7 Reasons People Fail At Weight Loss

This article is meant to be a starting point, not a manual. By looking at the top seven reasons why I see people fail at losing weight, maybe you'll see yourself, which can help you break the endless cycle of weight loss resistance:

Having a clear vision of what your weight loss goals are is critical to your success, but many people give up on their weight loss goals because they expect results that take time and perseverance. If this was the case for you in the past, it can leave you feeling too overwhelmed to do anything at all. You can overcome this paralysis by analysis by setting realistic, short-term goals that still push your comfort zones.

Eating should be enjoyable, but when the love of food is used as a coping mechanism during times of stress or sadness, it can turn unhealthy. If you're an emotional eater, dealing with the underlying emotions that fuel compulsive eating is essential. Mindfulness meditation can help you become aware of the body's true needs. Observing your thoughts and emotions, instead of mistaking yourself for them, allows you to break the habitual cycle of emotional eating and make rational choices.

You can't heal a body you hate. I often see patients who aren't able to get healthy and lose weight because of years of self-loathing. Unconscious assumptions about yourself, that you are not worthy of love or good things, is a lie. When these false beliefs go unaddressed, even if you had the body you always wanted, it would never be enough.

Shift your perspective on food. Instead of looking at how you can withhold your body from food as punishment for weight gain, start to ask yourself how you can heal your body with delicious, nourishing food as medicine. By chronically restricting food, you tell your body that it's in starvation survival mode. Quit making your body so great at storing fat!

I see many people with piles of exercise DVDs, weight loss products and fad diet books that promise "4 minute abs" or "1 pill a day to melt the fat away." The washboard abs and sculpted muscles on the covers feed the desperation to be fit. The minute you stop these unsustainable programs you gain all your weight back and then some. There are no quick fixes or magic pills to buy online. There is no replacement to finding out what works for you and sticking with it.

You have to stop seeing weight gain as a cause and start seeing it as a symptom of something else going on in the body and the mind. You have to get healthy to lose weight, not lose weight to get healthy. Sustainable weight loss will be a natural byproduct of regaining health. If you get healthy, you will look great on accident.

When you are struggling with these issues you could look at food and gain weight. This is not your fault. Clinically investigating these underlying causes of stubborn weight loss resistance gives people answers to their years of struggle. When you finally find out these root issues they can then be addressed.