If weight loss could make us happy, our happiness would increase in direct proportion to weight loss. As you are well aware, no weight loss program ever promised that if you lost 50% of the weight you want to lose, you will be 50% happier.

But it doesn’t work that way. You will only be happy when you reach that weight goal. But how many of you reach that goal, and then lower the goal? Because they still feel comfortable, and they will continue to worry and fret about what they eat and their weight.

There are two forms of eating that can feel out-of-control: deprivation-driven eating and emotional eating. Most people think that out-of-control eating is mostly emotional. Actually, it is far more likely that ‘over’eating is deprivation-driven.

Body checking is a plague on the modern individual. Reflective surfaces have become the enemy. From the glass panes on passing cars to our cell phones (the REAL metaphorical ball-and-chain!) to the poorly lit changing rooms in our favorite shops, we are forced to view ourselves to the point of being even beyond what might be comfortable. However, when it becomes too much, uncomfortable - vulnerable, even - we start to no longer see ourselves staring back at us.

Men and women are presenting to counseling in increasing numbers--not because they want to slow down their exercise, but because something is interfering with it. If these exercisers were willing to take a look at what they are doing, they would find that their activity is not about performance or reshaping their bodies, but about dealing with life. They would find exercise is essential to them to provide a feeling of mental well-being, to release their tension and anger, and even relieve anxiety and depression.  They also would find they have few other strategies to cope with these feelings.

The ongoing support of a spouse, parent, sibling, or friend is one of the most valuable tools a person with an eating disorder eating can have. This article focuses on helping someone with bulimia, but the article can apply to helping someone with anorexia, binge eating disorder and emotional eating as well.

Eating disorders are ways of coping that involve an extreme focus on food, eating and weight, and are experienced by both men and women. They include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. These eating disorders are not choices one makes. They literally hijack a person until they have no control over their behaviors, and can have serious emotional and physical problems with life-threatening consequences.

Disordered eating occurs when a person's attitudes about food, eating, exercise, weight and body size or shape causes them to have rigid eating and/or exercise habits that interfere with their health, happiness or safety. Learn about the different forms of disordered eating.

Somatic therapy can help calm and heal emotional eating, compulsive eating, and even when you feel like you just can’t quit eating. Karin is trained in a highly specialized form of somatic therapy called Somatic Experiencing, which focuses on becoming attuned to and understanding subtle body sensation in a way that the body can release stress and even past traumas.

You have a deeper knowing self that rebels against food rules! This Rebel Self hates those imposed rules, hates the constraint, and hates the disrespect of these simplistic solutions. This Rebel Self is tired of the disrespect implied in, "Just follow this rule, it’s easy to get healthy or lose 10 pounds." So what are you supposed to do?

Most people blame themselves when lost weight is regained, a practice weight loss programs encourage. When you realize it is not your fault, you may be better able to move on to more successful ways of managing food and weight.

You want to feel better, and every weight loss ad promises you will feel better, and be happy, when you lose weight. And you probably do feel happier when you start your new eating program. But when you’ve lost your resolve, the good feelings go away, so you figure if you just lost a bit more weight, you’d feel better. But then it goes away yet again! How can you sustain that “better” feeling?

The “change your body” approach to joy and happiness fosters the very disconnection that is causing the distress. The combination of connection and gratitude is the key to feeling happy and joyful. Here's why.

Do you ever have the sense that you just can't quit eating? That there is never enough? That you are a bottomless pit? These experiences are an opportunity to look deeper, to find out what may be going on behind it.