Diets Suck!
When most of us sign up for a new diet or exercise routine that promises losing ten or more pounds, we get excited and think it will work this time, even though nothing much has changed since the last time you purchased a weight loss program. The problem is that many weight loss programs are marketed and sold as temporary or quick fix solutions.
If you reach, or get close to reaching, your goal weight, the carrot is yours. This is the most dangerous time though; many people begin putting weight back on once they have reached their goal weight. This is particularly true if the diet was highly restrictive or unpleasant. You likely signed up thinking it was temporary, perhaps you didn’t consider what measures were needed to maintain the weight loss. If it was too rigid and uncomfortable, the chances are even greater that you will slide back into old patterns of eating.
After feeling like a failure you hope a different program will deliver better results so you end up trying one after another. Why do we keep doing this to ourselves? We were brought up on a rewards and punishment system and have tried to apply the same motivational techniques to induce weight loss. Rising obesity rates show that this tactic isn’t working!
Intrinsic motivation is the best guarantee for success in any endeavor, not just weight loss, and a great way to increase intrinsic motivation is by working with the unconscious mind. Quick fixes are probably something you will regret later on, as they tend to be inappropriate or unhealthy. For instance, a girlfriend of mine, her mother took a popular weight loss pill many years ago and it caused a valve in her heart to deteriorate. She now has the valve of a cow and was told that eventually it will need to be replaced. Scary!
This is a great example of why you shouldn’t take or do something just because it is for sale. The FDA doesn’t monitor most supplements, which means manufactures can add whatever they want to them. This can cause harm and death in extreme cases.
The moral here is to get tons of information; information about yourself, your body, your mind. Learn why you are unconsciously holding onto the weight, because we all choose what activities we participate in and what we eat. Learn what triggers you to eat unhealthy foods. Begin to notice if you are using food as a coping strategy. Have a coach guide you in seeing what is really the problem, because the magic diet is 100% NOT the answer and never will be.
