Do you constantly think about your weight and dieting? Do you jump on the scale first thing every morning to see if the number has changed?
Are you always thinking about food, recipes, food you “cannot” eat, or food you want to eat? Do you scour the Internet and grocery stores for new “diet” foods that can replace the “real stuff”? Do you dream about food?
I used to be like this, which is why I know what questions to ask. 😉 I don’t think it’s a fun way to live, though, or at least for me it wasn’t.
In my experience, this is what happens when you make dieting and weight loss your main goal or main focus in life. Everything is about losing weight, what you are eating, what you aren’t eating, etc. But is this really a healthy way to live? I don’t think so, and I also think that it hinders you from achieving long-term success with weight maintenance and fitness.
There is so much more to life than how much you weigh. Yes, your health “should” be the #1 priority in your life, because if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. Definitely, if one part of your health issues is overweight, then the process of losing weight, shaping up, and getting healthy will take up a significant part of your life.
Additionally, if you don’t have health issues and wish to get healthy and fit (and losing weight is part of it for you), then you must make time in your daily schedule to accomplish these goals. However, if your frame of mind is such that it’s all about dieting, diets are your main focus of conversation, and losing weight is what life is all about, I would recommend a healthier approach to weight management.
So how do you move out of this thought process and get away from the obsession? Here’s what I did:
- I decided that dieting wasn’t going to get me what I wanted. Dieting drove me crazy and I became more and more obsessed with food. Instead, I had to make changes in how I ate and exercised (for life, not short-term), and I learned how to cook.
- I found projects in life that I could get passionate about, i.e.: home improvement, skiing, self-growth work, going back to school, and this blog! 🙂 Anything that is positive that you can get excited about will help to take the focus off of your weight.
- I chose to focus on nutrition and health rather than just on weight. Yes, I do have weight loss goals (approx. 15 more pounds to lose), however I am more interested in my energy level and how I relate to food and my body. I am interested in learning about all of the obstacles that have stopped me from reaching my goal up to this point.
- I eliminated the foods that give me cravings and keep me addicted to food. By cutting out sugar, salt, flour, dairy (not sure if I am addicted but I sure feel better when I don’t eat it), and unhealthy fats, I find that I don’t have the cravings or food obsessions like I used to. I think about food when I get hungry but besides that, it is no longer my world.
In my opinion, I think that there is so much more to be excited about in life rather than losing weight. Clearly this is an interest of mine since it’s what I write about here at Fearless Fat Loss, but it is not my only interest. I am passionate about spreading the word on what I learn about the topics that relate to the issues of health and overweight, however I no longer think that being thin will solve all of my problems.
If you notice that you currently think about food and your weight most of the time, I hope that you can learn from my experience and break out of the obsession, while still keeping your goals and motivation for weight loss as a part of your life.
