Weight Loss Psychology: Are Your Thoughts Making You Fat?
and disappointment. While diet products,
books and DVDs can certainly be helpful, it’s ultimately up to you to take your mind and body to the next level and say goodbye to those pesky extra pounds forever.
Why Diets Fail
There is nothing more frustrating than denying yourself your favorite foods for days, or even weeks, only to find out that the numbers on the scale haven’t budged and neither has your waist line. Most dieters are stuck in a cycle of starving and overeating with no middle ground. The truth is that you fail before you even start dieting when you set unrealistic goals like losing 20lbs by the summer when it’s already the middle of April. When the plan inevitably falls through, you feel so upset and discouraged that you give up and go right back to bad eating habits.
The core of the problem for many people is thinking of temporary Aod 9604 before and after pictures dieting as a long-term solution to staying fit. Losing weight for good is not so much about dieting as it is about making permanent lifestyle changes. If you want to look great and stay healthy throughout your life, you need to stop yo-yo dieting and start taking small steps toward big changes. Weight loss starts with discovering why you are overweight in the first place and why you haven’t been successful in your past attempts to get fit.
Anyone who has ever lost a substantial amount of weight and kept it off will tell you that weight loss is as much of an emotional journey as it is a tough physical challenge. To get results, you need to change your relationship with food and stop letting your weight shape your self-esteem.
Why is Changing Bad Eating Habits so Hard?
In theory, making a conscious decision not to reach for french fries and dessert is simple, but in practice it’s a lot harder than it sounds. Why is it so hard to lose weight and stick to good habits when you already know how to do it? One of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming that they are completely in control of their behavior, which is exactly why dieters are so critical of themselves when they fail.
Assuming logic drives your behavior is the wrong way to approach losing weight. Emotions, stress and depression can all drive you to intense cravings for fatty snacks and comfort foods. Stress can even trick you into thinking that you are hungry when you aren’t. That’s why after a long day at work a bag of salty chips looks a lot more tempting than a low-fat yogurt. It’s not just that it tastes better, but it also fills an emotional need that’s not being taken care of in other ways.
