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How I lost weight after baby - Part 2 - Emotions |
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by lightbee  (December 2006) (rank 18th) |
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After reading some of the comments on my first article on "How I lost weight after baby", I've realised I've missed acknowledging a really big part of the journey.
As well as losing weight myself, I also began working as a weight loss consultant and did that part-time
for nearly a year. In that time I got to witness a lot of different people's struggles with weight. People seemed to put weight on for so many different reasons:
- Some had always been big since childhood and didn't know any different;
- Some gained weight once they finished school and started working in an office;
- Some had fallen ill and stopped exercising or looking after themselves in the same way;
- Some (women only!) had had babies;
- Some had quit smoking and turned to eating as a replacement habit.
As well as that, people seemed to lose weight with such different mindsets:
- Some were completely convinced of there ability to lose weight with the right tools and would go to with gusto and achieve their goal very quickly;
- Some were more relaxed about it and would follow a slow and steady pace until they reached their goal;
- Some were really gung ho for the first couple of weeks, but gave up at the first obstacle (e.g. a party);
- Some were really sure of their need to lose weight, often for health reasons, but just couldn't seem to make a good habit stick. They would start and stop over and over again without much success.
What I witnessed was that losing weight - for a lot of people - was more than diet (meaning the way you eat, rather than a specific regimen) and exercise. Very often there were psychological factors that were holding people back from doing what they needed to do to lose weight and they were sabotaging their own efforts. What would make it worse is when they would see that they had tried and (in their eyes) failed and that would make them even more down on themselves.
My advice would be if you struggle with keeping your eating habits in check or in continuing with other good healthy habits - like exercise, or not smoking - then start to consider if there might be some other reason holding you back. You might want to talk to a good friend or even a counsellor to help sort out what's going on. Two books I can really recommend to help uncover some of those hidden feelings and help you move forward are:
- "Conquer Fear" by Lisa Jimenez
- "The Journey" by Brandon Bays
The conclusion of this is - don't beat yourself up if you're trying to lose weight and struggling. It may be more than it seems on the surface. Just keep searching and hopefully you'll end up both happier and healthier in the long run
Good luck!
