Step 1: Stop

A lapse is a signal of impending danger, like a train signal at the crossing gates. Stop what you are doing especially if the lapse has started and examine the situation. What is occurring? Why is a lapse in progress? Consider moving yourself to a safe location where you won’t be tempted and where you can think in a rational manner.

Step 2: Stay Calm

If you get anxious or blame yourself for the lapse, the situation may get worse. You may conclude that you are a hopeless binge eater and that control is impossible. Coming to these conclusions is easy when you get all worked up. Try to separate yourself from the situation and view it as an objective observer would – that one lapse does not prove failure. Keeping a cool head makes the following steps easier.

Step 3: Renew your Diet Vows

Take a minute to remind yourself how […]

Far too often a minor slip propels a dieter to misery. The guilt from a slip makes a person susceptible to more slips and can ultimately lead to loss of all control. This is a gloomy picture, but good news is around the corner! There are ways to turn the tables.

Maintenance of weight loss may be the greatest challenge facing a dieter. Losing weight is difficult enough, but keeping it off ranks up there in difficulty with winning a lottery and finding a compassionate auditor from the Internal Revenue Services. Most dieters have lost and regained weight many times, so something must be done to interrupt these cycles. The trick is to prevent slips from occurring and to respond constructively when they do occur.

Every dieter makes mistakes. Some bounce back and use the slip as a signal to increase control. It is common, however, for the slip to cause a negative emotional reaction […]

The principle of using alternative activities is simple. When you get the urge, do something else. If you use urges as a signal for positive activity, eating will become less rewarding and the old associations between urges and eating will diminish. When you see food, think about food or feel hungry because you are lonely, eating is simply a habit created by an association. Let’s make new associations.

When you recognize urges, think of an activity that is incompatible with eating. For instance, typing a letter and jumping rope are incompatible – both cannot be done at once unless you are “Rubber” man. If you were addicted to typing and agreed to jump rope each time you got the urge to type, the strength of your addiction would fade.

The same approach can work with eating. One cannot play the tuba and eat, so tuba practice would be a good alternative to eating. You might […]

Self-rewards come in all shapes, sizes and prices; from five-and-dime-store trinkets to ritzy luxuries. Match rewards to accomplishments; giving yourself free or inexpensive presents for small triumphs and more expensive items for major league victories. Equally important, keep the gifts coming to motivate success.

Start by listing 20 rewards – you will be amazed at how quickly the list grows. Or consider the following suggestions:

Small Change Rewards (to celebrate the small accomplishments in your life, such as getting your income taxes done on time or completing a course or having a good first week on your diet):

–          Meet a friend on a Saturday morning for a cappuccino

–          Sit somewhere quiet enough to hear the birds sing

–          Make a list of everything you have to do today and put it all off until tomorrow

–          Buy a plant for your bedside table

–          Wander through a field of wildflowers

–          […]

MY WORST ENEMY: THE SCALE

By Dr. Maurice Larocque, M.D.

Everyone carrying around a few extra pounds has the same uncompromising adversary: “THE SCALE”.

It seems harmless enough, lying there in the corner of the bathroom, but it’s always watchfully waiting. From the moment you wake up and jump (so to speak) out of bed, it’s ready to pounce. Once you have entered its force field, there’s no getting away; it keeps pulling at you until you finally break down and climb on. The verdict is swift and irrefutable: GUILTY!

No judicial system in any democracy would tolerate such a judgment with no chance of defence. Such judicial abuse cried out for an appeal to the human rights commission.

You’d gotten up in good spirits, now you’re down for the day. As you wash, you stare at your face; a mask of guilt stares back. You may never eat again. At the very […]

“PEOPLE TEND TO MAKE RULES FOR OTHERS AND EXCEPTIONS FOR THEMSELVES”.

“A QUITTER NEVER WINS AND A WINNER NEVER QUITS”.

“NEVER EXPLAIN! YOUR FRIENDS DO NOT NEED IT AND YOUR ENEMIES WILL NOT BELIEVE YOU ANYWAY”.

“YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO GIVE UP GOOD TO GET GREAT”! “NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD A THIN FEELS!

IF YOU ALMOST FOLLOW THIS DIET, YOU WILL ALMOST LOSE WIEGHT.

TEN FAMOUS TWO LETTER WORDS: “IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME”!

“IF EVERYTHING IS COMING YOUR WAY…YOU’RE PROBABLY IN THE WRONG LANE”.

“INSIDE EVERY SMALL PROBLEM IS A LARGE PROBLEM STRUGGLING TO GET OUT”.

“WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO, WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW”?

“THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE, IS TO CREATE IT”.

“IN MATTERS OF STYLE, SWIM WITH THE CURRENT; IN MATTERS OF PRINCIPLE, STAND LIKE A ROCK”.

“TO LIVE IN THE PAST IS TO MISS TODAYS OPPORTUNITIES AND […]

“IF YOU ALMOST FOLLOW THIS DIET, YOU WILL ALMOST LOSE WEIGHT”.

“A QUARTER OF AN OUNCE OF CHOCOLATE EQUALS FOUR POUNDS OF FAT”.

“KIND WORDS CAN BE SHORT, BUT THEIR ECHOES ARE ENDLESS.”

“YOU CAN IF YOU WILL!!! DISCIPLINE IS A SKILL!!!”

“A PRUNE IS JUST A PLUM WITH EXPERIENCE”.

“THE ONLY LIMITS ARE, AS ALWAYS, THOSE OF VISION”.

“THOSE WHO ARE RIGID AND INFLEXIBLE…ARE THE ONES MOST LIKELY TO GET BENT OUT OF SHAPE”.

“FAILURE IS NEVER DEFEAT, UNLESS YOU QUIT TRYING”.

“BE KINDER THAN NECESSARY; FOR EVERYONE YOU MEET IS FIGHTING SOME KIND OF BATTLE”.

“THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE BEGINS IN THE BRAIN”.

“A THOUSAND MILE JOURNEY BEGINS WITH THE FIRST STEP”.

“TIME IS NOT SOMETHING YOU HAVE, TIME IS SOMETHING YOU TAKE”.

“PEOPLE WITH GOALS SUCCEED, BECAUSE THEY KNOW WHERE THEY ARE GOING”.

“THE GREATEST PLEASURE IN LIFE IS DOING WHAT PEOPLE SAY YOU CANNOT DO” – WALTER BAGEHOT

“YESTERDAY IS […]

A QUARTER OF AN OUNCE OF CHOCOLATE EQUALS FOUR POUNDS OF FAT.

KIND WORDS CAN BE SHORT, BUT THEIR ECHOES ARE ENDLESS.

YOU CAN IF YOU WILL!!! DISCIPLINE IS A SKILL!!!

A PRUNE IS JUST A PLUM WITH EXPERIENCE.

THE ONLY LIMITS ARE, AS ALWAYS, THOSE OF VISION.

THOSE WHO ARE RIGID AND INFLEXIBLE…ARE THE ONES MOST LIKELY TO GET BENT OUT OF SHAPE.

FAILURE IS NEVER DEFEAT, UNLESS YOU QUIT TRYING.

BE KINDER THAN NECESSARY; FOR EVERYONE YOU MEET IS FIGHTING SOME KIND OF BATTLE.

THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE BEGINS IN THE BRAIN.

A THOUSAND MILE JOURNEY BEGINS WITH THE FIRST STEP.

TIME IS NOT SOMETHING YOU HAVE, TIME IS SOMETHING YOU TAKE.

PEOPLE WITH GOALS SUCCEED, BECAUSE THEY KNOW WHERE THEY ARE GOING.

“THE GREATEST PLEASURE IN LIFE IS DOING WHAT PEOPLE SAY YOU CANNOT DO” – WALTER BAGEHOT

YESTERDAY IS HISTORY, TOMORROW IS A MYSTERY, TODAY IS A GIFT AND THAT […]

As I mentioned in previous articles over the years, I like to focus on key concepts that have helped my patients gain better control of their weight problem.

In the past, we have talked for example, about setting success goals, the “dimmer switch” and in this article I would like to discuss the concept of preventing and coping with a lapse.

A lapse is simply a term for a deviation from your diet plan, a mistake, a slip, etc. If we continue to slip and string together a series of lapses we relapse back to our previous condition. When a relapse is complete and there is little hope of reversing this negative trend, a collapse has occurred.

To put this concept into practical terms, let’s analyze a few common errors in thinking.  (For example, let’s use a day, a weekend, a week and a holiday).

If we slip at breakfast (e.g. eating a donut) and […]

“Nothing tastes as good, as THIN feels”

“If it is to Be, it is up to Me”

“SUCCESS doesn’t come to you,YOU go to IT!” “The first bite tastes the Best and the Rest all Tastes the Same”

“A Man who wants to lead an orchestra,must turn his back on the crowd”

“The chief cause of Failure and Unhappiness is trading what we want Most for what we want at the Moment”

“Yesterday is Gone. Forget it. Tomorrow never comes. Don’t worry. Today is here, use it !!”

“People don’t fail, they give up”

“Forgiveness is the glue that repairs broken relationships”

“If you almost follow this diet, you will almost lose weight”

” TEMPER – The only thing that you can’t get rid of, by losing it”