Spousal Support

Okay, so in the past, I have never thought that I was an emotional eater, but...  I just really thought that eating that Twinkie would make me feel better.  Of course it didn't, it only made me feel worse for giving in.  I then had a very inspiring phone conversation with a very good friend.  She reminded me that it is okay to screw up, we are all human, we just have to get right back in there.
So instead of fretting over my failure, I am going to remind myself of my success:  It has been 1 month and 9 days since I have smoked woohoo!!
During our conversation, I was also inadvertently reminded that I need to be counting my blessings.  My heart goes out to any parent who has to deal with their child being sick.
Even thought the title is 'Spousal Support', I am not referring to money.  After talking to a few other people, I realized that I was not the only person out there who was not only battling their own demons while trying to lose weight, but battling their spouse as well.  There are several reasons for this, but most of them are rooted simply in human nature: Insecurity!
When you are making changes in your life, it can be very upsetting for your spouse to figure out how they fit there.  A spouse that sabotages your self-improvement efforts does not necessarily mean to do so, and it does not mean that they do not care.  They are threatened by you putting so much effort into improving yourself, and they want to know why.
In my own personal experience, I solved this problem by putting myself out there, making myself the vulnerable one.  I truly believe that my husband wanted me to stay fat, and he wanted me to continue smoking so that I was less desirable to others.  I really am not putting my husband down, I just think that was his way of trying to ensure that he didn't lose me.  I have been married to this man for almost 14 years, and I love him with all my heart, but it was still very difficult for me to tell him how I felt.  I told him that I was tired of being fat and that I was going to do something about it.  That I was going to quit smoking, start exercising more, and figure out how to be happy with who I was.  Then I told him that I was not doing this for him, but that I wanted to do it with him.  That I loved him, and wanted to be with him no matter how much I weighed, I just wanted to be able to enjoy our life more by not being miserable.
I am not kidding or exaggerating when I say that he did a 180!  With his confidence boosted, he became more supportive of my efforts than I ever could have imagined.  I have heard the words 'you can do it' and 'good job' more from him in the past 2 months than I think I had the entire time we have been married.  I was able to change the situation simply by changing the way that I approached it.  This may not work for everyone, but I thought I would put my experience out there just in case you want to give it a try.