The weight loss process can be extremely taxing mentally and emotionally for most women. Whenever they think about losing weight, they automatically think about running for hours or hitting the gym.
They also grimace at the thought of sacrificing their favorite food for boring, tasteless foods like broccoli juice or bland chicken breast.
It’s always a physical thing. Struggling with exercise or eating foods you do not want to, are the most common images conjured up by the mind. However, there is one more adversary that is far more sinister than sweating or sacrificing food.
It is the mental toll that weight loss exerts on your mind and will-power. This is the main cause why millions of women quit on the weight loss journey. It’s never the exercise or the food that makes a person quit. It’s the mental attitude and thought processes that make a person throw in the towel.
The first point to note is that it is not easy to lose weight. Forget what the women’s magazines or pills are saying. You can’t lose 14 pounds a week. These are false advertising designed to make you part with your money. The only thing that will get lighter is your wallet.
The 3 most important points about weight loss that you must grasp are:
* It’s not easy.
* It will take time… often longer than you will expect.
* You will slip up now and again.
Once you grasp these 3 points, that’s half the battle won.
Now that you know it is not easy, you will not have unrealistic expectations of losing weight. Many people buy weight loss pills based on the hype and marketing created by the manufacturer. When the results do not come, they are dejected, disappointed and demoralized.
These could all be avoided by realizing that you cannot shed the fats in such an easy manner. If you could lose weight just by eating a few pills, there would be no fat people on the planet.
The next point is that weight loss takes time. On average, you can expect to lose about 1% of your body weight a week. If you weigh 200 pounds, that means you will lose about 2 pounds a week. If you’re 40 pounds overweight, that’s going to be a 20 week stretch. Maybe a week or two more.
Are you prepared for this 20 week stretch? If you were expecting to lose 10 pounds in a week, you will be sorely disappointed when the scales show that you’ve only lost two.
This disappointment will make you feel like quitting. In reality, you have done good! Imagine that! You would quit, thinking that you failed when you’ve actually been on the right track. This is the biggest mistake most people make. They assume that their results are abysmal and decide that it’s just not worth it.
You must be thankful and grateful for any progress regardless of how small it is. That’s the only way forward.
Thirdly, you will slip up. Don’t make the mistake of expecting perfection. There will be times when your will-power fails and you gobble the cookie or gulp down the cool glass of wine.
It happens. We’re human and we slip up. When that happens, don’t curse yourself and tell yourself, that you don’t have what it takes… and quit!!! You never quit!
That’s like telling a kid who is learning to walk that he is destined to crawl for life just because he falls a few times during the learning process.
It’s this expectation of being perfect that leads many to quit. Just realize your slip up, acknowledge it, see why you slipped up and move on. Be determined to be more compliant.
If you stopped to analyze the situation, you may realize that attending a party makes you slip up. Your next course of action would be to avoid social occasions for a while till you have achieved your desired weight. You’d have cut out the temptation and stayed compliant.
By quitting, you’d never reach your goal.
Now that you know that there is a mental game involved when losing weight, you should be wary of your thought processes. Look closely at what is making you feel demoralized or depressed. What are you thinking of when you’re on the verge of quitting. Why do you want to quit?
By analyzing your thoughts, you will realize that your expectations are just unrealistic. Aim for small, achievable goals. Be kind to yourself… and keep moving forward. Always move forward.
You don’t have time for regrets. Leave them behind with the fat you’ve lost and keep moving forward.
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The Beta Switch
very interesting topic, outstanding post.