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Weight Gain
Q: Will I put on weight ?
The Old Willpower Method This is important. There are two parts to this problem and it is important that we understand BOTH of them. First, we need to be honest...... Yes, in the past, people DID tend to gain weight when they gave up smoking. But please remember this: This was BECAUSE most people tried to give up smoking using the old Will-Power Method alone. They believed that....... when they gave up, they would feel terrible. They were then told that the ONLY way to deal with these cravings was to endure them.........and hope that, with time and persistence, they would go away. They were advised above all...... to use their Willpower and FORCE themselves not to smoke. And......finally, they were told.... to eat snacks or nibble this or that - ANYTHING, in fact to keep them busy and their minds OFF smoking. Why eat? Because the feeling
or the 'hunger' for a cigarette is very similar to the
feeling you get when you are hungry. And so, in the past, people ate
in the terrible mistaken belief that by eating, they could satisfy
their craving for a cigarette and that it would help them
keep their minds off smoking. But of course it didn't work..... ....And the MORE the feeling came back..... the MORE they ate in the belief it could help them. So, we have to accept there was some validity for people gaining weight in the past when they tried to quit.
People ate TO NUMB their
Remember, when you give up smoking, you too will get these selfsame feelings - 'I want a cigarette.' And you will experience similar feelings when you realize that you cannot have one. But unlike the old willpower method, you will not eat extra in order to ESCAPE or NUMB these feelings. Why? Because
you will want to WELCOME and ACCEPT these feelings. You will WANT
to transmute them. These FEELINGS/CRAVINGS are the KEY to your
success. Please underline this: The Old Way was to hate and fear these cravings - these uncomfortable bodily sensations. You were told you had a big fight on your hands - these feelings would be unpleasant and overpowering . And because the feeling you get when you want a cigarette is similar to how you feel when you are hungry, of course, you believed that by eating, you could satisfy these feelings or at least alleviate them. But all you did was to
temporarily block off these feelings. By eating, you give yourself an
excuse not to have to deal with and really feel
these
feelings. You put off the evil day........and started to put on the pounds. Never forget that when you
give up smoking, you will CONTINUE to have these empty,
restless, insecure cravings for the first two or three
weeks.....
Now,
for the first time in your
life, LET yourself have these feelings, these empty sensations in your
body. Actually feel them, moment-by-moment in your body. CALL THEIR BLUFF. Sure, you will get the temptation to eat extra - to compensate - to 'fill' in the feelings you believe you are now lacking. These desires are natural, normal. They are not bad in themselves. And they are ONLY TEMPORARY. Just feel them! Yes, it takes courage not to run away and try to escape by eating extra.
If you will just have patience
and stay with these feelings you will discover your moment
of truth - that these feelings are no big deal and that you
can easily handle them. You don't have to eat to escape from them. Please underline: The belief that you will gain weight automatically if you stop smoking is a myth. In actual fact, if you practice this psychology correctly - you should lose weight! However, there is one other issue we must deal with in regard to weight gain before we proceed. This is the
second part of the problem we mentioned earlier........
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