The first thing people who want to lose weight have to learn to deal with are feelings of ambivalence about losing weight! (Part of them wants to lose weight and part of them doesn't.) Part of this ambivalence, is fueled by the inertia involved in trying to change any habit that one has been doing on a frequent basis for a long time. (Inertia is the resistance of a habit to change.) To redirect it or to slow it down takes more energy than most of us are willing to expend! We may start out being gung-ho about changing it but after a while, we feel it's just easier and less tiring to continue the habit as before! Another reason they may feel ambivalent about losing weight is, they have to pay more attention to what they eat then they did before! This can seem to be just too much of a hassle and not worth the effort to do! An Additional Factor If youre dieting and feel youre depriving yourself of the food you enjoy. Youll be torn between your desire to lose weight and your desire to eat! The more deprived you feel the more resistant youll be to losing weight! Other Factors You may have negative expectations about losing weight! You want to lose weight but consciously or unconsciously feel you can't! You may have a lack of confidence in your ability to lose weight because of negative conditioning and past experiences of failure trying to lose weight! You may be unrealistic about how fast, how much and how easily you should lose weight! Your goals may be so unrealistic that after repeated attempts and failures you may become so discouraged you give up trying to lose weight! More factors You may eat to help you cope with stress or boredom! Or eat as a way of suppressing anger! Instead of verbalizing anger, you eat and eat compulsively! The more you suppress your anger, the more compulsively you eat! The more compulsively you eat, the more you suppress your anger and so on and on in never ending cycle! You may have a love affair with food! You just really like to eat! You like the taste of food! The way it looks! The color of it! The smell of it! Its texture! You enjoy eating so much you tend to overeat and overeat frequently! Environmental Factors Advertising is another factor influencing why it may be hard for you to lose weight! Television is saturated with images enticing you to have fun and to feel good about yourself by eating the products being broadcast! Print, radio and billboard advertising are constantly bombarding you with the idea of experiencing fun and excitement when the products being advertised are eaten! The emphasis is on instant gratification, indulging your appetite, impulsively buying and eating food! You may find it hard to lose weight because instead of focusing on how to make it easier for you to lose weight, you focus on how hard it is for you to lose weight! Instead of thinking about all the foods you can eat! You think about all the foods you can't eat! You start feeling deprived and feeling deprived makes you overeat! Changing Habits. If you want to lose weight or change a habit the first step is to, (1) Decide if that's what you really want to do! (2) Realize that you may have two minds about it! (Ambivalence) (3) Make a commitment to changing it! (4) Write out a plan with clearly defined realistic goals! (Goals you're capable of attaining!) (5) Seek counseling if you're having trouble sticking to your plan! (6) If you slip up! Allow yourself a few minutes to feel guilty, then get back on track! (7) Don't hold setbacks against yourself, It's self-defeating! (8) Practice, Practice, Practice! (9) Give yourself credit for the effort youre making! (10) Recognize any progress you make no matter how insignificant! (11) Keep going even if you have setbacks! (12) You can do it! I hope you've enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed writing it! And I hope you find it helpful! Good-Luck! Copyright 2000 El-Veasey Publishing Inc. |
