The right attitude or losing weight with the power of thought. Weight loss using NLP How to psychologically program for weight loss

There is a special psychology of losing weight, which is a limiting factor in losing weight. It creates a negative attitude that disrupts eating behavior and puts up conditional barriers, which are often no easier to overcome than physical ones. Psychosomatics plays an important role among the reasons that allow excess weight to accumulate, so many experts advise starting to lose weight based specifically on psychological aspects.

Psychological reasons

Among the factors influencing the psychology of weight loss and inhibiting the process of losing excess weight are the following:

Eating large amounts of food is a kind of punishment for failed attempts to realize oneself in any area. Example: a person who has not been able to build a career as a leader believes that he is worthless and does not have the strength to cope with life’s difficulties. To confirm this conviction, he does not watch his figure;
auto-training is also a powerful tool in the psychology of weight loss. Internal programming of oneself for failure, constantly repeating to oneself that nothing will work out, uncertainty about success can not only be projected on appearance, but also plunge a person into depression;
excess weight may be a consequence of imitation of some object. This could be a cartoon character whose image is firmly stuck in the subconscious, or a popular singer. The desire to be like the character is also manifested in the fact that a person does not want to lose weight;
losing weight, like gaining weight, is often used by many people as an expression of protest. Example: a fat girl doing art, focusing on her shortcomings, most likely wants to draw attention to her creativity, removing gender aspects into the background that allow her to make her way in society;
The psychology of weight loss can be influenced by parental attitudes. Even in childhood, many people hear reproachful remarks about the fact that they need to finish eating their food. Parallels are often drawn with physical characteristics - a boy will be strong if he finishes a bowl of porridge, and a girl will be beautiful;
another reason may follow from the previous one - the mentality of poor families differs in many respects from more affluent ones in that the former strive to compensate for the lack of luxury with quantity. This gives rise to tables laden with food, huge portions and reproaches towards those who refuse supplements;
many refuse to lose weight due to satisfying their partner’s requests - a jealous husband takes out his anger on his wife, so she has to look less attractive, they resort to giving up cosmetics and being overweight;
delicious food is a kind of “reward” - for hard work, for a task successfully completed. The problem appears when the importance of merit is already exaggerated, and rewarding oneself with a sweet prize still takes place;
Often losing weight is associated with an unfavorable life, it is a symbol of exhaustion and material lack, so for many, large body weight is combined with a high position in society.

Psychosomatics of excess weight

The desire to lose weight and the inability to achieve the goal is always accompanied by stress and associated illnesses. But often a person tries to find not only negative aspects in his situation, but also positive ones, thereby protecting himself from unnecessary actions, justifying failures and lack of will.

Thus, the impossibility of losing weight is represented in the subconscious by the following advantages:

completeness seems to be a kind of “shell” in which one can hide from the fluctuations and stress associated with interaction with society;
weight compensates for the lack of physical strength;
You can blame life’s failures on fatness;
a person with excess body weight can play on the feelings of loved ones, causing sympathy;
increase in social status.

Many of the listed factors, being primarily aspects of the psychology of losing weight, slow down the process and neutralize the results of strict diets, provoking a breakdown. Psychosomatics also manifests itself in the process of losing weight through protection from external irritants: fatness helps to hide true feelings and hide them behind thick armor.

The founder of the self-help movement, Louise Hay, claims that it is possible to cope with fears on your own. To do this you need:

recognize the problem (obesity, excess weight);
determine the reasons;
think about the way out of it (accept yourself or start acting);
start making a decision - understand your responsibility for yourself, accept life with all its positive and negative sides, realize safety from the outside world and feel the opportunity to make changes on your own.

Weight loss techniques

There are various techniques aimed at restoring proper diet, using the psychology of losing weight. Many of them are based on hypnosis or other methods of influencing the subconscious and brain.

According to the NLP system

Neurolinguistic programming (NLP) is based on the principles of self-hypnosis and transferring to oneself the experiences of more successful and physically or materially attractive people. There is NLP for weight loss, it is built on non-verbal (books, exercises) and verbal (seminars, trainings) practices of self-confident individuals. According to NLP, every action must be performed consciously, with a clear understanding of the consequences.

The psychology of weight loss according to NLP is based on visual images that must be associated with junk food - they must cause disgust. These visualizations need to be carefully worked out - outlined in detail in the mind, described verbally, or even sketched. As a result, there should be a strong association of unhealthy food with images that cause rejection and rejection.

Allen Carr technique

The English writer in his book “The Easy Way to Lose Weight” builds the concept of simple and at the same time quite effective weight loss. Touching upon psychology, the author argues that the diet of an ordinary person should only contain food that does not require additional heat treatment or improvement with seasonings, spices and sauces. In other words, you only need to eat what enters the stomach in its original form - vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts, herbs. The author draws analogies with animals - for the functioning of the body, the products that they consume in their original form are sufficient for them. Carr explains the harm from processed foods scientifically - both meat and milk take a long time to digest in the intestines, leaving harmful decay products.

Technique of Jean-Philippe Zermati

The doctor believes that if you really want some product (even a harmful one), then in this way the body gives a signal about the lack of some substance, and it is necessary to make up for this deficiency. Having received what you want, the body will adapt to proper nutrition. In order to develop awareness in your head, Zermati suggests performing two simple exercises:

For 4 days, replace breakfast with your favorite sweet - let it be a piece of pie or cake. Pay maximum attention to eating food, without being distracted by extraneous irritants, chewing each piece thoroughly.
After this, follow the same principle for the next 4 days, but replacing lunch with sweets.

As a result, the weight will not increase, and the person losing weight will want to make up for the lack of nutrients with vegetables and fruits. Zermati advises introducing the rule of thoroughly chewing foods into a constant practice - do not eat while watching movies or while running, devote time only to the meal, focusing only on it.

Psychological techniques for losing weight

In addition to those discussed, there are many more weight loss methods that involve human psychology. The following are the most effective of them.

Reducing the volume of the plate helps in losing weight. Small dishes can cope with one of the aspects of psychology - when it is difficult for a person to leave uneaten food. According to scientists, blue color reduces appetite. Therefore, small blue plates can be excellent helpers in losing weight.
A typical three-course meal can be divide into three small portions by reducing the intervals between meals. Thus, without sacrificing any of the menu items, you can speed up your metabolism.
Reducing the share of junk food. If you eat not a whole cake, but only half of it, you can reduce the amount of sugar and at the same time set yourself up for the positive thought that there is still a portion of the treat left.
It is recommended to control yourself in another way - divide the harmful sweetness into several parts, leaving a small portion on hand. Example: break a chocolate bar into several parts: leave 2 pieces at work, put 2 in the freezer, eat 2 as a light snack, and put the remaining 2 in your purse.
All the laws of psychology are immediately forgotten when an attack of hunger approaches. To protect yourself from overeating unhealthy foods, it is recommended go shopping on a full stomach- this way you won’t want to sweep everything off the shelves and use it later at the most inopportune moment.
The visual component also helps to restructure the psychology of losing weight. Many people are used to storing sweets and cookies on the table in vases. If sweets do not catch your eye, then there is a greater chance of not remembering them at all and don’t eat a piece of candy every time you pass by the kitchen.
It's no secret that manufacturers resort to various tricks to force the buyer to purchase their product. Such tricks also include bright packaging - companies try to use bright and unusual colors and packaging to attract attention and whet the appetite. If After buying a handful of candies, remove the wrapper from them, then perhaps they will lose a fair amount of attractiveness in the eyes of a person losing weight and the risk of a breakdown will be reduced to a minimum.

it is believed that addiction develops in 21 days. Following the opposite and eliminating some harmful product from the diet, you can completely overcome your attachment to it within a specified period;
weight loss is easier in the warm season In addition, at this time a large number of fresh and natural vegetables and fruits are available;
support is very important when losing weight. If find a like-minded person, then losing weight will help you make new acquaintances and make completing tasks more interesting;
before losing weight you should tell your friends and family about your new lifestyle- ask them not to insist on eating unhealthy foods, not to invite them to a cafe;
changing appearance for the better is the best incentive to consolidate the result. A simple mirror that hangs in the most visible place will constantly remind you of the work done on yourself.

How to develop willpower?

Many people attribute the inability to lose weight to their own lack of willpower and quit the diet, having lost motivation. Often, citing a lack of willpower, some do not even try to correct their appearance. Following a few simple rules will help you cultivate self-control:

eat small meals, but often;
get enough sleep;
monitor attacks of laziness and try to eradicate them;
find some leisure time and try to finish the job you started;
Keep a food diary in which you should record each component of your diet. Subsequent analysis of the diary allows you to be more selective in your food choices.

The right motivation is also great as an encoding. The desire to improve your health, look like a role model, or the opportunity to attract the attention of the opposite sex can be an excellent incentive to reboot your life attitudes and begin to overcome psychological barriers.

Hello dear readers and guests of my blog! No matter how hard you tried to fight excess weight, but, unfortunately, it always came out victorious. The kilograms that seemed to have gone away, after some time, came back with “friends”.

According to psychologists, in order to really achieve results in weight loss, in addition to the physical level, you also need to work on.

The main mistake of most failed “lose weight” women is that, when fighting extra pounds, they actively use only the bodily level (sports, diets, anti-cellulite massages, liposuction, etc.). And at the same time they do not change anything (or almost nothing) in their consciousness. After all, one passionate desire “!” not enough. It is important not just to want, but to do something. After all, the body is always controlled by the mind. And until you put things in order in your own feelings and thoughts, you are unlikely to be able to avoid breakdowns and weight gain.

In pursuit of the sweet life

The program for successfully getting rid of obesity is built into the following sequential scheme: search for the true reasons leading to excess weight (and they can be the most unexpected) - awareness of the goal of losing weight - changing internal stereotypes (and, as a result, eating behavior) - specific actions aimed at achieving results.
In our society, a pleasant pastime is associated with eating: coffee in bed, beer in the bathhouse, a date in a restaurant.

Even small children are rewarded with sweets for good behavior.

This is not bad - you should enjoy food. Problems arise when food becomes the only source of joy.

“The true reason for overeating is one: this is how we try, sometimes unsuccessfully, to compensate for our negative emotions.”

After all, if you are constantly in a state of stress, your pancreas increases insulin production several times. And an excess of this hormone naturally provokes a feeling of hunger.

It turns out to be a vicious circle: harsh diets turn into an additional stress factor and, as a result, you end up, and this leads to even greater dissatisfaction with yourself (accordingly, this dissatisfaction needs to be “eaten up”).

Usually, with the help of sweets and cakes, we try to “sweeten” either dissatisfaction with our personal (including intimate) life, or social unfulfillment.

There is an opinion that people who lack self-confidence are prone to overweight: by increasing body weight, they seem to expand the zone of their personal space. In addition, sweets perfectly relieve stress during mental stress: “empty” carbohydrates lift your mood and improve brain function. But the effect of such “sweet therapy” is short-lived, and the extra calories are quickly transformed into fat deposits.

Let's neutralize obstacles

First, ask yourself why you are doing this: for your loved one, to meet model standards, or to outshine your friend?

Awareness of motivation is very important. And here it may turn out that you need to fight not with excess weight, but with dependence on other people’s opinions, with the desire to be “like everyone else.”

The media is actively pushing it on us: after all, manipulating the “Barbie complex” is, first of all, a profitable business.

It is enough to recall several examples of high art (paintings by Rubens, Titian, Renoir, Kustodiev) to understand: the ideal of female beauty was not always emaciated, thin women.

If you realize that you want to lose weight solely for the sake of yourself, your beloved - act! Make a list of the reasons that prevented you from achieving your desired figure. For example, the cult of food in your family, the inability to buy an expensive subscription to a fitness club...

Next to each reason, write ways to solve it. And as soon as you realize that you are veering off the intended path, check this list.

Be sure to consult a doctor: excess weight can be caused by some disease, for example, a malfunction of the thyroid gland. The doctor must rule out this possibility and advise you on the optimal diet for you.

By the way, your tendency to be overweight may be hereditary. In this case, you will not be able to reach size XS without compromising your health.

The most beautiful woman in the world

The most important thing you need to do is to love and accept yourself for who you are - along with all your extra pounds and folds of fat.

Undress and go to the mirror.

What do you see?

Its contents should not evoke thoughts of a locust invasion. Otherwise, when you see empty shelves, you will immediately have a desire to fill your refrigerator with something satisfying. Check out the kitchen. Get rid of provocateurs in the form of various canned food in oil, dumplings and cookies. An excellent alternative to harmful semi-finished products is frozen vegetable mixtures.

Festive feasts.

Before going on a visit, eat an impressive portion of salad: this will create a feeling of fullness. At the table, don't pounce on all the treats at once: take a little of your favorite dish and eat it slowly, savoring every bite. 20 minutes after you start eating, your stomach will send a signal to your brain that you are full, although in fact you will have eaten very little.

Your family and friends.

Warn your family, as well as your friend with whom you are used to having lunch at work, that you are going to lose weight. Ask your loved ones not to tempt you with tasty morsels. And when the first results of the fight against extra pounds are noticeable, their praise will be an excellent incentive for you not to stop there!

Psychological techniques for losing weight are excellent psychological exercises that help hundreds of thousands of people maintain the beauty of their figure.

Trick #1 - Create a new “mini habit.”

To finally say goodbye to extra pounds, it is not at all necessary to completely and immediately change your diet. Radical changes in habits often end in failure because we are psychologically dependent on our favorite foods. Our psyche is not always able to accept too drastic changes. Start at a slower pace, but the results will be much more reliable. Give yourself 3 new healthy weight loss habits to follow. This will be the beginning of your triumphant weight loss.

Always give yourself raw vegetables for lunch.
. Drink a glass of warm water on an empty stomach in the morning.
. Make yourself herbal tea before bed.
. Always eat at least half of any fruit for breakfast.
. Don't buy sweets in the store, eat only those prepared at home.

Such rules, which gradually become habits, will provide a comprehensive change in diet. Expand your list of habits over time.

Trick #2 - Get to know your emotional hunger.

Many people are familiar with the situation when they want something sweet just because they are in a bad mood or not feeling well. Sometimes a packet of cookies opens automatically while watching your favorite TV show. Are you really hungry at this time? Of course not. Learn to recognize emotional and real hunger. If you eat only because you want to drown out negative emotions, try to understand the reasons for your condition and solve the problem in a different way. Eat only when you are truly hungry.

Trick #3 - Create the right associations for yourself.

Your brain is capable of working with so-called associations. What does it mean? Just assign certain words specific emotions. Set up and use associations in the area of your nutrition and healthy lifestyle. Specific examples:

Broccoli is a healthy body.
. Apple - beautiful teeth.
. Chocolate is a big ass.
. Hoop - thin waist.
. Cake - triple chin.
. The exercise bike is a beautiful figure.

Make matching pictures using magazine clippings and hang them around your home and desk. This will be an additional incentive to give up bad habits. In our age of programs, technology and complete automation, it seems that there is nothing human left. Neuro-linguistic programming - the unpronounceable term alone is scary. In fact, NLP, a popular trend in psychology today, can cope with a lot of problems. Including those who are overweight. The main thing is to believe in the result, set the right course for your thoughts and launch a slimming program!

Step one. Relax. It is the constant state of stress that in itself can cause obesity. And not only because many people have the habit of “seizing” problems. Often our body, “in anticipation” of difficult situations, accumulates energy, storing it “in reserve” in the form of subcutaneous fat. So on the way to a slim figure, it’s a good idea to master meditation techniques.

Exercise. Starting position: back straight, arms and legs do not cross. If you are sitting, place your hands on your knees, palms down. Imagine a golden ball filled with warm light - it brings calm, peace, relieves anxiety and stress. Allow the ball to move freely throughout your body - from your fingertips to your head. Feel its warmth and beneficial effects. Remain in a state of complete relaxation for a while. When you feel ready to leave the meditative state, take deep breaths 3 times. Imagine that with every breath, fresh energy enters your body.

Step two. Look within yourself. This is where psychologists suggest starting the path to achieving a goal - it doesn’t matter whether it’s buying a desired item or achieving the coveted slimness. By analyzing your experiences and actions, listening to your feelings, you can learn a lot about yourself. Including calculating the reasons for dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs and mistakes that interfere with the fulfillment of desires. It would seem, what could be simpler? Now think about it: how often do we conduct internal dialogue with our “I”?

Exercise. Analyze your lifestyle and habits. Perhaps the reason for the fullness is completely obvious and the only thing is to eliminate it. If there seem to be no errors, but the problem of excess weight exists and attempts to become slimmer are unsuccessful, you should seek advice from a specialist in the field of nutrition and psychology. At this stage, the most unexpected discoveries are possible. For example, by “peering” into the cause of your own imperfection and listening to your desires, you may be able to discern previously unnoticed talents or abilities in yourself. So, in addition to the desire to lose excess weight, new hobbies will appear. And they, in turn, will distract you from obsessive thoughts about being overweight and the desire to snack.

Step three. Formulate a goal. To pass through the walls, the heroes of the film "Sorcerers" needed to clearly see their goal. “Teleportation” from an unattractive body to a beautiful and well-groomed one is, of course, more realistic, but perhaps no less difficult to perform. However, the condition remains the same - to clearly imagine the end result.

Exercise. Use your imagination. Close your eyes and imagine your new look, taking into account the smallest details. Of course, the ideal must fit within the framework of reality - it makes no sense for those with Slavic appearance to imagine themselves, say, in the body of Naomi Campbell. This should be your appearance, only freed from flaws. You need to imagine your ideal image as often as possible. In certain cases, this will save you from the temptation to eat something tasty. And besides this, you will gradually begin to support your dream with real actions - this could be cosmetic procedures, buying new clothes, going to a stylist... Thus, in addition to being slim, the result will be a general external transformation. To set a goal, you need not only to imagine it, but also to formulate it correctly. In your phrases, avoid the word “lose weight” (it is consonant with the words “bad”, “worse”). Instead, set the task of becoming slimmer, more graceful, more active, more flexible... Also, avoid phrases with the presence of the particle “not” - the work of thought requires exclusively positive attitudes. So replace the sentence “I don’t want to gain weight” with “I want to stay in shape.” And it’s even more effective to say: “I’m in shape” - this is how thoughts work in “real time”.

Step four. Cleanse yourself. Physical changes with the help of psychology are effective if you use your imagination as much as possible. By getting rid of extra pounds, we cleanse the body of general toxins.

Exercise. Imagine that in your body there is a little man with a broom (images can be very different: a chimney sweep, a vacuum cleaner, a cleaning lady...). Moving from the top of the head to the tips of the fingers, the imaginary assistant cleanses every fragment of the body along its path. It is more effective to carry out this exercise under the guidance of a psychologist who will comment on your feelings. Sometimes the power of imagination works so vividly that the patient physically feels the presence of an imaginary “clean man” in his body.

Step five. It’s also useful to use your imagination while eating. Do you remember the catchphrase of Hippocrates: “We are what we eat”? If you delve into the aphorism and think about it while eating, what will you ultimately want to bite: a fatty piece of meat or a juicy apple?

Exercise. Imagine your stomach as a clean cup from which your body is nourished. The food components are mixed in this container, like a salad. What will it consist of? It is unlikely that such a mix will cause an appetite: meat, hodgepodge, borscht, fruit and cake for dessert. Now think about this combination: lean fish, green vegetables, a little cereal and a jar of yogurt. So which should you prefer?

Step six. Prepare for change. Positive changes in appearance, undoubtedly, please and stimulate new “feats”. But changes in life themselves can cause transformation. American psychologist Robert Dilts, in his book “Changing Beliefs Using NLP,” describes his observations of a group of patients who set out to lose weight. Quick results were achieved by people whose transition to a diet was accompanied by some cardinal change in life - the beginning or end of school, a wedding, a major purchase, a change of job, or place of residence. The fact is that, experiencing changes, a person, perhaps without realizing it, becomes convinced that nothing lasts forever. Everything changes, often for the better, including your figure. The second prerequisite for a good result is a person’s complete readiness for changes in his own appearance and faith in success.

Exercise. Bring something new into your life. This could be a change of interior, work, hobbies. Yes, even a lover! Change should be extremely enjoyable. In this case, thoughts about your own imperfection and the desire to have an extra snack will fade into the background. New interests will take their place.

Step seven. Set the tone for your emotions. Our emotions and reactions to what is happening shape the world around us according to how we subconsciously want it to be. Naturally, the internal attitude “everything is bad” paints reality in black tones. And things really get bad. The same goes for your own self-esteem and sense of self. Never talk negatively about yourself (“I’m fat, unattractive, pale, unhappy...”) Such an internal attitude becomes a kind of self-hypnosis. And the consequences of such auto-training are deplorable. Become slimmer and at the same time constantly call yourself fat? It won't work. Negative epithets become a barrier to positive results, a kind of brake. This does not mean that you need to engage in self-deception and, “admiring” your far from perfect figure, consider it ideal. It is better to repeat: “I am becoming beautiful and slim.” Formulate the sentence in the form of the present tense ("now I am becoming slim"), rather than the future ("I will be slim"). This is necessary for the thought to start working right now.

Exercise. Psychologists have determined that the effect of auto-training will be most noticeable if you perform self-hypnosis in the morning, at the moment of awakening, or when falling asleep. In the “borderline” state, at the junction of sleep and wakefulness, our consciousness is maximally open to receive information, and thoughts are susceptible to materialization. Therefore, when you wake up, smile at the beginning of a new day and voice your goals. When you fall asleep, dream, imagine the future as you would like to see it. And don't be afraid of your desires!

“Why do I need a psychologist, I know everything myself?!”, many of us may say.

Everyone knows that losing weight depends on the quantity and quality of food and physical activity. Or is this not all and there are other factors that affect our weight?
And what does a psychologist have to do with it? He is not a nutritionist or a trainer...

So what is psychological help for losing weight?
What techniques do psychologists use to combat excess weight?

Of course, many people who have been struggling with excess weight for many years can even write a PhD in dietetics. Both the diet and the training plan are written out, and everything is thought out, but the result does not last long. And if you manage to maintain the desired weight, then it requires such colossal strength that you don’t have the strength to think about anything else. And if suddenly strict control is removed, there is a breakdown - and everything starts all over again.

I think you have heard this expression more than once: “ We eat to live. We don't live to eat" We all know that excess weight appears when we consume more calories than we expend. But it’s impossible to eat more food than you need (than you want) - you say.

But an overweight person will not understand you. He has the mechanism of perception of hunger-saturation is disrupted. Therefore, he is ready to eat almost all the time: when it smells delicious, when there is food on the table, when he is bored, when he is lonely, when he is scared, when guests have arrived, when he is sad, when, when...

There is no feeling of hunger as such, but there is an appetite. And if suddenly an unpleasant feeling of heaviness appears in the stomach, you can induce vomiting and eat again after 15-20 minutes. These are real examples from practice.

So why do you need a psychologist when losing weight?

To build new neural connections in the brain, which means new patterns of behavior in humans. Nowadays, the term eating behavior is becoming more and more well-known - our habit of dealing with food: when we eat, what and how. There are various eating disorders: bulimia, anorexia, binge eating and other less serious ones. Each of them is characterized by certain habits. And with each of them, the functioning of the hypothalamus is disrupted, in which we develop feelings of hunger, satiety, as well as pleasure, calmness, anxiety and tension.

With psychogenic overeating, the mechanism works like this: feeling discomfort, being in a state of stress, a person wants to calm down and feel better, the brain needs dopamine or serotonin. You can get them in different ways: by getting out of an unpleasant situation, in a conversation with someone you love, in sex, sports, cognitive activity and many others, but most quickly - with the help of food.

Many people have this stereotype from childhood: a child screams because he is wet and scared, and his mother immediately slips a breast or a bottle to him to keep him quiet. In general, we can talk about the reasons for formation for a long time; they are often very individual.

Work on harmonizing eating behavior is not a matter of one consultation. I usually suggest starting with the Dutch Eating Questionnaire to get the basics down. Next comes the work of several months, during which we figure out how this behavior model was formed, why it no longer suits the client and how to modernize it.

With my support, a person learns to track his psychological and somatic experiences, keeps a food diary, tries to understand his true needs, looks for new ways to respond to anxieties and stress in his life, new opportunities to satisfy his desires. We talk about what her/his life would be like if the person were slimmer, what she/he loses and what she/he gains from being addicted to food. And we are looking for something to fill the void that will open when there is less food in life.

After some time, when a person becomes aware of the processes that are happening inside him, he can change his behavior. When he is anxious, lonely, sad, he can eat - or he can consciously choose a different course of action. And so little by little, every day, his habits, and therefore his lifestyle itself, change, excess weight goes away, new interests appear, new acquaintances and the desired lightness in body and soul.

Unfortunately, no specialist has magic diet pills. But a good psychologist will have an understanding of how to help you reconfigure your relationship with food and change your figure and life for the better. To do this, you will have to go through a difficult path, but you will not be alone on it, a professional escort will walk next to you. And it’s easier to go together.

You can talk a lot about excess weight and its causes, and give advice. However, people who are struggling with excess weight may say reproachfully: “Yeah, it’s good for you to give out advice! Try it yourself, and then talk.”

So, I’ll start with the fact that I myself lost 20 kg in 1.5 years. It was difficult and unpleasant. I didn’t feel much joy. While I was losing weight, my friends’ opinions were divided: you need to lose weight, you don’t need to lose weight, you feel good as is.

Some people can overcome their cravings for sweets and other tasty things on their own, but not everyone succeeds on the first try. And my fellow psychologists also helped me at one time, although I am a practicing psychologist myself. One thing is for sure, until you yourself want to change something in your life, not a single psychologist will help.

What is psychological help for losing weight?

The first thing that communication with a psychologist gives is the opportunity to figure out where the habit of eating a lot comes from and since when did excess weight gain begin in the light of psychological reasons?
Secondly, it is necessary to identify how strong the motivation to lose weight is in reality, since the person himself is not always fully aware of this. On a conscious level, a person seems ready to do anything to lose weight, but on an unconscious level, he doesn’t need it. And so good. Therefore, there may be resistance during psychotherapeutic work on weight loss.
Third, with the help of a psychotherapist, try to understand what benefits excess weight brings to a person, although many people who are losing weight are surprised by this issue. Find out what good does being overweight bring to a person? What needs are satisfied when a person eats a lot and often?

Most often, a person says that with the help of food he reduces anxiety, improves his mood, food allows him to communicate with friends, or, on the contrary, it is associated with loneliness. This is protection from... and the person begins to list what it is in his life.

There are also hidden motives for increased appetite. And these motives can be identified with the help of a psychotherapist. Sometimes excess weight hides serious psychological trauma. This is the loss of a loved one, violence, divorce, betrayal, depression, family conflicts, sexual dissatisfaction, etc. Therefore, with the help of a psychologist, specific psychological traumas are identified and worked through, tension is relieved, and the person is taught relaxation techniques.

And, of course, the psychotherapist asks a question to the person: “When you lose weight, how will others react to this, what will change in your life, what advantages will come from your slim figure, what are you ready to do to achieve the desired results, what have you already done for this?"

So, what techniques does a psychotherapist use when working with excess weight?

Method of positive psychotherapy by Dr. N. Pezeshkian.
Using this method, pressing problems of today and basic conflicts from the past are worked out. The current human abilities that influence eating behavior are considered.
NLP techniques.
Allows you to form new eating habits. In addition, the work is aimed at forming new goals.
Trance techniques.
Aimed at learning to relax and cope with anxiety.
Self-hypnosis.
Independent work with eating problems. Controlling the food eaten (volume and quality).
Hypnoanalysis allows you to get to the bottom of the true problems of eating disorders, helps to identify the primary source of eating disorders, early psychotrauma that affected a person’s life, including his eating habits, which led to weight gain.
Art therapy.
Art therapy techniques also allow you to work with eating disorders. These are isotherapy techniques (working with drawings), fairy tale therapy, sand therapy, metaphorical cards, phototherapy (working with client photographs).
Body-oriented therapy.
Working with the body. Removing muscle tension. Holistic massage is good.

Of course, the psychologist also consults on proper nutrition, monitors the client’s food diary, discusses with the person what he is doing, where the difficulties are, what thoughts were between sessions, what happened during this period, what his mood was. A psychologist can even give elements of physical activity. In special cases, a nutritionist and fitness trainer are involved if necessary.

However, when working with an overweight person, we only talk about and work with psychological problems, and do not take into account problems that relate to medical indications. This is what doctors do. As psychologists, we do not prescribe any pills.

In addition, there may be psychiatric diseases that lead to excess weight gain. Psychiatrists deal with these issues.

Often an overweight person dreams of losing weight quickly and without much effort in a few months. However, you need to understand that the body also needs to be prepared for weight loss. At first, the weight will come off faster, and then slower. Sometimes the weight will stay the same or even increase.

There is only one rule: the slower the weight goes away, the longer the weight loss results will last. Although there are other opinions on this issue. This is just my point of view and my experience.

The process of losing weight is a complex, complex process that is associated not only with a diet schedule, but also with changing the nature of nutrition, habits and life in general.

In addition, it applies to all family members who live together. It is quite difficult for one person to lose weight if those who live together have special food preferences that are aimed at increasing weight.

A person with increased weight always has psychological problems. Usually this is low self-esteem, non-acceptance and misunderstanding of oneself, problems with loved ones, job dissatisfaction and much more. In the process of advisory, psychocorrectional and psychotherapeutic work, these parameters change, which helps a balanced diet have a beneficial effect on our body.

It is important to form new eating habits as a different way of life. In my psychotherapeutic work with clients, weight loss is usually a side effect of the work. And this suggests that a person is changing and satisfies himself to a greater extent. I work in the direction of integrative existential psychotherapy.

There are many examples of people successfully losing weight, but... after a while they gain it back or even gain even more weight. Diets and fitness trainers are definitely needed, but we can conclude that they help fight the consequences.

You can effectively lose weight, but the reason that led to weight gain is not eliminated. And if the cause is not eliminated, then we can conclude that very often the weight “takes its toll” again. The reasons can be both physiological and psychological. A psychologist works with psychological reasons.

The task of the psychologist is to understand What a person “eats”, then the cause is eliminated, after which the weight does not gain again after dieting and exercise. A person begins to live in harmony with himself and does not solve his problems by eating excessively.

There are objective reasons for excess body weight

Physiological, for example, endocrine system failure, metabolic disorder, hormonal problems;

Psychological: when people are simply trying to eat away their anxiety or stress;

Behavioral: improper lifestyle, diet or sleep.

All three reasons are interconnected, and the main reason is in our head and in our thoughts and judgments, and health problems are a secondary factor.

If the hormonal levels are normal, then we can talk about food addiction if you are overweight. Its main characteristic is obsession in a state that is difficult to control from the outside. As a rule, eating food gives a feeling of calm and security, satisfaction.

If you find yourself with a description of a similar problem, then it is better to contact a psychologist and together figure out and understand exactly your reasons and conduct psychodiagnostics. After which the specialist will prescribe an integrated approach to the treatment of food addiction. The efforts and desires of the person himself to cope with the task are very important here, and joint work will bring harmony to his inner world.

How can a psychologist help a person who wants to lose weight, who wants to weigh 60 kg instead of the existing 75 kilograms, who wants to have a slim figure? This is how it is important to formulate your request, and not “I want to lose weight!”...

Yes, yes, words mean a lot! Lose weight = become worse?! No! Therefore, start by formulating (and writing down!) what and in what time frame you want to have... If you think, for example, that 15 kg of excess weight is preventing you from doing something, divide 15 by 4 (for example) period:

the first minus 3 kg is a gift to yourself (write which one),
another minus 4 kg - again plan and write down what you will give yourself for this intermediate weight,
then another minus 3 - a gift,
and another 5 kg (hurray, here they are - minus 15!) - a super gift! To yourself, beloved, renewed!

Yes, and at the very beginning of the process, meditate and imagine yourself in the form, in the clothes, with the mood, with the resource that matches your dream! I had IT, the red dress!

Incorporate a certain style of nutrition (and these are NOT DIETS, which give plus 3-5 kg after their completion after a while!), which will be easy to follow, having a strong motivation for change.

At the initial stage, you will work with a psychologist to find out the “secondary benefits” of being fat, fat, a “bun”, “fat trust”, etc. :)

Yes, they will be, you will see them and be surprised! I still have somewhere this “magic” circle with eight segments, and in each one it is written (by me) why I need (was!), well, simply necessary:) to be overweight!

Describing what and how happens during a personal consultation with a psychologist, or during a training/seminar is a thankless task... It will sound clumsy, and it’s not particularly clear what it’s about... It’s important to be inside the process and have an inner true desire, and not at head level... Try it!

Why does a person gain weight? At first glance, everything is simple, he eats much more than he needs, and all the excess is deposited in adipose tissue.

Why does this happen?
Why do people eat more than they need?
How to understand this and what to do about it?

This is where the help of a psychologist is needed. Obesity is often a symptom of an imbalance in a person's life. And the first thing you need to start with is to try to understand yourself, to understand what is wrong in my life. Maybe I’m protecting myself with my excess weight, like armor, from some kind of relationship, experience...

How do I understand what I want, what I need, what I want to get in this life?
What does food give me?

When overeating, as a rule, a substitution of needs occurs: I want something, I can’t get it, but I can eat!

I want peace, security, love, I suffer from the inability to get what I want, there is inexplicable anxiety all the time, and I go to the refrigerator.
I want sex, but it’s difficult to admit it, and sometimes it’s somehow embarrassing to even think about it, so I eat half a cake!
Or I want to pamper myself, but I don’t know how, because I don’t really understand what I want, and I eat a jar of chips or a full bowl of jam.

Only with substitution the basic need is not satisfied, moreover, it becomes even more acute. After all, in fact, if you want to drink, then you can only quench your thirst with water. Such simple examples are clear, but admitting to yourself that you need love, support, security is difficult...

And therefore, the most important thing is to figure out exactly what I really want, how I live, why I cannot get what I want. And how can I get this?

This is exactly where a psychologist can help. Firstly, help in clarifying the need, and secondly, help in finding ways to satisfy it.

And miracles happen. “I just wanted to lose weight, and at the same time my relationship with my husband improved and it turned out that he was not at all embarrassed by my kilograms. It wasn’t about them! But I don’t even want to eat enough, why? It turns out that there is a lot more in life.. .

Or “I gained weight because, due to depression, I wanted to isolate myself from others. But my mood improved, and there is no need for excess weight!”

These are not made-up stories, I heard and learned all this from my clients. So my belief is that obesity therapy should begin not with a debilitating diet, but with solving internal problems. And then everything is resolved, life goes on and you want to look at yourself in the mirror!

The images that arise with nutrition (food) and physical exercise (movement) are decisive in victories and defeats on the path to losing excess weight.

So what images come to your mind personally?

What images will there be today? Any person has images, this is how we are psychophysically structured. There is a famous saying, “What you think is what you are.” To paraphrase, we can say that whatever framework we set is how we exist, that is, our images are determined by our own framework. I don't know your food-related images. I only know that they exist. It is a proven, ongoing set of sensations, actions and thoughts that are associated with nutrition, eating and exercise.

What frame images do you have associated with nutrition?

Perhaps it is: “I consume food because I want to feel rewarded and loved,” or “The process of eating calms me down and captivates me,” or “Refusing food means suffering deprivation.”

I don’t know whether you have healthy images that give energy to your body, contribute to improving your appearance and well-being, or whether your images are ridiculous - they ruin your efforts to stay in good shape and manage your diet. I cannot know whether they add vitality and energy to you or cause loss of strength and heaviness. To find out, just ask a few questions:

Do you like your food-related images?

Are they able to provide you with energy and vitality and maintain a slim figure?

Would you like to have new images?

Are you willing to learn this?

Are you ready to improve and change old images associated with exercise and nutrition, or change them to ones that help you control your food and sports activities?

Why the “diet” image is ineffective

I'll tell you a story related to the girl Ekaterina.

Katya was one of fifteen people who were the first to try the model described here. Before this, for many years, she tried to lose weight. I studied and tried various nutrition systems, including blood type, Kremlin, Katya Mirimanova and others. Having read a lot of literature on this topic, she knew very well what proper nutrition was and how to change her eating behavior. But a couple of years ago I gave up programs and diets because... could not achieve sustainable results.

“After 9 months of using the next system,” said Ekaterina, “I suddenly noticed that I was gaining weight again. One day it dawned on me: the problem is not in me, but in the diets.”

My food failures

My failures due to overeating

My failures due to poor nutrition

My failures are in myself

And others

That is, Katya’s ideas, her mental framework about diets and nutrition aggravated their ineffectiveness.

In the story with Katya, you can understand the meaning of frame images for a person. So what is a “frame image”?

Frame-image

This phrase is based on two aspects - image and frame:

1. An image is not only a certain visual sequence, but also a mode of action - a series of actions that we perform. What we feel, do, what we talk about. For an outside observer, these are our images. They say: “His way of thinking,” “His way of acting,” “His way of living.”

Some people eat everything in sight. This is their image (of nutrition). Others always finish the contents of the plate. This is a different image.

2. Frameworks are our beliefs, values, views, ideas, etc., which set the rules for images (actions, thinking, behavior, etc.). Some mental frames are simple: “Finish your plate, there are so many hungry people in the world.” Others are more complex and more veiled. For example, sweets after a meal are perceived as a reward. Perhaps, at an early age, this was a form of reinforcement, and we automatically continue to use the frame ingrained in the brain.

It may seem that problems with weight, obesity, overeating, loose muscles are only behavioral, but this is not so. Images are a manifestation of our framework. We act one way and not another because we have certain ideas and rules in our heads. Therefore, attempts to change eating behavior without changing the rules (framework) end in failure. As long as we retain the framework of ideas about exercise and food, we are doomed to the images defined by them. But this is not the whole truth. We act according to our images because they are familiar and we have been doing this for many years. These images are familiar to us and make sense, although they are harmful.

From the article “Images of Thin People”, with which I introduced Katya, she learned something new - she learned a different attitude towards food and exercise. This happened after she herself came to understand the harmfulness of the “diet” image, but was not yet able to improve her lifestyle. She didn't have the necessary framework. In addition, she did not understand how to get rid of the image of “self-blame” and replace it with the images of “recognition” and “food is fuel”, which would help her cope with weight. She had to learn new images, and she did it. In three months, without even thinking about it, she lost 9 kilograms and maintains this weight steadily. After some time, she decided to change her image of physical exercise, and brilliantly solved this problem too. It was a new way of life. She began to think not about eating less, but about what to eat to increase her vitality. She liked food that brought benefits and health to the body.

“This is a completely different life. I’m used to constantly thinking about food, I’ve always controlled what I can eat and what I can’t. But now I don’t think about it,” wrote Ekaterina, “Today I’m attracted only to healthy food that gives energy to my body. I can’t imagine how I could like food that is harmful. It’s like it wasn’t happening to me.”

These lines describe one of the goals of this series of articles. I hope to teach you new ways of thinking that apply to nutrition, food, weight, exercise, etc. These are not articles in the spirit of instructions and recommendations, the articles will provide tools for successful weight control and fitness, i.e. The articles are not a reference guide on the disease, it is the pill itself for it. With this loop, you:

Create new images of “Nutrition” and “Exercise” and new mental frameworks for them;

Are you motivated to change your lifestyle?

Learn the processes and patterns that will allow new images to become your way of life.

Why the emphasis on nutrition and exercise? There are many reasons for this, but the main one is:

Our images determine our lives. The quality of our life - our health, vitality, level of intelligence, physical fitness, emotions, appearance, thinking, etc. - are a consequence of the quality of our images (life, thinking, etc.). Therefore, if you want to live a better quality life, then you need to learn high-quality images. And for this we need new frameworks.

I would like to warn you: new images are not a panacea! Three of the first fifteen who read the articles were never successful. This is a stable percentage of failures, and it remained the same in the future. Why you ask? They didn’t even get through the first chapter, didn’t try to understand and comprehend. One of the women wrote that she was counting on a “magic recipe”, but to think... she has enough household chores. Therefore, she is not interested in articles. She never read a single line of them.

This is a clear example of incorrect thinking frames. Mental frameworks can erase everything that goes beyond them - any interest, commitment, perseverance. If you take this into account, it will lead to images of “impatience”, “inability to finish what you start”, “a tendency to look for the easy way out”. This is why articles are not for everyone. If your internal framework does not even allow you to read the articles and you cannot (or do not want) to overcome them, if you decide to remain faithful to them for the rest of your life, then these articles are not for you. They won't help you. They are not intended for this. Articles for those who want to change their lives, they help to understand the ways of change and make the road easier.

The articles do not contain magic or a panacea for all problems. Only the yellow press promises help without personal effort. If your mental framework leads you into the arms of this kind of unscrupulous “healers,” then do not read this series of articles. After all, you prefer the images of a “sobbing victim” (“I tried so hard. I tried the advertised ultra-modern method, and even that didn’t help. There’s something wrong with me. I’m not like an ordinary person”). Many people continue to be guided by images that came from childhood, they are contained in the words “Still, there must be a quick, simple and convenient way to be slim and energetic!” As a child, when starting to explore the world, there were always easy ways to solve problems, because there were elders who could take the decision upon themselves. Such frameworks force us to continue the same way of life, because of which we remain fat, depressed, absent-minded people.

Our body is designed in such a way that such images based on these frameworks will never work. They only complicate the situation. Proponents of diets are very familiar with the “yo-yo” effect, when the result of losing weight, at the end of the diet, is offset by weight gain. Wrong frames nullify all efforts and only add fat.

You will be able to master frame images for weight control and excellent physical shape, which are described in the articles, provided that certain conditions are met:

Recognize and recognize the existence of your mental frames and behavioral patterns;

Get into the essence of the articles, spend time and energy on it, and practice. You must not only read the articles, but also let them pass through you, realizing that it is written about you. Find similar examples in yourself;

Open yourself to learning new images;

Treat yourself kindly (the image of “condemnation” will only hinder);

Learn to be able to refuse, without regret, from previous images;

Give yourself permission to feel, look, and enjoy strength and energy.

In the initial articles we will talk about nutrition and food. But this does not mean that it will be enough for you to create a new image of “Nutrition”. It is impossible to lose weight irreversibly on diet alone. You will have to lead an active life every day, strengthening your cardiovascular system and increasing your metabolic rate. This will allow you to get rid of fat faster and more reliably. And one more thing: to read the articles you will have to call upon your intellect.

I can't chew every moment down to the most basic things. A text written for a schoolchild will scare off a thinking person, and an overly academic narrative can intimidate a non-specialist, so the articles are written for the average thinking person. If you have the determination to become fit and slim, come with me, we will create completely new lifestyles. I promise that the articles will be interesting and exciting - of course, if you are interested in how to stop being shapeless and fat.

P.S. As a method of semantics, I will use some linguistic features, even if it does not seem strange. For example: "etc." or "etc." they allow you to abandon dogmatism, which implies that what is said once and for all. The ellipsis in the text means: stop, hesitate, think about the phrases and their varied meaning.