Crazy thing happened last week.

I announced that I am doing my Take It All Off (or, Guerilla Weighi Loss Tactics) class, again, early in 2010.

I got quite a few questions!

Some people (my posse?) even discovered a secret waiting list for it (no longer secret — get on it if you’re interested in the class.)

Here are the appropriate-for-all-audiences questions, answered.

Answers: I have some.

Q. #1: To be honest, I just don’t believe you that, if I take your class, I will lose weight permanently.  (including sub-questions)

I can understand why you would have your doubts — oh, what, after:

(a) being lied to by all diets on the planet for your entire life,
(b) being duped by any “weight loss pills” ever in existence, and
(c) burning out in all magic-bullet exercise regimes foisted upon you.

You’re smart, so you’re suspicious.

The whole problem with all of the above (and any other gimmicky things I’ve omitted), in addition to not working, is that they  are external.

These plans and rules are made up out of someone else’s head. Someone else cannot possibly tell you what to eat, when to eat, or how much to exercise.

Q. #2: What other way is there to lose weight (besides restricting what I eat)?

You can learn what foods to eat, how to eat and how to exercise for your very unique self by looking internally.

That’s all knowledge from inside of you.

Anything that requires external rules requires constant discipline.

And anything that requires constant discipline will always fail.  You will never lose weight permanently through your own brute force.

That’s like trying to push two negatively charged magnets together — the two magnets resist connecting, even for a moment.

If you can manage to force them to touch, they fly apart, naturally, the instant you stop applying pressure.

That’s you using self-discipline to lose weight — you cannot apply force from now until forever. Eventually you’ll become sleepy, upset, or exhausted because you’re only human. Then, you eat until you’re stuffed. Game over.

But when you push one positive magnet and one negative magnet together, they race to connect. That’s you learning your internal knowledge. That’s what we do in this class.

• You learn awareness, your innate & internal regulators and some sneaky, sneaky tricks (never discipline) to RELAX the weight off.

And, it’s not all about the weight. If it’s been a struggle for this long (and, for most of woman-kind, it really has), there is more going on underneath the weight battle. And, unless you deal with this piece of struggling with your weight (the emotional side of eating, the beating yourself up), you’ll always gain the weight back.

• You learn how to work through that stuff (and other junk like that which may come up later in life) so that it’s gone. And you’re bouncing quarters off of your… well-made bed.

Q. #3: How big of a commitment is this?

Not huge. It’s six weeks, one hour per week (classes are recorded in case you miss one) and light to medium-ish homework between classes. The most important “commitment” is the commitment to having an open mind, trying new ways of doing things on, and keeping what works (tossing ANYTHING that doesn’t feel right).

Q. #4: No offense [none taken], but why should I want to take a weight loss class from you, a thin person?

Again, I can see where you’re coming from.

Who would want an expert-y sounding person who has never really struggled with her weight and doesn’t get what you’re going through?

I sure as hell wouldn’t want that, and you don’t, either.

• Because, me? I’ve been through it all.

– Diets! (Atkins, low carb, the Zone, Oprah’s best life diet (sorry, Ops, but it doesn’t work).
– Restricting food (NEVER works — see magnet metaphor, above).
– Thin obsessed.
– Ever avoided social situations where there will be pressure to eat? Because, I have.
– Groaningly full at dinner. Followed by intense exercise commitment. Followed by lapse in intense exercise commitment. Followed by a “what the heck!” swan dive into a bounty of food. Repeat.
– Hating how I look (checking myself out in every mirror I pass, buying any pants I’m told “make me look thin”, constantly on a quest to lose weight)

None of it helped me (1) lose weight (without gaining it back) or (2) be happy once I lost the weight (however briefly it was gone).

It wasn’t until fall semester of my sophomore year in college when I met a lovely friend named Grace that I learned that I could listen to my body for signals of when to eat and when to be full. Ah ha.

And, years later, I learned how to deal with the core, underlying personal reasons that any of this food and weight stuff was an issue for me.

My results –

• I’ve lost about 35 lbs total and kept it off for years.
• I don’t think about food except when I’m hungry, I eat things just because I love them.
• I feel great about how I look.
• And, I’m at my ideal-for-me weight.

Now that I’ve studied why our brains torture us this way, I have put it all together in a class where you (1) learn how to eat, (2) learn how to think, and (3) learn how to like how you look.

Visualize this (for real): Imagine a day when you’re feeling fat. You get dressed for work, but everything you try on looks terrible (in your opinion) and you feel like you have nothing to wear. So, finally, you put on your fat pants and go to work. All day, those fat pants taunt you. You walk into the ladies room and those huge pants make you angry, looking back at you in the  mirror. What’s worse is that you’ll probably wear them again tomorrow. What’s worse than that is you feel crappy, like this, a LOT of days.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THAT.

Q. #5: Is it really worth it, taking this class?

Yes. If you put in the work, and are willing to kind of take a look inside, you’ll be amazed at how your life will change. And so will your thighs.

Q. #6: Aren’t you more of a career-ish person? Why you getting all weight loss-ey on me?

The weight loss stuff happened really naturally. Last summer, I kept hearing people tell me that I am “naturally thin”*** and that I don’t get what it’s like to have your pants get tight, to look bad in skinny jeans or to have to diet to maintain your weight.

*** Doesn’t exist. Sure, some people have big appetites and fill their bellies and don’t gain wait — but they aren’t over-eating. They are eating just-right for them. Just sayin’.

If most girls I know are struggling with this stuff, I see that as an opportunity to relieve unnecessary suffering. Because perpetual discontent with your waistline or rearview is, truly, insufferable.

Hence, this class. I was/am a little nervous that I will seem like a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none, but then I realized: Losing weight means working through the same issues as finding what your thing is that you want to do.

• It’s all about crawling back into your body.
• It’s ALL about reconnecting to yourself.
• It’s all about what you’re thinking.

The paints a different color, but it’s the houses are nearly identical.

Q. #7: And what’s with this whole “class over the phone” thing?

You just dial a phone number one weekday evening from wherever in the world you are. People from around the U.S. or globe join us, and no one knows what you look like (read: weigh) or your last name — but you get to feel like you’re not crazy, and meet cool people. I email you recordings.

Q. #8: Exactly how much is this going to be?

I don’t know yet. Last time, it sold out at the Early Bird Price $169. It won’t be crazily more than that.

Q. #10: How much do you actually weigh?

I get this A LOT. And, I have no idea.

But, for you, I’m off to weigh myself.

Okay, I’m back — I weigh 118 lbs. I’m 5′5″ and typically wear a size 2 but could go 4 or 0 depending on the cut.

And there you have it! Shoot me an email if you have other questions for me to address. I’m always happy to hear from you.

And, if this sounds like something you’d be into, sign up here for the waiting list so you don’t miss out!

If you liked this post, take a look at these posts.

1. Guerilla Weight Loss Tactics (that work!)
2. The Last Weight Loss Class You’ll Ever Need