Why is Losing Weight So Tough?

If you’ve been on the diet treadmill then you know just how tough it is to lose weight. We all want to look great and we all want to have that body that we know we would be happy with, but why is it that so few people ever get there. Why is it so hard and why can’t we just get on a diet and lose the weight?

I believe that the biggest reason why we can’t lose weight easily is simply because of habits. Habits have a bigger control over our behaviors than most of us care to believe. In motivational books the story of the elephant is often used to explain the power of habits.

When a baby elephant is brought into captivity it has to be tied down with strong chains. It will constantly try to break free from the chain. As time goes by, the elephant will get used to the constrain until the time comes when he would not even try to escape any more. Even when the chain gets replaces by a thread, the elephant can be held down.

Losing weight is very much like this. A lifetime of eating patterns and beliefs about food can tie us down like that. It can exert so much power and control over us that we can’t break free. Even though it’s a weak thread holding us in our old habits, we can’t seem to break free.

Losing weight is very much about breaking habits and breaking free from all those old beliefs about food, health and our bodies that keeps us from making the change and losing the weight. In the end, weight loss is not that hard. Eat well and get some exercise. That’s the whole secret. The challenge is not in knowing what to do, but rather in doing what you already know and this is where changing habits come in.

You will need to make some changes because your current behaviors is what got you to be overweight. Keeping with your current habits will only get you more of what you don’t want. That’s why you have to change the habit first. When you change the habit, you change that automatic behavior and when you change the automatic behavior 99% of the battle is won.

Using willpower and constantly watching your actions will never give you long term results. This is what most diets encourage. It may work for a while, but in the end habit will take over. So, work on your habits and work and on that inner relationship you have about food, your body and your health. As you change this relationship you will start to see things in a new light. When you realize that it’s not a chain that’s tying you down, but a flimsy thread, you can break it and break with the habit.