Losing weight is about much more than the physical changes – to have permanent weight loss, you may need to make changes on the inside, too.

The mental factor is critical. It’s how Becoming Thin Within Internet Talk Radio show host, Deborah J. Wright, finally lost 60 pounds and has kept it off for over four years now.

Before taking a deep look inside, Deborah says she was a “master yo-yo dieter.”

She tells FatFighterTV why she was holding on to those unhealthy pounds, how she finally let go, and how she’s helping others to do the same.

FFTV welcomes Deborah as a Weight Loss WooHoo! honoree – just our fun way of celebrating healthy weight loss.

Early start to yo-yo dieting
“I think my first diet was at the end of elementary school. I started drinking Tab because that was the diet drink of the time. For a couple of days I did nothing but drink Tab and eat a couple of carrot sticks. I maybe lost three or four pounds because I wasn’t eating anything. Of course I couldn’t maintain that – I had to end up eating. Then I started beating myself up and telling myself what an idiot I am, what a big loser I am – I can’t even lose weight. So I just went to the opposite end and started bingeing and just ate and ate and ate, and then gained more weight and then that just basically started the yo-yo dieting. And I would do the same thing over again.”

Expert dieter
“I was very good at losing the weight – actually exceptional at losing the weight – but not very good at maintaining it. So I was up and down, up and down for years.”

Turning point – pregnancy and motherhood
(Deborah has a little girl) “I can’t tell her, ‘Eat your carrots, eat your broccoli, eat your fruits,’ while I’m scarfing down pizza and cake.”

Healing from the inside out
“When you have a lot of weight and it does not want to let go then it’s there for a reason. It’s trying to tell you something. Once you listen and understand what it’s trying to tell you then you can let go and it can let go.

Part of it was not forgiving myself for overeating in the past, for yo-yo dieting, looking at myself in a whole different way; looking in the mirror and instead of looking at my body and saying, ‘Eww, look at these dimpled thighs,’ really looking at myself in the face and seeing the person inside as opposed to what makes up the outside. It took a lot of work.”

Forgiving others
“The healing also came with regard to other people. That was a big part of it because there were people who had hurt me in my past that I had a hard time letting go of.

That made a big difference in how I approached food because I wasn’t going to the food to deal with the anger and frustration. For instance, if someone had hurt me in the past and I got angry and frustrated, what would I do? I would go get a piece of cake or a cookie while I was cooling off or blowing off steam. But I learned that food is not going to help in that situation. What I need to do is figure out what’s going on. That took a long time – at least a year after I had lost weight to go through that process of really figuring out what was going on.”

Getting emotional
“Weight loss is emotional. We don’t put the pounds on just because we like the food. Because think about it – if you like an apple, and most people do, but they don’t sit in their rooms going, ‘Man, I’ve gotta have an apple. No, I need 50 of them!’ They don’t run in and eat 50, 60 apples. They go to the comfort foods, they go to the sugar – things that make them feel better.”

Using her show to reach others
“When we go to food, if it’s not for hunger, it’s emotionally based. And those emotions are triggering a belief. That’s what we get to during the program – What are those beliefs that are sending you there? What are those beliefs that are telling you you’re not good enough, that are telling you you’ll never amount to anything? All those things we say to ourselves.”

Believe in yourself
“Yeah, I am worth getting up at 5:00 in the morning and doing my exercise. I may not enjoy it, but I need it. I’m worth it. This is what my body requires and that’s good enough for me. And it’s the same with the food – not that there’s anything wrong with having a piece of cake, but when you walk away from the cake feeling guilty and frustrated and angry, then there’s an emotional connection – you’re getting something from that food that you’re not getting from yourself.”

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Anyone out there who can relate to what Deborah went through? I think it’s awesome that she is finally in control of her health and wants to help others.

Deborah is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, a Nutritional Counselor, and AFAA Certified Personal Trainer. Check out her Internet talk show – Becoming Thin Within - every Thursday morning at 11:00 CST

And here’s a link to Deborah’s interview with FatFighterTV – yours truly – on TalkZone.com

Want to see who else got a Weight Loss WooHoo!? Check out the Wall of Fame!

If you know of someone who deserves this honor, just let me know – send me an email at sahar [at] fatfightertv [dot] com

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