Let’s talk a little more about the nature of the personal conflicts you might encounter during the weight loss process and their value to losing your unwanted weight.
It’s obvious that the one kind of conflict that is universal for all people attempting to lose their unwanted weight is between weight gaining eating patterns and weight losing eating patterns. “If I want to lose weight, I shouldn’t eat this.” “If I eat this, I will gain weight.” This, after all, seems to be the kind of conflict that is clearly identified as being at the heart of weight loss efforts.
There are other universal conflicts as well. These are internal conflicts, and they are just as much a part of the process of weight loss as the more apparent “should I or shouldn’t I eat this.” Here’s what we mean. You will often find yourself in the position of pursuing irreconcilable goals. Time might be limited and you have to decide between grabbing a bite to eat and getting back to work. The bite you grab will not be what you had in mind as a weight losing option. What you will be dealing with here besides food and work is a stressful subjective experience. The option is not the best and not what you wanted, and you have to live through your conflicting feelings and the subjective stress.
The point we are making about conflict is that it is an integral part of the weight loss process, from the simple “I shouldn’t eat that” to all the less obvious internal dealings with yourself in your daily life. If conflict is so fundamental to the weight loss process, then it must be lived through. You can defend against it somewhat and for some time, but basically you have to endure the conflict and make something good, in terms of losing your unwanted weight, come from it. In other words, while resolving conflicts is great if you can do it, being able to endure conflict is the more important of the two. Enduring conflict more than resolving conflict is what’s called for in successful weight loss.