Mind & Body

Change Your Behavior For Consistent Weight Loss

May 15, 2009
By J White

You are all ready to start your weight loss plan. You mapped out what you are going to do and you have even prepared your meals. Yet despite your best behavior, you find yourself overeating. Why did you do it?

Simply put, you have not learned how to successfully change your behavior. As important a factor as this is when dieting, this turns out to be the least addressed as well as least understood part of weight loss. The truth is that the better you become at learning how to change your behavior, the easier it will become for you to stick to your diet.

And yes, on the surface, changing your behavior appears to be an easy thing to do. After all, how many times have you heard that you just need to stop eating as much and you will lose weight. However, for those of you who have tried know that this is easier said than done.

But if you have tried and failed, you should not beat yourself up over this. You need to realize that for most people, changing ones behavior doesn’t occur by just telling yourself to do something new. If it were that elementary, dieting as well as life would be easy.

Just like you plan your vacation, you have to plan how to change your behavior. This will requires some effort on your part, so get ready to do a little work. And if this unnerves you, just remind yourself that nothing in life that is worthwhile is free.

But before you can plan, you need to become aware of what triggers your overeating. The following are some factors that will help you determine areas in your life that cause you to eat too much. By becoming aware of these factors, you will become better equipped to map out and apply strategies to help yourself change your behavior.

Overeating Triggers

Time of Day When the triggers occur is an important component in understanding overeating. For many this event occurs in the evening or late at night. Since you can’t avoid time, your first assignment is to become aware of when the feeling hits and make a note of it.

Emotions Emotions are a big factor when it comes to overeating. It’s not uncommon to see someone take out a big carton of ice cream when they are sad, or to have a big dinner to celebrate a joyous occasion. This may seem normal, but they play a big role into why you continue to overeat.

Activities Do you munch when you are at work? How about when you are watching television? If so, then these activities are your triggers.

Social Situations Whether you are going out for a night on the town, or just coming from Sunday worship, these social situations may cause you to want to eat. To deal with it, start by simply becoming aware of these situations.

Foods Does the smell or sight of certain foods increase your temptation to eat? I’m going to go out on a limb and say yes. All joking aside though, the more of these things that you become aware of, the better you will eventually be able to deal with them.

Physical Factors Do you turn to food if your are in pain or maybe just fatigued? It is not surprising if you do. Physical factors can easily draw you towards “comfort foods.”

Changing Your Behavior

Once you complete this assignment to become aware of your triggers, you need some techniques to help change your behavior. That topic will be covered in the next article.

Share and Enjoy: