Dr. Hollis Weight Loss Solace: Keeping Motivation For Weightloss Recovery

I’m here to talk about some concepts that I think are very important, one of the big
the ideas of having a sponsor. Why do you need a sponsor? Let me tell you. Sherwin Wooland,
a retired clinical professor from Yale, and has done a lot or research on addiction, said
“Most recovery addicts will insist that there are two touch tones of a successful
recovery. One is daily routines. And two is rigorous accountability.” Now for those
of us with food obsessions, those two things are very important. Now I meet people everywhere,
and when they find out what I do, they also tell me their progress in weight loss and
if they’re going at it alone with no other help or allegiance or buddy to go at it with,
I just don’t feel that positive that they’ll keep on keeping on. So when I get new clients,
and I had a client last week (you know who you are, sweet heart) she gave me a major
argument about sponsors saying “I don’t want to get a sponsor. Explain to me why!”
and people always want this explanation and I have to tell them “Look, the only way
you’re going to find out why it’s important is buy doing it! When you do it, then talk
to me, and we’ll talk about what did and didn’t work.” By the way, this person
had been in OA years ago, did have a sponsor, and lost 100 pounds by doing so. It fades
away and now she’s back and arguing with me. Why does she need a sponsor? For these
two things: rigorous accountability. We’ll make a promise to ourselves that we’ll break.
But to another person, we feel “Oh my I’ll have to tell what, why, and where, and what
she was thinking.” Recently, it’s important to have a sponsor because it’s about vulnerability,
about accepting your obsessions. I was a very successful therapist and I was teaching people
about addictions. And I dieted every day and I dieted by way to 220 pounds. So having to
ask another fellow sufferer, not a professional for help, it’s a very vulnerable position.
A lot of times a kid will have a fight with his mom and say “Well I didn’t ask to
be born!” and it’s true. The mom wanted the relationship more than they did at that
point. The sponsor doesn’t care. You have to be the one to walk up to them and ask them
“Will you be my sponsor?” So it puts you in the position of being a seeker, the inquisitive
child and going after something. It’s your commitment, your pledge, and your intentions.
It’s very important to get a sponsor because you cannot do it alone and you cannot do it
with only my help. It takes a village.