Nearly everyone knows that the way to lose weight is by eating less and moving more, right? Well, this is not always true, as there are other factors, like one’s hormonal functions and lifestyle, that affect weight loss. Those who have shed tons of weight can tell you that weight is much more than limiting your calorie intake and working out, as it involves a total lifestyle makeover. Additionally, it calls for a great mental challenge that requires a lot of strength, serious thinking, and emotional support. Your mind is the most significant obstacle to losing weight, as it influences how you eat, how you feel, and how you react, which all impact your weight management.
Are you wondering how your mind affects your weight-loss efforts, and what you can do to overcome it? Read on to get deeper into the discussion.
Anxiety affects your eating habits
You may have found yourself reaching for a second or third helping at the dinner table before a crucial meeting or discussion. Such behavior is referred to as stress eating and is brought about by anxiety. You should address it in good time, or else it could have adverse effects on you—either fueling food consumption or making you not eat. To some people, anxiety may lead them to be extra cautious with eating, and they end up not eating well, while others may find themselves overeating.
Your mind makes you label food “good” or “bad”
It is quite common to form some connotations when hearing about certain foods; for instance, when most people hear about a greasy burger, they have a negative impression of that food. Giving meanings to various foods makes us unknowingly and unintentionally label foods as either “good” or “bad,” thus influencing our attitude towards them. Since eating is devoid of morality, removing such labels on foods will make them have less power over us. As such, we will eat using logic and will be able to control our weight.
Depression impacts your eating
Usually, thought patterns that cause overeating are not very pronounced, but depression has a significant impact on food issues. Some studies link mood disorder to weight gain. Depression causes dramatic changes in mood and perception. It has different effects on different people—to some it manifests in overindulging, while it leads others to starve themselves. The advisable thing to do is to address the issues causing depression head-on by seeking professional assistance before your depression wreaks havoc on your health and weight.
Stress works against your weight-loss goals
With all the demands of life, you can be easily overly stressed, and if you include forcing yourself to do that workout, or trying to resist the crazy afternoon or mid-morning cravings, your stress can reach out-of-this-world levels. A stressed mind can somehow water down your great efforts. The feelings of insecurity about your body and eating habits can make you limit what and how much you eat. The result is that your body will slow down its processes, including metabolism, as it will get signals that you are starving and that it needs to save energy to survive. Additionally, the biological process stimulates an urge to eat more to survive, making you overeat intuitively, thus adding weight. You need to deal with your insecurity issues, possibly by seeking professional help, to avert such matters.
Stress kills your motivation to workout
According to an analysis of studies on stress and exercise habits carried out at Yale University, 75% of the reviews showed that people experiencing pressure tend to avoid physical activities and spend more of their time sedentary. Other studies have corroborated these findings, affirming that stress more often than not thwarts the efforts of individuals to have a physically active lifestyle. The sedentary lifestyle is mostly observed among older adults and those who are a bit new to their fitness routines. The tendency to stay away from working out when stressed, in addition to denying the affected person the chance to burn calories and lose weight, hinders them from getting the stress-reduction benefits of exercising.
The best thing would be to deal with the issues that are stressing you out, to do away with the tension, and to try to start and do those activities that you enjoy, such as swimming or jogging. Working out will reduce your stress while helping you to lose weight. Moreover, you can supplement your exercises and healthy nutrition with steroids from steroids-evolution.com to enhance muscle building and to achieve your fitness goals, including weight loss.
Your mind turns dieting into fat conservation
In the midst of the countless myths on weight loss, one thing has proven to be true beyond any reasonable doubt—the brain dislikes dieting. In a recent study on mice published in eLife, the online medical journal, researchers found that crucial brain cells are heavily involved in preventing the body from breaking down fat during periods of food scarcity. The researchers explained this phenomenon using the theory that human beings developed this trait during our ancestors’ days due to the need to survive famines. They added that nowadays, starving ourselves activates our fat-preservation mode. The researchers’ findings suggest that a group of brain neurons are tasked with controlling the appetite and energy expenditure, and can activate or deactivate the body to consume or save the calories depending on what is accessible and of use in the surrounding environment. When food is available, the neurons make us eat, and when there is a scarcity of food, they turn on our body’s saving mode to make us stop eating. All these have far-reaching effects on your weight loss efforts, and it is recommended to seek your nutritionist’s advice on proper feeding habits that will help deal with your weight.
Final thoughts
Your mind has the most significant influence on achieving your weight-loss goals, and as you can see from the discussion above, it can hinder your efforts to shed some pounds. Make a mental adjustment and deal with all your mind’s issues, and you will attain your goals.