The Weight Seesaw

For many of us losing weight and the trying to keep it off is a tremendous struggle.  This creates frustration, depression, failure, a poor body image and negative feelings about ourselves. 

As a culture we are and use it as a way to socialize as well as to comfort and reward ourselves.  We are surrounded by food messages in a societal environment we live in and cannot change.

It appears that some of us that have a biological predisposition to weight gain and for those individuals keeping weight off are very challenging. Because of this, people use it as an excuse to eat more. 

Diets that have you buy prepared food will always backfire because, they are not teaching you what to prepare, how much to prepare and how to empower you to do the work that it takes to eat correctly.  Weight Watchers teaches you about portion size and what to eat but, it doesn’t explain the challenge of the task that lies ahead.

Losing weight is almost like a full time job.  Seeking help from a therapist can explore where and when you have a tendency to eat as well as beginning to understand how our culture taught us to use food for all kinds of reasons that aren’t related to its nutritive value. Unfortunately, the choices presented to us are not healthy at all.  Southern fried chicken, burgers and fries are our worst enemies even though they taste good, that’s part of the problem!

Keeping weight off takes extreme vigilance.  You have to you made that decision. If you do, it means weighing what you eat at home as well as restaurants. 

You have to begin to read labels.  Sugar takes a lot of forms i.e. corn syrup.  Even though artificial sweeteners don’t have sugar calories, they contain chemicals that are not healthy.  So weight loss means developing an awareness of what are healthy choices and what are not. You will be learning a whole new vocabulary.  Fat free, might not have fat but, are loaded with chemical substitutes.

It’s important to do a self analysis daily.  You have to stay away from sugar and white flour, junk food, bread and pasta while eating at least one third of protein in a daily diet.  Drinking large amounts of water throughout the day, 20 ounce bottles 4 or 5 times a day helps with cravings.  While seeing food in a different way we have to see the idea of physical activity as well.  Physical fitness is a very important aspect of keeping weight off.  Exercising 100 to 120 minutes 6 to 7 times per week is necessary.  This can include bike riding to the gym, water aerobics, an elliptical trainer or walking your dog.  Hobbies like gardening and others if done vigorously is also part of physical fitness. 

This doesn’t suggest that overweight individuals should give up on losing weight.  Instead, the solution might be on setting a realistic goal.  Remember there is always hope. You have to be willing to make it a job as well.

I am a Licensed Certified Social Worker/ Psychotherapist practicing locally, and have been in private practice since 1990.  I treat Individuals and couples. Feel free to contact me at juneburstein@gmail.com.