I see. Olesya?
I buy 16 18 size clothing. Customers and colleagues hint that I am overweight. I heard a new customer said recently:
Is this plump brunette your director? Another customer uses to greet me like: Hi Rolly Polly!
Shame on him! I am trying to ignore it but being a director
It might be really frustrating. OK, I see.
Olga Vladimirovna Tsyganova, 28, economist, lost 110 lbs I am well aware of the problems with clothes. Once, I was at a size 24, even 26 sometimes. I know it sounds terrifying. How could I let myself gain so much excess weight? Every year I bought clothing of a bigger size. When I started to drop weight, almost my clothing got slimmer together with me. I re-sew it because I knew that I didnt want to stop, and buying new clothes every month would be costly and irrational. I am at a size 1012 now. Its fantastic, cause its so easy to find a nice trendy outfit for me almost in every store. Its only the beginning. Im still working for better results.
Group session of psychologist
Artyom Andreyevich Ovechkin:
Anzhelika?
I dont like myself anymore. Its scary to look at myself in the mirror.
What do you feel at that moment?
Disgust. This is what I turned into
Is it frustrating?
Yes. Excess weight affects my health well-being, especially when I am at work, even though my job is not related to any physical labor. Once my colleague and me walked from one office room to another one. She told me suddenly: Anzhelika, you have a short of breath. I felt embarrassed. It was like a slap in the face.
Breathe. Its normal that you are crying now. Here, take a napkin. I understand what you mean. During the training we will definitely work through all the feelings that you have accumulated. You havent let them go. They are still in your mind. Ksenya?
Actually, its all the same. Eighteen months ago I was two sizes smaller. Then I gained five kilograms and couldnt drop them for a year. I even gained more during Christmas holidays. In short, I frantically tried to figure out how to lose weight, rushed from one extreme technique to another. I havent tried any diet. Of course, I dont eat in the evening. It helped me for a while. The last straw was when a shop assistant that was picking out clothes for me said: I guess you wear a size 18. I am concerned about these changes.
What size did you wear before?
I was at a size 12. In my opinion, I look a lot older and a bit vulgar now.
We all feel spine-chilling after your words.
Where do you come from and where do you go?
Andrey Vasilyevich Trenogov, psychologist, psychiatrist: Before you start losing weight, you need to send a certain time clarifying a few uneasy issues.
In order to achieve the goal, you need to understand clearly where you come from and where you go.
To do this, you can do the following exercise: write down (no need to think it over, just write down everything that comes into your mind) all sides of your life affected by excess weight. How does it affect your physical and mental health, work, and relationships with relatives, friends, and other people?
How do you feel about it? Where are these feelings concentrated (in your head, chest, in the stomach, or in the whole body)?
Ask yourself: How do I see myself now? What image appears in your mind? It can be an abstract image, a metaphor, or something.
Then describe the environment where you want to get to. Move mentally to a moment of time when you have already achieved what you want and describe your new life in the present tense. Describe your health state, relations with friends, and relatives. Think about other positive changes weight loss brought into your life.
How do you feel while describing your new state? In what areas of your body the sensation is concentrated?
How do you see yourself in this situation? What image (symbol or metaphor) appears in your mind?
After completion of the exercise, you should have two images:
one for a starting point and another for a destination point. These images will affect you like a powerful magnet, pushing you away from the starting point and pulling towards the destination.
Get slim at any cost! she said and opened the fridge. How did you drop weight?
I appreciate that you shared your feelings with me. One more question. What have you tried before to lose weight? We have to discuss the issue. So, lets talk about it.
Gennadiy Arturovich Arustamov, 41, Ph. D. in Economics, a CEO of Reka-More company, dropped 90 lbs:
Id start telling you the story about my transformation from the time when I weighed three hundred pounds. Ive already met psychologist Artyom Andreevich Ovechkin, as once I attended his counseling session on issues unrelated to weight loss. I knew that he counseled people who suffer from obesity and stress, and decided to ask him for help. Well, that was over two years ago.
My excessive weight began a long time ago, after school. After graduating from college and starting to work full-time, I began to gain weight. In my youth, I was into sports. So, when I quit, the weight literally started going up. I have been trying to settle the problem of excess weight since I was twenty-four. I tried everything. Diets, fasting, thats quite a story. I became pretty experienced in weight loss. Looking for different solutions, I tried different methods, specialized clinics almost everything. Anyway, even if it had any effect, it was only temporary. Excess weight returned, even in a larger amount. In an effort to drop weight, I was doing sports actively and intensively. Perhaps, I put too much on my plate. Anyway, it didnt lead to long-term results either. My physical condition was getting worse. I continued to gain weight. At the time, when I finally realized that I couldnt handle it anymore, and Artyom and I started working on my problem, my weight was one three hundred pounds.
I felt really bad.
That was accompanied by a continuing crisis at work and constant emotional fatigue. As a result, at the age of forty, I was totally worn out; my nervous system was all gone. Then we started to work. And the changes began. Ironically, things occurred as follows: Instead of weight loss, we started working on stress, trying to determine and eliminate the primary cause, changing my attitude to stress, life, life perception, to myself and others. I read the recommended books. I listened to the bits of advice given by the authors. We worked hard. It is to my credit that I did my best. I was motivated to achieve significant results. At a certain point, weight loss wasnt my main goal anymore. My mental state, inner harmony, and positive attitude became much more important to me.
It became my main goal, the primary motivation to move on and continue changing myself. Now, two years later, my weight is two hundred nine pounds. Ive dropped ninety pounds. Yes, I also do sports. But now I do it properly, bearing in mind medical recommendations.