Weight Loss Motivation: Emotions & Weight Loss

The simplest step and also the biggest hurdle in losing weight is finding the motivation to lose weight. Many people feel as though they want desperately to be thinner and healthier, but for some reason they just can't. They have some intangible problem with developing weight loss motivation. There is a psychology of weight loss that stands in their way.

Any time we push back a feeling of need, we shut down a vital energy. If it remains unexpressed, it will often be converted into feelings of physical hunger. That's why you may often find yourself driven to eat more when you are feeling emotionally unfulfilled. The mind and the body are connected, and the line between emotional hunger and physical hunger can easily become blurred. In this article we'll explore some of the ways that your emotions may be causing you to gain weight, or preventing you from losing weight. Your obesity may be a symptom of full-blown depression or of just basic unfulfilled emotional need.

In our lives we have to face many inhibitions: the fear of giving a bad image of ourselves, to show our weaknesses, or to fight with someone or to be too close to them. Very often though, repressing an emotion is a result of a judgment a priori we give to our emotions: childish, silly, shameful... This type of attitude is dangerous for our shape, especially if we want to lose weight quickly and safely.

The more you repress yourself, the more you eat. Repressed emotions fuel an internal pressure, which needs to be relieved. One of the easiest way is eating, a lot and disorderly. To avoid this vicious circle, there are some psychological tips we can follow, to continue successfully with your weight loss diet.

Don't think too much: you don't need to put on trial anything you feel inside. Think about it instead: try to find out the best way to show how you feel.

Don't be too indirect: remaining in silence, sulking, holding a grudge, are all ways to express disappointment and anger. But if we exceed in using these ways, we may become hideous, and this will make us feel even worse.

Don't pretend that everything is fine. We often decide to make the best of a bad job and suck it up for a quiet life. But this can transform our relationships in a time bomb.

Enough wavering. Don't withdraw in silence, whether you or the situation is right or wrong: talk, act, trust your instinct more, focus on what you feel.

Don't say: "this is not right", say "this thing makes me angry," don't say "you hurt me", say "I feel hurt." In doing so, the other party will be less defensive and more willing to listen to you. And you will get it off your chest.

An effective weight loss diet requires a global strategy, and the psychological factors in weight loss should not be neglected.