You may have tried exercises, diet pills, fad diets, green tea, Chinese weight loss programs, Hoodia, or any number of other plans only to fall back into old habits. What they didn’t tell you is how to overcome the habits that got you into an overweight condition in the first place. You see being hungry isn’t the only reason we eat. If it was then there wouldn’t be the overweight problem we see today. Even if you ate junk food if you only ate when you were hungry and quit when you were full there is a good possibility you wouldn’t be overweight.
Most overeating problems are not due to hunger. Often we want food when in fact we are thirsty and should be drinking water instead. Take this little test. The next time you go on the prowl for food stop and consider where the desire is coming from. If your stomach feels full, but you sense thirst then you are not taking in what your body really craves. Doing this check and making the correct choice alone can save you hundreds of unneeded calories. In fact drinking water is a recommendation in many diet and exercise programs. If you drink a glass of water about every 2 hours during the day you will find your fat burning efforts greatly improved.
Another factor is social eating. Food seems to materialize where ever people gather. Doughnuts around the coffee pot at work or Sunday morning fellowship, pretzels in the bars; any excuse for a party is an excuse for food. Holidays are especially laced with opportunities to eat more. It’s tough to resist eating when all your favorite goodies are on display and “everybody’s doing it.” This sort of pressure really ads to your stomach fat.
Eating while distracted is another easy way to gain weight. If we are driving somewhere, watching TV, or reading our email while eating we are not paying much attention to what is going into our mouths nor are we monitoring our “fullness.” We continue to eat until what food we have taken is all gone and then discover we are overfull. The real problem is that we do the same thing over and over again, never learning from our mistakes.
Emotional eating is a real killer for some people. Whether they are in a bad emotional environment or stress from work or some other emotional pressure they eat to provide something that makes them feel good. Just the fact of putting something in their mouths gives some satisfaction that overrides their “fullness” alarm resulting in overeating.
All these issues and more can cause us to gain unnecessary weight. Often simply identifying the underlying causes and dealing realistically with the issues can contribute significantly to losing weight without having to go on a killer diet.
So if you are considering the need to lose weight but dieting seems too intimidating and unattainable for you, consider making small lifestyle changes and stick with them for the long term. You will be surprised at how much that can affect your weight.
