Barriers to Losing Weight

Many of us lose focus easily. Our eating patterns become more erratic. We begin to feel helpless and hopeless even when we are on a supposed ‘diet'. Food now becomes an even larger issue, and even the thought of preparing a meal or going out to dinner becomes difficult, since we feel we cannot control our intake.

A simple check list might help you get back on track. It is no different than if you had an exam to do and the amount of material to cover seems overwhelming. In this situation, it's important to write down what you have to cover and what topics you will review nightly. If it's losing weight, there are a few areas that we have to perpetually look at to figure out where we are going wrong and how we will rectify the improper habit.

Accuracy of recording: Are you writing absolutely everything you are eating? Do you accurately measure your portions? Do you carefully calculate your calorie intake?

• Weighing and weekly review: Are you weighing yourself or measuring yourself weekly? Do you review your goals and habits of eating weekly?
• Your eating pattern. Do your eating habits vary greatly from day to day? Do you skip meals? Do you tend to go for long periods without eating? Do you tend to nibble or pick at food? Are there particular times of the day when you are liable to overeat? Do you have binges (large or small)
• You portion sizes: Are your portion sizes on the large size? Do you take second helpings? Do you always "clean your plate"? Do you eat leftovers?
• Your choice of foods and drink: Are you prone to eat energy-rich foods? (i.e.; rich desserts or treats) Are you actively avoiding any foods? (e.g. vegetables)

Try to find your particular areas of difficulty and focus on correcting it. One of the commonest problems we encounter is not having enough during the daytime hours then tending to have far too large portions at supper and/or eating in front of the T. V. at night. Work on having an afternoon snack and decreasing the volume of food on your plate at supper. Don't eat in front of the T.V.

Similarly, another large problem area is lack of documentation. The absolute simplest way to bring yourself on track is to document everything you eat. It doesn't take a lot of time, and by writing it down you will automatically begin to correct portions, poor choices of food, and those quick and easy snacks that we all forget about. (Did you only have 4 nacho chips after work? Or was it really 10? Which equal 100 calories, by the way.)

Eat a good breakfast and lunch; have a healthy afternoon snack then a small and just satisfying (not stuffing yourself) supper and you will be well on your way to a successful weigh loss week.

Keep trying. Don't get discouraged. Just don't ever give up.

Dr Doug