DENIAL!   Denial is a real phenomenon. Though it’s most commonly associated with addiction, denial can be present in more benign circumstances. I see it daily in people who have gradually given up on trying to stay fit. Though their body habitus tells me at a glance that they are carrying at least 40 or 50 pounds of excess fat on their frame, often they view themselves as just a little out of shape. They look in the mirror, and thanks to denial, they basically see what they were once, not who they are now. So, they don’t pay much attention to the remarks of well-meaning people about how much weight they’ve gained. And they continue trying to squeeze into those clothes they can barely button, wondering how come this stuff keeps shrinking.  What does shake a person out of denial, though, is seeing a picture of himself.  It is usually an “Oh my God!” moment that cracks through all those ideas about what they really look like. This is usually a wonderful thing, because it almost always produces a mixture of shame and motivation to get things changed. That’s kind of what happened to me in August 2006 when I looked at the photo I had just taken and saw a person different from the one I remembered in the mirror.  There are also those who are NOT in denial, but who just won’t really do anything about themselves until it becomes almost hopeless. These are tougher cases. This person is getting something out of their efforts to encase themselves in fat and eating themselves into oblivion. Whether it is because the food kills the pain of depression or anxiety, or the layers of fat keep others away from them, the reason is not always obvious, even to the person who is victimizing herself.  Transformations can change the appearance, and with the right amount of journaling and self-examination, while taking the right actions in regard to relationships, transformations can also be great healing events and life changing indeed.  If only a physical transformation is achieved in the time allotted, the person’s odds of staying fit are indeed diminished if he or she does not do something about the deeper causes of the problems that brought them to the transformation.  That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? To change both the outer and the inner person for the better!