Maria's Last Diet

by Maria's Last Diet

Are you at risk? What puts you at risk for giving up on your weight loss routine? What puts you at risk for regaining the weight you worked so hard to lose? Do you know?

If you know what puts you at risk, then you might be able to prevent the consequence. You also might be better able to recover and keep going.

Let’s list some common risk factors. See if you have any of these. Having a history of previously quitting your weight loss routine and having failed previously to maintain weight loss are on the list. Another common risk factor is experiencing disturbing cravings. Stress is certainly on the list of familiar risk factors, as is daily hassles. Then, of course, there’s lack of confidence, too little social support, and too much social influence of the wrong kind. Relationship problems qualify as a risk factor. So do family difficulties.

When it comes right down to it, it looks like you’ll experience at least one of these risk factors while you are trying to lose weight or trying to keep weight off. The best thing to do perhaps is to get better at coping with what puts you at risk.

by Maria's Last Diet

How much is your weight loss determined by the belief, “ I can do it,” or “I can do it this time?” What happens if you couldn’t do it before? Many times before? Is your belief in, “I can do it” weakened?

Undoubtedly, having done it before strengthens your belief in “I can do it now.” But what if you haven’t done it before? Are there ways you can strengthen your belief that you can do it this time around?

There are a lot of ways to strengthen your belief in your ability to do something. Remember how you upped your belief in yourself for the many things in life you couldn’t do before you did them? Raising kids. Getting a promotion. Bringing up your grades in school. Learning to cook so many different things. Playing a sport. Well, it’s no different for developing a belief in yourself when it comes to losing weight.

by Maria's Last Diet

When you are unsure about how well you will do at something you want to do well in, your self-esteem is always involved. This is certainly true if you are seriously trying to lose weight. How will your self-esteem fare through all the ups and downs of the weight loss process?

What’s been your experience? Have you suffered losses of self-esteem because of how poorly you did? Did your self-esteem take a turn for the worse when you tried with all your might not to blow your diet, but you blew it anyway? What about recovering your self-esteem? Did this happen when you didn’t eat away your feelings, but instead you expressed your feelings more directly than you ever thought you would?

As you can see, trying to lose weight presents a significant challenge to your self-esteem. You have to keep your self-esteem high enough so you don’t suffer from thinking poorly of yourself. To keep up their self-esteem while trying to lose weight, women engage in various self-esteem defenses. You probably used some of these self-esteem protectors yourself.

Setting up potential hindrances, such as leaving little time in the morning to get ready can cause the kind of tizzy that later on leads to high-calorie snacking for relief. Putting the kids first might be your mantra, but this could be another way to protect your self-esteem. If you fail to keep to your weight loss routine, it’s because the kids come first, and you’re proud of yourself for that. Sheltering yourself from anticipated failure by setting very low standards for weight loss is yet one more kind of self-esteem saver. In this case, you don’t lose weight, but you also don’t lose your self-esteem.  

by Maria's Last Diet

     Comfort food. Junk food. Oh so good. I don’t want to but I do. I can’t lose any weight this way. But I can’t resist it.

     I’m worried about what everyone thinks of me. I get bored and don’t know what to do with myself. I have to get away from myself sometimes so I can just be.

     See any relation between these two conditions?

     If you can’t be comfortable within your own skin, then what? Well, you need something to make you feel comfortable.

     Is it as simple as this? It can be. But there’s usually a twist. Over-indulging in junk food also is discomforting and a further source for tearing myself down. Yes, it’s a quick fix, but it’s not a good long-term solution. Despite the junk and comfort foods, I still worry about how other people see me, which means I have to be just so—or else. I still get bored, and I still have to get away from myself so I can just be.

by Maria's Last Diet

     What’s with all the dissatisfaction with your bodies, women? You know this can’t be good for you. Yet you can’t help it, it seems. And it’s a hop, skip, and jump from “this isn’t right about my body” to feeling inferior, inadequate, and ashamed. Not good. Definitely not good.

     So what’s the answer? Is it to go on a diet and lose weight? That seems like a pretty sensible solution. But it’s hard to lose weight in just the right places, isn’t it? And you know about diets. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t, and most often the weight you lose on a diet somehow comes right back on you after a while. So dieting, my dear friends, is not the solution you might think it is.

     What if…you could discover ways to feel less dissatisfied and more accepting of your body? Would you go for this as a good solution? In fact, feeling more satisfied with your body can easily lead to you seeing yourself as equal to other women, just as capable, and comparatively confident. And guess what? The added bonus for feeling this upbeat about yourself is it’s a lot easier for you to stick to a diet, lose weight, and keep the weight off for good.