Self-acceptance; the key to weight loss

Guest Blog Post by Daryl Wood - Intentional Leader of Women's Retreats.

Finding Catherine has been no surprise to me. After all, we are drawn to those we can learn from all the time. Reading her blog reminded me of so many of my own experiences and what I have heard from clients over the years. I too have struggled with eating/food issues and now understand that abusive eating had become another of my addictive responses to not wanting to feel. The tragedy is of course that eating doesn’t resolve the underlying feelings anymore than alcohol, drugs, over-working, mindless video games, etc. In the end, there simply isn’t anywhere we can hide. Why not? Because what we are running from, lives inside of us.

Discovering what triggers us to use food to soothe ourselves is very much worth the investment. The 60 billion (yes, that’s a B for billion) dollar diet industry has no intention of creating lasting change. Why should they? Unemployment would skyrocket if everyone selling pills, creams, equipment, books and comprehensive programs suddenly faced a huge drop in demand from the public. Alas, just like losing weight, things won’t change overnight. If anything, our population is getting fatter rather than shifting to a healthy lifestyle.

What Catherine is pointing us to is the effectiveness of tapping (literally and metaphorically) into our deep beliefs about ourselves. The internal dialogue rooted in our earliest definitions of ourselves keeps playing over in our minds no matter how much we accomplish. And if it’s not celebratory, it’s destructive. For example, it may be hard to imagine that a highly successful executive with enormous responsibility and multiple awards of recognition could have any reason to not feel worthy. But it happens all the time and in every walk of life, every community, every organization and more households than you could imagine.

What I am no longer surprised by is how many people make their way to my coaching programs with low self-worth. That’s not usually what pushed them to call but it’s always lurking in the corner somewhere. The most challenging issue to address is that of self-criticism. You will notice in Catherine’s videos that she doesn’t use judgement and self-negating during EFT treatments. It’s this philosophy of loving oneself that provides the space for self-acceptance and self-nurturing. Only under these conditions can anyone truly change the foundational beliefs that cause self-destructive behaviours.

My specialty lies in creating opportunities for women to slow down, connect with their inner wisdom and get very clear on what matters to them. This comes in the form of retreats and specifically the Women’s Whole Life Retreat and Coaching Program  which I developed to ensure that changes were fully integrated. What Catherine and I share is a common understanding that the fears and shame we try desperately to hide, ultimately shows up all over our bodies. 

There isn’t a pill, diet or quick-fix on the planet that can erase the self-loathing that many overweight people struggle with on a daily basis. What works is changing what we say to ourselves about ourselves so we can feel safe in our own heads. As I’ve navigated this road myself I know that some of what I turned over along the path wasn’t easy to digest, physically and emotionally. But I also know how liberating the process can be. And that makes it all worthwhile.

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Ms. Daryl Wood has been an Intentional Leader of Women’s Retreats creating deeply empowering experiences in sacred, healing environments for over 12 years. She also Coaches women around the world by phone on the biggest challenge of all - Coping With Change - so they can live more fulfilling lives that have a greater impact on their world, no matter how big or small it is. Daryl loves the opportunity to help people move forward in their lives and her slightly irreverent humour adds a refreshing and engaging energy to all her relationships. You can learn more about Daryl at her websites:

www.darylwood.com and www.womenswisdomretreats.com.