(TLDR at the bottom)
Hi. I’m a 20yo college student and I’ve been struggling with my weight since I could remember. I just so happen to be the heaviest I’ve ever been, and in the past I’ve had bulimic and anorexic tendencies. Nothing that lasted more than a couple weeks but it happened more than a few times. I’ve also tried a variety of diets like simple calorie counting, weight watchers, keto, real food diet, etc. None of these diets I enjoyed or succeeded with. The only diet that ever really stuck with me or worked was intermittent fasting and that’s because I’m a compulsive or emotional eater, usually at night, so it helped stop that a bit. My therapist a couple years ago recommended a book called “Breaking Free From Emotional Eating” by Geneen Roth. I didn’t read it, don’t really know why. But the other day I had a painful but encouraging conversation with my partner and I realized, amongst other things directly affecting my mental health, that I’ve been trying to diet and lose weight for what seems like our entire relationship. He’s never spoken poorly of my appearance or weight, but is well aware of how much pain it gives me that I am overweight- obese actually but just barely. Because of this he’ll encourage me to diet or eat healthy whenever I complain about it. So I finally picked up this book, and I’m halfway through it and have a completely different outlook on food and dieting. This book talks about what to eat, when to eat, how to deal with bingeing and compulsive eating, and more that I haven’t read yet. The basis is to only eat when you’re hungry, and to give yourself permission to eat what you want. That probably sounds to good to be true, or too easy to be effective. But I’m telling you, ever since I started reading this book a couple days ago, I’ve stayed under my calorie deficit without a problem. Calorie deficit? Yes I’m still counting calories simply because I haven’t finished my book and don’t quite trust myself yet. But this book is about trusting yourself and your body to tell you what it needs and when. It tells you to love yourself and to forgive yourself when you makes mistakes like bingeing and eating compulsively. It tells you to give yourself permission to eat what you want because then you won’t be deprived of what you want and therefore less likely to overeat or eat it in secret later when you’re not hungry. It talks about emotions and satisfaction and how food plays a huge role in this. And it talks about how to give yourself satisfaction without compulsively eating or eating more than what you want or need. This book and the author are so compassionate and forgiving and loving- throughout the entire thing I’ve felt nothing but encouragement and confidence in myself. I found it online for free, I won’t link in case of copyright issues, but feel free to message me if you’re interested. It’s also on thriftbooks for less than $5. And I will update this in a few weeks to see how my life and weight has changed. I encourage anyone who’s struggling with their diet, or hasn’t dieted yet, to read this book. It’s only 224 pages! It might not work for everyone, but I truly believe it’s the healthiest way to lose weight and love yourself without depriving your mind and body of what it wants and needs. It might not be as fast of a weight loss, but I believe it will be less stressful than others and a satisfying lifestyle change. Here is the link to goodreads: link It’s 4/5 stars, and half of the negative reviews didn’t finish the book. For others it just didn’t work for them. Keep in mind, this is not only a weight loss program, but a sort of mental health program as well. It encourages you to be in touch with yourself and your emotions and what your mind and body needs. It’s not a strict eat this, not that type of program. There’s not much structure in terms of diet, and if that’s what you need then maybe this won’t be as helpful for you. But I still encourage you to read it.
TLDR: I started reading “Breaking Free From Emotional Eating” by Geneen Roth and my perspective of food and dieting has changed. I haven’t finished it, and haven’t followed it’s suggestions / weight loss program long enough to see results, but I believe I will lose weight in a healthier, happier way. It’s about eating only when you’re hungry and giving yourself permission to eat what you want.
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