For many people, losing weight is not just a physical matter. It’s often emotional, too.
Psychological barriers may prevent you from losing weight and may sabotage all your efforts.
So why do we do this and how can we stop it?
Find out the reasons why we find it mentally difficult to lose weight below…
Reasons why there are psychological barriers when it comes to losing weight
Even with the best of intentions, we can often end up holding back our progress when we are feeling tired, stressed, emotional, bored or depressed.
stress
Losing weight is hard at the best of times, but when you’re stressed, losing weight becomes even more difficult.
Stress is incredibly common—especially in moms-to-be, and it can have a real negative effect in helping you lose stomach fat. And let’s face it – not many of us would love more than to say goodbye to belly fat for good!
But what you may not realize is that we tend to eat foods with a lot of sugar or fat when we’re stressed, rather than healthy foods.
depression
Eating when you’re feeling down is a way many people deal with how they’re feeling rather than satisfying actual hunger.
Quitting this habit can be difficult, and there are some foods that seem to be a popular choice when these feelings arise.
negative body image
The pressure of body image on women is incredible. Every day we receive pictures on the media and social media of what is called the ‘perfect look’.
When we feel like we’re not looking a certain way, it can sabotage ourselves or impede our efforts.
emotional reasons
Simply put, emotional eating happens when things get tough or difficult, when you’re having a bad day at work, and you feel sad and exhausted.
We are all creatures of habits, and for many of us, food is related to our feelings and how we feel. We are rewarded with treats and seek comfort in food.
boring
This is a big reason why people overeat. In our hyper-stimulated, visual, and fast-paced society, when we’re having a break, some of us just don’t know how to handle it.
As mothers, our days are busy but also very lonely at home with the kids. Boredom can play a big role in why so many moms tend to overeat.
tiring
It’s the end of the day, you’re tired and the family is hungry. I cooked a fairly healthy dinner in the midst of the chaos and made sure to fill the plates around the table. The kids are playing, and by the time you’re finally ready to eat, a cold plate isn’t satisfying.
Instead, you put it aside and pop it in some ice cream, odds are that this scenario is actually a difference for many busy moms.
animal instincts
If you think of it this way, animals are not designed to watch what you eat or restrict calories. In the wild, food is often scarce and needs to be found or hunted.
Our brains fight off our natural animal urges to consume what’s in front of you when you can, because you never know where your next meal is coming from.
However, while it may seem “unnatural,” humans now live in a world where food is plentiful—a world very different from our hunter-gatherer ancestors.
All types of meals are readily available in our supermarkets and we have the ability to stock them in our warehouses, refrigerators and freezers.
how we grew up
The idea of ”eating everything on our plate” stems from our parents who were required to eat everything from their parents and goes back many generations when food was not readily available.
The concept of a clean plate has many roots, since our ancestors were starving or after the two world wars when there was a shortage of available food.
But you can break this cycle by putting less on your plate.
How do we stop these psychological blocks?
- Stay on track for a while but over time go back to your old, unhealthy lifestyle.
- Know what to do but don’t seem to be making any progress.
- Exercise and eat right for the past few days so you can indulge in snacks for the rest of the week.
If you answered yes to one or more of these, you are probably sabotaging your own attempts at health.
Success in losing weight rarely depends on eating right and exercising. It also depends on your mind, habits and Psychological health. Exercise Won’t Fit You emotional eating. Restrictive diets will not change your lack of motivation.
We often get derailed due to an internal conflict with our desire to do better and the material motivation to do so, which leads to inconsistency and thus progress.
8 ways to stop self-sabotage
1. Put pen to paper
When we write down our thoughts, fears, and anxieties, they somehow seem smaller than when they were in our heads. So make a list of four or five reasons why you think your life would be worse than it is now if you achieved your goals.
You will soon see the truth of it I was scared of losing weight because of false justifications. Once you identify these concerns you can work through them.
2. Challenge your fear
Try to make holes in your logic and your faulty logic so that you can reduce their control over you. You can do this by talking to your partner for some objectivity or sharing your thoughts with them healthy mummy facebook groupsWhere were the other women where you were.
3. Be yourself
Do not try to impress others and try to earn their respect by changing your behavior. Be yourself and be confident in it. The higher your self-esteem about who you are as a person (a wonderful, beautiful, intelligent person), the more confident and happier you will become.
If you are planning to follow a healthy lifestyle, embark on that journey knowing that it won’t happen overnight. Every little change or step you take helps you become more confident in your skin.
Don’t make these big lifestyle changes because other people want you – make them because you want to, because you know they will improve many areas of your life.
4. Change your expectations
We often have expectations about how things should be in our lives, from past experiences or how we grew up.
You may have tried many times to lose weight or follow a healthy eating plan and it didn’t work before, and therefore you expect to fail every time.
When you stick to a new plan like 28 day weight loss challenge To change your lifestyle for the better. Try and change your expectations. If you failed in the past, it does not mean that you will fail again.
5. Be positive
It is very easy to be negative and talk yourself out of things. We often like to focus on all the negativity in our lives like “I will never reach a goal” or “Healthy eating costs me a lot of money” or “I am not a good cook so it is a lot easier for me to get takeaway and/or takeaway”.
If you’re feeling negative and think you might as well give up on achieving your weight loss goals, think of something positive. Even just thinking positively about anything in your life, not just your weight loss journey, will give you more confidence to keep going and not make excuses.
Before you know it, you’ve turned your positive thoughts into positive action toward making healthy changes.
6. Don’t let fear take over
We often sabotage ourselves because we are afraid to fail. How embarrassing if we set all these goals and make all these plans but we don’t achieve them.
Instead of trying, we set ourselves up for failure, we make excuses and we don’t start our journey right.
Does it really matter if you don’t achieve your goals exactly as you set them? The only person you should answer is yourself. Don’t worry about other people’s judgments, that’s their business.
If you have a goal of losing 10 kg in a certain time frame and only losing 8 kg, the really important people in your life will be very proud of what you have achieved.
Don’t let the fear of failure stop you – it’s important to try more than sit back and not even see what you can achieve.
7. Just Get Started
If you know you’re sabotaging your healthy lifestyle journey by making excuses, not taking the time to focus on yourself and listening to that critical inner voice that often says things like “You can’t do this, you don’t care,” then these are the first steps to stopping these behaviors.
Know when these negative chatter starts in your mind and do something to get you started on your journey – make a healthy meal for dinner, do some exercise etc.
The more you resist negative thoughts with positive actions, the less self-sabotage will occur because sooner you will see that you are actually starting to change your lifestyle, you eat better, and you exercise.
All it takes is one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward. Setbacks will come but dust yourself and keep moving forward. Before you know it, you will be very close to your goals and you will feel much happier with what you have achieved.
8. Re-evaluate your reasons for a healthier life
Consciously reevaluate your reasons for a healthier lifeAnd the Ensure that the causes of your fear are identified and addressed.
You have all the resources, support, and knowledge to put you on your weight loss journey but find that you are still not making significant progress. This lack of progress often boils down to inconsistency, which results from self-sabotaging behaviour.
for us 28 day weight loss challenge It is the perfect opportunity to start the year 2019 to be happy and healthy. Thousands of women have lost weight and are now seeing an improvement in their general health. Be one of them today!
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