

1. Block-to-Success: “Why should this time be different? I have never lost weight, or kept it off before.”

First of all, you have NEVER treated the addiction before. In the past you tried diets. Diets don’t work. Period. Researchers have shown that 95% of diets and weight-loss programs fail. Recovering from food/eating addiction is not about dieting. In fact your brain cannot tell the difference between the compulsion of dieting and the compulsion of eating. Weight loss is a secondary gain to healing your brain from addictive behaviors. People who experience success in their recovery stop worrying about getting the weight off and focus on consistently implementing effective recovery behaviors (like engaging in group, doing the homework, working on a healthy relationship with food and consistently doing small Daily Goals).

1. Block-to-Success: “I didn’t have enough time this week to do my homework (Daily Goals, etc.)”

Seriously, if you didn’t have enough time for You this week, then you need to rethink your priorities. Clear some time to work on moving You up to the top of your priority list and schedule in recovery work. Talk it over with your spouse, therapist or a friend and get their feedback. Beware though of the part of yourself that is waiting for someone else to give you permission to take this time for yourself. It’s not their job, it’s yours. People who experience success in their recovery prioritize their recovery work.

Stay tuned next week for more blocks and tips to help you do Whatever it Takes to recover from food/eating addiction.