Quiz: What's your eating style?

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5.The Snowball Effect Eater
Think of a snowball rolling down a mountain, gaining momentum and size, and you'll have an idea of the Snowball Effect Eater's style. This person's determination to stick with a healthful eating and exercise program vacillates tremendously. Brenda's story typifies the struggle of a Snowball Effect Eater.

Last December, Brenda was horrified when she saw a Polaroid picture of herself next to the Christmas tree. "Oh my gosh! Look how fat I look!" she exclaimed, and immediately made a New Year's resolution to lose weight.

Her motivation to eat light was high after the holidays, so Brenda's dinner meals consisted of skinless chicken breasts, salads with fat-free dressing, and steamed rice. She lost six pounds in just a few weeks. Then, in mid-January, her husband decided to throw a Super Bowl party. Brenda volunteered to plan the snack menu. While preparing the pizza, chip dips, and other munchies, Brenda felt obligated as hostess to taste-test all the foods.

After the Super Bowl, Brenda's incentive to diet decreased. She'd tasted those high-fat foods, and her mouth ached for more. So, her skinless chicken breast meal was now a fried half-of-a-chicken, complete with skin. Her fat-free salad now consisted of a small serving of lettuce, topped with huge portions of shredded cheese, bacon bits, croutons, and blue cheese dressing. She replaced the steamed rice with a huge baked potato, complete with butter and sour cream.

In Brenda's mind, she was still eating the basic "diet dinner menu" of chicken, salad, and a complex carbohydrate. She quit caring whether or not she lost weight, and barely noticed when she regained the six pounds.

Snowball Effect Eaters usually exhibit inconsistent motivation levels because their weight-loss efforts are externally motivated. Like Brenda, they declare themselves to be on a diet in response to some outer stimulus, such as a photograph, a spouse's comment, or too-tight jeans. However, these external sources of motivation just can't provide the steady stream of inspiration necessary for permanent changes in eating behaviour. Internal motivation is necessary, with a focus on:

• How much energy we have when we eat healthful foods,

• How great it feels to have toned muscles,

• How exercise eases our tension and worries,

• How treating our bodies with respect leads to higher self-regard, and

• The fact that the only opinion that matters, as far as our weight is concerned, is our own.

Brenda's black-and-white approach to weight loss also set her up for fluctuations both in her weight and in her motivation. Instead of saying, "Either I eat like a pauper, or I eat like a pig," Brenda could take a more conservative approach. Yes, it takes more time to lose weight using a moderate rather than a radical diet, but in the long run, we won't get those sharp swings in weight. So, instead of forcing ourselves to eat a bland, fat-free diet, it's more realistic to find a flavourful, low-fat menu that satisfies the taste buds as well as our nutritional requirements.

Snowball Effect Eaters benefit from food-craving interpretation because it keeps them focused on internal motivations for eating. Instead of viewing their food cravings as a sign of, "What's the use? I'm hungry, so I'll just abandon this stupid diet," they are more able to understand the underlying emotional significance of their cravings.

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All five styles of emotional eating can employ food-craving interpretation as a means of reducing or eliminating intrusive desires to overeat. The more you understand about yourself, the more you're able to work with -- instead of against -- yourself. There's no need to fight yourself; that's an unloving thing to do that will only create depression and internal resistance. Instead, move toward gently understanding and accepting yourself.