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Dieting doesn't work
For many years we have been led to believe that dieting is the answer to weight loss. We have been bombarded with this message from healthcare professionals, friends, magazines and television programmes. There is no doubt that many people have been able to lose weight on a diet but why is it that only 3% maintain their weight loss? |  |
I remember being horrified at the audit results of a weight loss clinic I ran as a Practice Nurse. I clearly forgot about all the weeks that people gained, instead choosing to remember the success stories. But the audit showed me the evidence that over a 6 month period only one person had maintained a 7lb weight loss. The rest had regained the weight they had lost and some had added more weight. One of the biggest reasons the clinic had such a poor success rate was we were only allowed 5 minutes per patient and since many were elderly or with significant health problems it took most of those 5 minutes to get them in and be weighed. There was no time to go in to depth about what was causing them to eat. Today through my own personal experience I have learnt that diets do not work. The key to long term successful weight loss is about breaking up the diet mentality and making changes one step at a time. Changes that are permanent, not ones that will last for a few weeks if you are lucky!
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| I can recall countless clients, myself included, who have started dieting at a weight many pounds lighter than they are today. So if dieting really worked you would only ever need to do one diet and you would weigh less than you did when you began the diet. Looking back on photos I realise that I actually wasn’t fat when my dieting days began – I just had a fat head that told me I was fat and had to be slimmer. |
One issue that usually needs to be worked on, is learning to accept yourself the way you are today. When you stop trying to have the perfect body, like the ones you see in all the magazines, then you can begin living life. I spent many years waiting to be the perfect weight before my life would begin……. but now I realise you have to start living NOW. And if you really believe that people have those wonderful bodies that you see in the magazines just go into your local town and look around. So far I haven’t spotted anyone who looks like they just walked off the front of a magazine cover! Isn’t it amazing what they do with computers today to create the perfect pictures. My beliefs were shattered when I watched a photographer remove all my Mum’s wrinkles (not that she has loads) and made her look like she was 20 again! Millions of us believe that people really look like the perfect magazine model.
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If you look at failed dieters they all know what they should be doing but they simply can not put their knowledge into practice. The reason is that they never confront the true reasons as to why they eat. Once you face them and change your belief system then the weight will actually drop off without you having to do anything. Only this week I had a client who was absolutely amazed that she was shedding pounds in yet she had stopped dieting for the first time in her life. Of course I wasn’t at all surprised because I have seen this happen countless times. As we work together to look at what is behind the weight issue and address these issues then it stands to reason that the weight will fall off. It isn’t as fast as all those diets that promise that you will lose 10 pounds in 7 days but it is a permanent solution.
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I’ve shed pounds and pounds myself. It hasn’t been hard work to lose the weight at all, I’ve never felt deprived. I have had to do exactly what my clients do – and that is face up to the reasons I overate and to get rid of the diet mentality. The pounds take care of themselves when you do that. So you will never need to diet again.
If you are struggling to lose weight and want professional help I would be delighted to work with you through online counselling .
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