If you’ve tried and failed to get rid of unwanted weight, just about the only good news is that you are not alone. While that’s not much consolation, the fact that lots of people have trouble losing weight might be the key to turning around your own weight loss fortunes.
If so many people can’t conquer their weight, it leaves one big question: Why?
If Something Doesn’t Work, It’s Broken
When you are repeatedly defeated in your attempts to reach a healthier weight, you probably blame yourself. Why not? You’re an easy target for your frustration. Everyone else seems slim, so you must be the problem. Your metabolism is too slow, right? And everything you eat just goes straight to your hips.
But, if untold numbers of other people haven’t been able to lose weight and keep t off, then it’s clearly not just you. And that’s the first clue about what really is the culprit behind your inability to lose weight.
You are Not the Problem:
if you are serious about losing weight, and have legitimately tried to make it work, but it hasn’t, then maybe it’s how you’re trying to lose weight that’s the problem, not you.
What’s Broken with Many Weight Loss Methods
It would be really nice if it did, but life doesn’t happen in a straight line. For example, if you want to get a raise, just about the worst thing to do is take the straight line approach and walk into your manager’s office and say, “I want a raise’. If you want your four-year-old to wear warmer clothes, telling her so will probably get more than a little ‘resistance’.
But still, we are tempted to believe that straight-line approaches work; even for important issues that have implications for our health and wellness, like body weight.
Generally speaking, the straight-line approach to weight loss goes something like this: eat fewer calories to lose weight. While it seems to make sense and work in theory, it’s how we apply the theory that’s the problem.
When we reduce something as complex as weight loss to something as simple as ‘eat less, lose more’, it turns weight loss into a simple equation. You want to weigh 150 pounds before you go to the Bahamas in two months, so you need to lose 10 pounds a month.
It makes so much sense, but it so rarely works. Or, if you manage to lose the weight according to the equation, the weight comes back, and more.
The Argument that Weight Loss Shouldn’t be the Goal
If setting a target for weight loss and using equations to help you reach it hasn’t worked for you yet, maybe you should set your sights on a less ‘numerical’ target. Lower weight isn’t the only benefit of slimming down.
There are other reasons, that some would argue are more important than losing lots of weight, for you to start healthily losing weight. Here are just three;
1. More Energy & Vitality
One of the reasons that you don’t get more activity is because you probably don’t have the energy for it. So who can blame you? But, unless you have a diagnosable condition, there’s a simple reason that you’re suffering an energy shortage. You don’t get enough nutrition in your diet. And that’s one of the reasons you’re always hungry and you end up overeating to compensate; your body is telling you that it needs more energy because it’s not getting enough from the foods you eat.
By simply eating healthier foods, your body will get the nutrition it craves, which will give you more energy, and you’ll end up eating less. So forget about losing weight for now and just give your body better nutrition. You’ll get stoked.
2. Better Looking Skin
One of the major causes of weight gain is the added sugars in your diet. And you probably eat far more sugar than you think.
While ‘sugar’ is listed on nutrition and ingredients labels, it can also masquerade in processed foods as over 60 other ingredients, including molasses, rice syrup and barley malt.
Why sugar is bad for your skin: sugar not only adds to your weight, it spikes your insulin, which causes inflammation, which breaks down the collagen and elastin that keep you skin supple. The result: sagging skin and wrinkles.
But we’re not done. In addition to making you look older, sugar can promote skin blemishes, like acne, facial hair and dark patches around your neck and in body creases. Not to mention the extra weight making your cellulite look even lumpier.
Forget about losing weight for now. Just try to cut as much sugar as you can from your diet. You’ll look great.
3. More Happiness & Self-Esteem
Healthier eating and better nutrition will transform your life. They may not, by themselves, get you to a ‘target’ weight, but they will make it easier for you to do so. And make it easier to keep the weight off too. You will have a greater sense of accomplishment. You’ll realize that you are not the problem, and that you can make a difference in your health, wellbeing and weight. And even if you ‘fall off the wagon’, you’ll know exactly why, and how to get back on. So forget about losing weight for now and start eating healthier foods that are full of energy-giving nutrients. You’ll be happy that you did.
Healthier eating, better nutrition and the weight loss that comes with it are as close as your nearest Herbal One Centre. Call or visit today and speak to one of our nutritional consultants who will help you learn more.