Mary M/Ohio wrote:
I was intrigued with the idea when I first heard it a few years ago (from
Dr. Phil, I think) -- that we remain overweight for some "payoff" reason
that is usually unconscious. I had a hard time with that one, feeling as
though I would do anything to be thin, and hated being fat. Yet despite *22
years* of trying to get below 200, making more effort toward losing weight
than anyone else I knew, I couldn't do it. Now that I'm reading "The
Solution" by Laurel Mellin, I'm reminded of this concept because there's a
section in there called "The Hidden Benefits of Body Size."

I found the same concept in the book "Fattitudes" by Willard. It was a
really useful exercise for me to go through and list the benefits of
being fat. I did it online, actually, and it was horribly revealing.
Even worse because one of the guys on MFW saw it here and thought it was
hilarious and cross-posted it over to MFW so they could laugh at me.

It was painful. But useful.

The exercise is so useful because it makes you stare the issues straight
in the eye and not let them go unexamined on their way to undermine and
sabotage you. Every problem has a solution, but the solutions are
terribly difficult to work out if you can't even define the problem!

I think we really have to acknowledge the truth that there are good
things about being fat. For example, you get to lie around on the couch
eating bon bons in the evening! I had to face the sad fact that I had
to give up lethargy and eating-for-entertainment if I wanted to stop
being fat. That's a significant choice and I have to make it over and
over again. Would that be possible if I didn't acknowledge the
sacrifice? Wouldn't resentment and sabotage occur if the loss weren't
faced?

By the way, I just finised reading "Passing for Thin" by Frances Kuffel
and it was an astonishingly good book. It's roughly broken down into
three sections: "The Planet of Fat", "Leaving the Planet of Fat" and
"Arriving at the Planet of Girl." I never got as obese as she did, and
I don't have her food addiction issues in the same sense, but nearly
everything she wrote was familiar. It was an excellent read.

Dally
244/169/165