What does this mean? You’ve heard the word “gradually” often in this book, so you’re probably already thinking, “How much time?” I wish I had a simple answer, but remember, every body is different and every diet history is different. Remember the landmarks of recovery? One person had a change in appetite within five months and lost more than 35 pounds over the next two years. Maybe that doesn’t sound like much compared to the last diet you tried, but six years after losing that weight, this happy individual has never regained a pound. In fact, she’s lost more weight.
Where were you five years ago? Two years ago? Were you dieting? Were you thinner? Were you heavier? Five years seems like a long time, but looking back, it has a different perspective. Knowing what it took you to get to the weight you are now, wouldn’t it be worth changing paths in spite of the slower recovery? Can you see yourself in a year or two, or five, eating like a sane human being, free to satisfy your hunger, out from under the pressures of cravings for lousy food? This is the picture to hold up because it will give you patience and motivate you to keep doing something new for a change —something that will bring many health advantages that last.
Exercise For Weight Loss And Toning It Takes Time Photo Gallery
It’s hard to work at something that takes months and years to accomplish when others are “doing it” in days and weeks. (Suddenly, they will be all around you, losing five pounds a week.) But time is the tradeoff here and there’s no way around it. If you think of all the time you spent gaining weight and dieting and gaining it back, then it just makes sense that your body is going to require some serious time to reverse the process for good. How much serious time? Think in terms of weeks to get completely off the cycle and into a rhythm of eating on time. Then, give your body time to make the necessary biochemical changes that go with an optimal food supply and lead to weight loss. This will probably take some months for your body to adjust. Once your expectations get realistic, you’ll be able to relax and do your job—eating right and staying active. All these things will reassure your body that it is safe to use up extra fat. When you reach your ideal weight, there is no maintenance plan to go on. Just keep doing what you have been doing all along—why wouldn’t you?
Coming From the Other Side—Anorexia A mother’s perspective
“Four years ago my daughter was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa, and the bottom fell out of our world. Having tried the usual G.P. Referral to a clinic for psychiatric assessment, and then E.D. Clinic, I knew from the outset that they were falling short of the mark in their efforts to help my daughter.”
This mother was understandably terrified for her daughter. She found Breaking Out of Food Jail on the Internet and read it with her daughter. Her daughter recovered from this debilitating illness by applying the adaptation principles and her mother reports that she is now doing extremely well, eating freely, preferring organic healthy food, including desserts. She says her daughter has learned to read her hunger signals, and she eats until she is comfortably full. On this journey, she did have anxiety issues as she learned to trust the program The early days were the most difficult, as her body learned to cope with food again. There were a few anxious months when she did gain, but she could also think much more logically and clearly, enabling her to understand that the weight gain was temporary. She knew her body also had to learn to trust her again, and once it did, then her weight leveled off and has remained steady ever since—for four years.
I recently saw two photos of this young woman—one before and one after her recovery. The before picture is frightening. Now she is radiant and has a beautiful, natural figure.
Anorexia is considered to be a chronic, incurable illness.
Debbie
I became anorexic beginning at age 15 and continued off and on until I completely stopped starving myself at age 28. I went through some serious binging and starving, losing control of my eating, and not understanding why and what was happening with my body. Finally, I went to see a famous doctor who gave me the tools to help me get my body healthy again. But I was scared as I was going through the weight gain and the tight fitting clothes, and eventually I had to throw away the scale because I didn’t want to see what my weight was anymore.
It wasn’t until I came across your wonderful books, that I was completely convinced about how a body works and why it goes through what it goes through when it’s starving. Your book totally hit the nail on the head. Now mind you, I’m not taking anything away from the doctor who helped me. He did help me tremendously, but your book explained in detail the why’s, the what’s, and the how’s which is exactly what I needed most. I needed to know why this was happening, and how I can prevent it from happening again, and what caused it to happen in the first place. I can’t tell you how many “aha moments” I had when I read your books.
Thank you so very much for writing these wonderful books. I’m so happy that you did. If there was one person that you helped more than you know, it was definitely me.
