"I Can Make You Thin" on TLC

[segrau]

Everyone who has cable should watch I Can Make You Thin on TLC. It's on Sundays...I'm not sure of the time. Anyway, the program is basically Intuitive Eating with some interesting tricks and techniques to try. The host of the show has had some great results. One guy lost about 90 lbs in 10 months! That's a little extreme for me (I'd like to lose 40-50 lbs and I'd like it to come off slowly enough to be healthy and natural) but as long as you're not dieting I think it's great that people are losing such significant weight.

[luvmydoxie]

Some one asked me at work today if I'd seen that guy.  I haven't, but I think I'll watch him now.  I usually skip over it because I figured it was just another "get skinny quick" routine.  You know like that other dufus, the one who in his book suggest taking HCG hormone among many other outlandish things, to loose weight.  Gosh I can't remember his name at the moment, but he's all over satilite tv.

[Angela_P71]

Yeah, I initially dismissed it as well. Much as I hate to judge a book by its cover (or a TV show by its title), the title DID suggest to me that it was not a good choice for me to watch. I am trying to let go of the obsession to lose weight/be thin and truly be ok with myself at my current size. Otherwise, I can't really be sure whether my food/eating choices are truly driven by my body's needs or by an ingrained wish to change my body.

The show hasn't been on again (on my system) since I read segrau's post, but I set up our DVR to record the series. I'm still skeptical, but then again, I'm well-practiced at panning the good parts from the "chaff" out of stuff I read/hear/watch.


Granted, I discovered Intuitive Eating because I was looking for a truly permanent weight loss solution. But I've come to believe that my body will eventually reach its own natural weight after I let go of trying to lose weight & allow myself to fully experience being both hungry and full/satisfied from the foods my body wants. It's a WIP, but I'm still walking the path.

Seems like there are many things in life that work better when I stop struggling to control them. :)



- Angela P.

[anneb123]

Angela,  if I didn't know better, I'd think we were long lost twins.  :)  I've been in the same back and forth for months now. 

Like you, I take the healthy objectives of intuitive eating and turn them into diet rules, but I've noticed that it's not actually these rules that get me off track.  I usually have some other trigger, like things are going well, and I start feeling good that I'm losing weight, but then I'll step on the scale or try to wear something that's too tight and I start to get this mentality that it's not coming off fast enough, so I make the rules more strict, and that sets off the rebellion spiral.  Again, the focus on weight loss instead of taking care of my body just for the sake of feeling good.

I think for me, I need to take weight out of the picture entirely.  It sounds stupid, but I'm petrified of throwing away my scale for good, but I think, until I have a better handle, maybe I'm going to pack up the scale, pack up the measuring tape, pack up the clothes that don't feel great now, basically remove the things that make me think about weight loss and see how that goes.  I'm hoping that by doing this, I can prevent weight loss from becoming a distraction from simply taking care of my body.

It all sounds so simple, huh?  :)  I don't know if any of this resonates with you, but let me know how it goes.

Anne

[Angela_P71]

Hi Anne,

Well, I had kinda done some of that. The scale, while not completely gone, is on a high shelf in the back of the closet. And in early June, I got a HUGE shopping trip as a birthday present, where I got LOTS of new clothes that look great on me at my current size (which is pretty much my highest non-pregnancy weight).

But I can't totally let go of my size/weight issues. DH, DD, & I went to the beach over the holiday weekend, and I can't say I was happy with my appearance in a bathing suit. Plus, with the heat of summer, I'm feeling the discomfort of some fluid retention in my extremities.

I've tried this week to get more exercise & drink more water to address the fluid retention issue as well as help improve my mood, reduce stress, etc. I just have to keep reminding myself that this is NOT about weight loss.

It has been bugging me, seeing I.E. treated like a weight-loss gimmick, since one of the core principles of I.E. is that weight will stabilize naturally when you stop trying to change it.

I know that I am still working through this, but I am far enough to realize that my focus on my size/appearance has been serving to distract me from deeper issues of my own vulnerability. Before I.E., if I feared that I was "unacceptable" about anything, I could blame my weight, and while I was dieting, I could convince myself that I was working toward becoming acceptable. Yet, when I get to the heart of it, I have withheld showing my vulnerability to others out of fear of rejection. And I have chosen to eat to soothe my feelings of vulnerability. I didn't even realize that I had such intense feelings  until recently.

So the real work, for me, is learning how to really feel & experience my feelings of fear & anger & grief. Not wallowing in it or distracting myself from it or snapping at the people around me.  And not trying to "fix" every "unacceptable" part of myself. Just to find my whole genuine self and embrace everything I find, the good and the bad. And be willing to just be myself with the rest of the world, let the chips fall where they may.

So, yes, I could diet and temporarily change the thickness of the skin that covers the frame. But I'm pretty sure that adjusting the mechanics that gave rise to the issue in the first place will provide a more thorough solution.

[anneb123]

It really sounds like you understand what you need to do, and I completely understand the challenge in getting yourself to take care of yourself without falling into old patterns.  If you're like me, you've been following a set of patterns for a long time (almost 15 years in my case), so it's going to take some time to reprogram.  Be gentle with yourself, it really sounds like you're on the right track, you'll get there.

It's a little off-topic, but when you were talking about learning to accept things that you now consider "unacceptable", it made me think of something I saw that made me so mad.   There was a great slide show featuring women who had struggled and succeeding in accepting specific "flaws".  I was so heartened to see these women who looked so happy - they were truly beaming - having started to accept themselves in all their glory.  So I'm feeling pretty good as I click to the last slide.  It's an advertisement that says, "See what you would look like 20lbs thinner!".  I kid you not.  All that lip service most media outlets give to self-acceptance is just that.  I started to realize that that the worship of physical perfection and thinness reflects its values, not mine.  And not only do I reject them, but I refuse to pass them along to my daughter.  Thankfully, the media also includes places like this where people can support each other.  Perhaps it's a small group now, but we'll grow once people start rejecting the standard rules.  Catch you later...