The Key to Successful Weight Loss - Be Kind to Yourself

For many people weight loss is all about giving something up and being deprived of something. They think "if I stop eating chocolate for a week I am sure to lose some weight." Or they say to themselves "If I am really good and give up all the food I really love, I am sure to lose weight."

Well they are so wrong! When you give up eating a particular food that you enjoy i.e. chocolate, then chocolate becomes your focus. You are constantly thinking about chocolate. Your mind will run something like this..."oh I really miss eating chocolate but I'm going to be really good and not eat any chocolate, then I will lose weight and be beautiful again."

The next day you will be thinking..."oh dear I'm so stressed I could really do with some chocolate, but I'm not going to have any!" The day after you are more stressed then ever and think .... "If only I could have just a tiny piece of chocolate I know I would feel much better, but I'm not going to eat any because I am a strong person!" Two hours later..."surely a small piece of chocolate isn't going hurt - oh but I can't!" One hour later..."chocolate, chocolate, I must have chocolate!" and then..."I'm just a fat greedy pig - chocolate, chocolate!" Half an hour later you are ready to hit someone - anyone! Five minutes later you race down to the shop and buy 6 chocolate bars and spend the next half an hour stuffing your face with chocolate. You feel so relieved and blissed out!

The next day you feel so guilty and all the self loathing comes back and you think you may as well give up and resign yourself to the fact that you are always going to be fat and ugly!

Ok, I know the above is an extreme example, but do you get the picture? A lot of people who try to lose weight tend to have a poor self image and think that diet and weight loss is all about depriving themselves and punishing themselves. But the fact is that the more we deprive ourselves of something we enjoy, the more that very thing becomes the focus of our attention. Your mind then becomes focused on all the negatives aspects of weight loss, so when we finally give way to temptation and eat all the fattening food we have been depriving ourselves of for so long, we just give up completely and end up feeling depressed and a total failure.

The key to successful weight loss is to find a good weight loss program that is kind to us. Where we are not forever feeling guilty and deprived. Where we can learn to enjoy good tasty food and feel energised by it. In this way we can learn to develop a much more positive outlook. Above all we must be kind to ourselves.