The words ‘training’ and ‘weight loss’ in the same sentence makes a lot of us roll our eyes. Yes, the combination of a healthy, balanced diet and more physical activity is a good way to manage your weight. You can see this for yourself if you count how many times you’ve tried to permanently lose weight on a fad diet and failed.
More and more people understand that crash dieting doesn’t work, and real, sustained weight loss comes from more of a lifestyle change than a ‘magic pill’. That lifestyle transformation needs to happen on many levels. First, you must adopt a diet of healthier, more nutrition-rich foods. Second, you should increase your activity level. And third, you need to understand how your body reacts to all the changes.
Easy, right?
Well, maybe not. While many people enjoy weight-loss success from a healthier lifestyle, some don’t. The lifestyle ‘transformation’ can be much easier said than done. The challenges of changing the way you’ve lived all your life can make you stop trying, no matter how much you want to lose weight.
Why You Should Consider Brain Training as Part of Weight Loss Training
Let’s take a closer look at what many of us go through when we get serious about weight loss.
- Your Current Weight Situation – Maybe you’re just too heavy for your size. Or maybe you’re diagnosed as obese. In any case, you’re done. You’re ready to make the change. But your weight situation didn’t happen overnight. Whether it’s due to genetic factors, hormonal problems, emotional issues or just your love of food, you’ve probably been overweight for a long time.
- You Use the Right Approach. Yes, weight loss diets don’t work in the long run. So you’re ready to eat more vegetables, cut down on salty and sugary snacks and start using the stairs more often. You know it’s tough, so you get help from family and friends. You might even work with a physical trainer.
- You Still Find it Difficult – After weeks and months of trying, you still miss your comfort foods. You can’t stand the thought of going out for a walk in the cold every night. And you haven’t lost that much weight.
If you’ve been ‘trained’ to have your current lifestyle habits all of your life, you’re asking a lot to suddenly change it all.
Yes, you change your diet, and you try to change your body.
But you haven’t changed your mind.
Brain Training Might Be the Missing Link for Successful Weight Loss
Even if you ‘get it’, losing weight is not easy. Part of the reason for that might have to do with the fact that you’re not using all the resources you have.
You’re trying to change a lifetime of learned behaviours. You might have grown up in a household where cleaning off your plate was the rule, even if you were stuffed. You might have always linked the thought of “healthy” food with “tasteless”, or “not satisfying”. And you might still depend on food to get through emotional stress.
So, while you must change your diet, and try to get more active, you should also retrain your brain to adopt a newer, healthier attitude too.
Tips for Training Your Brain for Weight Loss
- Don’t Let the Weigh Scale Get You Down – We are ‘trained’ to think that the number on the scale must always go down if we’re trying to lose weight. Tracking your progress is important. But the scale shouldn’t be the boss of you.
- Get the Help You Need – Just like a physical trainer can help you become more active, a nutritional consultant can help you eat better and lose weight. They know the physical, mental and emotional challenges you face and can help you deal with them.
- Celebrate the Wins – In addition to the weigh scale, there’s a lot of negativity surrounding weight loss. So make a constant effort to celebrate the positive. Lost a pound today, even though you wanted to lose two? You still lost a pound!
- Respond to Your Inner Voice – It can be tough on you.
“You haven’t lost as much weight as you should have!”
“You still look fat!”
Start answering back. Yes, maybe you haven’t lost the weight you should have, but you’re heading in the right direction. And, fat or not, you probably look and feel better than you did before. - Give Yourself Time – You trained your body and brain in your old habits for a lifetime. Don’t expect to undo it all in a matter of weeks or months. Both brain and body need time to ‘rewire’ themselves before they can support the new you.
To learn more about training your brain for weight loss, call or visit your nearest Herbal One Centre and talk to one of our nutritional consultants.