Your Secret Weapon for Successful Dieting

It’s not only about eating right, but thinking right, when it comes to losing weight.

Experts say whether your diet is a success or just another step on the treadmill of yo-yo dieting depends on the feedback you give your mind.

Negative self-image can be crippling when trying to diet, says Angie Ferguson, a Fort Myers–based exercise physiologist, wellness coach and Advanced Level 2 USA Triathlon coach. Despite that, the usual feedback we give ourselves is that our bodies don’t quite make the grade.

“There is a huge amount of societal pressure that really skews the image of what we see as healthy,” she says. “It’s really unfair for women. A healthy 140 pounds with low percent body fat—there is a stigma for that.” Yet for a man weighing 210 pounds with a pot belly: “Big deal, who cares?” she says.

Some brave women have bucked the stigma. Jamie Lee Curtis, who turned heads when she wore a bikini in the 1988 movie A Fish Called Wanda, caused a similar reaction—for a different reason—14 years later when she appeared in her underwear in More magazine, sans makeup, love handles exposed.

Naples realtor Cheryl Turner, 55, thinks the reason she has been unable to lose those last 10 pounds over the past five years is her defiance of societal pressures. “I get angry when I think I need to,” she says. “I’m not out of shape. I’m not overweight. I think I need to lose the weight because society dictates I need to be thin.”

Fad Diets

many women in search of that coveted body will try anything to get it. Fads range from diets consisting of grapefruit to lemonade to cabbage soup. “Oh my gosh, I’m shocked at what women will still do today,” Ferguson says. “Each week I will hear about some new fad diet. I’m blindsided by this stuff. Really, have you not been listening to anything in the news for the last 20 years?”

Fad diets simply don’t work, says Les Schulz, a Naples clinical therapist who has treated people struggling with weight loss or eating disorders for 17 years. “It screws up their metabolism,” he says. “The Atkins diet, the South Beach diets—I can’t tell you how many people come in and say, ‘I’ve tried that five times, and each time I gained the weight back.’ What I tell them is, ‘It’s a lifestyle change.’”

There is no quick fix, agrees Kristina von Castel-Roberts, a clinical nutritionist at the University of Florida who studies obesity. She says it requires a permanent change in how you eat and how you think about eating. “You have to ask yourself if you really want to do it and if this is something you can commit to,” von Castel-Roberts says. “It is something that does take effort and something that is going to take time, and not having unreasonable expectations is important.”

Mindful Eating

national expert susan albers, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, espouses the philosophy of “mindful eating,” the title of the first of her four best-selling books on the subject (www.eatingmindfully.com). She says the philosophy is more about learning how and why you eat, and less about what you eat. It’s also about learning to develop a nonjudgmental awareness and acceptance of yourself, your weight and eating habits.

“Women in particular are our own worst critics,” she says. “Just think about accepting your body at this point. One of the things I really try to emphasize is that being judgmental and harsh and using guilt doesn’t help people change.”

The concept of “mindfulness” goes back to Buddhist principles several thousand years old, Albers says. “It really is about tuning in to your body.” It’s similar to the principles of yoga and meditation, when you become totally aware of your breathing and body placement, she says. It helps you recognize the cues of hunger and fullness, something your body loses track of. “So many things in our modern world turn off mindfulness while we eat,” she says. That includes eating at your desk, while on the phone, in front of the TV, while driving.

Emotional Eating

so many women fall prey to emotional eating, the “I had a bad day, so I’ll eat a Milky Way” syndrome. Albers says most women do at one point or another, whether it’s because of problems at work, at home, in relationships, depression or other stressors. “When it becomes a habit, then it becomes a problem.”

You want to take out emotional eating and put a breathing exercise, meditation, massage, knitting, gardening or something else non-caloric in its place, she adds. Albers’ book, 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food, offers more ideas.

If it takes five minutes to eat a candy bar when you’re stressed, it also takes five minutes to walk around the building or walk around the block to calm down, von Castel-Roberts says.

The Buddy System

keeping food records is an important part of weight management, recording not only what and when you ate, but how you were feeling.

For some, a buddy system like Weight Watchers works. “Any kind of a support system,” Schulz says. “Two people doing it together, or a group holding each other accountable.” And the buddy system can make mindful eating contagious, Albers says. “It makes you more aware.”

If you slip, don’t beat yourself up, and don’t dwell on it. Admit you had a stressful day and move forward, von Castel-Roberts says. Come up with options to arm yourself and defuse the stress the next time it happens. “You have to figure out what works for you,” she says. “You can break the cycle. You can make a change.”