Using Psychology to Lose Weight
Subscribe in a reader
There are always problems when you are trying to lose weight. Problems or obstacles or spoilers, call them what you wish. They are invariably something you’ll have to conquer and overcome. You won’t be able to avoid them. It’s up to you to solve these problems so they won’t interfere with your weight loss efforts.
If you can, pick one of the problems you are having. State it clearly. For example: “I eat off my weight loss plan when I’m upset.” Then formulate and state the problem more specifically. “I eat sugary snacks whenever I suffer a blow to my self-esteem.”
Once you’ve stated the problem clearly and specifically to yourself, see how you can go about solving the problem. Take it one day at a time. In other words, think how you might solve this problem just for tomorrow. You could also narrow your problem solving to a part of tomorrow, like the morning or just in the afternoon. By keeping your problem solving goal to one day or part of a day, you are increasing your chance for success.
So, how would you solve the problem of eating sugary snacks when your self-esteem has been injured? There are probably lots of ways to solve this. Here are a few. Simply put, don’t keep sugary snacks around. Another could be substituting some diet snack for the sugary one. These are the food manipulation approaches to solving the problem. A non-food approach would be doing something about your self-esteem so it’s not as susceptible to injury.
In any case, the process of problem solving always begins with stating the problem clearly and as specifically as you can.
