Food Diary Lessons: The Lifestyle Connection
In her recent food diary, Jan expressed pride and satisfaction with her progress. In nine months she had lost 50 pounds (from 230 to 180). Yet two diaries ago her comments were full of frustration and resignation. She recovered from relapse by making the lifestyle connection.After surgery Jan returned to the librarian job she had for many years. It had been a challenging job that involved direct contact with the public and left her feeling that she really made a difference. Her job satisfaction plummeted in a move to middle management, supervising employees she didn’t like, with a boss who scrutinized her decisions and loaded her with bureaucratic tasks. It got to the point where she had to force herself to go to work. She had hoped that a great weight loss and a new look would give her the boost she needed to tolerate the toxic work environment, but the reverse occurred. At work she began to reward herself by grazing on salty chips stashed in her desk, then numbing out with continued snacking at home. As her weight loss stalled, she got even more demoralized and was close to giving up.
I suggested she respond to the “six months to liveâ€
