Psychological Approach to Weight Loss


There are a lot of books written about diets, numerous websites explain how to control weight and lose extra pounds – everything shows that Americans want to look better, but in most cases this leads to nothing. Even if a person tries to lose weight, at some point this afford is given up and the lost pounds come back with additional weight gain.

Maybe the reason why people have difficulties to lose weight is because they do not approach the problem from the right point of view. It is not that overweight men and women do not want to be thinner, but they put too much pressure on themselves from the very beginning which results in tendency to give up the idea even before the weight-loss program starts working.

Seeing young, slim, good-looking girls on TV, checking out clothes in stores that do not fit, and observing physically active people in good shape in a park is sort of depressing and instead of stimulating for action, it usually makes obese people want to go to their fridge or nearest fast-food restaurant and fill up on deserts, salty snacks or any other type of food that makes one feel better.

Instead of thinking negatively a person should find the real motivation to become thinner. Deborah Low, a certified weight management and lifestyle consultant in Vancouver, British Columbia, says that both motivation and inspiration are important. “Motivation is something we get from other people; but inspiration swells within us. Thinking ‘I’ll lose weight and then I’ll be happy’ is not enough. If we respect and love ourselves, independent of our weight, it’s easier to make healthy choices”, she says.

An average person that is determined to lose weight is fixed on the end result. Instead of enjoying the time in the gym and healthy meals the person is stressed to lose 20 pounds or to fit in a smaller pair of jeans by Halloween. This is not right, because only few people achieve the great goal like this from the first time.

An example with sportsmen might help to understand the problem: watching Olympic Games many people see a swimmer from some country to set a record or at least beat all competitors, but this is a result of long work. The sportsman has not made a decision to win Olympic Games and did that from the first try to swim. Mountain climbers also do not get to the highest point of a mountain from the first try. It requires training, patience and hard work.

These people have set smaller goals in the beginning. At first the swimmer wanted to learn how to swim and the climber tried to climb rocks. Later they improved the skills and took part in the first competitions or tried to go up a small mountain. Finally, when they were strong enough the swimmer and the climber set themselves for the biggest challenges in their lives and won.

An overweight person has to have the same attitude to weight as a sportsman to the physical skills. Nothing comes immediately, but starting from little things like skipping desert after dinner or stopping snacking before going to bed would already be a big step to weight loss. If the person judges weight by dropped pounds, he or she should not start with a goal of 5-10 pounds, but make a reward for even half a pound or one pound. Let this first reward be something active and healthy: a walk in a park, a trip to a mall or even a day-time nap, do not reward yourself with food!

Slow moving is more beneficial that big goals and quick drop outs. Get inspired with the little achievements and go forward. After a few steps people will start noticing your weight loss and tell you about it, this is when the motivation will come in handy and help to go further and bigger goals will not be a problem any more.

Tim Olsen

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Posted on November 3, 2009 
Filed Under Obesity and Health, Psychology and Weight Loss, Weight Loss

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