Losing Weight Safely for Men and Women
Changing Thinking and Behavioral Patterns About the Intake of Food
Dec 2, 2008
The glitz in the magazines and in the media would lead one to believe that having the perfect body also means instantly, the perfect life will logically follow. How true is this? Certainly, some aspects of life will improve, such as health: lowering the risks of heart attacks and diabetes, reducing the stress on the bones and joints, becoming energized, and improving concentration.
Will weight loss or gain change the dynamics at work? Certainly, if work involves climbing stairs or chasing kids across a playground, doing so with less weight will make the efforts easier.
Will weight loss or gain improve poor relationships at work? First, weight gain or loss are probably not the underlying cause(s) of whatever is unpleasant within the work environment. Yet, feeling better about oneself can improve overall attitude which may have a positive influence on the work environment and collaborative, relational dynamics.
The Meaning of Food
Besides satisfying the physical need of hunger by eating, what exactly does food mean? How is food thought about? For instance, is food a reward? Promotion at work? Celebrate it with a feast! Go out to eat!
Fired at work? Comfort and soothe the fear, sadness, loss, and anger with a feast or a steady flow of food (binging). Feel guilty about the binging and relieve the guilt and the amount of calories consumed by purging.
Keeping a daily food journal and/or a collage will reveal information about one's core beliefs/belief systems.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Eating/Eating Disorders
As the title suggests, the basis of this type of therapy is to learn about the motivation that compels someone to eat or not to eat. Deep inside of oneself, there are core beliefs and belief systems related to food and eating, self-esteem and body image.
There is a self-fulling prophecy connection here. If the belief system says, weight loss always ends up in failure, the chances are, any attempt to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight is doomed to fail, because the negative belief system will find ways to sabotage itself.
Change Through Cognition and Behaviors
Use what is learned about eating or non-eating patterns to make healthy changes. For instance, creating a journal of negative thoughts and challenging them with positive, realistic thoughts, is one means of staying the course. It is pertinent to change the focus. Once the focus is changed then the internal beliefs and belief systems will change over time as well.
It is important to stay in reality regarding the relationship with food. If one's own perception about reality is questionable in this area, engaging the help of a trained professional would be beneficial to the weight loss or weight gain goal.
Examples of Negative Beliefs:
Negative: "My diet is doomed to failure because everyone in my family is overweight."
Positive Turnaround: "I can take charge of my own destiny, and I will begin by..."
Negative: "Every time I look in the mirror I see fat."
Positive Turnaround: "I will find out what the correct weight is for my sex, age and height before I make a judgment. If it turns out that I am overweight (or underweight), I will take the following course of action to stabilize within the appropriate limits. I need to trust professional information regardless of what I see in the mirror."
This is only a beginning.
Source
Dr. Phil McGraw, The Ultimate Weight Loss Solution, The Free Press, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, pgs. 3-77.
Note to the reader: The information contained within this article is not designed to treat any condition.
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