Mind Skills for Lasting Weight Loss

The reasons for weight gain and weight loss have a lot to do with how we eat, but the way we think also plays an important role. When you change the way you think about eating and exercise, it can be easier to make weight loss last. Chances are that if you have been overweight in the past it was due to a certain behavior or tendency.

Cognitive Behavioral Changes

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is something www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov has identified as a potentially useful tool in weight loss. They have found that people who have never been overweight are better at confronting problems because they have developed strategies to help themselves. According to WeightWatchers.com, CBT can be used to identify and modify "thinking patterns and negative mood states that can undermine lasting weight loss." In relation to CBT, WeightWatchers.com points out that people who are driven to food by emotions, or who eat excessive amounts unconsciously, typically have not developed the necessary strategies to confront problems head-on, hence the regaining of weight previously lost and allowing themselves to gain weight in the first place.

  So how do we change our behavior? By first making ourselves aware of how we handle situations and what tends to drive us to food and overeating, we can be better equipped to face those problems head-on and be aware of our tendencies.

Creating Self-Awareness

• Often, writing things down in some form can help you become aware of your behavior and tendencies. Keeping a food journal where you document what you eat and why you eat can increase your awareness. Food journals don't have to follow a specific format, and you can even accomplish the same thing by simply emailing yourself after a meal and thinking about why you ate what you did, and how you felt afterward.

  Eating often happens while we're watching television, working on a project or socializing with friends. At these times, your mind is actively turned to things other than the types of foods you're consuming. The act of taking a few minutes to think about your behavior will make you aware of the causes. Looking back over the notes you take can help you to see certain trends in your eating habits. You might find that you eat junk food when you are in a particular mood or at a certain time of the day. Or you could discover that you feel awful after you eat at a particular restaurant. All of these findings will create self-awareness and offer some personal insight as to the root of the problem. By becoming conscious of it, you can then create mind skills to remedy the behavior that has led to becoming overweight in the first place.

Holding Yourself Accountable

• As PeerTrainer.com says, "the simple act of writing down everything you eat is a powerful form of accountability." It is important to note that writing is helpful, but you also have to hold yourself accountable for the changes that need to be made in your behavior. Changing the way you think about dieting and exercise, given what you learn from keeping track of your eating behaviors, will help you to develop skills to diet and exercise--consciously making better decisions.

  Mind skills play a role in dieting as well as exercising. It takes a combination of the two in order to see successful, lasting weight loss. It can be hard to get to the gym when you're busy or in a bad mood, just like it can be hard to eat right under the same circumstances. Consciously making note of your tendencies to skip workouts will also help you face the behavior and create strategies to remedy it.

  When you begin to change the way you think and make conscious decisions about eating and working out, you will be more likely to lose weight and keep it off by stopping the behavior that led to being overweight in the first place.