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Gladitsme · 03-10-2006, 12:28 PM

The Skinny on Why People Get Fat – Part II
The Complex Human Mind It's All in Your Head
Friday, March 10, 2006

Why is weight loss so complicated? Not only are you presented with the challenge of months of cutting calories and exercising daily to slim down, but you also have many mental roadblocks to overcome. Maybe you’re feeling too beat down from years of weight loss defeats to want to attempt it again. Perhaps you’ve been oblivious to the problem for so many years that it seems to have just snuck up on you. Or maybe you simply have unrealistic expectations of how easy it should be to lose the weight. If medical reasons are not to blame for your weight problems, it’s probably all in your head…

Psychological Reasons for Why People get Fat
In The Skinny on Why People Get Fat – Part I we explored the complexities of the human body and how unwanted weight gain might not necessarily be your fault. However, most people cannot blame their weight problems on medical issues, which means that it all comes down to what you are or aren’t doing to help your situation. Let’s take a step back and look at the many, complex ways that your head could be getting in the way of your weight loss success:
Bad Habits – What exactly is a habit? A habit is defined as “a pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition.” In other words, it’s something you have done over and over again for so many years, either unconsciously or through a series of bad choices, that it’s become an almost automatic behavior. Such bad habits include not training yourself to wake up on time so that you’re always running too late to eat a healthy breakfast or catch a morning workout. Or it could be that you always gravitate toward sedentary hobbies, like reading romance novels instead of challenging yourself to do something that requires actual physical exertion, like rock climbing. If you wouldn’t define your lifestyle as healthy, balanced and active, it’s time you made some healthy changes. Your bad habits have most likely been around for a lifetime, which means that they’re going to take a long time and a conscious effort to undo. The best way to break a bad habit is to form a positive new habit to replace the old one. That way, it’s not like you’re taking away from yourself, you’re just replacing the “rusty” parts with shiny new ones.

Attitude Problem – There are two very destructive attitudes that stand in the way of weight loss success. The first is the “I want it NOW!” attitude, which leads into the second attitude problem: the “all-or-none” mindset. Both of these approaches to weight loss only amount to impatience, unwillingness to do what it takes and the unreal expectation that you have to be dieting and exercising at full-speed-ahead or it’s not worth the time and effort. The problem with both of these attitudes is that weight loss takes practice, which means it takes time, and the ultimate achievement of success is a product of smaller triumphs earned along the way. If you’re of the mindset that you want it all now and you’ll do anything to have it all now, like starving yourself, working out for hours on end each day, or another destructive behavior, you have to get real with yourself. Work on a realistic timeline for your goals and a realistic approach to get you there.
Blissful Oblivion – Did your weight problems seem to sneak up on you? This seems to be a common theme for many adults who wake up one day and don’t recognize the pudgy face staring back at them. The problem lies in the fact that healthy lifestyle habits need to be instilled during the years when you’re so impressionable – the childhood years. Learning to eat healthy and not overeat during your adult years is difficult to do, although not by any means impossible. If you weren’t taught how to take care of yourself at a young age, it’s still worth the effort to reshape your habits; it’s just going to take a little more time and effort. If you’ve been noticing your scale creeping up a pound or two here, a half a pound there, it’s time to take control of the direction your weight is heading in. Be aware of your weight and the circumstances that have contributed to your weight, and take the time to learn ways to get yourself down to a healthy, manageable weight.

Feeling Beat Down from Previous Defeats – Last time you set your mind to losing weight, you really gave it a good shot and you still failed. This kind of a letdown is a serious setback when the time comes to give it another shot. You may be focusing in on the fact that you already failed once so it can happen again.
You may feel helpless, hopeless and weak in the face of this daunting challenge of losing the weight once and for all. If this sounds like you, it’s time to seek out a support group. While using a family member to help give you support, your best bet is to find a group of fitness-minded individuals who are making the quest toward better health together.

As you can see, weight problems are complex beasts. Understanding how your body works, as we covered in Part I of this series, and knowing how your mind can interfere with how you approach a healthy lifestyle can help you to overcome your weight loss challenges, no matter how big or small.