Chapter 1. Day one
— Hello there! We are live on the air again!
My name is Ovechkin Artyom Andreyevich. I am a psychologist, instructor at the Institute of Practical Psychology “IMATON”, author of several books and TV show consultant. I provide weight loss counseling and all kinds of mindset training. Occasionally I conduct seminars all over the world but mainly provide personal, family, and group counseling in Saint-Petersburg. I am 41. I hope I will be able to work as a counselor for a long time. Do you think it’s easy?
— Probably not.
— You are right. Have you already tried to fight against overweight?
— I do it every day of my life! ☺
— You are experienced fighters then. Great! Let’s wait a few minutes for Victor. He will come soon. We are going to have a man in our group. Lucky you! They say it’s easier to succeed with weight loss if there is at least one man in the group. Our plan for success is like that: we will swap places every day to ensure that each of you will have been sitting by the man for a while. It will contribute to weight loss.
— ☺
— Have you ever heard about people who studied the mindset of a slim person at my group sessions?
— My daughter attended the group and took personal consultations.
— How is she doing?
— Fine. Her weight is one hundred forty-three pounds now.
— What was her weight before?
— Two hundred nine.
— So, she lost over sixty pounds. How much time did it take?
— Let me see… Ten months!
— Great! Perhaps someone else has friends or relatives who passed my seminars? Did they succeed?
— My colleague attended your group session. She has lost forty pounds.
— Thousands of people attended my training on practical psychology of being slim. They succeed in weight loss and stay slim. Who can’t get slim? Only the one who does nothing or starts to distort recommendations saying: “Why shouldn’t I try something else?” Actually, everything is easy. During our session, I’ll tell you what to do. You’ll try the technique and start to change your habits. It’s impossible to learn how to drive or ride a bicycle in one day, right?
— Right!
We are in the beginning of never-ending journey of self-improvement
— One stage of this journey is to drop excess weight and stay slim. It’s a long-term process. During our course, we will build a relationship that is similar to the one that is established between a coach and an athlete.
Athletes keep on training. They need to take many efforts to win the competition. But the coach makes his contribution to success either.
He trains the team, corrects mistakes, encourages, and provides moral support to the athletes. Sometimes he even gives them, you know, a swift kick in the pants. As you can guess, it makes athletes redouble efforts, and they achieve success faster. ☺
If you have any questions during our course, you can schedule an appointment for personal counseling on-site or via Skype.
Does anyone else have friends, relatives, or acquaintances who attended our weight loss training course?
— My girlfriend.
— When?
— In 2008.
— Has she lost some weight?
— Yes.
— How much?
— About thirty pounds.
— Does she maintain the weight?
— Yes.
— Any other people?
— My acquaintance attended a group session in May.
— Was she in my group?
— Yes.
— What is her result?
— She told me that she had lost sixty pounds. She definitely looks slim and fit. She is my fellow-student.
— I remember her. She attended another training recently.
So, here is the thing. If you follow our recommendations, you succeed. If you ignore them, you get nothing. Let’s write down a few things.
Olga Vladimirovna Tsyganova, 28, economist, lost 110 lbs Everyone, even the strongest people, has concerns that it won’t work for them. But you have to find the strength to make the very first small step to your dream, and then another one, and another one.
Anyway, you lose nothing. Yes, it won’t be easy. But believe me, it’s worth every effort. I took the first step. I came up for a sort of swift kick in the pants. It was so powerful that my whole world flipped upside down. My counselor inspired me. He gave me hope and demonstrated how attractive my life could be if I were slim.
Obesity is a psychosomatic disease
Obesity is a psychosomatic disorder. At first, your ‘psyche’ suffers, and the body is next. “Psyche” means soul, ‘soma’ means body. Psychosomatic disorder.
Oh, here is our man!
Hello, come up here. Take your seat. Here, Mila shows you the empty chair. Ok. So, I prepared everyone for your arrival. I told them you are a sort of mascot of our group! You know, men are rare here. But their presence contributes a lot to a weight loss of the women.
— ☺
— There are a lot of men with excess weight, but just a few are seeking the assistance of experts. They should. It’s the easiest way to get slim.
N.B.! Obesity is a psychosomatic disorder, a chronic disease that tends to relapse. “Tending to relapse” means that if you return to former eating behavior, you start gaining weight again.
Nikolay Ivanovich Kosenkov, member of Petrovskaya Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ph. D. of medical science
Only humans have self-consciousness. Therefore, we can affect the disease caused by the impaired performance of self-consciousness through the self-exploration.
Remember: psychosomatic diseases are unique to humans!
This type of diseases include bronchial asthma, nonspecific ulcerative colitis, idiopathic hypertension, neurodermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, gastroduodenal ulcer, coronary artery disease, psychosomatic thyrotoxicosis, diabetes mellitus type II, obesity and neurocirculatory asthenia.
According to our theory, any psychosomatic disorder is a result of a malfunction of hemispheric asymmetry (N. I. Kosenkov, 1997). Psychosomatic disease occurs due to the increased activity of the left hemisphere. We believe that some other diseases, such as radiculitis, hemicephalalgia, intestinal colic, irritable bowel syndrome, dyskinesia of bile ducts, chronic pancreatitis, and infecundity, may have a psychosomatic nature as well.
The physiological adaptation mechanism (for compensation of functional brain asymmetry) is the impairment of an adequate response from body organs or functional systems with temporary functional asymmetry to biological or social stimuli. As a result, these body organs or functional systems are damaged due to trophic disturbances, primarily related to microcirculation disorders, which leads to pain. The pain, in turn, activates the right hemisphere, and the asymmetry of the brain leaves the critical zone.
Group session of psychologist
Artyom Andreyevich Ovechkin:
— I bet your former eating behavior is based on taking long breaks between meals. For example, you satisfy your hunger with sweets and desserts instead of eating healthy food. Have you ever done it?
— Yes.
— So, you ‘feed’ your hunger with desserts, depriving yourself of healthy food. Pauses between meals can last for eight or even ten hours. You eat once or twice a day. Then a woman with this type of eating behavior comes to me and says: “I guess someone put a curse on me. I eat once a day, but I’m still gaining weight!”
Nikolay Ivanovich Kosenkov, member of Petrovskaya Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ph. D. of medical science
Increase in the volume of the stomach due to the abundant meal changes the reflex activity of the entire gastrointestinal tract and can lead to obesity, since the sensation of satiety occurs much later. That’s why if you are suffering from obesity, you need to cut down the amount of food eaten and increase meal frequency. It helps to ease you hunger and induces early feeling of satiety.
The formation of new fat cells occurs: during the last trimester of pregnancy; in the first six or twelve months after birth; at the age of three, six, and during puberty (at the age of twelve-fifteen). After the age of fifteen, the number of fat cells doesn’t change; it stays the same. But a cell size can change. When you gain weight, fat cells increase in size. When an obese or overweight person loses weight, the fat cells shrink. Severe obesity also causes serious mental changes.
Andrey Vasilyevich Trenogov, psychologist, psychiatrist: For a long time, fat cells were considered to be storage depot. It was believed that they accumulated fat and then got rid of it, just as if they were storage tanks. Now we understand that it works a different way. Fat cells are “alive”. They need nutrition just like all other cells of our body. If you do long breaks between meals, the fat cells tend to accumulate energy intensively instead of spending it.
Group session of psychologist
Artyom Andreyevich Ovechkin:
— I tell her: “Curses have nothing to do with it.” Since ancient time, at certain moments of life metabolism of a human has been tending to slow down, activating fat storage mechanism… Imagine an ancient human. He spends lots of time without eating. For example, he can’t find any food. What will be his body response? Any ideas?
— Accumulation.
— Snezhana, an experienced accountant, is right! His body slows down metabolism and triggers economy mode.
Prolonged starvation is a signal for the body that it is necessary to stock up on the in-taking nutrition just in case if there is no food for a long time again.
When a person spends ten hours without food, his/her metabolism slows down and gets disturbed. During the next meal, some nutrition will be kept “in store”. Imagine that you act like this day by day, for many months. You stay hungry for the whole day, and then, in the evening, you gorge yourself with foods. As a result, your body accumulates unwanted tummy fat.
Nikolay Ivanovich Kosenkov, member of Petrovskaya Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ph. D. of medical science
Functions of adipose tissue are as follows:
— accumulation of energy reserves (one kilogram of fat contains 8,750 kilocalories);
— insulation of internal organs and gastrointestinal tract, their protection against mechanical impact and injuries;
— heat protection (maintaining the proper body temperature);
— accumulation of lipid-soluble vitamins (А, D, Е, К);
— endocrine function..
Group session of psychologist
Artyom Andreyevich Ovechkin:
— Obesity is a chronic disease. It means that you are ‘under threat’ for the rest of life. Progressive obesity means that if you start to gain excess weight, it’s difficult to stop the process.
Nevertheless, sometimes people get “mixed” results.
Tayisia lost ten pounds, and then…
— ...gained twenty pounds.
— Precisely. Then she lost twenty pounds and gained twenty-four pounds. And so on.
We have to restore metabolism after a long-term eating disorder. Most of you never face such a problem when you were young. During a certain period of time, when you were two, five, or seven, you didn’t have any excess weight. Am I right?
— Yes.
— You started gaining weight later.
Change your eating behavior to drop excess weight
When you didn’t have excess weight, you regularly ate, especially when you were a child.
— Think, for instance, of a baby. How often does the baby eat?
— Every three hours.
— Every two or three hours. Skip the meal, and the baby will put you through the wringer, screaming and whimpering until you give up and feed him. Tell the five-year-old: “You are gonna have only fat-free, sugar-free yogurt today.” What do you think he would say?
— He would probably misunderstand it.
— Another option: “You must not eat after 6 pm today”. Once a woman brought her five-year-old son to an Open Day at our center. She didn’t find a babysitter and came with her son. Just out of curiosity, I asked the boy: “Imagine, Mom told you not to eat after 6 pm”. You should’ve seen the look on his face after the question. ☺ After 6 pm? It was beyond his comprehension! Why?
— ☺
— He eats regularly. There was a time when you regularly ate too. Our goal is to restore your healthy food behavior. You will have four to six meals a day. Prepare yourself. People usually arrange “Good-bye, food” feast on the weekend before the session. I bet you did the same.
— Yes.
— That’s a common thing. You prepared the feast, invited friends, right?
— ☺
— “Game over. I start to lose weight. I am going to have fun for last”. Right? Then you come here and find out that you are going to eat four-six times a day.
— ☺
— OK, good. Over the years of counseling, I have helped thousands of people to drop weight. Do you know how many people in Russia suffer from excess weight? Over seventy million! Just fancy! As for the world, there are over a billion seventy million people with excess weight! You see, I still have a lot of work to do.
The most curious things happen when people who have already dropped ten, twenty, or forty pounds. They told me afterward that when they meet an overweight person somewhere, they feel a strong desire to come up and say: “Join us! You can drop weight by eating regularly!”
— ☺
— No medicines, no starvation, no coding, no hypnotic stare, or subliminal stimuli. A woman asked me recently: “Look at me with your special hypnotic stare, the one I saw in the picture on the cover of your book. I know you have a sort of superpower. Can you look at me like that to stop me from gorging myself with foods?
— ☺
— You should address such a request to a psychic or a hypnotist! I don’t know how to do it.
Andrey Vasilyevich Trenogov, psychologist, psychiatrist:
We need to recognize that coding helps some people. About ten percent of people feel better after it. What about the remaining ninety percent?
Almost all coding and hypnosis techniques provide for a list of allowed and forbidden foods. Some people immediately declare: “If some food is forbidden, I will eat it for sure.” One of my clients said: “I never liked pies. But after I have been forbidden from eating pies, for some reason, I craved for them. Now I still try to give up this habit”.
The effect of the suggestion of a good hypnotist usually lasts only for a short period of time. This is due to the fact that in addition to the biological immune system, a human being has got a “mental immune system”. When it detects a sort of ‘foreign particle,” no matter if it is nice and useful or not, it easily gets rid of such suggestions and returns to a state of “psychological homeostasis”.
Group session of psychologist
Artyom Andreyevich Ovechkin:
I can change your eating behavior. I’ll give you useful knowledge and help to form new habits and skills. We’ll create new mental mindsets and work on their adoption. Former dysfunctional mental mindsets will be challenged and rejected to prevent them from triggering weight gain. You will use all the knowledge and skills acquired during our session feeding yourself with tasty, nourishing, healthy food every day. At the same time, you will lose weight! All you need to do is to change your attitude towards yourself, others, and food.
Nikolay Ivanovich Kosenkov, member of Petrovskaya Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ph. D. of medical science
Insulin converts glucose and other carbohydrates into fat and inhibits lipase activity. Normally, one-third of alimentary glucose is used for the synthesis of endogenous fat. For obese people, the ratio of converted-into-fat glucose is up to two thirds.
A decrease in the amount of fat in fat cells is due to increased lipase activity.
What hormones activate lipase?
These are adrenaline and noradrenaline (stress hormones), somatotropic hormone (growth hormone STH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and glucagon.
Glucagon is a so-called “hunger hormone” produced by α-cells of the pancreas in response to a decrease in blood glucose levels. By raising blood glucose levels, glucagon increases insulin secretion.
Growth hormone is released only from 11 pm to 4 am. This is the time when your body grows and repairs itself. The release of GH is reduced if a person has eaten a lot of sweet things after eight pm (had a cup of tea with cookies or sweets, ate sweet yogurt or some honey, and so on). Or if the person doesn’t sleep at this time (from 11 pm to 4 am), for example, watching TV, as he is afraid to miss something important. Therefore, you shouldn’t eat sweet things (simple carbohydrates) after 8–9 pm. You can eat something else if you are hungry. Besides, you need to sleep from at least 11 pm till 4 am.
Remember, you can lose weight while sleeping!
If you walk in the park in the evening, a few ounces of excess weight will disappear by the morning.
“A monster in the mirror!” Time to settle the problem!
— What was the final straw for you, Eugenia? Why did you come here?
— I met Eugenia. She has lost sixty-six pounds. Fantastic! She became so slim! I was impressed.
— Why does excess weight disturb you so much?
— It’s not comfortable to be like this.
— Why?
— Because of my job. As a network engineer, I often have to creep under tables. It’s not comfortable at all when my body is so big!
— Ok, got it. Elizaveta, what was the last straw for you?
— My twelve-year-old son told me: “Mom, you are getting a bit fatty.”
— A woman told me recently that her young child used to clutch her tummy. No wonder, there is enough of flesh to cling! So, he uses to shake her fat rolls and yells: “Mom, you are so fat!”
That’s it. Just fancy, she told me: “I nearly almost faint when he does it! I feel so bad. It’s depressing”. What about you? What did you feel when your son said that you are “a bit fatty”?
— I realized that my child is embarrassed of having me around. My elder daughter doesn’t like it either.
— Got it. Thank you. Nadezhda?
— I tried everything to get and to maintain healthy weight. I dropped weight, but then I gained it again. The problem is that I can’t maintain the result. I keep this diet or another, then allow myself some treats — and start to gain weight again.
— Why does excess weight disturb you so much?
— Perhaps, it’s because of my job. Frankly speaking, I can’t drop weight anymore. I am concerned about gaining more weight…
— So, you are afraid of gaining weight?
— Yes. It will be harder to drop pounds when I get older.
— Fine. Got it.
— My husband told me: “You were a bit slimmer before.”
— And whenever he goes by, he pinches your tummy…
— Yes. ☺
— Got it. Larisa?
— I don’t like it! I hate this fat! I don’t like myself! Of course, when I meet friends, they tell me: “Why do you need to lose weight? You look great. You are doing well.”
— Of course, they want you stay like this.
— Agree. I believe, they have to look critically at themselves. I am realistic. I am not pleased with what I see in the mirror. Staying in front of the mirror, I often think: “What a mess!”
— I have to do something about it.
— We’ll discuss this “mess” today. Actually, it’s not a mess at all. You say stuff like that because you are a bit tired and disappointed.
— I always treat myself this way…
Andrey Vasilyevich Trenogov, psychologist, psychiatrist:
We can gain some weight while getting older. On average, after the twenty-fifth birthday, you can afford to gain five and a half pounds every decade. For example, if at twenty-five you weighed one hundred thirty-two pounds, then at the age of thirty-five, your normal weight is one hundred thirty-seven and a half pounds At forty-five years you can weight one hundred forty-three pounds, and so on. But that is up to you Comfortable weight is something very personal, associated with values and self-identification.
Therefore, you should not count your perfect weight as “height minus 100”. You should stop dropping weight when you feel comfortable.
Nikolay Ivanovich Kosenkov, member of Petrovskaya Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ph. D. of medical science
While a person is not looking at the mirror, he usually likes himself. Then, why a person often considers himself fat after looking at the mirror? Even people suffering from lack of weight — patients with anorexia and bulimia — believe that they have excess weight and are try to drop it in every possible way. Any objective arguments — weight readings, photos, opinions of others — cannot prove to them that their problem is underweight, but not excess weight. Such behavior is called uncritical (distorted) attitude to weight.
Overweight people often preserve critical attitude to their weight. They realize that their weight is excessive. In addition, this view is supported by the people around and weight readings.
The reason for this behavior is that the mind of an anorexic patient has already formed a “body matrix” based on the constitution of top-models and celebrities who the person looks up to. It’s a tribute to fashion, and at the same time, it’s the destruction of personality, replacement of reality with phantom, and desire to be like this phantom.
In this case, the “error detector”, after unsuccessful attempts to correct the behavior of the person, starts up the process of self-destruction. The person believes that there is another person in his body.
We can create another phantom to correct our body. For this purpose, you need to use your memories and your photos of the time when you were completely satisfied with your body. Then it will seek to return to the state that you had once. It will be you, not a celebrity phantom in the photo.
No! No! And no again! Is it really useful?
— Many people want you to stay big, kind, and appeasable. You know, overweight people are considered friendly and soft.
They never say “no”. This is a great benefit for others. Have you learned to say “no”? Or you have always been able to do it?
— No, not always. Life has taught me. But it’s still hard sometimes.
Nikolay Ivanovich Kosenkov, member of Petrovskaya Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ph. D. of medical science
We cannot say “no” when it corresponds to our intentions. We cherish and demonstrate in every possible way our best quality — kindness.
This is the main mindset for many people: “A kindhearted person never says “no”. They say, fat person is a kind person, because he can’t resist delicious dishes and his desire for food.
But it’s not the worst thing. N. P. Bekhtereva, an academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, established that our brain has a special mechanism, so-called “Error Detector”. This mechanism continuously monitors thoughts of a person and compares them with actions: whether they correspond to his life attitudes and rules that were formed by his conscience during upbringing and education.
If such a comparison shows that a person repeatedly acts contrary to his conscience and principles, then the “Error Detector” forces a person to correct his behavior by using psychosomatic disorders as one of the mechanisms for influence on the person. We know that obesity is considered to be a psychosomatic disorder. This is often reflected in so-called compulsive actions and thoughts. These are the first obvious symptoms of psychological distress, manifested by inner anxiety, depression, fears, sleep disturbance, decreased concentration, and mental fatigue. At first, one psychosomatic disease occurs. If a person did not make any conclusions, another disease is added, then another one. If it does not help, a person does not want to correct his thoughts and actions, and the Error Detector starts up a self-destruction mechanism through very serious diseases or injuries.
The only salvation is to live in accordance with our moral instincts.
Live in harmony with ourselves, cherish positive thoughts, be kind, but do not demonstrate this quality everywhere and always, especially when you are not asked to be kind and to impose your goodness on a person..
Group session of psychologist
Artyom Andreyevich Ovechkin:
— You are a lucky one. We’ll discuss this topic during our training for sure.
— I started to gain weight at the age of thirty-five. I’ve gained a lot of weight during the last four years. You know, hate myself sometimes.
— You shouldn’t. You know, I have an idea. Raise your hand if it is hard to say No for you… If you can’t say No… Be honest. One, two, three… Eight… Nine! Nine people! As you see, the problem is vitally important. Some people take advantage of you. They take your time, money, attention and energy. As a rule, overweight person gives everything to others again and again. Who is the one he cares the least?
— He himself.
— Yes! Exactly. Ok, we’ll work through this. You know, I’m really impressed to hear that you can say No. Great!
— Sometimes I can give a sharp refuse.
— I guess life taught you to act like that?
— Yes.
— Tayisia, what was the last straw for you?
— I’m so tired of all of this stuff! Anytime I meet a friend, I hear something like: “Oh, you are getting some weight!” And then they add:
“It doesn’t matter, you look great.”
— I bet friends notice every excess pound you gain? You gain another couple of pounds, meet your friend, and she tells you: “Oh dear me, you are getting so fat!” And she says it so joyfully that you would like to punch her, right?
— ☺
— If often happens to overweight people.
Joyful sympathy? Bingo, Elizaveta!
☺ Well, don’t worry, you will soon demonstrate your achievements to her. Let her sweat it out.
— I told my husband: “Stop gobbling up!” He looked at me and shot back: “If you are not hungry, don’t eat.”
— Is he overweight?
— No. My husband is tall. He’s got a big tummy, though. He has a job that requires hard physical labor, so…
— A woman from another group told me recently: “My husband proclaimed: “It’s not a tummy. It’s a bundle of nerves!”
— That’s exactly how my husband feels! ☺
— Do you overeat because of some stress?
— Yes.
We’ll talk about it. The problem must be settled. Snezhana?
— This year we went to the seaside. I didn’t want to go out because of my excess weight. If you want to visit some sightseeing, you have to climb into an off-roader. I just can’t do it! It’s too hard for me.
— Did it hurt your feelings?
— Of course! I’d like to go around.
— I ask these questions to make you think why excess weight disturbs you so much. I want you to realize how you feel about it physically and mentally. I bet it happened more than once.
— Yes. During that trip, one incident really disturbed me. My son is ten. He said that he wanted to have a roller coaster ride with me. But there was weight limit. I couldn’t ride with my son!
— I see. It’s really upsetting.
But I am glad that you are here. Many people feel sad, offended, and unhappy. But they go on living with excess weight and obesity and do not take any attempts to try any effective technique for weight loss.
Olga Vladimirovna Tsyganova, 28, economist, lost 110 lbs Just imagine what a great feeling it is when you meet acquaintances who you haven’t seen for a long time, and their jaws drop because they haven’t got accustomed to seeing you slim and beautiful! It is a strange feeling, funny and inspiring at the same time. It gives you desire to get even slimmer. Sympathy disappears while rivalry takes its place. Right, now you can compete with other women on equal terms! I often felt that my friends were scared. You used to be smart, but many people preferred beauties. Now you are smart and beautiful. You can outshine everyone with your charisma and appearance. You are not a drabbie anymore. But true friends are still with me. They love me even more by now, and I love myself too. It’s much easier for me to live now. I buy clothes in stores I always dreamed about, I run without any shortness of breath. I walk a lot, and — amazingly — my legs do not hurt anymore. I don’t have high blood pressure. It’s possible to get slim and maintain weight at the desired level. You live only once. It’s time to get out of your shell.
Hello Rolly Pollies!
— Victor, why does excess weight disturb you so much?
— Heart issues. And short of breath. I know how much I should weigh. I gained a lot of weight in the summer. My wife attended your seminar in winter. The results are awesome! I attended a gym, kept diet until summer. But then I went on a bender. You know, beer, fish, other summer delicacies. It’s hard to stop. Meanwhile, my wife eats often and stays slim!
Andrey Vasilyevich Trenogov, psychologist, psychiatrist: I’d like to say a few words about physical activity. To lose a pound of fat, a woman has to carry a 10-lbs load for seventy-five hours! As for men, they are lucky. They usually lose weight faster. In order to lose one pound of fat, a man needs to carry the same load for only fifty-five hours.
To burn the caloric value of a 3,5-oz bun, one has to jog for about forty minutes (which is, by the way, pretty dangerous for knee joints of an overweight person) or walk with a dog for four hours.
Why do so many people who start to attend the gym lose weight then?
It’s simple. When do people usually attend the gym? In the evening. When do they usually overeat? In the evening! Physical activity leads to the release of endorphins, the so-called hormones of happiness. People usually overeat when they feel upset, bored, lonely, and sad. As you see, physical activity has almost nothing to do with weight loss. Of course, there are those who train intensively (the process of fat burning starts up twenty minutes after the start of the cyclic dynamic loading). However, let’s be honest. There are just a few of them.
Do not think that I discourage you from using any physical activity in the course of weight loss. It is necessary not for weight loss, but to keep your muscles healthy.
Yet, there is another trap that almost everyone falls into. If I eat more, it’s enough to train longer. This works for a car. The more gas you pour into the tank, the longer you drive. If this works for a human, then as soon as the energy obtained with food came to an end, the person would immediately stop until someone re-fueled him. We spend energy that we have received long before this. To be precise, what you ate on Monday will be spent two days later, on Wednesday.
Group session of psychologist
Artyom Andreyevich Ovechkin:
— How many pounds did you wife drop?
— At least thirty-three pounds. We have three children. But she is as slim now as she used to be many years ago.
— As you see, the training has been very productive!
— She commented on me. What a shame!
— ☺
— OK, got it. Mila, what about you? What was your last straw?
— I guess I was stressed when I found out that my weight is over 220 pounds. Another issue: I went on business trips and bought a new jacket every fall. I was at a size 18, but I bought clothing of 20 size. I prefer loose clothes. This year I found out that all my jackets are too tight for me. Size 20 is too small for me now. I was really terrified. Another scary moment: I noticed that when I met friends, I tried to pass by without greeting them. People are used to seeing me as a person I was before — a successful woman who’s capable of doing anything. I don’t want them to see me overweight like this.
— Quality of life deteriorates.
— And my self-esteem decreases.
— …which, in its turn, affects the quality of your life. OK. Nika?
— I began to gain weight after pregnancy. I feel bad. It’s getting harder to move. If I start rocking baby, I get short of breath.
— I see. Olesya?
— I buy 16 — 18 size clothing. Customers and colleagues hint that I am overweight. I heard a new customer said recently:
“Is this plump brunette your director?” Another customer uses to greet me like: “Hi Rolly Polly!”
— ☺
— Shame on him! I am trying to ignore it but being a director…
— It might be really frustrating. OK, I see.
Olga Vladimirovna Tsyganova, 28, economist, lost 110 lbs I am well aware of the problems with clothes. Once, I was at a size 24, even 26 sometimes. I know it sounds terrifying. How could I let myself gain so much excess weight? Every year I bought clothing of a bigger size. When I started to drop weight, almost my clothing ‘got slimmer’ together with me. I re-sew it because I knew that I didn’t want to stop, and buying new clothes every month would be costly and irrational. I am at a size 10—12 now. It’s fantastic, cause it’s so easy to find a nice trendy outfit for me almost in every store. It’s only the beginning. I’m still working for better results.
Group session of psychologist
Artyom Andreyevich Ovechkin:
— Anzhelika?
— I don’t like myself anymore. It’s scary to look at myself in the mirror.
— What do you feel at that moment?
— Disgust. This is what I turned into…
— Is it frustrating?
— Yes. Excess weight affects my health well-being, especially when I am at work, even though my job is not related to any physical labor. Once my colleague and me walked from one office room to another one. She told me suddenly: “Anzhelika, you have a short of breath.” I felt embarrassed. It was like a slap in the face.
— Breathe. It’s normal that you are crying now. Here, take a napkin. I understand what you mean. During the training we will definitely work through all the feelings that you have accumulated. You haven’t let them go. They are still in your mind. Ksenya?
— Actually, it’s all the same. Eighteen months ago I was two sizes smaller. Then I gained five kilograms and couldn’t drop them for a year. I even gained more during Christmas holidays. In short, I frantically tried to figure out how to lose weight, rushed from one extreme technique to another. I haven’t tried any diet. Of course, I don’t eat in the evening. It helped me for a while. The last straw was when a shop assistant that was picking out clothes for me said: “I guess you wear a size 18”. I am concerned about these changes.
— What size did you wear before?
— I was at a size 12. In my o
