Comments on: Overeating and Overwhelmed? I Have a Message For You

By: Ande

Ande — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:23:48 +0000

I’ve come to understand that overeating is a big flashing neon warning sign, or maybe a robot with flailing arms, like the one in Lost In Space . It’s saying–STOP you’re not being true to yourself. I just turned 50 so this has taken me a long time to figure out. I spent the first 35 years of my life bingeing and dieting and exercising like a mad woman to maintain a size 8 to 12 body, then things fell apart and I went up to 100 pounds overweight, lost it, and now, at over 100 pounds overweight, I’m finally getting it.

A couple years ago, I was receiving craniosacral therapy, and the bodyworker asked me what I felt. I blurted out, “There’s an elephant on my chest.” She asked me the elephants name. I laughed but said, “Elly.” She asked what the elephant wanted. I said the first thing that came to mind: “She wants me to stop. I’m going in the wrong direction.” This was when I’d walked away from my book writing career and begun the internet stuff. Did I listen to Elly?

Nope. I kept going. And I think every time I dove into a package of cookies or inhaled a pizza, it was Elly shouting, “STOP! You’re not doing what’s right for you!”

I’m finally listening to Elly. And I’ve stopped bingeing. I’m not dieting yet–not ready for some reason–too much else going on, I think. But I’m not bingeing, and that’s huge (excuse the pun ).

We need to listen to our elephants … and our food cravings.

By: Melissa McCreery

Melissa McCreery — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:07:06 +0000

Patricia, I am a big believer in the power of meditation and other mindfulness practices. What I find is that busy women (including myself here) can know the value and still have a hard time giving ourselves the permission to take the time to do these things. Thanks so much for adding your thoughts.
Ande–wow. Your story is so powerful that I can feel it in my bones–as is your intention to find your way back. I am so grateful for all that you shared. Talk about an exclamation point! As an aside, I’m not just writing about moms here, I thought the reference was a very real example of the problem though. I’m so struck by your words–”I abandoned who I was.” That’s the crux of it for so many women. There seems to be this belief that we can function on auto-pilot while we take care of the rest of the world.

By: Ande

Ande — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 20:54:32 +0000

I am a living, breathing testament to the truth you’ve so beautifully stated in this post. Four years ago, my husband suffered a severe head injury that wiped out 95 percent of his lifetime memories. I abandoned my writing career and through myself into an internet business, working everyday, trying to save us financially. I ate through the whole process, piling back on over 100 pounds that I’d just removed over the previous couple years (and I put those on by eating through other problems). All that work didn’t bring me anything except a size 26, and eventually, I suffered my own accident and ended up bedridden and then in rehab for nearly a year. And now we’re in the financial pits.

Now I don’t tell this whole story as a poor pitiful me–I’m telling it to put a strong exclamation point on the end of your post. I got in the situation I’m currently in because I abandoned who I was. I’m not a mom (except to a dog ), but I still lost me in the process of trying to be everything my husband and our home needed.

I am in the process of finding my way back and I know that finding ways to feel good is the absolutely most important thing I can do. Action from a place of lack is worthless.