{"id":5383,"date":"2013-12-27T15:58:30","date_gmt":"2013-12-27T20:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/?p=5383"},"modified":"2013-12-27T15:59:14","modified_gmt":"2013-12-27T20:59:14","slug":"social-anxiety-and-your-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2013\/12\/social-anxiety-and-your-weight.html","title":{"rendered":"Social Anxiety and Your Weight?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4759\" alt=\"OL of ConsciousUncon\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/100\/2013\/04\/OL-of-ConsciousUncon-300x192.jpg\" width=\"337\" height=\"216\" \/>I received an email from a member of the Kick in the Tush Club, who greatly suffers when at social functions. Parties and gatherings bring forth extreme feelings of discomfort. In order to feel better, she eats. And sometimes she eats some more.<\/p>\n<p>I thought I would share her letter here, because I know she\u2019s not alone. Many of us are uncomfortable in these types of situations. Many suffer from social anxiety. What advice do you have for \u201cN?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Dear Janice ~ I, too, am seeking permanent thinness. I do fine at home, at work, at restaurants, at night, in the car. It\u2019s the social events that drive me out of \u201cwon\u2019t power\u201d to bunches of this and that, usually chocolate thises and thats.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>No one does this to me; no pushy offers. It\u2019s me and a party that is a lethal combination. I don\u2019t like parties; but I do like sugar in most any form. The only person I need to say no to is me, so it\u2019s the \u201cwon\u2019t power\u201d vs. piles of cookies and sitting around. I\u2019ve found myself washing the hostess\u2019s dishes so I don\u2019t have my hands in the candy bowl. Do I need to wear elbow-length white gloves so picking up chocolate would be disgusting?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Suggestions are welcome. Best, N.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Dear N. ~ I do like the visual of the elbow-length white gloves! It\u2019s almost as \u2018bad\u2019 as me <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jpNwPUMKHXg\" target=\"_blank\">duct-taping my mouth closed<\/a> when cooking!!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>All kidding aside, it sounds like you are extremely uncomfortable in social settings that require schmoozing and mixing it up people you may or may not know. You\u2019re not alone. Many people have difficulties in social settings.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Now, I could give you the basic advice that you may have heard before.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eat something before you go, so you won\u2019t be famished and go off the deep end.<\/li>\n<li>Decide ahead of time how many cookies you\u2019re going to have. And stick to it!<\/li>\n<li>If possible, bring a crudite platter or fruit platter so there\u2019s something there you can eat!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Or \u2026 we could look at this another way.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Instead of approaching this from the food angle and working on how to say \u2018no\u2019 to the food; perhaps you could look at getting more comfortable with being at these social gatherings.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>There are many techniques that can help including hypnosis, meditation, and breathing \u2013 to name a few. I think that this is a perfect example of how weight loss isn\u2019t about the food; it\u2019s about something else that is triggering food.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I hope that gives you food for thought. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Thanks for writing, and please let us know how you move through this uncomfortable challenge. We\u2019re rootin\u2019 for you! ~ Janice<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For those of us who can relate to this problem. Write down 5 things that YOU CAN do that will change the way you approach and experience social gatherings.<\/p>\n<p>And what advice do you have for \u201cN.?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hungry for more laughter?\u00a0 Then join Our Lady of Weight Loss\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/30757154492\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kick in the Tush Club\/FB<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>Spread the word\u2013NOT the icing,<\/p>\n<p>Janice Taylor<br \/>\nwise * fun * utterly useful<\/p>\n<p>\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<br \/>\nFor the best life, wellness and weight loss wisdom, visit Janice:<br \/>\n<strong><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ourladyofweightloss.com\" target=\"_blank\">Our Lady of Weight Loss<br \/>\n<\/a><\/em><\/strong>sign up for the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/maildogmanager.com\/surveys\/OurLadyofWeightLoss\/optin1.html\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Kick in the Tush Club<\/em><\/a> e-letter<br \/>\njoin and chat: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/30757154492\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kick in the Tush Club\/Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I received an email from a member of the Kick in the Tush Club, who greatly suffers when at social functions. Parties and gatherings bring forth extreme feelings of discomfort. In order to feel better, she eats. And sometimes she eats some more. I thought I would share her letter here, because I know she\u2019s&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,82,213,60,1207,176],"tags":[671,3826,3827,3834,3825,686,3837,248],"class_list":["post-5383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-janice-taylor","category-kick-in-the-tush-club","category-mental-health","category-our-lady-of-weight-loss","category-spiritual-weight-loss-2","category-weight-loss-coach-2","tag-how-to-lose-weight","tag-janice-taylor","tag-kick-in-the-tush-club","tag-mental-health","tag-our-lady-of-weight-loss","tag-social-anxiety","tag-weight-loss-motivation","tag-weight-loss-tips"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Social Anxiety and Your Weight? - Our Lady of Weight Loss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2013\/12\/social-anxiety-and-your-weight.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Social Anxiety and Your Weight? - Our Lady of Weight Loss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I received an email from a member of the Kick in the Tush Club, who greatly suffers when at social functions. Parties and gatherings bring forth extreme feelings of discomfort. In order to feel better, she eats. And sometimes she eats some more. 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