Author and blogger Martin Grünstäudl writes about self-confidence. What is the connection between accepting your own body, your psychology and losing weight?

Do you know this too? You've resolved a hundred times to finally reach your desired weight, exercise regularly and eat sensibly. But it has only ever worked for a few days or weeks.

The reason why you don't manage to stick with it could lie within yourself. You may have the wrong attitude. Or you lack the necessary self-confidence

Losing weight has a lot to do with psychology and self-confidence

I believe that successful weight loss has a lot to do with our self-confidence and our image of ourselves.

Think about why so many people resort to crash diets:

They often only do this because they are completely dissatisfied with themselves and their body and want to get rid of their extra pounds as quickly as possible. Because only then can they accept themselves and their body.

And we all know that such crash diets with strict calorie counting don't work. On the contrary: as soon as you start eating normal amounts of food again, the yo-yo effect kicks in. This ensures that you end up weighing more kilos at the end of the diet than at the beginning.

This in turn has a negative effect on your self-confidence. Not only can you still not look at yourself in the mirror. You've also missed another goal - and that inevitably eats away at your self-esteem.

But then at some point the bathing season arrives - or the new year is just around the corner - and we try our luck again. Once again, of course, with an exaggerated diet and far too much training, so that we would like to call in sick from work the very next day - the sore muscles are so bad.

No wonder it doesn't work again and we fail again. Because: To lose weight sustainably, you have to keep at it and therefore pay attention to your diet in the long term and probably also do some exercise.

And what many people unfortunately overlook: If weight loss is to be permanent, then progress is usually quite slow. You probably won't lose 20 kilos in a month. But if you're not at all happy with yourself and your body, then you won't take a year to get rid of those 20 kilos. Then you want the kilos to be gone tomorrow if possible.

And when you suddenly realize in week 2 that you can't lose nearly as much weight as you did in week 1, your inner critic tells you that you probably won't be able to do it again and you soon give up.

So your lack of self-confidence has once again thwarted your plans.

The psychology of losing weight: do something for your self-confidence

The way out of this dilemma is to take the first step and learn to accept yourself as you are - with all your weaknesses and shortcomings.

You may have heard of the paradoxical theory of change: this states that we only start to change when we recognize and accept ourselves as we are. Because only that which is accepted in a first step without If a negative evaluation is carefully considered and researched, it can also change later. If, on the other hand, a negative evaluation takes place, then you only focus on the problem. Then you either try to suppress this problem or you resort to drastic measures to change the situation with a show of strength (which will usually not succeed).



A good example of such a show of strength are the crash diets mentioned above. In principle, it is clear from the outset that they will not work, as you will never be able to stick to this diet for years on end. And yet millions of people all over the world keep trying them. Precisely because they can't accept themselves and have to resort to such drastic measures because they can't wait to finally be slim.

And what do we learn from this? Try to focus on other and, above all, more important things than just your appearance and your body weight. Try to accept yourself as you are.

Set yourself realistic, motivating weight loss goals

Only after you have accepted yourself and your situation should you set yourself goals - and realistic ones at that. Stop wishful thinking that you will lose five kilos in a week.

Because think about it: if you can "only" lose half a kilo a week on average, that would be a good 25 kilos over the course of a year! So even small steps can make a big difference in the long term. So set yourself short-term goals that you can also achieve!

If you follow these two steps, something fabulous will happen: if you stop putting pressure on yourself and set yourself realistic goals, you will set the course for sustainable weight loss. Then it can happen that regular exercise and healthy eating can actually be fun. Then you will be able to stick with it in the long term and lose weight sustainably. This also eliminates the dreaded yo-yo effect, as you no longer have to rely on crash diets.

So you see: sticking with it is not that difficult. You "just" have to be able to accept yourself as you are and have realistic goals.

About Martin Grünstäudl


Martin is a blogger and author. Among other things, he writes on his blog at http://1001erfolgsgeheimnisse.com about topics such as setting and achieving goals and building more self-confidence.