7 Psychological Techniques That Will Help You Lose Weight

Weight is a concern of many people. Our society has been in charge of deifying the physical appearance and turning it into a personal value when in reality it is not, since we cannot demonstrate that anyone is superior or inferior than anyone simply by having a more or less graceful physique.

This constant concern to fit into established canons, and thus gain acceptance from our environment, is partly responsible for a multitude of psychological disorders that revolve around an ideal figure, such as anorexia or bulimia.

Being overweight almost always hides an emotional background and it is in these cases when food pretends to be the band-aid that momentarily covers the problems that we do not know how to manage in any other way. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate cognitive, emotional and behavioral techniques that help us to self-control.

Forget about the “miracle methods” since they almost always end up being a scam and the only thing you will achieve is to spend money and demotivate yourself when you realize that you are not getting results, or that they pose a danger to your health.

The only way to lose weight is to follow an individualized diet prepared by a professional, complemented with a good portion of physical exercise. The simplest, but the most complicated at the same time. Do you want to know how to get it? The truth is that psychology can help us in this way.

Losing weight from psychology

Psychology is a discipline that can offer us a multitude of techniques aimed at achieving greater control of our impulses. Being overweight is often the consequence of an impulsive way of acting that leads us to rob the pantry  or of the absence of an adequate organization that allows us to exercise frequently. In addition, seeing that our weight increases the normal thing is that our morale suffers, abandoning us even more to our fate, to our impulses.

To cut this circle, the first step is to be ready for action. That is, be clear about what you want to change and be willing to use all your energy to achieve it. It will not be easy, far from it, but you will feel enormously fulfilled if you reach your goal.

Smaller plates

Many times we eat and eat until the plate is finished simply because it is full, but perhaps we are not even hungry. It seems obvious, but if you want to lose weight you have to put aside those huge plates that you have in the kitchen and buy smaller plates. In this way, you will only be able to serve yourself the amount of food that fits the container and no more.

You can repeat later. However, having to go to the kitchen, serve yourself again, and eat a second course will make you rethink it much more.

Shopping on a full stomach

If you go to the supermarket and do the shopping hungry, it is very likely that you will end up buying hypercaloric food, such as industrial pastries, chocolate, etc. It is better to do the shopping right after eating and being satiated so that it is our brain, and not our stomach, that guides us. In the same way, if we can avoid having this type of food at home, it will be much easier not to be tempted.

No low-calorie diets

Although it is not advisable to buy hypercaloric foods, it is not a good idea to eat a low-calorie diet in which you are left hungry. If you are not satiated after meals, it is very likely that you will fall into the binge and it is even more likely that that binge is full of hypercaloric foods. So, eat healthy, but don’t go hungry.

Tolerance of emotions

Food is often a cover for our negative emotions. They suppose a negative and positive reinforcement, which makes that every time we feel bad, we turn to the refrigerator or the pantry. In this way, the emotion decreases and we feel better.

The problem is that this improvement only lasts for a moment, to later move on to guilt. Therefore, we must learn to tolerate emotions, to embrace them as part of us and not try to flee from them by passing them to the stomach and directing them with guilt.

Eat six meals a day

The idea is not to stay hungry and gorge ourselves to compensate. Just as it is not advisable to eat a hypocaloric diet, it is not advisable to eat a few times a day, since we can fall into snacking between meals. It is better to eat six well-established meals so that there are no gaps where we can get hungry and temptations appear.

No forbidden foods

Everything forbidden ends up becoming desirable, so we should not ban any food. This does not mean that we have a free hand to eat them whenever we feel like it, but it does mean that we allow ourselves to take it at least once a week. In this way, we will get rid of the bug and it will not be so appetizing.

Rational thoughts about food

Many of the foods that our palate and brain like best are the least healthy. A good strategy is to maintain a rational internal dialogue with ourselves about the foods we select for consumption.

For example, if we want to eat a sandwich of some sausage, we can send to our brain the message that it is an unhealthy food, made of poor quality meat scraps, mixed with sugar that the only thing that can give us is a momentary pleasure . Do you want to eat it?

Along with these strategies, you should never miss a time for daily physical exercise, good hydration, surround yourself with a quality social circle and face problems with integrity, looking for functional solutions. If we are able to integrate these techniques into our daily lives, sooner than we think what seems very difficult today will end up becoming a habit.