Why we establish our eating habits and why it's so difficult to alter them isn't understood yet by medical and nutrition researchers, nor by the great number of diet plan purveyors. A genuine comprehension of that complex bundle of psychological issues is decades away, at least.
However, what we do know for certain about successful weight reduction is that it occurs only when a person has the correct mental attitude. Some folks are lucky and already have that attitude, while others need professional help to get there. But most people have to take a DIY approach and construct that successful mindset themselves.
The mental steps that ensure successful weight reduction could be simply stated but difficult to follow. "It's basically helping people change their thoughts, which leads to less intensive emotional reactions, which leads to raised behavior," says psychologist Gretchen Ames, Ph.D., who uses cognitive behavioral therapy when counseling patients at the Mayo Clinic Bariatric Center in Jacksonville. "But that's tough to complete, because people's eating habits are ingrained for a long time and years and years.
Antalya psikolog If they are not ready to produce a life change, they probably aren't going to create it. They've to really make the commitment to themselves in their own mind. It can't come from external sources."
Seize the A-ha! Moment. In the event that you can't make that commitment, don't try weight reduction, says Dr. Ames. Come back later. But don't waste your own time with half-hearted attempts. Your failures tend to scuttle your self-esteem, that is the essential mental building block of a profitable approach.
Your self-esteem can also trigger that moment when it clicks in your thoughts that you are ready to produce a lifestyle change. You might see yourself in a photo and think "Who is that? I've got to change." At that point it's a lifestyle change, not a diet.
"What folks don't recognize is that most diets recommend changes that aren't sustainable," says Dr. Ames, adding that most people want immediate results, that is not realistic. "I usually tell my clients don't make any changes that you can't see yourself doing for the remainder of your daily life, otherwise it's not worth it."
Robert Marema, M.D., director of Bariatric Surgery at Flagler Hospital, says a person's medical condition or change in health can also trigger a commitment to change.
Ankara psikolog This is particularly true for folks who undergo bariatric surgery, as Dr. Marema did.
"Everybody posseses an A-ha! moment, or an acceptance, that other alternatives aren't getting me to where I wish to be," says Dr. Marema, who has performed about 7,000 bariatric surgeries. "I was already a bariatric surgeon; I knew its benefits. But I continued to go through an amount of my life when I tried alternatives. I finally accepted the fact I would definitely have to decrease that path."
Dr. Marema, a tall athletic man, lost 130 pounds. He keeps it off by following his commitment to alter his eating habits, which all successful bariatric surgery patients must do, as does an individual who only needs to shed 20 pounds.
The next mental aspects of making the big picture commitment can assist you to succeed:
o Feed your mind the proper information. Dr. Ames says lots of people aren't prepared for a long-term commitment because their sense of portion size has been distorted with a bombardment of media images and eating so many restaurant meals (50% of all families' meals). You need to get the correct concept of portions in your thoughts when you start.
Antalya diyetisyen Stephanie Perry, a medical dietitian at Nemours Children Clinic, says she uses a nine-and-a-half inch plate to produce a mental impression of proper portion size. "Most plates are much bigger today," says Perry, who works together children and their parents to alter eating habits. "Half the plate must be fruits and vegetables, a fourth must be starch or even a starchy vegetable, and one other fourth a lean protein or meat." Using that mental prop prepares you to pick proper portions. You also need to learn the recommendations for the calorie and exercise requirements. Lots of people try to lose excess weight without arming themselves with this specific very basic knowledge.
o Adapt your culture of eating. Way too many people eat out too often, and they eat like they're treating themselves. Our culture provides lots of other opportunities to use food as a treat - holidays, family get-togethers, office parties. You've to improve your attitude about those situations. "Food functions in a variety of roles for an individual - it's comfort, social, even an expression of creativity," says Dr. Marema. "It's important to identify what role food plays in your lifetime going in."
o Analyze your ability to put in the time and effort. "People have to take a sincere look: Do I really have time to keep a food journal, lookup calories, manage portions and be physically active?" says Dr. Ames. "When people get busy or stressed, first thing to go is health behaviors."
You've made the big commitment, but that long-term goal seems dispiritingly far off. How do you turn that commitment into the correct eating choices for the remainder of your daily life? By mentally cutting the challenge down seriously to size. Set yourself up to succeed by setting small goals and meeting them.
Ankara diyetisyen This provides you immediate successes, which immediately motivates you. Your long-term goal, still vital, is merely too far off to motivate you on the regular basis needed for success.
In a 150-family weight reduction research study pediatric psychologist Amanda Lochrie, Ph.D., is focusing on at Nemours Children Clinic, participants set long-term general goals but work through short-term specific goals to get there. "It's about giving people the equipment they need to really feel like they can try this, to gain some confidence, to allow them to eventually arrive at long-term goals," says Dr. Lochrie. "Just setting these very small manageable goals can in fact help to alter their self-esteem, their sense of accomplishment. These specific things go hand-in-hand using them changing how they experience themselves and refocusing on the positive things they're doing rather than the negative."
A lot of the focus of Dr. Lochrie's research study and use families in the Shape Up R Families (SURF) support groups is helping them set goals and change their behaviors. Families and children fill out an application together weekly that includes specific exercise goals, behavior goals and dietary goals. Dr. Lochrie says the behavior aspect is most critical because it creates the exercise and dietary goals happen.
