Issues and Excuses About Losing Weight
We all want to lose weight, some even make a very concerted effort to do so. However, it seems impossible because there are obstacles in our way.
This is true for any major life change or effort.
Losing weight though, seems harder than most big changes to deal with.
Why is this? Well, there are some major issues with weight loss that make it harder to do than most things and because of those issues we seem to always be able to form some kind of excuse for why it can't seem to be done.
I will do my best to tackle some of these issues and excuses in this article and hopefully build a platform for consideration when you come upon these issues and to help try and battle your excuses in your own journey to health.
First, let's explore some of the main issues and excuses with losing weight.
1. We have to eat to sustain ourselves.
This is both an issue and a major excuse for why a lot of people have trouble losing weight. It seems that since we have to eat to stay alive, and we can't just quit eating cold turkey, (like any other serious addiction) it takes a considerable amount of effort to accomplish. The key here is control. You can control what you eat and if you maintain control over your diet, you will lose weight. Control is a very real issue for many people and it can be incredibly hard to gain a level of control over some things that you do and in those cases, you have to make gaining control as easy as possible so it can be maintained. I've written droves about making control and weight loss as easy as possible and you can find a lot more information on the topic in some of my other articles, but for now just absorb the fact that in order to do something good for yourself you have to make it easy.
2. Eating good food makes us feel good and tastes good.
Another major issue for people that leads to excuses is the fact that good food tastes good and makes us feel good. This is a problem for many people because they rely on those good feelings to feel better about things. Everyone has issues that they're dealing with in their lives, and I would even venture to say that everyone has some vice in their lives which serves to deliver those all important brain chemicals, dopamine and seratonin. Those chemicals make people feel better about things. Many people rely on food to deliver those feel good brain chemicals, just like many people rely on cigarettes or alcohol or marijuana. For those who rely on food to feel better the very concept of not having those feel good chemicals can be too much to deal with. In those cases, it's best to try to switch your feel good reliances to something else. Exercise is good because it's healthy, coffee is good, relaxing is good, hanging out with friends is good, really anything that makes you feel good about yourself can become a healthy replacement for unhealthy foods. It takes serious work to switch reliances though, and it's easy to see why people make excuses for eating unhealthy foods. In essence they don't want to lose their feel good chemicals.
3. A significant lifestyle change is incredibly hard to accomplish.
This is the big excuse and the culmination of some of the main reasons people have trouble losing weight. They know it's hard but they don't know why it's so hard. Well, as I said above the feel good brain chemicals play a major part, the fact that we have to eat food to sustain ourselves also plays a major part because if we have to do something it should be as good as possible. One thing to try, perhaps, is to separate the mechanical process of eating to sustain ourselves from the feel good process that eating usually provides, and as I said in the above paragraph, it helps to find something else to rely on for those feel good chemicals. Once we treat eating as a purely mechanical process it's easy to gain a semblance of control over what we put in our mouths. I've seen threads on the internet about a purely nutritional "dog food" for humans. While that would be good, we need variety to sustain a lifestyle change. (This may be another reason why it's so hard)
All that said and done, the fact remains we need to make it easy for ourselves to change and if we rely on the feel good chemicals that come with good food, we need to place those reliances on other things.
All this may be overwhelming and it's easy to see why losing weight is so incredibly hard for some people. I don't blame you, but hopefully I've provided a different viewpoint on some of these issues. That may make them easier to deal with.
This is true for any major life change or effort.
Losing weight though, seems harder than most big changes to deal with.
Why is this? Well, there are some major issues with weight loss that make it harder to do than most things and because of those issues we seem to always be able to form some kind of excuse for why it can't seem to be done.
I will do my best to tackle some of these issues and excuses in this article and hopefully build a platform for consideration when you come upon these issues and to help try and battle your excuses in your own journey to health.
First, let's explore some of the main issues and excuses with losing weight.
1. We have to eat to sustain ourselves.
This is both an issue and a major excuse for why a lot of people have trouble losing weight. It seems that since we have to eat to stay alive, and we can't just quit eating cold turkey, (like any other serious addiction) it takes a considerable amount of effort to accomplish. The key here is control. You can control what you eat and if you maintain control over your diet, you will lose weight. Control is a very real issue for many people and it can be incredibly hard to gain a level of control over some things that you do and in those cases, you have to make gaining control as easy as possible so it can be maintained. I've written droves about making control and weight loss as easy as possible and you can find a lot more information on the topic in some of my other articles, but for now just absorb the fact that in order to do something good for yourself you have to make it easy.
2. Eating good food makes us feel good and tastes good.
Another major issue for people that leads to excuses is the fact that good food tastes good and makes us feel good. This is a problem for many people because they rely on those good feelings to feel better about things. Everyone has issues that they're dealing with in their lives, and I would even venture to say that everyone has some vice in their lives which serves to deliver those all important brain chemicals, dopamine and seratonin. Those chemicals make people feel better about things. Many people rely on food to deliver those feel good brain chemicals, just like many people rely on cigarettes or alcohol or marijuana. For those who rely on food to feel better the very concept of not having those feel good chemicals can be too much to deal with. In those cases, it's best to try to switch your feel good reliances to something else. Exercise is good because it's healthy, coffee is good, relaxing is good, hanging out with friends is good, really anything that makes you feel good about yourself can become a healthy replacement for unhealthy foods. It takes serious work to switch reliances though, and it's easy to see why people make excuses for eating unhealthy foods. In essence they don't want to lose their feel good chemicals.
3. A significant lifestyle change is incredibly hard to accomplish.
This is the big excuse and the culmination of some of the main reasons people have trouble losing weight. They know it's hard but they don't know why it's so hard. Well, as I said above the feel good brain chemicals play a major part, the fact that we have to eat food to sustain ourselves also plays a major part because if we have to do something it should be as good as possible. One thing to try, perhaps, is to separate the mechanical process of eating to sustain ourselves from the feel good process that eating usually provides, and as I said in the above paragraph, it helps to find something else to rely on for those feel good chemicals. Once we treat eating as a purely mechanical process it's easy to gain a semblance of control over what we put in our mouths. I've seen threads on the internet about a purely nutritional "dog food" for humans. While that would be good, we need variety to sustain a lifestyle change. (This may be another reason why it's so hard)
All that said and done, the fact remains we need to make it easy for ourselves to change and if we rely on the feel good chemicals that come with good food, we need to place those reliances on other things.
All this may be overwhelming and it's easy to see why losing weight is so incredibly hard for some people. I don't blame you, but hopefully I've provided a different viewpoint on some of these issues. That may make them easier to deal with.
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