Why lose weight is so hard?

Losing weight is hard because there are so many factors involved. The U.S. surgeon general says “for each individual body, weight is a combination of genetic, metabolic, behavioral, environmental, cultural and socioeconomic influences”. This means that when we are trying to lose weight we need to observe all of these components, including the genetic ones, although we cannot use that as an excuse, as the genetic factors only compose less than 15% of all influences.

Having said that, there are plenty of people who have successfully achieved that goal. Thus, losing weight is only difficult if we are not totally committed to achieving our weight goal.

If someone put a gun to your head and told you that they would kill you if your didn’t lose 50 pounds, would you let them kill you? Once you have decided you really want to lose weight and become healthy and vibrant nothing in the world could remove you from that goal. You are truly only ONE decision away from achieving your goal. The mind set you get through that decision will help you overcome ALL challenges along the way. Some of these challenges are:

1. Food cravings, food sensitivities and allergies: These can be easily healed through cleansing and detoxifying as well as through a food elimination process and enzymes.

2. Emotional obstacles may represent a challenge in the beginning for changing habits takes time and conscious effort. Unless there are serious health issues involved, weight loss is actually 80% psychology and only 20% knowing what to do. This is why one of the steps in the eightstep process of Diet for a New Life is “Emotional Mastery”.

3. Social and cultural challenges: Our culture does not support us in losing weight. We are social beings and we are constantly being bombarded with messages that encourage us to consume this and that which ultimately leads to an unhealthy lifestyle. The result is obvious: every other person in our world dies of a Heart attack or coronary heart disease and every third person dies of cancer. In addition to our own unhealthy eating and lifestyle habits, our friends offer us unhealthy foods and the media feeds us profit driven unhealthy messages about what we should be eating, drinking, wearing, smoking and thinking. We basically have developed a society where normal foods and lifestyle are unhealthy. This is not because our friends or the media are bad. It basically comes down to how successful we are as a society.

4. The Power of a Directed Mind: It is equally important to look at what goes on inside our own heads to discover if we have contradictory messages that are preventing us from losing weight or keeping it off. An example of a contradictory message is a woman who was abused as a child will very often be unable to keep weight off. Gaining weight may have been a protection mechanism to look ugly to the abuser. Losing weight and becoming attractive would be in opposition to her need to protect herself. In order to keep weight off she would have to know at a subconscious level that the abuser is no longer in a position to hurt her and that as an adult she has other means available to protect herself that she did not have as a child. Emotional growing up is a crucial ingredient to weight success. Contradictory messages are not always so dramatic but frequently are just as powerful as this example. Thus, losing weight is often hard because we are sabotaging ourselves in our minds and we can change that.

1. Enhance our metabolism through exercise;
   
2. Cleanse and detoxify our bodies to allow for healing of food sensitivities and cravings;
   
3. Change our unhealthy eating behaviors and habits;
   
4. Create a more supportive environment including changing our peer group if needed;
   
5. Make choices that may have social and cultural implications in order to live a life of meaning and fulfillment;
   
6. Make choices that impact our finances such as changing a job if we are not happy with the current one;
   
7. Grow and evolve emotionally and spiritually;
   
8. Create and live in happy and fulfilled relationships.

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