Weight loss is an issue that interests many people. Sometimes the overall health depends on weight loss, and sometimes it is merely a matter of appearance. Whether a person wants to lose five or 30 pounds, weight loss is almost never easy.
Understanding the weight gain
The main element in weight loss is the way a person eats. People who gain undesired weight, or who are obese, have become that way through different processes. It can be said that there are three basic types of eating - overeating, restrictive eating and instinctive eating.
Overeating simply means eating more that what is necessary. Sometimes people eat not because they are hungry but because it is meal time or because the food looks good. Some people eat out of boredom or because they are depressed. In all these cases, when there is no actual hunger, eating is considered to be unnecessary and can be qualified as overeating. The same term applies to eating even after the stomach is full and the appetite is satisfied.
Restrictive eating means controlling the weight through dieting. A person on a diet eats only certain types of food or eats smaller portions of food.
Instinctive eating means that a person does not struggle with weight and only eats when hungry. It may be hard to think of a person who is an instinctive eater, but babies and young children are a good example.
In any case, people who want to lose weight need to reconsider their eating habits and to understand what weight loss really means. Here are some steps that can help along the way.
Seven steps towards weight loss
The first step is to stop believing that a perfect diet will solve all the problems. There is no such thing as a perfect diet and the answer to losing pounds lies only within the person wishing to lose them.
The second step is to always ask the question “Am I hungry?” before eating. This will put a stop to binge eating and overeating.
Knowing that certain foods will always be there and that there is no need to overeat on them is the third step.
The fourth step means stopping eating when the stomach is full. The plate does not always need to be clean.
Step five means learning what psychological, emotional or environmental triggers are responsible for the hunger and for the increased appetite. Recognizing those triggers is the best way to resist them.
Step six is directly associated with the step five, in a sense that a person needs to learn how to manage emotional factors that lead to eating and to solve them in a way that does not include food.
The final step is the most important and it includes understanding that nobody is perfect and, more importantly, that no one has to be perfect. It is simply not possible and it certainly is not necessary.
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