5 Evidence-Based Weight Loss Tips: What’s Right For You?

In this post, I share some tips that will get you off that weight loss roller coaster and help you lose weight and maintain a healthy weight for life.

Why Many Weight Loss Diets Don’t Work

Nearly two-thirds of adults in the world and more and more adolescents and kids are overweight these days. Research has shown that an overweight person is at a significant risk of developing diabetes and heart conditions. Most diets are very difficult to keep up long-term, this is because when you go on a diet you decrease the number of calories you eat and your body feels like it is starving. Initially, you lose weight because your body has to use the excess fat in our body. However, your body presumes that it is starving and lowers your metabolism. This is a biological and natural driven mechanism, which evolved to help the fittest survive. The result is that if you want to lose weight you need to eat less and less food.

But after a while, your body feels deprived of food and you start to resent this diet and it affects your mood. This decrease in your mood level results in binge eating and therefore you will put on the weight that you lost.

Weight Loss And Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Cognitive behaviour therapy is based on evidenced-based techniques that can help you learn to change the way you think, feel and behave around your eating habits for the rest of your life. Also, you will learn to set some realistic goals and crush your self-defeating thoughts and pre-assumed beliefs about food.

First, you can identify those self-sabotaging thoughts and distortions and learn how to correct them. This then leads to you being positive, developing self-belief in yourself and motivating you further to stay on this healthy positive eating plan. Some of the self-sabotaging thoughts could be:

1. You rationalise ‘bad eating habits’ by saying to yourself “it’s OK to snack on a pack of crisps because….”
2. You follow the rules from your childhood about food wastage, remember your mum saying ‘its wrong to waste food, please clean your plate’.
3. You have negative thoughts and distortions like “I will never lose the excess weight, so why should I bother trying”
4. You have worst-case scenario thinking “what if I have low blood sugar and faint if I stay hungry, so I must have that chocolate bar”
5. Negative visualisation you think is “what will my mother-in-law say if I don’t eat her chocolate cake”
6. Some deluding thoughts you have could be “since I tricked a little by eating that chocolate pastry or pie… I might as well finish it”

Benefits of cognitive behaviour therapy are:

• Your cravings for ‘bad’ foods will decrease,
• You will be in control of your desire for food and won’t get into a panic if you are hungry for a little while longer,
• You will have a daily healthy eating plan to follow,
• You won’t feel deprived and resent the foods that you cannot eat,
• You will feel great and positive about yourself,
• Your self-confidence improves and you feel happier and healthier.

Here are some tips that I recommend my clients use between hypnosis treatments. They can be even more powerful when combined with a cognitive behaviour hypnotherapy that can help you break the cycle and get you off that weight loss rollercoaster.

1. Note down on a flash card or postcard (and read the daily) the reasons why you want to lose weight. Also, find a healthy and nutritious eating program that works with your lifestyle, that is flexible and this will encourage you to change your mindset about which foods are ‘good’ for you and which are ‘bad’ for you.
2. Be mindful and think of everything you put in your mouth (good or bad), eat very, very slowly, sit at a table when you eat, and acknowledge when you have done well. Reward yourself (praise yourself) for eating healthily.
3. Clear your house, car and environment from all the junk food, crisps, chocolate etc. Set a reasonable goal to follow and make a distinction between your desire to eat, whether you are actually hungry or you are craving ‘bad’ foods at this time.
4. Choose your exercise regime: so that you can burn off any excess calories, improving your health and fitness and this, in turn, will tone your muscles. Exercising makes you feel positive (physically and mentally), boosts self-esteem, relieves stress and anxiety and helps you feel better about yourself.
5. Be in control of your cravings: practice mindfulness techniques and controlling your eating behaviour techniques.

Mindfulness techniques: Give your cravings a special name, and say ‘no’ to eating ‘bad foods’. Don’t cave into the temptation of eating that packet of crisps, keep an eye on your ultimate weight loss goal and imagine your future eating good foods and feeling healthy.

Behaviour techniques: Keep your craving at bay by not going near the ‘bad’ foods, plus drink plenty of water instead of snacking and drink low calorie drinks too. Practice deep breathing and relaxation techniques and keep yourself distracted away from foods that are unhealthy.

Please email me (info@formindssake.com) or call directly (07967151790) if you would like to practice these tips in depth and let’s get you started with losing any excess weight and feeling fabulous!