Just as dieters can create a list of why they want and need to lose weight, most people can match it with a Christmas list worth of reasons NOT to lose weight.
While your reasons to lose weight may be to have more energy, to lower your cholesterol, to get off of certain medications for conditions related to obesity, to keep up with your kids, to be a better partner, to increase your self-esteem, and to fit into smaller jeans, the reasons not to lose weight may not be as obvious at first. Self-sabotage is common among diets. Fear of losing weight prevents dieters from reaching their weight loss goals.
Self-sabotage occurs on a subconscious level. “No matter how motivated you think you are, none of your reasons for losing weight will work for you if the subconscious reasons for keeping the weight are stronger,” (Jordan, 11). Shed light on your reasons for staying fat by analyzing and challenging your excuses for validity. Find out why you are standing in the way of getting what you want so badly.
Methods of Self-Sabotage
- Telling yourself that dieting is too hard and you aren’t disciplined enough to follow through.
- Worrying how you’ll be accepted at your goal weight.
- Letting fear of life without the fat barrier get the best of you.
- Being afraid of how you’ll respond when people show they are attracted to you.
- Fear of losing yourself to the new, slim verson of you.
- Fear of failure and fear of success.
- Wish not to deal with jealous friends.
- Fear of having excess hanging skin after you lose a lot of weight.
- You won’t be able to use fat as an excuse to stay on the sidelines of life anymore.
- You think people will have higher expectation of you after you lose weight.
- You are unhappy and feel undeserving of success.
Dieters often find success on a weight loss plan for a short time before they reach a plateau or come across a trigger that causes them to get off track. What they don’t realize is that giving in to junk food cravings, skipping their exercise routine, or reverting to old eating habits is your subconscious controlling your brain and your weight loss, or lack of.
Find your personal payoff for being fat to learn the reasons you overeat and sabotage your own effort of losing weight. Create a plan to control emotions so you won’t make excuses not to lose weight and cause self-sabotage.
Reference: Loree Taylor Jordan, Fat and Furious, Madison Publishing, 2004
Tracy Rose - Tracy Rose is a powerflifter who holds the state record in deadlifting and has had success in her own weight loss journey.
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