From Dieting to Health, A Different Perspective
From Dieting to Health, A Different Perspective on Weight Loss
Written by: Rachel M. Lopez
The concept of a THINNER “MORE” beautiful you is embedded in the advertising campaigns of an endless number of products. As we know – our society is focused on looking good and industry is focused on providing every imaginable drink, book, magazine and advertisement to “help” you achieve success.
The challenge is not in being thinner or more beautiful. The challenge is in being healthier. My goal is to get my clients to understand that if health exists, weight loss occurs naturally. This is not meant only from a heart health, joints, cholesterol perspective but in the attitude, habits and lifestyle that prevents us from getting there.
I encourage clients to work toward a healthy and happy outlook on life. I believe that in order to sustain healthy weight loss you need to be happy. The start of this process is awareness of what is unhealthy in your life. More importantly, why are certain aspects of your life unhealthy? This does not mean being aware that you should not eat that hamburger. This means being conscious of why you ate the hamburger, fries, onion rings and dessert all in a twenty minute timeframe. Additionally, the focus should be on how having done that effects your life. The loss of energy and lethargy that ensues is a good example of an effect.
Plainly, this is about focusing on the unhealthy habits and the reasons for them! In general, we know what is unhealthy. So the question to ask is – “What drives the behavior”? Is it boredom, stress, grief, anger, sadness, low self esteem? When you address the underlying issues the rest goes away.
You need to make the connection of what you do, why you do it and how it affects you.
The last part is the most critical as the effects this has on your life will be the driving force behind your success.
Our list of top ten reasons for weight loss should be modified to focus on how our success will make us feel and NOT how others view us. Instead of thinking that losing weight should be so that XX (replace with a person’s name) likes us – We should be focused in liking ourselves. I think you get the picture.
Now faced with this different perspective on weight loss you have many questions:
What do I do now? OR Where do I begin?
I think the biggest question that most people do not want to ask themselves is:
“Do I have what it takes to do this for myself and my life”? The answer is – YES YOU DO. The only thing stopping you is you. Remembering that you are beautiful and perfect just the way you are is the first step. The second step is knowing that you can do anything you set your mind to. Trust me you can. If you don’t believe me think about how far you have come already.
With all of life’s twists and turns you are here. That in itself is pretty amazing.