People Cannot Lose Weight for the Wrong Reason

The primary reason people are not able to successfully adopt and maintain weight loss plans has far more to do with psychology than expensive done for you diet plans, picking the right food or doing the right kind of exercise. Millions of people worldwide vow each year to lose weight for a wide variety of reasons, sadly most will not only not reach their weight goals but many will end up gaining more weight and feeling worse for doing so. In fact, two thirds of dieters who lose five percent of their total weight will gain it back, and surprisingly the more weight you lose the less chance you will have of keeping it off.

Society’s Misperception

According to neuropsychologist and Program Director of Integrative Medicine at Orlando Health Diane Robinson, "Most people focus almost entirely on the physical aspects of weight loss, like diet and exercise. But there is an emotional component to food that the vast majority of people simply overlook and it can quickly sabotage their efforts." A recent survey found that 31% of participants believed that the greatest barrier to weight loss is lack of exercise, with what you eat and cost of a healthy lifestyle coming in second and third. The time commitment necessary to effectively lose weight also weighs in at 12%. 

Even further down the list of perceived reasons for not successfully losing weight is psychological well-being. "That may explain why so many of us struggle," said Robinson. "In order to lose weight and keep it off long term, we need to do more than just think about what we eat, we also need to understand why we're eating." We learn from a young age to be emotionally attached to food that are used to console us when we are hurt or upset, reward us for good behavior, celebrate achievements and more. These are powerful anchors that are very seldom considered in the parenting best practice books, and if not understood can contribute to obesity and poor health starting at a very young age.

This conditioning is pervasive in our societies, and the end result is food and especially what is called comfort food releases the same dopamine neurotransmitters that are also released by sex, drugs, and other pleasurable activities. There are several problems with food providing a dopamine release. In modern society food is readily available and acceptable which is not necessarily the case for the other dopamine releasing triggers. There is also the tie back to early developmental behaviors where crying brought Mommy and food. In addition, there is a drive in mammals to consume sugar, salt, and fat that incentivizes us to eat food that is bad for us, in amounts that wreak havoc on our health.

Our Emotions Rule Us

So it is no surprise that there is a positive correlation between higher Body Mass Indexes and emotional problems like depression, anxiety, and stress. In my Facebook group as well as a program a partner and I ran specific to adopting Intermittent Fasting and the Mediterranean Diet I hear this frequently. Coping with disease, deaths in the family, workplace stress, family dysfunction and the many other stressors in our lives are often given as the reason for cheating on a diet, no matter how strict. The extra effort to exercise will power or deprive oneself by eating small portions of tasteless food can become too much at these times, and those comfort foods are an easy fix.

In one example, a dieter named Dee recognized the emotional attachment she had with food and started making the conscious choice to change. In a little over a year, she was able to lose over 100 pounds. "I tried countless diets and different exercises in theopast, but knew I had to make it stick this time," she said. "By changing the way I thought about with my stress, anxiety, and emotions and how I react to those feelings I changed my habits for good.”

How to break free

The goal is to see food as nourishment and not as a coping mechanism or reward. While people have no problem joining a gym or hiring a personal trainer, they are reluctant to seek help from like-minded people through a support group. As Robinson puts it, "If getting your body in shape hasn't worked out yet, maybe this time start with your mind."

Here are some tips to recognizing the emotional connections to food:

Identify your comfort foods and if they have the fat, sugar, salt component that the body craves.

Stop before you eat a snack or meal and check in to see if you are actually hungry. If you are not hungry identify your motives for wanting to eat.

Keep a log of what you eat and drink every day and check for patterns of how you feel.

Don’t wait to you feel like it, you never will so stop waiting for the perfect time and start right now.

The old adage is true, you are what you think about. Trying to suppress thoughts actually has the opposite effect. Those people trying to overcome emotional eating by thi

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Created on Jun 27th 2020 11:58. Viewed 354 times.

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