Shedding a few pounds off, or losing weight, is a hard and oftentimes tricky business. It’s for this reason that while many attempt their hands on it, few of those people actually achieve it for the long haul. It’s unforgiving, and oftentimes demotivating and just well, plain tiring. This then leads to developing a negative relationship with food, seeing it not as a joyful experience but an enemy that you have to constantly battle with. Most of the time, this mindset leads to self-punishment and over-restriction. However, According to leading behavior change therapist Dr. Heather McKee, there are three things that you need to give up in order to actually achieve success when it comes to weight loss. Here they are: Give up dieting You heard us right. Give it up, let it go. According to research, 80 percent of diets fail in the first year, so don’t be a part of that. Your body also doesn’t want to lose weight that way and you will just fight it, which would result in stress. Rather, start eating smarter and incorporate a lot of whole foods in what you eat. Importantly, remember to never go overboard and keep it within appropriately-sized servings. Give up punishing yourself via the scales This is something that happens all too often with people trying to lose weight. You scale yourself at the start of the month, try your best to lose weight after, and then when you get back on the scale, realize that you haven’t lost any, or worse, you’ve actually added on some more. This is a negative mindset since being healthy isn’t a numbers game. Following an “all or nothing” line of thinking will only discourage you. In most cases, it can even associate itself with happiness, meaning that you won’t reach a certain weight. Give up ‘diets in disguise’ This involves restricting yourself to eating small amounts of food in order to lose weight. So that includes even juice cleansing and detoxes. Instead, opt for whole-foods based diet that is consumed alongside regular exercise consistently because that will work more. Obesity may occur because of genetics, family history, environment and medical conditions, among other reasons that affect body weight. Pixabay Source
