This morning I was telling a client that I thought the mental process of losing weight was related to the stages of grief. After just now looking them up, I think it was an astute awareness.
1. Denial – I really don’t eat that much, I eat healthy, I don’t know why I’m gaining weight! If I have, it must be water weight……or muscle from those intense workouts I’ve been doing.
2. Anger – Ok, I get it. Whatever I’m doing isn’t enough, so I have to make a change, but I’m pissed off about not being able to eat what I want. It’s not fair!
3. Bargaining – Maybe I can have just a couple french fries, pieces of chocolate, glasses of wine, etc. That’s not SO bad, is it? Just one won’t hurt.
4. Depression – This sucks. I suck.
5. Acceptance – Well, there’s no way around it. I have to put in the work. Let me make a plan and put it into place. I can do this. I start today.
I actually go through this each time I gain weight and get frustrated because my clothes don’t fit right. I have yet to be able to go from the desire to lose weight to stage 5 without going through stages 1, 2, 3, and 4. However, the length of time I hang out in those stages is often much shorter.
