Molly's body had rebelled and sabotaged her efforts. Thinking that she needed to get a good workout to get any benefit from exercising, her body became so sore from doing too much exercise too soon that it was hard for her to get back to the gym. And her hunger pangs were so severe that she felt like she was starving.
You have to know how to work with your body in order to lose weight. When you're hungry for any period of time, your brain thinks that there's a famine and rivets your attention to seeking food - the more the better. When your body hurts, your brain lowers your energy level so that you'll take it easy.
What's the lesson? When changes make you feel worse rather than better you'll have a hard time sustaining your motivation. This is especially true when it comes to losing weight. The reason Molly failed is that she had a great goal, but a bad plan for attaining it.
Numerous studies show that the first step in making a change is to increase your level of awareness about the behavior which you'd like to improve. When you're more mindful of your choices, you can proceed to the second step - making a plan to transform your old dysfunctional pattern into new activities that will serve you well. Then, and only then, are you ready to go to the third step and actually change your behavior.
If you want to lose weight, you have to do things to make yourself feel good about the changes you're making so that you'll continue to do them for a long period of time. That means that you need to find a few ways to enjoy exercising and dieting.
Ellen Kittredge, a local nutrition and health counselor, has found that increasing her client's mindfulness while they're eating is one very effective strategy for helping people to create a sustainable weight loss plan. She teaches people to slow down and savor their food so that they enjoy it more. Specifically, she suggests that you take a deep breath before each bite and focus your awareness on fully enjoying the flavors in every forkful of food you eat.
Kittredge says there are two reasons why this strategy works well to help people lose 2-3 pounds per week. First, when you eat slowly your stomach and your brain have more time to communicate with each other. Your stomach has the time it needs to recognize when you've consumed enough calories, enabling it to send a signal to your brain.
Your mind, meanwhile, has slowed down as well. Instead of being distracted by the dozen other things going on in your life, it's capable of paying attention to when you've had enough food. Increased awareness allows you to make the choice to stop eating at just the right time to avoid consuming all those unneeded calories.
The second reason Kittredge offers for the effectiveness of eating slowly is that it allows you to taste your food. While this seems simplistic, it's actually rather profound. When you eat slowly your body is better able to recognize what you're putting into your mouth.
Truly tasty food will more successfully satisfy your appetite because it has all of the right nutrients that the human body instinctively knows it needs in order to be healthy. If your body doesn't get the proper vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other elements necessary to keep you healthy, your brain will send signals to continue eating in the hopes that the next morsel will contain the vitamin C or calcium that you're missing.
Participating in a support group is another significant factor that studies have shown contributes to feeling good about changing your behavior. Harvard physician Nicholas Christakis, writing about obesity in the July 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, reported on research which found that patients' efforts to lose weight were greatly enhanced if they were part of a supportive social network.
If you're interested in learning more about how to feel good while losing weight, Kittredge will be starting another of her weight-loss programs in September that will include nutritional counseling and a support group. She can be reached at 202-577-1940 or ellen@ellenkittredge.com.
Dr. Tom Muha is a psychologist practicing in Annapolis. To contact him, call 443-454-7274 or e-mail him at drtom@achievinghappiness.com.
If you encounter other problems, please email ewiffin@capitalgazette.com and include your name, username, and any errors or messages that are displayed. The more information you can provide, the better able we will be to assist you.
In order to post or vote on a comment, you must be signed in with a hometownannapolis account.
Take a look at a summary of Commenting Guidelines.
Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. 2
0
Feeling good while losing weight - 2009-08-17 17:10:22
There's a saying (or spiritual principle) that goes like this: "what you resist, persists" or "change causes persistence."
There is no such thing (as a fact) of being overweight. Being overweight (an interpretation) is related to a cultural standard. What's fat in our culture may be just right in another culture. When someone who's deemed to be overweight gets this distinction and enjoys being where they are in the moment (happiness), all the energy in trying to fix the "problem" is released for the weight loss to occur naturally, ie., for the appropriate actions to be taken. Developing a mindfulness practice is an excellent way to access this possibility.
For different perspectives on midlife coping strategies and happiness, check out the new, free ebook - happiness-after-midlife.com/get-free-e-book.html
unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?
Fred Horowitz - Outremont, QC - Karma: Neutral
If you encounter other problems, please email ewiffin@capitalgazette.com and include your name, username, and any errors or messages that are displayed. The more information you can provide, the better able we will be to assist you.