Psychological factors play a vital role in weight gain or loss and these factors are frequently ignored when people get on a weight reducing diet. Few people are so worried to lose weight that they will try everything, including the extreme of diets, which everyone knows that will end in failure.
When beginning a diet, it is worth measuring your current condition and to choose a time in your life when there are more possibilities to succeed and to have the appropriate support and direction in place.
Emotional Eating
Sometimes, we are dependent on food for non-nutritional purposes also. In these situations, people may be stimulated to eat by their emotions and not by the exact mood of hunger. This type of action is often called ‘emotional eating.’ Emotional triggers for harmful eating behaviour include; anxiety, low mood, irritation, loneliness, anger, and emotional stress.
Food might be used as a reliever in order to fulfill unsettled emotional issues. This kind of behaviour causes food dependence for emotional support which can lead to weight gain.
Losing weight is actually 80% of what you eat and 20% of what you do in the gym. Also, weight loss is nearly 100% linked to the mindset. Willpower, right mental state, and determination are all straightaway inclined by the brain signals given to the body, and an unhealthy mind typically means you will find it difficult to lose weight.
Below are six ways to show that mental fitness has an influence on weight gain:
1. Your State of Mind Affects Your Body
The things which fall under this category include your mood, stress, anxiety, and depression. These can all upset your ability to build your diet and exercise plan, which are important to manage weight.
For example, if your mood is upset or if you feel stressed, you may not want to hit the gym or cook at home. This can make you grab fast foods like burgers or sandwiches, making a decision to miss the gym that day, neither of which will give you the weight gain or loss, which you set as a fitness goal.
You can also relate this to depression when you feel like other things are important than taking care of yourself. Hence, no matter what your state of mind is, it can definitely affect your body and ability to control yourself and exercise willpower when required.
2. Build a Relationship With Diet
Our relationship with food habitually has its bases in how we interacted with it as a kid. It is during our foundational years that we absorb what it is to feel hungry, as well as when and how regularly we need to eat in order to overcome the hunger.
For most of the people, in their childhood, they might have a positive food relationship, where nutritional food is relished in a healthy way. But, obese adults may have experienced an unbalanced relationship with food in their childhood. Substantial childhood events may impact an individual’s well-being later in their life. Trauma, neglect or abuse can all activate unhealthy eating ways as the individual efforts to use food as interference from their feelings.
Having low self-esteem due to childhood abuse could cause food being used to make a physical barrier. Eating consciously or subconsciously to put on weight in an attempt to be less visible or beautiful can keep individuals at a distance.
Weight humiliation experienced during childhood can increase susceptibility to depression, poor body image, low self-esteem, decreased physical activity and bad eating habits in adulthood.
3. Your Mind Eats What You Do
It is true that your diet will have an influence on your body, however, it also impacts the mind. The processed foods and also things like nicotine, caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and other addictive substances, will decrease your willpower and make it difficult for you to concentrate and make wise decisions. The nutrients in your diet which impact your body to stay healthy will also give you the energy to carry out your daily activities. Dehydration can blur your judgment and drain energy as well. Drinking sufficient water and taking care of the body is important to increase brain function, decision making, clarity, and willpower. Neither your body nor mind cannot function without water.
4. Mental Exercise Affects Physical Fitness
There are some simple ways to exercise the brain like reading, writing, meditation, yoga, and self -hypnosis. Writing/blogging is important as it helps to build a social community that can help hold you responsible for your fitness goals, and provide support and boosts when you require it.
Getting started in writing, and having the determination to prepare the quality posts on a regular basis, needs you to exercise your willpower and mental capability. It can be hard to compose hundreds of words every day, particularly when you have just started writing, but never stop writing. Write about your fitness goals along with the successes in the gym and also the weight control progress. You can also post free stock fitness images to show the exercises you are doing, establish proper form, or create ideas to mix up your workouts. These methods will aid to keep you and your readers involved, increase your mental capability and build a community of support.
Other ways like meditation and self-hypnosis also take a lot of practice. No one can just sit and start meditating. You must start it slowly and build up the quantity of time you can empty your mind and actually meditate. It will require willpower, and this will ease stress and anxiety, strengthen your mind, and help to commit yourself to the fitness goals.
5. Break the Weight Gain Frame of Mind
Professional medical support may be needed by those experiencing mental health problems and weight gain. There is evidence which proves that the more events of mental health issues or the more severe depression lead to higher risks of weight gain.
Those who are facing difficulties to control their weight should follow below practices:
Keep a watch on what you eat. Write your meals and snacks plan in a book like what are you eating and what time. This can help you to pay attention to the reasons behind your eating behaviours.
Decrease the portion sizes. You can decrease the amount of food you eat on a daily basis just by reducing the size of the meals that you are eating.
Manage stress. If there is a factor in your life which is triggering your stress or anxiety then try to address it so that you can move forward. This might not all the time be possible, depending on the reason for your stress but it is significant to remember that unbalanced emotions can hamper weight loss efforts.
Include your family and close friends. Support from the people around you is vital as they can aid to eliminate temptations and be present if you are having a bad day.
6. Seeking Treatment When Necessary
If you have a BMI of 30 or above, taking advice from a doctor can help. If there are any underlying health issues present then the doctor can implement a diet and exercise program according to that. Sometimes even weight loss surgery is prescribed if someone gains excessive weight, to aid you to reach your fitness goals.
Bottom Line/Conclusion
Keeping a positive relationship with food is vital not only for your lasting physical health but also for the emotional wellbeing. Food is very important to our physical and mental wellbeing. We do not have a choice to opt out of food, because it is a basic requirement of our life.
You need to see the food as a source of nourishment and that it is possible to build a healthy relationship with food.
