Weight Loss and Your Mind

Is the key to successful weight loss all in the mind? WLR’s Helen Griffiths gets the views of psychologist David Moxon and nutrition expert Dr Christine Fenn.

Think Slim

A professional counselling course taught me that the root of our actions, who we are as a person and how we flourish, stems directly from the mind: what we believe and how we feel. We all know the way to lose weight is to follow a calorie-controlled diet and to participate in regular exercise, this is relatively simple but the hard part is getting your mind focused to do this.

I asked Psychologist David Moxon his views on whether the key to successful weight-loss is all in the mind: “The mind can certainly influence behaviours, which can lead to healthy eating. The mind can give you the stamina and motivation to eat right and to exercise. These days it is far too easy for us to blame other areas in our life for not being able to eat right and to exercise. A lot of it is down to the initial perception of one’s self.

If someone feels that to get their ideal body image it is going to be a huge struggle, it will be far easier for them to give up. The secret is to give yourself short- term goals as this will seem a lot less of a struggle and then alter your goals accordingly until you eventually reach a happy and healthy weight for you.”

Top Tips for Thinking Slim

• Think like a winner! Affirmations can prove to be extremely powerful and effective. In ‘Forget the Fear of Food’ weight loss expert Dr Christine Fenn recommends you affirm ‘I am feeling fit and healthy’ then imagine yourself exactly like that, regularly throughout the day. Visualise the clothes you are wearing and how good you look in them. Notice how healthy your hair is, the glow of your skin, and the sparkle in your eyes. Feel the health and the strength in your body and notice how you stand tall and confident in the body of the new you.
  
  
• Set yourself short-term goals. Due to our human survival instinct we seek pleasure and avoid pain. If we associate more pain with dieting than pleasure we will instinctually fail miserably. When we set ourselves short-term goals and then we reach them, we get high (not through illegal substances), a natural high. Our body recognises this as pleasure and from this we see everything more clearly and positively.
  
  
• Read the success stories on the homepage for motivation and inspiration. This gives us the ‘feel good’ factor that yes; we can do it too.
  
  
• Think about what you eat and why you’re eating it. Is it because you're really hungry for food, or are you fulfilling an emotional need?
  
  
• Learn to love and appreciate yourself.
  
  
• Understand why you’re hungry. There’s a fantastic feature in ‘News and Features’ called ‘How to avoid eating when you’re not really hungry’ written by Nutritionist Fiona Hunter. This gives you all the tricks of the trade to eat like we naturally should.
  
  
• Last of all good luck and remember the key to happiness is having dreams… the key to success is making dreams come true.

Forget the Fear of Food (Dr. Christine Fenn) £6.99 from www.dietandfitnessresources.co.uk Dr.Christine Fenn gives you the knowledge to ‘think slim’ and takes you step by step through the process of changing your mind about food.

Bonus Tip

Try the tools in Weight Loss Resources Free for 24 hours.