Weight Loss - It's in Your Head

What you need more than a diet is a way to shift those negative self-defeating thoughts to more adaptive, positive self-statements. I don't have to be perfect.'

Many people cannot c

When you truly consider the weight-loss process, the military operations waged is mostly in your mind. “Should I eat the corn muffin with butter up or would it be deform for me to have margarine or reconstruct yet, have jelly? What am I doing eating this muffin anyway? It’s so heating and filled with saturated fat. I’m such a pig. I have sure thing zero willpower.” It’s no wonder you’ll eat that muffin with the flue and slather jelly on top to quiet that negative self-talk.

What you need more than a diet is a way to shift those negative self-defeating thoughts to more adaptive, positive self-statements. As with most things worth doing, this requires a bit of practice. First, resolve into no stranger to when you’re using a negative statement, then determine what as regards that thought is faulty and finally, replace it with a self-defense response or coping thought. In the corn muffin example, instead of listening to “I’m such a pig” which with clarity mislabels who you are, respond with “Pigs are animals and I am human. I don’t have to be perfect.”

Many people cannot back and fill their eating habits until they personalization their thoughts circa food, eating and drinking. By shedding “distorted” thoughts and replacing them with productive ones, eating habits can be changed. It is possible to rid yourself from many self-critical thoughts, but like any ingrained habit, it takes vigor and vigilance to change. Here are some other thinking distortions to challenge:

Shoulds. Should statements are more hereabouts other people’s values, not ones the best by the person who wants to lose weight. Additionally, should statements reflect an venture by the dieter to motivate herself without really devoted in the value. more to determine what works for you. “I will eat up to two Hershey kisses daily and thoroughly enjoy them.”

All-or-Nothing. This kind of reasoning is the foundation for perfectionism. An all-or-nothing individual views the world as raven-black or white. Since there is no contingent for gray areas, the behavior is either perfect or a failure. “I’ve ruined my diet by eating all that pizza. I can’t stay on a diet and I’ll just forever be fat.” Maybe the problem does not emerge from from the behavior… maybe the problem is with the diet that does not count for pizza. “I do not want to give pizza up for the rest of my life, so what I need is a way to include pizza in my diet without feeling like a failure. Let me try having a salad (dressing on the side) in advance the pizza to take the edge off my hunger.”

Good Foods/ Bad Foods. If the truth be told, foods do not misbehave. Foods are not good or bad. While it is true that some foods have more nutrients or are more fiber-dense than others, all foods can be enjoyed. How we think well-nigh food colors what we eat and how much we eat. If a food is labeled as bad (such as fries), then for many individuals that food is taboo. When one eventually succumbs to eating the forbidden, French fries, bingeing may result. Rather than continue with dichotomous thinking of good food/bad food, shift to regard space for all foods you like without judgement. Instead of “I ate those fries which are so bad for me” to “I really enjoyed that small portion of fries. They really satisfied me.”

Body Distortions. Rather than dwelling on how fat or thin you think your body is, it is extremely helpful to view your body in terms of what it can do for you. For example, when you look in the mirror, instead of zooming in on your stomach which “looks five months pregnant, but your last baby was nine years ago” tell yourself “my body has given life” or “my body enables me to go where I want to and allows me to have fun.”

The conversations that are going on inside your head cannot be stopped. However, what you can do is to be open-eared of negative self-talk and understand that it has little to do with extant reality. When you rest in this, you can respond to the critical voice with a more objective, coping thought. for all that negative thoughts may not be stopped entirely, they can be quieted by listening to your compassionate, fatherly voice. In much the same way you would sympathize and listen to a thick friend, listen to yourself. Be your own best friend and chance are you’ll have greater weight loss success.

Helene Haber

Holistic Nutrition Coach