Mommy Life: Help for moms with overweight daughters

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November 28, 2006 7:40 AM

Help for moms with overweight daughters

Some time ago, a reader wrote to ask for help in dealing with an overweight daughter. I just came across this website which has some great advice and recommended books:

Moms! Help Your Overweight Daughter!

It is a difficult situation to have someone in your family who needs to be liberated from layers of fat, who may not even recognize the pattern of overeating so obvious to others. I know because my oldest daughter prayed for eight years for me to adopt a healthier lifestyle. I also know that until I broke my addiction to food, I was not at all honest about how much I was consuming. The bottom line is that you just can't eat more than your body needs or you will get fat. And fat insulates and isolates you.

This is what makes it so difficult for mothers who want the best for their daughters. Still, it's painful to watch someone continuing down a self-destructive path and feel prohibited from saying anything. If your child were addicted to drugs or alcohol or sex, you'd speak right up - without tiptoeing around because you might hurt her feelings.

And for girls who rebel against controlling mothers by putting on weight - that reminds me of an old expression "cutting off your nose to spite your face." It may drive your mother crazy, but the one it's really hurting is you.

What we all need to realize is that we are free to let these things go at any time. It might take some effort - it's taken me a lot of effort to lose 75 pounds - but it is so worth it! Just know you have a God who cares about you and will help you when you are willing. In the process he will teach you many lessons you never knew you needed.

He really wants the best for us. It's up to us to stop getting in the way of our own freedom.