A recent study looked at how people perceive weight gain. Apparently, those people who associate weight loss with diet rather than exercise are more likely to achieve a significant result than those who associate loss with exercise. However why do we always find ourselves looking at how people lose weight rather than why people gain weight?
Eating for gratification
One personal trainer we used to know had an expression. Why reward yourself with food? Often backing this statement up with the assertion that you are not a dog, indicating there was something animal about eating for emotive reasons.
Yet we all do it. When we celebrate at Christmas, there’s food. From the moment you’re just one year old, your family are thrusting cake upon you and even at weddings there’s a three-course meal and let’s not even talk about eating on date night. Is it any wonder that if we eat when we are happy, then somewhere in our mind we have made enough associations to expect eating to cheer us up when we are sad?
Munching through the blues
Filling up your face when you are sad has become something of a cliché. From the broken short-term relationship fix of sitting on the sofa with a tub of chocolate ice cream of the 20 something woman through to the constant fill of curries and greasy breakfasts of the unfulfilled middle-aged man these images are almost unquestionable staples of our culture. It’s even said that the UK managed to get through the last recession or credit crunch, by chowing down on supermarket deals and fast meals. With so much acceptance of this behaviour how can you escape it?
The starting point
The most important thing to consider when changing your eating habits is the impact of sugar on your diet. In many cases just managing your sugar intake will stop the endless runs of biscuits, cakes and chocolate bars. Every time you eat sugar it simply makes you hungrier and you find yourself caught in a loop of satisfaction that has similarities with smoking and drinking. Reducing your sugar levels down to zero will soon have you in a place where appetite can be more easily managed with the spell of sugar broken.
Different strategies
Feeling good about yourself is important. Belonging to groups, getting involved with social activities and finding self-respect are essential to having a support network for the times when emotions run high. Combine this with getting a positive self-image through achieving weight loss and raising your energy levels through the gym and sports activities gives you the firm foundation for life and achievement. By going to exercise every week and seeing the changes in how you feel and function you’re beginning to get on the right track.
How we can help
Let the team of Personal Trainers at EMS Fitness Norwich help you with your plans and strategies for taking life in a different direction. Personal training can form the basis you need for gaining self-esteem and an attitude of achievement that will carry over into other areas of your life. Through this approach you can begin to understand that a stable emotional base is about developing internal values and self-esteem rather than using food for feelings.