From: susan@drseus.jsc.nasa.gov (Susan Shelton)
Subject: Re: When Food Is Love
Organization: Lockheed Engineering & Sciences Company
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 23:32:14 GMT

>
>This "Geneen Roth" stuff seems to be particularly attractive to women,
>for whatever reason, I don't know why.  I haven't come across a man who
>is inclined to push it.  But it's mostly women who seem to be
>brainwashed into thinking that there has to be some emotional basis to
>their overeating and obesity and that "being nurturing to yourself"
>somehow breaks this cycle.  Well, maybe it breaks a cycle of dieting
>and regain, and that such folks eventually maintain a higher total
>bodyweight.  I'd love to meet someone formerly fat who followed Roth's
>recommendations and became thin, but I'm pretty skeptical!

>Steve Dyer
>dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer

I was about 30 pounds overweight and had been since I was 11 or 12.  My most
recent major weight loss was on Weight Watcher's 2 years ago when I lost the
30 pounds (actually I was still 1 1/2 pounds over my goal weight) and gained
it back rapidly while still going to Weight Watcher's every week.  A little
less than a year ago I read two of Geneen Roth's books and decided to try
eating what I wanted and being aware of when I'm full.  I hadn't been on a
scale since then until last week when I had a doctor's appointment.  I weighed
nine pounds less than I did when I quit Weight Watcher's.  That's  without
being on any sort of diet whatsoever.

Maybe you're mistaking eating whatever you want with binging.  Perhaps when 
you were gaining your weight you were still trying to put yourself on a 
diet, even an unstructured one, which is why you ate more than you wanted to.
When I was on Weight Watcher's (and every diet before that) I would do things
like eat a whole box of ice cream sandwiches just because I had already 
blown it for the day.  I would never binge like that now.  There are times
when I eat past being full, but I absolutely never eat to the point of feeling
sick (something I used to do all of the time), simply because there's no
pressure to because I know I can eat whatever I want when I get hungry
again.  Also, I would never do things like eat in the car on the way home
from the grocery store, because I don't have the feeling that I have to eat
as much as I can as fast as I can before I work up the will power to stop
myself.  I also can have good stuff at home without having to worry about
binging.  I have a major sweet tooth and always have something sweet at 
home.  But now I can make a batch of cookies and it lasts a couple of weeks
(instead of eating half of them the day I make them (well past the point
of feeling sick) and then throwing the rest out in disgust).  I buy packs of
pop-tarts and every once in awhile I'll have one for breakfast and the
rest of the time I won't think of them.

I know losing 9 pounds in a year isn't a lot, but the slow pace is worth
not having to worry about my weight and what I eat and who's watching 
me eat, etc.  And I'm not worried about maintaining it because I don't
have any diet to fall off of.

Eating what you want doesn't mean being on a constant binge, it means trying
to concentrate on when you're hungry and what you're hungry for.  There 
are still things I have trouble with (I have the hardest time leaving 
food on my plate) but I'm working on it. 

At any rate I can't say I've become thin on Geneen Roth's recommendations (yet),but I have become thinner.

I hope you are successful and happy in whatever method you use to lose 
weight.  Good luck.
Newsgroups: alt.support.diet,misc.fitness,alt.support.big-folks