Visualization for Weight Loss -The Gabriel Method

Part II: Nonphysical Stresses that Activate the FAT Programs

Emotional obesity, on the other hand, is the actual need to be fat, whether consciously or subconsciously, as an emotional sur- vival strategy. You could, in theory, have no positive associations with food at all, and derive no pleasure from the act of eating, and still have emotional obesity—because it’s not the food that’s important, it’s the fat. Dealing with Emotional Obesity First Whenever I talk with someone about their weight issues and I detect that they’re showing signs of emotional obesity, I usually stop the conversation short and say to them, “Lets not talk about what you’re eating or not eating right now, or how many times you’ve tried to diet and failed, or what you’re cravings are or what type of exercise you’re doing, or when you’re ‘good’ or when you’re ‘bad.’ I think that you have an emotional need to be fat, and as long as you have that need, no program is going to work for you. Let’s first discover and understand why you have this need to be fat, and then see what we can do to elimi- nate that need.” Only after they have made some progress in addressing and eliminating the causes of their emotional obesity do I then say to them, “Okay, now I’m ready to discuss your eating habits; your cravings; your energy level; and what’s hard or easy about your life in general, and about losing weight in particular. From there we can go about designing an approach that addresses and eliminates the reasons your body wants to be fat.” More times than not, I find that once people deal with the emotional obesity issue, their weight just falls off, and I don’t hear from them again for several months. Basically, it’s futile to discuss any type of strategies for losing weight if you have mental and/or emotional reasons why you need to be fat—unless you address these issues . Even the simplest and most effortless approach to weight loss will fail if you have emotional obesity. Someone could say to you, “All you need to do is lift your little finger once a day for thirty days straight in order to lose weight,” but if you’re in the

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