Deprivation, Cravings, Guilt & Failure

By Health Psychologist Warren Artz

One of the most common complaints I hear from patients, particularly frequent dieters, is: “I'm able to lose weight, but I struggle to keep it off.” Well, most of us know that lower calorie intake offset by higher calorie expenditure leads to weight loss. Which perhaps explains why there are so many low-calorie diets out there today that promise an end to all your weight problems. Unfortunately, many of these low-calorie quick-fix diets don't solve the long-term problem of maintained weight loss, masking only the short-term problems and creating an even bigger problem later down the track.

Yo-yo dieting is a common problem amongst overweight people today; and, the physical and psychological side-effects are usually detrimental to one's health and overall well-being. It all comes down to ‘sustainability’! If the diet and/or healthy lifestyle you're leading is not sustainable, you will have great difficulty meeting your expectations and reaching your weight loss goals. Taking a strict approach to weight loss, through obsessive dieting and rapid weight loss programs, will create havoc with your metabolism and leave you experiencing internal conflict with food. So, if the diet is not sustainable, don't expect the weight loss to be. An unsustainable approach will often have you experiencing deprivation, followed by cravings, guilt, and failure.

Deprivation is a terrible thing; freedom and choice are core human values and such values should be emphasised in all aspects of life, including with eating. Craving is a common experience among those who are trying to lose weight and a notorious obstacle to their success. The experience can be both physical and/or psychological. Controlling starvation or compulsive behaviours can be a real challenge; and, guilt is the dreaded outcome once this control is lost. Unfortunately, this leaves many overweight people questioning their self-efficacy as the deal with failure. Sadly, as they pick themselves up off the floor and regain some motivation, they prepare themselves for yet another diet and ultimately set themselves up for failure once again. Hence we have the yo-yo dieter.

Losing weight is both a biological and psychological issue. Understanding your own eating-related habits and attitudes, as well as your general health habits and psychosocial functioning, is as important, if not more important than the weight loss program you're attempting. Whilst there are some fantastic weight loss products out there, designed to compliment sustainable meal plans and healthy lifestyles, the real challenge is psychological. By gaining a little insight into your own behaviour and what you're capable of achieving, you'll be armed with knowledge regarding the most important ingredient in the weight loss and maintenance process: YOU!