Big question: What keeps us from losing weight
It all starts in early spring with "funny" demotivators with Robert Downey Jr. The warmer, the more statuses in the tape about how someone almost pulled out from the contemplation of women's legs, whose harmony is inversely proportional to the length of the chosen skirt. Then some of your girlfriends with the 34th European size of clothes will surely post a "wildly hilarious" video with a plump pole dance dancer. And in the closed women's community, a person who weighs ten kilograms less than you will be noted about pinpoint liposuction. In other words, it is not necessary to monitor fashionable photo shoots all day long and compare yourself with the models in order to begin to experience a mixture of anxiety and guilt for imperfection by the beginning of summer, regardless of your physique. Feelings are bad, but you really won't complain to anyone - there is a risk of running into a categorical opinion that all this rhetoric is for wimps, and modern girls live with youth, energy, they say no to sweets, they run around “dozentochku” three times a week and press the press every day. Or from such “sufferings” they will simply be dismissed, as from a capricious child: “Is everything OK at all for you, what are you inventing?” And together it is all very bad.
Contrary to the opinion of those who were brought up on the Soviet "Moidodyr" or passed a drill in the best traditions of the sergeants of the American army, shame is the worst motivator. And if you, solely out of the best of intentions, constantly tell your friend about her excess weight in a refined way “enough to eat!”, You not only become the source of her neurosis, but also push her off the path to harmony. Candidate of psychological sciences and the author of the project “The Advocate of the Fat” Marina Novikova-Grund is sure that shame prevents losing weight. This is such a strong feeling that it is able to drown out the voice of the mind, which would help us act rationally and adhere to reasonable principles when choosing lifestyle and nutrition. Moreover, there are many examples of frustration due to feelings of shame, which cause an even greater body mass gain. It begins with a story when a full person is embarrassed to go to a fitness club (“there are all so athletic and fit!”), And ends with night trips to the refrigerator to “seize” a feeling of displeasure with themselves. Various eating disorders (for example, anorexia and bulimia) also feed on shame.
Another popular strategy for gaining harmony is to perceive excess weight as an enemy. In a recent article by Roma Super on how to beat cancer, there is no half of the dose of hatred and aggression that comes from popular “weight loss motivating” texts in relation to a deadly disease. "Fat-is-dead" - the name of the blog, from which "Ideal Body School" later emerged, #sekta, unequivocally declares its relation to excess weight. At first glance, it seems that this is all cool working: the enemy is designated, the goal is clear, it is necessary to act on defeat - quickly, quickly, quickly. Those who cope, celebrate the victory of successful self in instagrame. However, if you start to understand, it becomes clear that kilograms of fat is not some abstract substance, which turned out to be part of our body through a mad experiment of a cunning scientist. Overweight is a certain part of our life baggage, the result of our joys and sorrows, illnesses and experiences, weaknesses and moments of triumph, moments of loneliness and cheerful revels with friends. It is necessary to begin to feel disgust for their extra pounds, as it turns out that at the same time you are overwhelmed with hatred for yourself. This is familiar to those who have neuroses and fastidiousness towards their "inner fat" hidden under the cubes on their stomachs. Just as tobacco smoke annoys former smokers most of all, so someone else’s fullness often causes disgust to those who, in the process of losing weight, developed a sharp hatred for it.
There is another reason why a war with excess weight can turn into a mass grave of the best hopes. The winner of the "Educator 2013" award for the book "Stop, who leads? The biology of human behavior and other animals" Dmitry Zhukov devoted a series of lectures to the problem of how "uncontrolled stress" suppresses our will. We find ourselves in a state of such stress, when, with a very high motivation to achieve the goal, we find a lack of means to achieve it or our inability to use them effectively. It turns out that the more often we lose weight, the weaker the will to win becomes.
The only way to put in order not only your body, but also the way of thinking, is to accept your body as it is, to really love it and start taking care of it. There is an erroneous opinion that this is all tantamount to staying fat. However, everything is exactly the opposite. Dean Ornish, founder of the Research Institute of Preventive Medicine, a leading expert in combating diseases through lifestyle changes and diets, based on 20 years of research experience, assures that in order to lose weight effectively and without harm to health, find peace and begin to experience the joy of life. It is in such comfortable psychological conditions that it is easiest for a person to begin to lead a correct lifestyle, due to which, first of all, to become more healthy and, as a result, to start losing weight. At the same time, Ornish is convinced that the real disease is not obesity, but loneliness and depression.
But if you are hungry, it is as difficult to give up the eclair as forcing yourself to train.
How do we lose weight? Either due to a shortage of nutrients (eat less), or due to the waste of energy received (we are showing more activity). But if you are hungry, to give up the eclair is as difficult as forcing yourself to train. Therefore, Ornish calls for a type of food that makes you think not only about what to limit yourself (fat, simple carbohydrates - nothing new), but first and foremost about what you need to eat (complex carbohydrates, a lot of vegetables - also without sensations). In this case, Ornish proves, it is much easier to be in a state of peace of mind, to maintain a confident attitude towards weight loss, to feel good and stay healthy. At the same time, Ornish’s protein diets criticize both as a source of persistent bad mood due to lack of carbohydrates, and in terms of harm to health: Atkins Institute studies found that 70% have constipation, 65% have bad breath and 54% - headaches. There are also several known deaths of 16-year-old girls after a couple of weeks on Atkins due to kidney problems.
Well, okay, you might say, we agree with everything, but in the formula "eat more vegetables, be happy with yourself, be happy - and lose weight" is more or less clear only about vegetables. And what will help to get rid of depression, loneliness or self-hatred? “Altruism, compassion, ability to forgive, desire to come to the rescue, friendship, intimacy, spiritual practices like yoga and meditation” are clinically proven effective means “prescribed” by Dr. Orinish to all his patients. In other words, be kinder to yourself and those around you. Contrary to popular misconceptions, from this lose weight. And the next time, installing another application to strengthen the press, look at practical guidelines for meditation like Headspace.
cover photo via Shutterstock