Conference rocks::weight_control

    Seems a good idea. Some of things I'd be interested to hear about
    are:
    
    - use of homeopathy;
    
    - use of pills to cut your appetite;
    
    - can sophrology help?
    
    I am sure a professional therapist would be of help on those.
    
    Regards,     Joana

    All forms of added help/experience are useful.
    
    The one problem I have to address is how to break the habit of using
    food to hide problems.  In other words when things go wrong I tend
    to eat instead of work them out.
    
    Many of my past attempts have fizzled from these episodes. The two
    'temporary' slumps I've had in the past 14 months of weightloss
    have occurred in times of depression brought on by non-diet events.
    The death of my mother and terminal problems in a relationship.
    
    I know food is a fence to hide/sooth our emotions. How do we tear
    this fence down.
    
    -Joe
    

    In addition to Reply .2:
    
    I have made what I feel is considerable progress toward discovering
    what I have been hiding behind food (and I'm smaller now than I
    was 5 years ago, so it must be helping).  But what I'd love some
    assistance on could be termed Developing Real-Life Alternate Coping
    Strategies.  If one has been using food as a coping strategy/defense
    mechanism, and one removes it, one of one's worst inner fears may be
    realized:  that one will fall apart from the stresses that one had
    been using food to protect oneself from.  How can we prevent this
    from happening so that our lives and personalities improve?
    
    Marcia

    Professional advice/input would be great!  I've seen lots of good
    suggestions and insights here, but someof them seem to have come
    about only after extensive soul-searching and thinking-through.
    Not that we shouldn't do those things, but if someone could just
    point us in the right direction from the start, just think how much
    sooner we could get started!
    
    I realized one of my defenses was hiding behind my
    overweight-husband's-dog-allergy-induced asthma!  My heart rate
    was elevated because of my medication, so I wasn't sure where a
    safe range would be.  I was also using my husband as an excuse,
    because I figured that as long as he was overweight, he couldn't
    say anything to me.  Well, I recently saw a review for "The Essential
    Asthma Book" but it is not available yet from the publisher.  Last
    time at the library, I got a couple other books on asthma, got answers
    to my questions about medication, exercise, what exactly asthma
    is, etc., and consequently feel much more in control of things.
    Have been exercising as recommended and it's great!!!  Now that
    I know what the asthma is, I am not nearly as afraid of the symptoms,
    etc.  Even dug out my ankle weights, and, boy, did my legs feel
    heavy after a while - and to think I'm carrying around 4 times that
    much all the time!!  Have also started to think "what will this
    do in my body?" when I start to eat something, and this has decreased
    my appetite somewhat - I just imagine smearing butter directly on
    my thighs instead of onto toast!!
    
    Anyway, sorry for the rambling, but hope it just goes to show that
    informed professional input is valuable!