Recently I received a post from a Weight Watcher classmate of mine, Jennifer.  I laughed out loud when reading what she had suggested. Quoting her friend Kristine, Jennifer wrote that when faced with temptation or possible binges over the holidays, we ought to ask ourselves, “are we eating said binge in order to indulge, or are we eating said binge so that we can simply cope with whatever anxiety we have at the time?”

You see, I attend a Weight Watcher meeting together with a bunch of other men and women who come from various sub-cultures in Los Angeles. However, in spite of our cultural differences, we all see eye to eye on the ins and outs, ups and downs of  weight loss.

I follow Jennifer’s blog, Skinny By Monday,  and always have a good laugh.

Jennifer’s post today resonated with me.  (although I wished she would have written it two weeks ago before my Chanukah holiday – when I was approaching donut and latke season! Where were you, Jennifer, when I needed you?)

But never mind all that. I have the lesson now – after Chanukah and before…..um, um… in time for Shabbat in 5 days!

When I realize that I’m using food to cope, and not to enjoy, then I know I’m on the wrong path. Hello – we are supposed to enjoy our food, aren’t we? So let’s enjoy it, relish it, and savor every bite or swallow. But to waste all those calories and barely enjoy?  Just barely survive, cope and squash down whatever feelings one is having? How silly is that!?!

When we know our motivation for doing things, then we can achieve our goals more smoothly.

With weight loss, they often tell us to write down all the reasons we want to lose weight. Now when I first heard that tip from a WW leader back in the early days of my WW career, (yes, it has become a career, okay?), I thought the leader was nuts! I think her name was Elaine, and she said, “Miriam, make a list of 100 reasons why you want to lose the weight,” and I went home and made about 10 and thought, “what a corny assignment.”

But now I see the reasoning behind it all. When we articulate our reasons, then our effort takes on more strength.

So – let’s know why we are doing things, and then go for the goal. Let us not pretend we are doing something for one reason when we are really doing it for another – that will only muddle our efforts and we won’t reach our goal. For example, if we say we are losing weight because we want to feel good, healthy and fit into our clothes when the REAL reason we are trying to lose weight is because our mom is on our back to do so, then guess what! We are not going to lose it.  It always helps to admit why we are doing something – even if that means admitting that we are trying to lose weight to please our moms (this is just an example for illustrative purposes, okay? Please don’t take me literally!).

So here’s my suggestion – a la Jennifer and Kristine: Next time you (I’m talking to myself here..) want to eat something, stop. Then think why you are craving that food. Is it because you want to enjoy it? Then go ahead and enjoy it. But, if it is because you are simply squashing down some negative feelings, then stop right there. Put the food down, and go talk to someone. Get those feelings out in the open with a good friend.

Yea, yea, the friend is not around, and you really waaaaaaaaaaaaaaant that delicious potato knish (that’s the food I was faced with last night actually), but hey – that’s where you invoke Elaine’s List of 100 Reasons. Go do it!

Write a list of 100 reasons you want to lose weight. (but first put down the potato knish!)

Have a great week.