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The names in this story have been changed to protect the not so innocent and to avoid making enemies.
I have had clients over the years who want and/or need to lose weight. They are motivated and focused on their goal. But sometimes a friend, a spouse or other family member will try to sabotage them. Why? Who knows. Insecurity, jealousy, fear. They sabotage in a multitude of ways - bringing home pastries or ice cream, putting donuts in the break room at work, trying to talk someone into eating “just a little more” or “taking just one bite”.
I had a client by the name of Janice. Janice really wanted to lose weight and develop a healthy lifestyle. She was divorced, had three grown children and wanted to enter middle age with a new attitude. She was doing great. She did resistance training with me three times a week, she did cardiovascular activity everyday and she developed all new healthy eating habits. By the time she had lost 25 pounds, she was joyful and feeling good about her future.
She always shared with me about a co-worker and lunch buddy by the name of Sheila. Sheila was overweight but had no desire or willpower to change. Janice told me that Sheila seemed to be upset that she was bringing her lunch to work a lot more, therefore, limiting their eating out. Sheila was a fast food junky and Janice had always been her partner in cramming bad things into their mouths. Janice wasn’t taking her breaks in the break room because there were always sweets and bakes goods that people brought to share. She was actually working more and being more productive. Sheila resented the fact that their routine had been interrupted.
One day Janice called me in a panic. She said that Sheila had brought a big box of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups to her office as a surprise and left them on her desk. If Janice had any real weakness, this was definitely it. I told her to simply throw them out without opening the box. She said that she couldn’t do that because she had never wanted anything so much in her entire life. I told her to take them and flush them down the toilet. She told me she would never make it to the restroom with an unopened box. She was terrified that she was going to give in and ruin all of her hard work. I could tell we were in crisis mode and had to deal with the situation quickly. Trainer to the rescue!
I asked her if she would follow my instructions and do exactly what I told her to do. She promised she would. I told her to take the unopened box and put it on the floor. There was a hesitation but she did it. Then I told her to jump up and down and stomp on the box until it was total mush. She laughed, laid the phone down and proceeded to do it. When she came back on the line, I told her to quickly open up one small hole in the box and then go around to each co-worker’s trash basket and empty some of the contents into each one. She asked me why she couldn’t just put the box in her own trash basket. I told her that temptation still might over come and she would never travel around the office digging into her co-worker’s trash. I told her I would hang on the line while she did as I instructed. By now she was really laughing and enjoying the entire episode. I listened as she went about her task. When she came back to the phone I asked her what she had to eat that was handy. She told me she had an apple. I told her to immediately eat it. Crisis averted.
Sheila was no friend. Janice confronted her and they stopped spending so much time together at work. Janice lost weight and became a healthier, happier person. However, Sheila was the big loser.
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