Fighting the "Skinny Chick"

Why is it that we hear what our inner Skinny Chick is telling us and we refuse to listen? Why do we eat to soothe our stresses and pain when we know it will compromise our weight-loss and weight-maintenance efforts? Why do we fight the "Skinny Chick?"

I have asked this question throughout the week to my members in my Weight Watchers meetings, as this week we are talking about taming stress. The overwhelming response has been, "We eat to find comfort and to feel better, for the moment." I am sure most of us can relate to this. The thing that I find most interesting is the "for the moment" part. It is truly that. After that moment passes, how do we feel? Most of us, myself included, experience a feeling of overpowering guilt. We are upset at ourselves for giving in to our food temptations, for not choosing our health and well-being first and for fighting the "Skinny Chick."

For some of us, our fight with our inner "Skinny Chick" looks a little different. Some of us have gotten to a point in our weight-loss journey where we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and our "outer Skinny Chick" is beginning to emerge. This is scary for a lot of us. Once the "outer Skinny Chick" is present, everyone can see her. There is a different set of standards that, we not only have for ourselves, but others have for us as well. We don't want our "outer Skinny Chick" to emerge and then suffer the embarrassment of gaining the weight back. So what do we do? We hide our "outer Skinny Chick" by doing the things we know will not make us successful. It is a form of self-sabotage. If we do this, we don't have to worry about feeling as though we have failed. We can still keep our "Skinny Chick" on the inside.

There is also another group of us that may have not come to the point that we are ready to listen to our "inner Skinny Chick" at all. We may not even believe that there IS a "Skinny Chick" inside of us. We lash out and attack all things and all people that we consider "Skinny." We have convinced ourselves that the unhealthy version of ourselves is it, and it will never change. We have done such a great job of this, that we say things like, "Everyone in my family is over-weight" or "I like food that tastes good" or "I don't have time to exercise and I don't like to sweat." We begin to truly believe these things and accept that not being the healthiest version of ourselves is okay.

I know that these fights are hard to acknowledge, however they are so real for so many of us. The first step is to own up to the fact that sometimes we do fight our "Skinny Chick." She can be really annoying at times. She also can seem like she wants to spoil our fun and keep us from truly living our life. I agree. It does SEEM like this at times. However, it is exactly the opposite. You actually "hear" your "inner Skinny Chick" because deep down inside you know what it takes for you to be healthy. You know that above all else you want to BE healthy and that YOU are worth it.

Just like in any relationship, there are fights, arguments and even set-backs. Your relationship with your "inner/outer Skinny Chick" is no different. There are going to be times when you just don't listen at all. You will fight her to the core. However, the fact still remains that she will always be there, no matter how hard you try to hide her. She will ALWAYS give you another chance. She will NEVER fight you!