Lesson 5 of 26 · 3 min

E is for Engagement

Engagement is the difference between enduring a plan and living a life. People who stay engaged with something larger than their weight are the ones who keep the weight off.

E is for Engagement3 min

When losing weight becomes your entire identity and your only project, two things happen. It gets exhausting, and it gets fragile — because a single bad week threatens the whole self.

Engagement points outward. It means being genuinely involved in your work, your relationships, your community, the things you make and the people you serve. Paradoxically, the more full your life is of things that are not about your weight, the easier the weight becomes.

This is also where food loses its monopoly. When eating is the most interesting thing in your day, you will eat more. When it has real competition, it takes its proper place.

Practice this

Schedule one thing this week that has nothing to do with food or fitness and that you actually look forward to.
Reach out to one person you have been meaning to contact.
Notice what you do when you are bored. Add one option to that list that is not eating.

Sit with this

What did you love doing before you started worrying about your weight?
If food were less interesting, what would fill the space?
Where are you a spectator in your own life?

Going deeper

Longer sessions from the Doc Russ archive that expand on this letter. Optional, but worth your time.

Session 08 — Engagement59 min