The Feel-Good Addiction

[phantastica]

Beware the Feel-Good Addiction (http://www.ediets.com/news/article.cfm/cmi_274716/cid_7)

I found this eDiets article to have excellent insight on weight loss as well as life in general. I tend to like articles that deal with emotional weight issues.

[Tealeaf]

I think that dealing with the emontional sides of dieting and weight maintance are good ideas. That said, however, dieting is still a matter of calories in < calories burned = weight loss, despite what is going on in the noggin. I've known some people who are more focused on fixing their heads than just buckling down and eating less and moving more. Insight is great, but action is better IMHO.

I made my decision to diet when I was drunk, crying, and crabby as heck from being on my period. And that's exactly the way I climbed onto the elliptical for the first time in over a year. I'm not recommending this as the best way to start a major lifestyle change, you understand. But even given the lack of emotional insight I showed at the time, I've still managed to make a substantial change for the better.

[RobinW]

I can eat less and move more, but if my head isnt right, I'll be good for a while, but then it reverts back to eating more and moving less.

We all do what works for us....Im glad that eating less and moving more works consistently for you.....some of us need the consistency to work in our head first, thats just IMHO

[phantastica]

True, different strokes for different folks. I also believe that I needed to address many different facets of my life in order to have the energy/mindset to lose weight ... therapy, weekly support group (TOPS), online support forums, Curves membership, and reading various articles about every aspect of weight loss (psychological, social, diet/lifestyle, nutrition), and lots of behavior modification. That's what keeps me going and keeps me motivated.

I find a health initiative to be much, much more difficult than quitting smoking ever was, interestingly enough.

And, actually, I found the article particularly insightful not just for weight loss but for parenting and life in general. Everybody could benefit from knowing that "happiness" is a feeling and it can change.