Obesity, Body & Eating Issues
Many people struggle with their weight, obesity, hiding in their clothes (or skin) and spend years dieting and yo-yoing up and down only to feel like they failed. Some can feel this battle with their body or with food is just something they will always have.
Feelings of shame and guilt can keep triggering a cycle with binge-eating, starving, exercising excessively, or daring oneself into the plunge of feeling lazy and hopeless.
Many times these body and food issues are rooted in trauma, perfection/imperfection worries, avoiding one's feelings, lack of self-care, or beliefs that one is not "good".
I can help you explore the roots of these challenges and change your body/eating
thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
Feelings of shame and guilt can keep triggering a cycle with binge-eating, starving, exercising excessively, or daring oneself into the plunge of feeling lazy and hopeless.
Many times these body and food issues are rooted in trauma, perfection/imperfection worries, avoiding one's feelings, lack of self-care, or beliefs that one is not "good".
I can help you explore the roots of these challenges and change your body/eating
thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
Perfectionism can have body and eating symptoms that swing both sides of the pendulum. Having expectations so high that they are possibly unreachable although they might not feel like it to you. Sometimes others say things that may give you a clue that this might be a problem you have? Whether you feel obsessed about your physical body evidenced by looking in the mirror too much, paying attention to physical details, or you worry about not hitting the gym hard enough or for a long enough time these are signs of having some body issues related to perfectionism.
Avoiding feelings altogether can look many different ways. Maybe you believe that you are truly unaffected by things that make others sad or angry? Maybe there are thoughts that you don't spend more than a fleeting second noticing but they are followed by having an intense feeling of hunger and find yourself in the kitchen looking for snacks? Maybe you are more sensitive than you ever admit to glances, thoughts, and/or comments from others where they deny having ill intent but you feel otherwise. These are signs of having some body issues related to feeling avoidance.
Lack of self-care is often not even recognized by those who have this behavior until they realize the thoughts that accompany their eating issues. Having thoughts like, "I don't have time to eat healthy or plan out my food" or "I feed my family healthy foods but sometimes I just grab myself something quick or eat whatever they don't finish" or "I keep protein bars in my desk in case I'm really starving" are common thoughts among those that put their own care last on the list of things to do. Other popular thoughts are: "Ya, I know I need to drink more water" and "Ya, I know I need to start going to the gym or something". I can help you find ways to take care of yourself through the way you treat your body.
Believing you are not good can cause you to punish yourself yet not see it that way. This rooted issue can go easily unnoticed by those that have this as an underlying issue. Beneath guilt and shame is a belief that we are undeserving of happiness, love, wellness, and acceptance. Negative self-talk is usually at the top of this destructive belief and is quite devastating to the individual. Things you may notice that can help you know whether this is a root cause that you struggle with are: you are very self-critical of small things (but they seem huge), you call yourself names like "stupid" and laugh at yourself, your thoughts are constantly planning how to improving the future moments and don't give a second thought to the experience of right now. If reading this paragraph makes you feel something that you may be denying, I can help you sort out all the thoughts surrounding it. We can determine how to help body and eating issues you have that are connected to unworthiness.