Psychology and weight loss are two inextricably linked concepts. Without high-quality psychoanalysis and elaboration of one’s own attitudes, solving the problem of excess weight is very difficult. Any experienced nutritionist knows that the success of body weight correction depends 80% on the client’s psychological attitude and willingness to become thin and change something in their life.
That is why today, training to become a nutritionist psychologist is becoming increasingly popular, who can not only create a balanced menu and a gradual weight loss program, but also work through the destructive attitudes of his clients and help them break out of the captivity of their own beliefs, fears and blocks.
In this material, experts from the Wellness Consulting Academy will talk about the main reasons for gaining excess weight, touching on aspects of the psychology of losing weight. How to overload your brain and allow yourself to finally become slim - read here...
Excess weight as a cover for psychological immaturity
Whatever one may say, many overweight clients of nutritionists argue that their excess weight is not laziness and unwillingness to put things in order in their heads and plates, but because of poor heredity. There is a genetic predisposition to gaining extra pounds, but it is not a key factor in a person’s gradual obesity.
That is, people in whose family many relatives were plump only need to more closely monitor their figure. They can stay lean and fit with a little more effort than those who are blessed with genetics and a good metabolism.
However, very often everything happens completely differently: people who are inclined to have a full physique begin to blame their genes, which supposedly prevent them from losing weight. “Nothing can be done - everyone in our family was fat” is a standard excuse from those who are accustomed to looking for someone to blame for their mistakes.
This is a consequence of the psychological immaturity of the individual, infantility and unwillingness to take responsibility for one’s own actions. It is much easier to blame someone or something for your troubles than to admit your mistakes and begin difficult work on yourself.
With this category of clients, you need to actively work on the sector of responsibility and self-confidence. As soon as they learn not to make excuses for their own inaction, excess weight will begin to decrease, and weight loss will become real.
3.Self-hypnosis for weight loss: text and creation of formulations.
Develop for yourself several persuasive slogans, which can also be a list of goals to strive for.
Here are some examples of such phrases:
- I like everything I eat. Any food seems to me the most delicious in the world and it is very healthy. My stomach only accepts low calorie and healthy foods and anything other than that will just destroy my digestive system.
- I am satisfied with my lifestyle. With every workout on my body, I become more beautiful, better, and this is noticeable to others.
- If it’s difficult for me now, tomorrow it will become easier, and then I will find ease.
- Being lazy is the lot of the weak; it is the greatest evil. Only losers will lie on the sofa and watch TV series, but I am a strong person, I need more movement to get rid of excess ballast from my body.
- I can control my diet, lifestyle and my whole life. I control myself and do not allow extraneous harmful factors to influence her.
- I still have a little time left to reach my ideal figure; my health is improving in proportion to how much weight I am losing. All my actions are relaxed, I move towards my goal confidently.
Watch a video about self-hypnosis for weight loss: just 5 minutes.
You can use this text with a template of phrases, or come up with your own based on the characteristics of your behavior and habits. But one important condition for all these formulations is a positive attitude, everything will be fine in any case. Self-hypnosis for weight loss works and this has been proven more than once by scientific research.
In addition, you must constantly keep in mind that you can get the body of your dreams only by adhering to all the rules of the diet, and this must definitely happen. If you begin to really want to eat much more than you can afford, then you need to understand that this is due to the distension of the stomach; it is simply not used to being “empty”. Over time, it will take on the required volume, decrease, and the new diet will become just as familiar.
Losing weight is the science of self-management Efim Stoyanov
Excess weight as protection
Self-doubt causes people not only to make excuses, but also to defend themselves from what they fear most - excessive attention and disappointment. That is why excess weight acts as a kind of reliable armor for such individuals.
They hide behind it like in a shell that will not allow them to invade their personal space and cause pain. Women “need” extra pounds to control the attention of men. They are confident that by spoiling their figure, they will reduce the pressure of the opposite sex, lose their former attractiveness, and, therefore, reduce the risk of getting burned in a love relationship.
Behind them they probably have many disappointments and unsuccessful love stories, betrayal and betrayal, and superficial relationships. They do not want to be loved only for their appearance, so they become unattractive in order to teach others to appreciate them for their good character and spiritual qualities. They deliberately protect themselves from new love, because if there is no relationship, there is no suffering, there is no risk of being deceived and abandoned.
Men who have suffered a fiasco with the woman they love can do the same thing - hide behind excess weight so as not to be noticed or perceived as a person, and not a beautiful cover.
Delving into the psychology of weight loss, in such cases the nutritionist must work through the client's fears of being rejected, not accepted, betrayed or used. Only then will he learn not to defend himself, but to treat people without prejudice and fear of stumbling upon the same rake again.
The power of thought
All principles of self-hypnosis, including Sytin’s, are based on NLP methods, which stands for “neurolinguistic programming.” It is with the help of NLP that people are convinced, inspired, and morally attuned to the result, including weight loss. How is this done correctly?
Setting a goal
The basis of the basics. We tell ourselves “I want to lose weight” and choose an incentive - to become slimmer, to lose weight for the New Year, to fit into my favorite dress, from which I grew two sizes back. You can write all this down and imagine it in your mind at the same time.
Drawing a picture
We imagine ourselves in our favorite dress (jeans), swimsuit on the beach, men can mentally draw a beautiful girl next to their new self. Concentrate in every possible way on these pleasant images.
Choose your best photo and place it in a prominent place. If there is no such photo, let it be a photo of the person you like in appearance (model, actor). Just don’t overdo it - the goal should be real, not fabulous. While admiring a beautiful person, do not go too far and develop a new complex in yourself.
Thinking about food
Since extra pounds come from the refrigerator, you definitely need to think about food. Think about what food means to you and why you constantly overeat.
Among the tips on how to fight off the desire to eat, I came across this: visually imagine the process of absorbing food, and then again think about whether it really is so pleasant.
Think about how you can replace the usual “gifts” in the form of treats in case of a stressful situation - maybe it will be a walk, or maybe a trip to the gym, or meditation, music, relaxation.
Maybe use hypnosis, or music for weight loss, which I talked about in one of my articles? If you think a lot about food, then decide for yourself what you can replace it with - hobbies, movies, books, music.
We eradicate bad habits
Think about what behavioral patterns are preventing you from losing weight - maybe you eat at night, like fatty or sweet foods, don’t move much, or are influenced by depressive thoughts. Make a list of bad habits and next to them - an alternative version of the good ones, those that can replace them.
Let's start a diary
Measure and weigh yourself before you begin the weight loss process and do it consistently. Any “plumb” will give you pleasure and serve as an additional incentive.
At the same time, write down your daily diet - you will be surprised how what is written with a pen affects your brain: even if you cannot limit yourself to some junk food, one glance at the list of what you have eaten in a day is enough to decide to change your diet .
Changing our social circle
This does not mean that you should change friends and relatives. Just visit more often where kindred spirits gather. It’s better if it’s a fitness club, but even a site with reviews of people losing weight will also be a help.
It’s great if your husband (wife) or girlfriend will lose weight with you. It’s more fun together, the main thing is that this person is also determined. Read inspiring literature about losing weight, advice from ordinary people and celebrities. Watch movies about people who have achieved their goals (even if it's not about losing weight).
Anything that motivates positively will do good.
Choosing prizes
Food is not a reward. Give up the habit of rewarding yourself with food. As well as punishing yourself by depriving yourself of it. Food is not a prize, tune your brain to the fact that food is just fuel to maintain the vital functions of the body.
But the prize can be completely different things - for example, having lost weight to the first cherished figure, treat yourself to a new addition to your wardrobe or a trip that you have long dreamed of.
The anticipation of a reward is even more stimulating than the reward itself. I am wrong? Pamper yourself with a visit to the spa, cosmetologist, manicurist. Losing excess weight is a holiday, not a punishment.Besides, it’s not for a month or two, it’s forever, isn’t it? Accustom yourself to the good, and it will remain with you even after you move from the active stage of losing weight to the passive one. In general, a positive atmosphere is important when losing weight, which leads to another postulate:
Learning to manage our emotions
Negative thoughts and negative emotions need to be driven out, and you need to talk to yourself about “how beautiful I am, and very soon I will also be slim, and all the men will be mine.” Well, this is how you convince yourself, like the heroine of Nadezhda Rumyantseva:
Jonathan Baylor also advocates intellectual weight loss. In his book “It's Not About the Calories. How not to depend on diets, not to exhaust yourself with fitness, to be in great shape and live better” he understands why all the countless weight loss methods do not work, despite the efforts made.
Baylor gives simple advice on how to lose weight without torturing yourself and your body, and at the same time includes recipes for easy-to-prepare dishes that, when consumed, can not only help you lose extra pounds, but also feel better.
Excess weight as a way to show complacency
In addition to people who are insecure, there are those who, on the contrary, are overly confident in themselves or want to appear so. They perceive their excess weight as an opportunity to stand out in society, to challenge generally accepted stereotypes of beauty, to prove to everyone that the canons are nothing for them, they will overthrow what is a value for others.
The concept of body positivism is not always based on accepting yourself for who you are. Sometimes this is a cover for one’s own pride and desire to rebel, proving one’s importance in society. The people we are talking about now believe that everyone should love them as they are, so they do not strive for self-improvement.
They will not lose weight just to please the opposite sex or their significant other. They consider themselves self-sufficient and will not allow themselves to cave in. But here they are driven not even by the desire to put their interests above others, but by attempts to do everything their own way, proving their superiority.
Most likely, they were underestimated in the past, they were little taken into account, their initiatives were not noticed, so now such people want to prove to the whole world that they are able to go against stereotypes and do what they want. Dieticians need to carefully work through these traumas and incorrect attitudes to show these clients that doing everything against others does not mean becoming more valuable and important.
Excess weight as a matter of importance
Being fat can not only be a way to show your worth and self-satisfaction, but also to increase your importance in society. When there is nothing else to stand out, such a tool is used.
“The more massive my figure, the more impressive I seem, the more they will take me into account,” this is what these people think. They naively believe that being overweight is a sign of wealth and wealth, so they gain extra pounds to look more respectable.
Unfortunately, this very stereotype has been in effect in society for a long time: fat means there is money, significance, and influence. It is not for nothing that there is such an expression as “a significant person”; the semantics of this definition is not accidental.
That is why experienced nutritional consultants always take into account the psychology of clients’ thinking when developing a weight loss program. This allows us to understand why they began to gain excess weight, what aspirations drive them, and what they are running from.
In this situation, the client needs to explain that massive appearance and weight in society are not always parallel to reality. You need to focus on determination and self-realization, and not on trying to seem more important only due to your weight.
Excess weight as a sign of self-pity
The psychology of excess weight is often based on the desire to feel sorry for and console oneself. For many, food is a way to compensate for stress, close their eyes to problems, and reward suffering.
Vulnerable individuals who are often offended, do not give free rein to their emotions, do not discuss conflicts and fence themselves off from difficult situations, feel sorry for themselves with the help of their favorite dishes. They eat to avoid feeling pain and loneliness, to forget about difficult situations, and to alleviate disappointment and dissatisfaction.
They easily indulge in their own eating disorders when they are once again faced with the fact that they feel bad. Nutritionists need to teach such clients not to feel sorry, but to love themselves, not to hide from conflicts at the dinner table, but to go to the negotiating table and discuss problems and look for solutions. It's much more complicated than it is, but also much more effective in the long run.
Once this incorrect psychology is corrected, losing weight will not be such an overwhelming task.
Self-hypnosis for weight loss - nonsense or a really working method?
There are a number of studies that prove that Self-hypnosis is not nonsense at all. This is a very real way to tell your body to consume less food. And in other aspects of life it perfectly fulfills its functions. For example, train yourself to get up early, raise your self-esteem, learn a foreign language. All this can be learned if you correctly instill in yourself a certain algorithm of actions.
It works quite easily in the process of losing weight. A person convinces his brain that he needs to eat less, but at the same time spend more calories. It would seem that everything is simple, but in practice the procedure works with a certain approach. If you do everything correctly, the body will willingly accept the brain’s desire to lose a few extra pounds.
How does weight loss happen with the help of self-hypnosis?
Watch a video of a psychological experiment about self-hypnosis from the film: only 5 minutes
Excess weight as a desire to be free
There is also this stereotype: slim people sacrifice their freedom for the sake of their ideal weight. Proper nutrition and constant fitness are perceived as a burden that those who want to look good have piled on themselves.
“Is it possible to love broccoli soup or spinach smoothie? It’s real torture to eat exclusively healthy foods,” think well-wishers who feel sorry for the phytonies. They chose a completely different path for themselves: not to deny themselves anything, to eat what they want, to do what they want, no matter what consequences lie ahead.
This is their psychology: to lose weight you need to suffer and limit yourself in many ways, but for us freedom of action is more important. True, supporters of proper nutrition and sports do not consider themselves hostages of the situation, do not suffer from frameworks and some kind of fictitious shackles.
They enjoy their choices, love what they eat, love going to training and are incredibly bored if they are not there for certain reasons. They are free to make their choice and have already made it.
Therefore, clients who reason in the manner described above need to be conveyed: freedom is multifaceted, and sometimes the decision to start living differently, denying oneself laziness and negligent attitude towards health, is the highest manifestation of freedom.
