Basics - Examining and Mindset

Examine pg. 1

Do you really want to change?
A large number of overweight people frankly don’t care. If they could pop an easy pill to get fit, then they would do it. But when it comes to making a conscience decision to do what it takes to lose the weight, they are not willing to put forth the effort. They would rather be fat than put forth the effort. Having a victim mentality is far easier than saying that we have caused our own problems and must make lifelong changes. What about you, are you willing to start changing your lifestyle in order to feel better, look great, and live longer? Diet4Living gives you the knowledge you need to lose weight. But choosing to put forth the effort to change is up to you.

Knowledge:
Until you understand WHY you originally gained the weight, you are far more likely to fail and repeat the weight gain-loss-gain-loss cycle. You need to understand the factors that lead to your weight gain and make a choice to change your lifestyle in a positive manner.
Typical reasons people gain weight (generalized):

A. Food choices - ethnic or cultural diets, eating out too often. Characterized by very slow progressive weight gain.

B. Periodic weight gain - holidays, weddings, vacations, parties. These types maintain weight well but weight adds during life events. Generally they are only a few pounds overweight and daily food choices are not usually the problem.

C. Age -after metabolism starts to slow or the onset of menopause or andropause, weight is gained and muscle tone greatly diminishes. This largely due to us living a more sedimentary lifestyle as we age but also includes the caloric intake staying the same as the body slows down needs less to survive. One only needs to look at a photo of Jack LaLanne in his late 80s to realize that age related weight need not be the case.

D. Psychological Eating disorder - eats too much continually, eats for comfort, eats due to depression or happiness, eats from boredom, goes on food binges. This group typically obtains a far greater weight than any of the other groups and typically starts in childhood.    Weight loss is the hardest for this group because the problem can be a combination of all of the above PLUS the mental aspects as well. The mental aspect is by far the hardest to cure. It is frequently a response to a traumatic life experience.

Sometimes they are easy to spot, like the extremely heavyweight person in a family where everyone else is normal size. Other times they are harder because the family eating habits might make everyone overweight to begin with, but this incorporated with emotional problems leads to even greater weight gain.

Where do you fit in? Most people are a mix of the above. But knowing your problem is half your cure.

I can’t do it - - I just can’t do it!
Part of being overweight is the depression and lack of self-confidence; especially when you have failed again and again at diets. First, realize that the Diet4Living site will give you the knowledge that thousands of people have used to change their lives. Know that if you put the information in this site to use in your life, you will meet your goals. But keep in mind you need to set realistic goals. Can you make a choice to start eating one healthy meal per day? If so then realize you can make positive changes in your life to help you lose weight.

Failure:
There absolutely will be times when you fall off the wagon and overeat; especially when you first start out and are learning new habits. Every dieter will fail sometime. That is part of life - - so get over it and quit whining!   Stop using short term failure as an excuse to give up on a healthy lifestyle. The difference between those who take it off and keep it off verses those who gain it back is the ability to “wipe the slate clean” every day and start eating better. If fact, don’t wait until the next day to get back on the band wagon; eat right the next meal. It is your choice.

True Hunger:
Ever notice the minute you decide to go on a diet you are twice as hungry? Yet, the feeling really isn’t in your stomach. It is in your mind.

Learn to distinguish between emotional hunger and bodily hunger. Bodily hunger is when your stomach is giving you hunger pangs. The greater the physical hunger, the less you care about what type of food to you want to eat and more about just eating anything to satisfy your hunger.

Emotional hunger is when you want to eat for psychological comfort, to relive boredom, just for a particular taste, or any other reason. This is completely unrelated to physical hunger. EMOTIONAL EATING IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST REASONS PEOPLE GAIN WEIGHT. It is one of the hardest challenges an overweight person has in losing and keeping off excess weight.

One thing you will learn is that a proper diet will never leave you feeling physically hungry. Once this is engrained in your mind, it is easier to check the emotional hunger feelings.

Forbidden Food:
Sorrow for the death of your favorite foods. Ever go on a diet and feel sorrow or depression because there are many foods you can never eat again? You feel like life stinks because you can never eat your favorite foods again. This in turn leads to more cravings and physiological hunger. Then you start hating your diet until you finally give up and go on a binge of your favorite food.

Well good news! With Diet 4Living, no food is off limits. Giving up a favorite food forever is hard. On the other hand, telling yourself that once a week you PLAN on eating a CONTROLLED portion feels like something you can accomplish. That is the key, plan on how often and when to eat it and predetermine a controlled amount.

Priorities:
How important is your life, your health to you and your family? Most people who are overweight will prioritize other people (especially kids) and other things (work, church, etc.) ahead of their own health needs.

The excuse, “I don’t have enough time to exercise” is the hallmark of this mindset. This is frequently due to an overweight person’s lack of self-esteem.   By prioritizing other people and things ahead of themselves, they feel needed and this gives them meaning to their lives. This nurturing attitude does not take into account that their own personal health ultimately affects how well they can care for others and other things. As it has been said: "If you can't take care of yourself, you can't take care of others. You need to choose to make time for your health a priority--especially if you have a family.

Enablers:
How is it that a person so overweight and out of shape that they are bedridden can gain or maintain their weight? After all, they cannot even get out of bed to run down to the local fast food joint. How they do it is by someone else helping them get the food that is making them fat. Enablers like these are easy to spot. But some are much harder.

An enabler can be anyone who brings you food or who gives you an excuse to overeat, or who might shield you from the awareness of your actual condition.

Parents are notorious of this like the mother who says, “My son is not fat, he is just big boned” or “she’s OK, it is just baby fat”. Other times it is a friend who sees you losing weight and dislikes your positive progress. They may be jealous of your weightless or maybe even feel threatened at seeing you succeed at something. They might tempt you with food or try to provide you with excuses. Sometimes it can come in the form of flattery, “Oh you don’t look overweight-your looking too skinny”. Other times they become withdrawn from you.

The best way to guard against enablers is to decide ahead of time for yourself what to eat, where to eat, what your goals are, and stick to it. And while this is easier said than done, it is a step in the right direction.

I don’t feel like it:
Depression and lack of motivation are hallmarks of overweight people.   There will be many times while changing your health lifestyle that you will not feel like exercising or abstaining from comfort food. This will especially be the case if you don’t lose as much weight as quickly as you had hoped for. It is always easier to say, “I don’t feel like exercising” than to say, “I know I need to work out today to meet the goals I set for myself; I don’t feel like it, but I will do it anyway.”

One of the hallmarks of a person who has successfully changed their health lifestyle for the long term is the ability to do what they know is good for themselves-- regardless of how they feel. Make your choices ahead of time and stick to them regardless of how you feel.

Binge eating:
Binge eating is gorging yourself on food and is always a response to an emotional problem-not because you are physically hungry. It may be a response to depression, anxiety, or tension. And after the binge it may leave you with feelings of shame, guilt, or even greater depression.

Bing eating after eating a low calorie diet will cause you to gain weight quickly since your body’s metabolism has slowed down due to it being used to processing fewer calories.   Once binge can erase weeks of weight loss progress. That is why it is so important to understand and control an urge to binge.

Scales:
Before you get depressed, read the following article. It will explain how the number on the scale can lie to you. Scale Weight

Next: Examine pg 2

Quote:
Until you make a firm decision ahead of time on how you will live a healthy lifestyle, spontaneous good choices will not carry you to your goals. Take responsibility, decide for yourself how you want to live your life.

Quote:
One of the hallmarks of a person who has successfully changed their health lifestyle for the long term is the ability to do what they know is good for themselves--regardless of how they feel.

Quote:
Stop using short term failure as an excuse to give up on a healthy lifestyle.