Virtue - Losing your pounds of pain : breaking the link between abuse, stress, and overeating

Losing Your

Pounds

of Pain

Revised Edition

Also by Doreen Virtue, Ph.D.

Books/Kit/Oracle Board
DIVINE MAGIC
ANGEL PHOTOS
ANGELS 101
ANGEL GUIDANCE BOARD
GODDESSES & ANGELS
ANGEL NUMBERS 101
CRYSTAL THERAPY (with Judith Lukomski)
CONNECTING WITH YOUR ANGELS KIT (includes booklet, CD, journal, etc.)
ANGEL MEDICINE
THE CRYSTAL CHILDREN
ARCHANGELS & ASCENDED MASTERS
EARTH ANGELS
MESSAGES FROM YOUR ANGELS
ANGEL VISIONS II
EATING IN THE LIGHT (with Becky Prelitz, M.F.T., R.D.)
THE CARE AND FEEDING OF INDIGO CHILDREN
HEALING WITH THE FAIRIES
ANGEL VISIONS
DIVINE PRESCRIPTIONS
HEALING WITH THE ANGELS
ID CHANGE MY LIFE IF I HAD MORE TIME
DIVINE GUIDANCE
CHAKRA CLEARING (available in tradepaper,
and as a hardcover book-with-CD)
ANGEL THERAPY
THE LIGHTWORKERS WAY
CONSTANT CRAVING AZ
CONSTANT CRAVING
THE YO-YO DIET SYNDROME

Audio/CD Programs
GODDESSES & ANGELS (abridged audio book)
ANGEL MEDICINE (available as both 1- and 2-CD sets)
ANGELS AMONG US (with Michael Toms)
MESSAGES FROM YOUR ANGELS (abridged audio book)
PAST-LIFE REGRESSION WITH THE ANGELS
DIVINE PRESCRIPTIONS
THE ROMANCE ANGELS
CONNECTING WITH YOUR ANGELS
MANIFESTING WITH THE ANGELS
KARMA RELEASING
HEALING YOUR APPETITE, HEALING YOUR LIFE
HEALING WITH THE ANGELS
DIVINE GUIDANCE
CHAKRA CLEARING

Oracle Cards (44 or 45 divination cards and guidebook)
HEALING WITH THE ANGELS ORACLE CARDS
HEALING WITH THE FAIRIES ORACLE CARDS
MESSAGES FROM YOUR ANGELS ORACLE CARDS (card deck and booklet)
MAGICAL MERMAIDS AND DOLPHINS ORACLE CARDS (card deck and booklet)
ARCHANGEL ORACLE CARDS (card deck and booklet)
GODDESS GUIDANCE ORACLE CARDS (card deck and booklet)
MAGICAL UNICORNS ORACLE CARDS
SAINTS AND ANGELS ORACLE CARDS

All of the above are available at your local bookstore, or may be ordered by visiting:
Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com ; Hay House Australia:
www.hayhouse.com; www.hayhouse.com.au; Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk; Hay House South Africa:
www.hayhouse.co.za; Hay House India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Doreens Website: www.AngelTherapy.com

Losing Your

Pounds

of Pain

Breaking the Link
Between Abuse, Stress,
and Overeating

Doreen Virtue, Ph.D.

H AY H OUSE , I NC .
Carlsbad, California New York City
London Sydney Johannesburg
Vancouver Hong Kong New Delhi

Copyright 1994, 2002 by Doreen Virtue

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Editorial supervision: Jill Kramer Design: Jenny Richards

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Originally published by Hay House, Inc., August 1994.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Virtue, Doreen

Losing your pounds of pain : breaking the link between abuse, stress, and overeating/ Doreen Virtue. -- Rev. ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-56170-950-6 (trade paper)

1. Compulsive eating. 2. Obesity--Psychological aspects. I. Title.

RC552.C65 V56 2002

616.85'26--dc21 2001052757

ISBN 13: 978-1-56170-950-2

ISBN 10: 1-56170-950-6

12 11 10 09 14 13 12 11

1st printing, Revised Edition, January 2002

11th printing, Revised Edition, August 2009

Printed in the United States of America

Cover art is a modified version of Elly Reeve's oil painting
"You Are Never Alone" (artist e-mail: emreeve@aol.com)

To My Parents, Joan and Bill Hannan,
with love and appreciation

Contents

I first decided to write this book in 1991 while serving as Program Director of an all-female psychiatric hospital specializing in sexual abuse survivors. Almost every client was struggling with deep emotional pain: stress, grief, depression, rage, and dissatisfaction with work, marriage, and life in general. They expressed, Is this all my life will ever be? to me in various ways. These women had turned to food for comfort, security, and sometimes self-punishment. Many were convinced that, if they could only lose the weight, all of their pain would go away. What they came to learn was the opposite: First they had to lose their pain, and then their weight would leave them.

When I initially became a psychotherapist specializing in eating disorders, I was relatively naive about the brutal nature of abusive households. I had never experienced childhood abuse firsthand, but my clients sure had! Woman after woman described various degrees of childhood abuse, including emotional neglect, verbal assaults, molestation, incest, rape, and cult involvement. By the time Id been a therapist for a year, Id worked with hundreds of women who cried, screamed, and released pounds and pounds of pain.

Every time Id work with a woman, shed lose weight. As a result, my caseload swelled to capacity, filled with women wanting to lose weight. Every one of these women had tried traditional diets, only to regain the weight time and time again.

I was fortunate to grow up in a household surrounded by loving, extremely intelligent, metaphysically minded parents. My father is a writer, and my mother is a former Christian Science practitioner and Weight Watchers counselor. Is it any wonder that I grew up to be a blend of both their occupations? As a therapist, Ive used many of the skills my parents taught me: visualization, affirmations, imagery, meditation, and healthful eating and exercise habits. I used these tools in my 20s to dramatically transform my life from an unhappy existence to one that is something straight out of my dreams today. (But youll read more about my story later on in this book.)

As a psychotherapist, I worked with clients in the 1980s to discover why they were overeating, instead of focusing on what they were eating. That was considered a radical approach at the time, but its readily accepted today. I wrote my second book, The Yo-Yo Syndrome Diet (later renamed The Yo-Yo Diet Syndrome ) based on my research on the link between emotions and overeating.

The methods I used with abuse survivors who compulsively overeat are detailed in the pages that follow. Ive geared this book to provide both information and real help.

Most of my work has centered around womens issues, and this book reflects that focus. Losing Your Pounds of Pain is geared for women struggling with overeating due to stress, depression, anxiety, relationship problems, and career troubles. This book will certainly help men facing these issues as well; pounds of pain, after all, have no gender-based barriers! However, since the majority of people seeking my help are women, this book uses female pronouns such as she and her instead of awkward phrases such as he or she and him or her.