I’m in the midst of a transformational relationship to my body, during which my weight has stabilized, as well as my mental health. A lot of my journey has been facilitated by Kate Harding’s Shapely Prose as well as other smart funny blogs in the “fat-o-sphere,” and i want to address one thing you mention. Probably just to clarify, but nonetheless….

Emotional eating. I also have a long history of emotionally-driven, unintentional eating. It’s been a sign of being unhealthy for me. But i want to also point out that eating IS an emotional experience a lot of the time, and that’s okay. We eat to celebrate, we eat meals as a social activity. I don’t see that as a crutch or as a social dysfunction, it’s something humans have done for a long, long time. Food and eating are sensual things. I get a LOT of pleasure out of a nice piece of cake, and i’m not about to go back to feeling like that pleasure is a “sin” of some kind, or like i’m a bad person just cause i LOVE FOOD. It’s about finding a balance – numbing oneself with food is different than eating a reasonably sized, “real food” dessert just for the sheer pleasure of it. Or hell, even sometimes an oversized one.

It’s like Michael said – making it a choice, and being present with it. I’ve tried to stop eating while i’m ‘netting, or reading, or watching movies (except for popcorn, mmm), but at the same time, really tossing the guilt over eating foods i love.

Now, if only i can get over the residual resentment of anything that looks like “exercise” (which makes my life hard, as i’m a yoga teacher and a dancer)!

I hope to be able to be able to ask myself, “Why am I eating this? What does it mean that I’m eating this?” etc. I’m okay with junk food – some times you need it. But, I want to be something I chose to do.

Good luck!
*hugs*

And yes, I say it is much more than about food or eating or weight loss. I’m a skinny guy, yet I read the whole thing and translated it into the fears and anxieties I have around money and work. I also have been paying more attention to when I reach for sweets, which usually seems to be about wanting connection or to FEEL something.

If you liked that book, you’d probably also love the book The Energy Break by Bradford Keeney (it’s out of print, but used copies abound on Amazon etc.). Also a misleading title, it’s all about regaining our natural, spontaneous movement–exactly what you mentioned in this article–through wiggling and jiggling, shaking and quaking throughout our day, and for little play breaks (NOT “exercise”), just as when we were kids.