Visualization for Weight Loss -The Gabriel Method

Part II: Nonphysical Stresses that Activate the FAT Programs

Obviously, if you are currently being physically or sexually abused, you must get help immediately. It has to end and it has to end now ! You must get as much help as you need in order to feel safe and protected from the abuse, including getting the law involved. Your legal rights are being violated, and you have every right to legal protection. You need to be safe and, as far as weight loss is concerned, you need to feel safe. Hiding from the World While fear makes some people fat, it makes others painfully thin. I once read an interview with a former anorexic in which she said that she wanted to become invisible to the world. She felt that, by being as small as possible, people would not notice her. When I read this article, it occurred to me that gaining weight is a way of hiding from the world too. The same way that a turtle has a protective shell that it can hide in whenever something’s attacking it, it’s possible to make the association that our fat is a protective shell that can enable us to hide from threats in our lives. This is a perfect example of how people can adopt opposite strategies for dealing with the same need—in this case, the need is to hide. One way of hiding is to become less visible; the other involves retreating inside your body—underneath your fat. It’s not the objective reality of the threat that matters; it’s the way your body interprets the threat that determines its reaction. One person’s body can translate the need to hide into a need to be as thin a possible. Another person’s body will interpret the need to hide as a need to be as fat as possible, causing them to become “morbidly” obese (I hate that term!). It’s the exact same need with exactly opposite strategies for coping. Big Is Boss As children, we make the obvious connection that adults are in charge. Subconsciously, the association between “big” and “boss” still exists in us. Many people find that they’re more comfortable in the role of an authority figure if they’re bigger. We can also make the connection between being big physically and being

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