The Psychology of Losing Weight
Introduction.
Losing weight is 100 times less difficult if you are psychologically ready for it. This may sound simple, however, I have discovered that most dieters quit on their diet goals not because they are hungry or have difficulty with the menus, but because they are not psychologically ready. They end up bored, displeased with their achievement of weight loss, or undergo a temporal deviation in focus. Being smeared by guilt, they become discouraged to carry on. Some might even come up with a justification for their failure with excuses. Others would blame their weight-reduction plan, their home situation or their innate incapacity to shed weight. This becomes a pattern as it regularly repeats itself. As a result, some dieters can spend years unsuccessfully looking to lose weight, without ever figuring out the reason for their failure.
I write this article to treat three popular psychological challenges we face when trying to shed some pounds together with some hints for how to conquer them.
# 1. Ignorance of the benefit of weight shedding to you.
No matter the amount of kilo we need to lose, whether much or little, it is imperative that we change our mundane eating habits and lifestyle. Making these modifications might not be difficult on Day one or Week one because our preliminary enthusiasm normally offers us enough motivation. However, usually within two or three weeks, our “new” eating pattern intrudes with our everyday way of life and, until we're prepared for this, our craving to keep a weight-reduction plan will fade. Our perception about our diet changes to a burden instead of a key to achieving our weight goal(s). It becomes something we do because we ought to instead of something we do because we need to. This is a major psychological challenge we stumble upon while dieting.
To overcome this problem, we need to realize exactly why we are seeking to shed pounds and come up with excellent ways it’s going to be of benefit to us. This is imperative because when we have enlisted the benefits that we are to gain from weight shedding, only then will we be ready to pay the sacrifice by opposing certain temptations such as our awful habits. Going beyond the standard goal of having a thinner and lighter form is expedient. This can take the form of having an egocentric, precise gain - something we visualize that commands our attention such as a seaside excursion, a beautiful outfit to put on for a special occasion. This must be something that can make a bang in our head. Thus, if you want to have a lasting weight loss, you must learn to crave for it as you crave for water when you are thirsty.
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#2. Seeking to Be perfect.
Years of experience have shown that no single dieter is perfect. They all make mistakes many times and experience horrific days, weeks and sometimes an entire month. This however does not deter them from achieving success in the end. This is because they learn from their failures. Alas, many dieters try to achieve perfection but end up in the dish not able to pick up and dust themselves clean because the guilt of their mistake(s) has overcome them. What one takes from this is that you should not seek perfection when shedding weight. Be ready to make mistakes and don't let them weigh you down. Instead, let your mistakes encourage you to learn and improve more.
# 3. Treating Your Diet As Race
Another common problem concerns the speed of weight loss. Many dieters expect to lose weight quickly and are mentally ill-prepared when their bodies refuse to behave in this way. If a week goes by without weight loss, they become discouraged and gradually lose interest. Whether you like it, the human body is designed to survive. Therefore, it has no interest in breaking down body fat, which it sees as an important source of energy in times of famine. As a result, the maximum amount of fat we can lose in a week is around 3 pounds, while someone less than 30 pounds overweight can lose around 1 pound. Anything else is likely a combination of water and muscle weight. Because of your impatience and maintaining steady weight loss, you stop looking at your diet as a race. Instead, think of it as a journey. This will reduce anxiety and give you more "breathing space" to adjust to your new eating habits. Avoid stepping on the bathroom scales every day. Limit yourself to once a week. Checking your weight more often will only encourage you to look at things for the short term which is not helpful. This "steady" weight loss may not seem all that appealing, but in my experience, the slower the weight loss, the longer it stays. As mentioned above, if you lose over 3 pounds a week, don't gain weight either. It will be muscle or water. And while water loss is temporary and therefore pointless, muscle loss slows your metabolism and increases your risk of future weight gain. So when you start your next diet journey, remember: there is no rush. Aim for weight loss and let nature take its course. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds and are aiming for 150 pounds, allow yourself 6 months to reach your goal. And if it takes a little longer, what? I mean, what are you losing? These three mental health problems explain a great deal of nutritional failure. If you master them, you will definitely increase your chances of losing weight. So before you venture onto another "new" diet with all your usual excitement, take some time to think about these problems and then watch the pounds go away.
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