Top 5 psychological obstacles to weight loss, according to people in the trenches

What’s the number one most difficult obstacle to losing weight?

The hardest part – the real kicker – is sticking to your plan, right?

It’s the patience, perseverance and self-discipline. It’s the wanting and the commitment to losing weight and becoming as healthy as you know you can be. For most people, losing the proper amount of weight will take weeks, months or even years.

What will keep you going?

The AHA Weight Loss Coaching group has discovered that when we address one or more of five psychological obstacles – all other obstacles can be brought into alignment.

If we fail to address the following issues where applicable, then losing weight may remain forever out of reach.

What prevents that all-systems-go desire and discipline to get fit and healthy?

AHA Weight Loss Group members have shared the following:

1. Fear of being thin

Some group members have reported that as they begin to lose weight, they become afraid. What will happen? How will people react to me? Do I want all the attention?

This is a common experience. To resolve it, we need to acknowledge and express the fear. Then, we must adapt. If being fit and slender is scary for you, then you need to develop the skills to manage situations as they arise. This can only be done by addressing the fear.

2. Emotional bondage to friends and family

Interestingly, some of us feel bonded to our heavy weight because of ties to family and friends. One group member summed it up this way:

In my life, every time I have lost weight, my mother distances herself from me. When I am overweight like her, she accepts me. She’s obviously not comfortable with me when I am healthy, due to her own issues. But my conflict is that if I lose weight, I lose my relationship with my mother.

This is powerful. Relationships often have to be reset when one person changes. This must be done with thoughtfulness and care.

3. Self-sabotage

There an infinite ways we can sabotage ourselves. If you’ve had a hard time losing weight due to lack of discipline, then self-sabotage is surely in the mix.

Self-sabotage occurs when you do the opposite of what makes you happy and healthy. It may be the universal human weakness, as millions of people are unhappy and unhealthy, even though they have other options.

The hardest part of about self-sabotage is recognizing it. Watch this free and enlightening video to learn what how self-sabotage works and how to end it.

4. “Ah, Screw It!”

Big one here. Nearly every member of the AHA group has this tendency. We say screw it to our health and fitness. It’s like we have an inner rebel that just wants to defy expectations and break the rules.

When we give ourselves a structured plan, the Rebel can only take so much before launching a massive inner protest.

This inner Rebel is powerful and must be reckoned with. Interestingly, most people are only vulnerable to the Rebel at certain points during the day.

5. Anticipated failure

Futility. A sense of despair and futility can be a powerful self-fulfilling prophecy. Those with this issue report that even as they set their weight loss goals, they “know” it is all pointless. They have failed time and time again.

Why would this time be any different?

Because this time they are dealing with their inner futility. They are confronting it, learning about it and developing skills and support to move beyond it.

Mike Bundrant is author of the book Your Achilles Eel: Discover and Overcome the Hidden Cause of Negative Emotions, Bad Decisions and Self-Sabotage.

For more information about the AHA Weight Loss Group, click here. If you like this article, then like my Facebook Page to keep up with all my writing.

About the author:
Watch the free video The AHA! Process: An End to Self-Sabotage and discover the lost keys to personal transformation and emotional well-being that have been suppressed by mainstream mental health for decades.

The information in this video has been called the missing link in mental health and personal development. In a world full of shallow, quick-fix techniques, second rate psychology and pharmaceutical takeovers, real solutions have become nearly impossible to find. Click here to watch the presentation that will turn your world upside down.

Mike Bundrant is co-founder of the iNLP Center and host of Mental Health Exposed, a Natural News Radio program.

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