The 3 D’s Of Dieting

Lot’s of people go on a diet with the intention of losing weight, and whilst they may try many different approaches, they all have one thing in common, the 3 D’s of dieting: Defensiveness, Depression & Despair.

In this article we shall have a look at each of these, and see how they can affect you when you are trying to stick to your diet and lose weight.

Being Defensive When Dieting

People can become very defensive when they are on a diet, especially when someone makes a comment about their figure.

For example, if someone notices that you have gained a few extra pounds, studies show that you are much more likely to come up with an excuse for this weight gain rather than admitting it was because you broke your diet.

The trouble with being defensive about dieting and weight gain is that it sets up two obstacles for you to deal with: yourself and other people.

With other people you may make excuses for your weight gain, and by doing so, you justify it to yourself rather than admitting the true cause.

Once you begin to justify your weight and your figure, you slowly become comfortable with it. As a result, you become less and less motivated to exercise and stick to a weight loss diet.

The second way being defensive about dieting can affect you is through self sabotage. For example, you may say to yourself “I don’t smoke or drink, so I deserve to eat this tub of ice cream”.

Self sabotage can be due to many things, although most commonly it is due to a lack of self acceptance and a low sense of self worth.

Both of these can cause you to become defensive about your figure and weight, and cause you to break your diet in ways that seem to make sense to you at the time (such as in the example given above of eating a tub of ice cream).

To help overcome defensiveness don’t tell anyone you are on a diet, as unless you have very supportive and understanding friends, you’re probably better off keeping it a secret.

To help improve your level of self acceptance, look in the mirror each morning and tell yourself that you love and accept the person you are. Keep doing this until you mean it.

Depression When Dieting

Depression is a very common symptom of dieting, and one that stems from a constant frustration of being unable to lose weight through diet and exercise.

Some people will try and look for a reason why they are not successful at losing weight, such as wondering if they have a rare medical condition.

When they find that there is nothing wrong with them, they are driven further into depression because they think that the reason they are overweight must be because they are lazy and greedy.

To make matters worse, they know that the solution to their weight gain is to eat less and exercise more, something they have already being trying to do but which hasn’t worked for them.

As a result, this constant cycle of frustration can lead to very severe depression in some cases, and unless it is dealt with in an appropriate manner, it could very easily lead to obesity as food becomes a comfort which is used to distract from painful feelings.

To avoid the frustration that can lead to dieting depression it is important to stop doing the things that aren’t working for you, and not to let bad day’s ruin your whole diet.

For example, if you have tried a particular diet for several months and have been exercising regularly, then perhaps that diet isn’t very effective for a person with your genetic makeup.

This is why it is important to set yourself weight loss goals, so that you can monitor your progress and avoid frustrating yourself with things that don’t help you to achieve what you want.

Diet Despair

Despair is something many dieters experience and when they do it can be extremely demotivating.

For example, you spent the whole week eating healthy food and exercising everyday, but when you step on the scale you haven’t lost any weight at all.

It’s times like these dieters despair, and feel like giving up on their diet altogether because they don’t see the point of going on.

The feeling of despair usually occurs when you have been following a very strict diet or exercise plan, because you expected to see some results for the sacrifices you made. But when you don’t get those results, you feel even worse than when you began.

For this reason it is important to set realistic weight loss goals, rather than expecting miracles to happen overnight.

In addition to this any diet should be approached slowly, and gradually be built up to a level you a comfortable with.

As you age your metabolism will naturally slow down, which means it may take you longer to lose weight when you are older than it did when you are younger.

So to avoid despair when dieting, set yourself realistic goals, goals which challenge you yet you know are possible.