Win the Mind Games to Lose Weight
Anyone who has tried to lose a large amount of weight and experienced defeat with every attempt understands how frustrating it can be to fail. Though weight loss surgery can make a huge difference in your ability to lose weight, it can’t repair the psychological and emotional damage that living with obesity may have caused. This means that for many severely obese people, it may be wise to seek counseling in addition to the services of a weight loss surgeon.
Seldom does the word “addict” conjure the image of an obese person, yet the obese person can be every bit as much an addict as the smoker, the problem drinker or the person suffering from a compulsive disorder.
In the case of the obese person, the addiction is food. The cravings and the dependency are no different. Any addict experiences intense cravings just like those of the obese person, and the same desperation will arise in each and every one causing them to seek satisfaction for their particular craving. When this addictive craving is food, it can be very difficult to lose weight without professional support and counseling. The exceptionally difficult thing about a food addiction is that you have to eat to survive. You don’t have to smoke or drink alcohol so abstinence is the preferred treatment. For a compulsive eater, abstinence is simply not an option.
Obesity begins in the mind, which means that at some point, a trigger was pulled that set the overeating cycle in motion. This trigger can be any number of things and could have been pulled at any point during the person’s life. Perhaps the person experienced emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child and turned to food for comfort and security. Or maybe it began with loneliness, or boredom. It might even be that food came to be seen as a reward for a certain behavior. Whatever the trigger, it is vital that anyone seeking to lose a large amount of weight recognizes it for what it is. Once you know what prompts you to over eat, then it may become a bit easier to gain victory and lose the weight.
When diets have repeatedly failed and the pounds steadfastly remain it may also be that counseling and therapy are both equally needed in order to get to the root of the problem. These emotional tools can be especially useful when used in conjunction with weight loss surgery. Eradicating the root cause of overeating will help ensure long lasting success in not only losing the weight, but in keeping it off.