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“There are many people who are practicing good eating habits and are still struggling with their weight,” fatburn.com states. The problem is that very few people know about or practice portion control.

“Throw away all you have been reading in the latest and greatest ‘diet breakthrough’ literature,” the site says. “The key to weight loss is eating what you like, in a balanced diet, while controlling portion size.”

When you’ve finished eating, you shouldn’t feel full. If you are, you’ve overeaten.

Set a personal goal before starting a diet. Then pick a day to start and focus on making simple changes on a daily basis. Make the changes slowly, and stick to them.

Bourgeois said it’s important to realize you will occasionally make mistakes and cheat on your diet. You’ll give in to the temptation to eat a deep-fried chicken leg. That doesn’t mean you should give up.

When you make a mistake, accept it, resolve to do better next time and continue with your diet.

After just a few weeks, Cabezuela was feeling better and had lost some weight. She’s wearing a belt for the first time in years.

“I like that a lot,” she said. “I’m thinking, if I see this result in just a few weeks, I want to stick to it and see what else happens.”

Risky business
Just about this same time last year, Myles (not his real name), a longtime city employee, resolved to lose weight, exercise more and give up smoking.

But he didn’t resolve to fix his relationship with his “cold and distant wife.”

On the rare occasions when they spoke, he said she nagged him about finances or criticized his parenting. Things got worse after their unmarried 19-year-old announced her unexpected pregnancy.

Myles wanted to numb out from his homelife. He spent more time at the fitness center gaining strength in his chest and shoulders. Maybe he couldn’t face problems at home, but at least he was taking better care of himself. The new year seemed to hold the promise for self-improvement.

Then the affair started.

They met at the gym. She was his age and getting divorced.

At first it felt so liberating, like a declaration of independence from the emotional barrage at home.

Then, the anxiety came back.

It always does when people choose to neutralize their feelings by killing the pain rather than addressing the underlying causes of the problem, said Ruth Carroll, senior counselor with the city’s Employee Assistance Program.

“[Clients] would much rather eat a box of chocolates than work on a possible solution because the chocolates offer immediate gratification with zero effort,” Carroll said. “But the problem will only be exacerbated.”

People use all kinds of distractive coping attempts: reckless driving, sexual promiscuity and binge eating, Carroll said. All they’re doing is postponing dealing with reality and setting themselves up for more problems they’ll be forced to deal with later, she said.

Otherwise healthy people often enter into risky behavior patterns without being aware.

“Alcoholism can start by having a few drinks after work to take the mind off the day’s issues,” said Rich Barrett, EAP manager.

Drug addiction, too.

“I’ve had clients get in trouble with Xanax,” Carroll said. “Because a doctor prescribed them, they thought it was all right to take them whenever they don’t feel like dealing with something. Next thing you know, they’re fighting drug addiction.”

“What’s so misleading about a quick fix is that it’s so powerfully seductive,” said Barrett. “Things actually seem to be getting better … for a little while.”

And that’s when things usually get worse.

Continued
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