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The way to successful weight loss

monika Bak-Sosnowska, PhD Department of Psychology SUM, Primodium Clinic in Katowice

You can read this text in 10 min.

The way to successful weight loss

Panthermedia

Weight loss

The author outlines the factors that promote weight loss and those that hinder it.

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I can be myself no matter how much I weigh

Human beings are social creatures which means that they need other people to keep them healthy and well. This is why the expectations or opinions of others have an impact on how we think about ourselves and behave, but also on how we look. Appearance and health are important aspects of human relationships. Society and culture set standards of beauty - deviating from these can lead to feelings of guilt, feeling 'inferior' and the need to compensate for feelings of inferiority with other socially desirable qualities - e.g. submissiveness or exaggerated kindness. It is often observed that overweight people, previously described as "up to their necks", change in their relationships with other people when they start to lose weight. They become more self-confident and are more likely to say no or disagree. Although this is sometimes maliciously explained by chronic feelings of hunger, it is due to an increase in self-esteem and a greater concern for one's needs. It is worth looking at your relationships with others and the beliefs that influence your behaviour towards them. It is worth strengthening self-esteem and ensuring that it does not automatically change with even a slight change in weight or outward appearance. The higher and more stable one's self-esteem is, the easier it is for a person to cope with adversity and be successful.

I am ready for change

One of the most difficult experiences for the human psyche, is disappointment - a situation in which reality falls short of previous plans, promises or expectations. Disappointment can discourage people from living life and cause a lack of faith in themselves and others. Losing weight always involves the risk of disappointment, because it is impossible to predict with certainty how it will go and what the outcome will be. Therefore, when attempting to lose weight, it is worth considering your own expectations, which have a great impact on the outcome of the treatment. It is worth checking whether they are at all achievable and whether they are reinforcing and motivating or debilitating. Developing constructive expectations of weight loss from the outset greatly increases the likelihood of success. The decision to change always includes an element of risk. However, without readiness and openness to new experiences, it is difficult to commit completely. It can be said that the effects of action are proportional to the commitment.

photo: shutterstock

If you want 100% success take a risk and commit 100% to your new activities. Successful weight loss is more than following a diet - it's about changing your attitude towards yourself. Are you ready/ready for such a change? Are you ready/ready right now? Answering these questions honestly will help you to save time and energy if the time is not yet right, and to make changes - if you are already mature enough to do so. Knowing that making changes in your life is a process helps you to calm down and understand yourself better - e.g. irrational behaviour or so-called 'doing yourself a favor'.

Lower body weight is beneficial for me

The most obvious goal that comes to mind when we start to lose weight is to get the right number on the scale, possibly a certain clothing size. Setting such a goal is very important, as it sets a direction and allows you to check whether your efforts are successful. However, this is not enough to maintain the effects of the treatment later on. For this, you need to build a broad vision of change, in which body weight is only one element. Therefore, it is worth considering what changes we want in general - in connection with weight loss, but also independently of it. What should be the ultimate goal of the endeavour? The following questions may help: How do I want to look? How do I want to feel? How do I want to think about myself? How do I want to arrange my relationships with other people? What do I want to do differently or differently than before? How do I want to take care of myself? In order to initiate beneficial changes and persevere in them, one needs to have an inner conviction that these actions make sense and are beneficial in the near and distant future. If one does not make such a discernment with oneself, a situation arises in which the change exists only in the sphere of declarations, plans, while the so-called internal resistance prevents actual action. Eliminating this inner conflict can be colloquially referred to as coming to terms with oneself