Introduction

Losing weight is 100 times easier if you are mentally prepared for it. This may sound elementary, but in my experience most dieters quit their weight loss plan not because they feel hungry or have difficulty with the menus, but because of psychological reasons. Either, they become bored, or dissatisfied with their rate of weight loss, or suffer a momentary lapse and become overwhelmed by guilt, or feel too "deprived" to continue. And then, in an attempt to explain their failure, many of them blame their diet-plan, their domestic situation, or their congenital inability to lose weight. This process often repeats itself, as a result, some dieters can spend years unsuccessfully trying to lose weight, without ever realizing the true cause of their difficulty. Here are three common psychological problems we encounter when trying to reduce weight, along with some tips for how to overcome them.

Problem 1. Not Knowing How Weight Loss Will Benefit You

Whether we want to lose 20 or 220 pounds, we need to change our eating habits and perhaps several other lifestyle habits as well. Making these changes may not be difficult on Day 1 or Week 1 of our weight loss diet, because our initial enthusiasm usually gives us sufficient motivation. But, typically within 2-3 weeks, our "new" eating pattern starts to interfere with our regular lifestyle and, unless we are prepared for this, our desire to continue dieting will start to fade. Instead of seeing our diet as a passport to a better weight and shape, we see it as an obstacle and a burden. It becomes something we are doing because we "must" rather than because we "want to". This is the first big emotional problem we encounter when dieting.

To overcome this problem, we need to know exactly why we are trying to lose weight. We need a clear idea of how it will benefit us. Because only if we have a clear benefit to look forward to, will we be able to resist the temptation to revert to our previous bad habits. General benefits from having a leaner, lighter shape aren't powerful enough. We need a selfish, specific benefit - something we can visualize - that commands our attention. Maybe a beach holiday, or a dream outfit to wear for a specific occasion, or a new shape to show off at Thanksgiving. Whatever we choose, it must make a noise inside our head! Remember, the moment we start to feel that we "have to" do something, it becomes the enemy - like paying taxes, or cleaning out the basement - and our motivation flies out the window. In order to achieve lasting weight loss, we need to "want it".

Problem 2. Trying To Be Perfect

During my 24 years or so as a weight loss consultant and nutritionist, I've met perhaps 10,000 dieters in person, and communicated personally with another 100,000 over the Internet. But so far I haven't met one single successful dieter who was perfect. On the contrary, most of my successful clients made tons of mistakes. They had bad days, bad weeks - even whole months - during which they went completely off the rails. But none of this stopped them from succeeding in the end. Why not? Because they learned from their mistakes. And let's not forget: most of our self-knowledge comes from the mistakes we make, not our successes.

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