Weighty Issues: Sidestep Diet Sabotage
How many times have you or someone you know gone on a diet, lost some weight and started looking and feeling better only to go off the diet before reaching your goal weight?
By Nutricise columnist Michele Lifland, L.C.S.W.
(Nutricise) — For many people, just about every time they're on a weight-loss plan they reach a point at which they begin to cheat. Why do so many of us give up on our diets in such predictable patterns?
Often people sabotage their diets because they've set unrealistic expectations for themselves. They either choose diets that involve too much personal sacrifice (forcing them to do without foods they believe they can't forgo) or they choose to diet because of something they hope to gain from weight loss, aside from the actual shedding of pounds. In either case, these unrealistic expectations place too much pressure on both the dieter and the diet, which ultimately leads to self-sabotage.
To break the unproductive cycle, you can benefit greatly by doing some self-investigation before beginning a weight-loss regimen. When you're clear about why you want to lose weight and what you need in order to be successful on a weight-loss plan, you're much more likely to see the diet through to your goal weight.
For example, many people on high-protein diets report that they experience low energy and carbohydrate cravings. They have a taste for a carbohydrate-rich food to satisfy their cravings and end up going off the diet entirely. Only these individuals can really know why they sabotage their diets, but had they been clearer about their reasons for losing weight and the kind of structure and support they require to stick with the weight-loss program all the way to their goals, it's likely they would choose a different diet that wouldn't require them to give up so many of the foods they love.
People who lack personal clarity will be more vulnerable to diet sabotage. If you want to avoid the pitfalls of starting another diet you can't follow through on, ask yourself what you really want out of each day–and what you want out of your life in the bigger picture– before you begin. This will help you set realistic expectations, which will lead you to diet success.
Michele Lifland, L.C.S.W., works in both private and group practice. She founded a private eating disorders clinic in 1983 and developed the Creative Mind Management counseling concept in 1998. She specializes in eating disorders and problem management.
