7 minute read
Overcoming Dieting Depression
from March 2020
by Amy Lemieux Gò0dNews for Health & Fitness W henever you’re dieting, there’s only one thing that you’re focused on—shedding the pounds. Everything else suddenly feels burdensome and annoying.
You hate having to give up your favorite foods. You whimper at the idea of drastically reducing your portion sizes, and you’re left feeling desperate, sad, and anxious about whether or not you’ll ever get to where you want to be in terms of weight loss goals. Paul exhorts us in 1 Corinthians 9:27 to bring our bodies under subjection. Discipline has to be exercised. The more you practice something, the better you become at it. Healthy living is no different.
Advertisement
Practice it every day! Do it even when you don’t want to. You have to be your own motivational coach—no one else can do this for you. There will days when it doesn’t bother you and days when you get so angry about your weight that you throw your hands up in the air and say, “I quit!”
24 // March 2020 by Amy Mendez 24 // May 2018 About The Author Amy Mendez is a life coach, mentor, personal trainer, and a nutritionist at Results Unlimited in Calhoun, Ga. Be Beach Body in 8 Weeks H ere we are again! This is that time of the year where people start getting serious about getting into shape, looking forward to that beach body to make its debut. But, don’t wait until two weeks before your yearly trip to the beach to decide “now is the time to dial it in.” Give yourself a reasonable timeline to make it happen. Plan ahead for your beach body by strategically preparing for at least eight to twelve weeks. Now is the time to up your intensity in the gym and tighten up your diet. Be determined that this year is your year. Change your perception of how you view your “program” of losing weight. When you call it a “program” you set yourself to fail because you are preparing your mind for an end date, at which point you plan to return to your previous life style that got you here in the first place. If you want to keep off your weight loss change your mind in how you view your “program”. View it as a life style change.
Make changes that won’t set you up to fail by reducing too many calories too fast. Keep yourself from getting bored in the gym by switching up your routine and challenging yourself. Don’t get complacent and just go through the motions.
Drink plenty of water. Carry a gallon jug around with you throughout the day and have it finished before bedtime. This way you ensure adequate water intake. The gallon jug takes the guess work out of asking yourself “How much water did I take in”?
Here are eight-week tips for your fat-burn plan. Tip 1: Cut your carbs by half for six days. On the seventh day eat a high carb day. I usually consider this the day for my cheat meal.
Tip 2: Leave your carb intake the same but add 30-40 minutes cardio before eating your first meal of the day. Fasted cardio has been proven to burn more fat. Cardio allows you to push through plateaus without having to alter caloric intake too much. Reducing calories too much or too fast can cause your weight loss to backfire. Be sure you’re not missing meals. Tip 3: Up your weight training intensity by adding 10-15 reps to what you are already doing. Also add some supersets and burn out sets to your routine. During this week and through the remainder of your prep, move to and from each exercise at a faster pace. Avoid resting too long and don’t get caught up in casual conversation. Remember you’re on a mission!
Tip 4: Eliminate carbs from your last meal of the day. But still eat your protein and veggies. This will help to speed up your fat loss.
Tip 5: Add a second session of cardio 30-40 minutes in the evening. This will really boost your fat burning and cut off more pounds at a faster rate.
Tip 6: Don’t miss breakfast! Your body has been fasting all night and possibly early morning if you did fasted cardio. Be sure to eat a full meal of 30-40 grams of protein with a complex carb like oatmeal. Don’t do meal replacements for breakfast if you can.
Tip 7: Eat 5-6 meals a day. Most dieters will decrease the amount of daily meals in an attempt to reduce calories. Most people have the mentality of only eating one of two times daily, but that mentality will crash your weight loss goals fast. Tip 8: Eliminate junk food – Junk food offers nothing but empty calories. There’s no nutritional value in snack foods like chips, sweets, and French fries. An occasional hamburger or a slice of pizza on the other hand can be a benefit when you’re dieting, but not on a regular basis.
Stick to these simple weight-loss tips and watch the fat melt away!
Amy Lemieux is a life coach, mentor, personal trainer, and a nutritionist at Results Unlimited in Calhoun, Georgia. About The Author You can have the most perfect nutrition and exercise programs imaginable—and implementing them day after day without fail. But without the right frame of mind, you’ll eventually falter, and this can be devastating.
For most people, men and women alike, dieting is a ritual that they repeat year after year. It’s not a daily or monthly commitment yet. It’s simply a process they put themselves through every year.
Every time we fall off the wagon, it sets us up for deep depression. You see yourself as a failure. I often tell people, “Don’t take it personally. You are not a failure; it’s just that what you are doing is not working.”
You have to be determined to make a permanent lifestyle change and not have a “quick fix” mindset. It’s short-lived because you’re looking at it like it’s a chore with an end date on it. Your body, your mind, and your emotions are going to resist you. That’s why the Apostle Get Rid of Extremist Thoughts
Dieters are desperate. Whether you have 5 pounds to lose or 500, your mindset can be the same. And when you’re desperate, you talk yourself into taking drastic measures to get the weight off. Don’t do that; when you do, you set yourself up to fail. The extremist mindset never results in long-term weight loss. It simply causes you to fail repeatedly. You want to lose the weight and keep it off for good. Set and Celebrate Realistic Success Goals
It’s good to have goals. In fact, it can actually help you get ahead with your weight loss efforts. But when you start creating ridiculously hard goals like what you might see on The Biggest Loser on TV (25 pounds in a week), it will make you feel defeated every time you can’t achieve that goal.
Set small goals to begin with so that you’re celebrating constantly. Goals like “Eat five fruits and vegetables a day” or “Lose 1 pound this week” set you up for success. Goals like, “Lose 10 pounds this week” or “Eat 800 calories a day” are a recipe for disaster.
You can also set exercise goals, but make sure they’re doable. If you go beyond your goals, then GREAT! But it won’t make you label yourself as a failure if you can’t.
Dieting depression is a real problem, and it can happen to everyone if you’re not careful. You can put yourself in that dark place if you allow outside influences in—or if you beat yourself up for every single thing, so be aware of your mindset at all times.
Moriah Medina Community Outreach Coordinator
• Personal Care • Chores & Errands • Medication Reminders • Meal Preparation
Call for an immediate free in-home visit with safety check.
706.622.3065 moriah@comforcare.com
