Years ago, I went to a hospital for a CAT scan.
In a cramped waiting room, I was sitting next to a lady who was decades older than I was. She seemed so serene as she told me of her husband’s brave battle with cancer.
At that very moment, he was having a CAT scan to check if his treatments were working. His wife was expecting good news.
Just then, a nurse brought me an oral contrast to drink before my CAT scan. I took one sip of the chalky liquid, became dizzy, and literally fell out of my chair.
The serene lady screamed.
She started to cry hysterically, then accused the nurse of deliberately trying to hurt me.
I was having a severe allergic reaction. But I managed to get back into my chair.
I tried to convince the lady that I was all right. But she just kept screaming that the doctors and nurses in that hospital were always hurting people.
I knew then that she wasn’t screaming for me. She was screaming for herself, for her husband, and for all the agony they had endured.
My allergic reaction was just the catalyst to release all the fears and pain she’d kept bottled up for so long.
When you have a lot of weight to lose, it’s easy to convince yourself that your only battle is with fat.
But the truth is, it’s a life-changing event.
All the fears, hurts, and agonies you’ve endured — and kept inside — will be your fiercest opponents.
When you’re severely overweight, many people treat you like you’re stupid, lazy, even worthless. Some of the worst offenders have “MD” after their names.
Sound familiar?
I think any of you who are or have been obese know exactly what I mean. Experiences like that change you — even if other people can’t see it.
As you start to slim down, your body may change faster than your emotions can adapt. So even though you want to lose weight, it’s natural to fear it.
You may become anxious, filled with self-doubt, even develop irrational fears.
Suddenly, every headache is a brain tumor, every car ride is an accident waiting to happen, every ring of the telephone is bad news.
Like the lady screaming in the hospital, I believe these irrational fears may be a way of releasing all the emotions you’ve kept inside for so long.
And just as that lady was really screaming for herself, not for me, your fears may really be about losing weight. Not brain tumors, car accidents, or bad news over the phone.
Maybe these are some of your real fears instead:
- You’ll gain the weight back.
- You’ll let other people or yourself down if you regain the weight.
- You’ll have to give up all your favorite foods, possibly forever.
- You won’t be able to cope with problems if you can’t have food.
- You’ve tried to lose weight so many times before, you can’t believe it’ll work now.
- You’re not good at exercise or you don’t want people to see your body when you exercise.
- You’re overwhelmed by how much weight you have to lose.
- Other people will expect more of you after you lose weight.
- You’ll always have to be perfect — your hair, your clothes, everything.
- Other people will react with jealousy, anger, or resentment.
- You’ll lose your overweight friends.
- You’ll become one of the skinny people you hate.
- You won’t be able to cope with all the attention you’ll get when you’re thin.
- You’ll become attractive and sexy to the opposite sex.
- People will still reject you when you’re thin and you can no longer blame your weight for the rejection.
Of course, not everyone who needs to lose weight develops irrational fears. Especially if your family and friends support your weight loss efforts.
But even then it’s natural to feel self-doubt when you have a lot of weight to lose. And it’s easy to let those fears or self-doubt sabotage your weight loss.
There’s an old saying that sums up why so many of us fear change, even when our current situations seem intolerable:
It’s easier to stay in a known hell than to risk an unknown heaven.
I think it’s worth the risk. How about you?
