You are not weak, and you are not lazy.

Recent studies have shown that about 30 percent of weight problems is caused by genetic factors. That leaves an enormous 70 percent that can be caused by learned behavior and environmental factors. In other words, mostly it’s the things around you and the things you carry around in your mind—such as your mood and your habits—that are responsible. Our clinicians have years of experience in helping people change their mood, habits, and the impact of their environments.

People try desperately to lose weight. They’ve tried dieting and that doesn’t work–in fact, most people who diet end up heavier than before they started dieting.

Why diets are bound to fail…

People gain weight because their bodies convert more calories into fat than their bodies are converting fat into energy. On the surface then, it seems like weight loss should be as easy as using a formula to solve an equation. Fewer calories = less fat stored. But if it were that easy, nobody would have a weight problem.

It’s like a formerly overweight person recently said: “I finally figured out that it wasn’t so much about what I was eating–it was all about what was eating me.”  He called it the fat between his ears, and he found that when he put his life in order, maintaining his weight became second nature.

The Real Reasons for Persistent Weight Problems

Losing weight would be as easy as following a formula except for the fact that we are not calculators– we are humans with human drives, emotions, and habits. If you have a persistent weight problem and you don’t have a medical conditions that could be responsible, then the real reason you are not losing weight is probably one or more of these:

• Low self esteem
  We live in a world that can be very negative and critical at times. Some of us were raised by negative and critical people or went through other bad experiences and therefore we have an easy time believing the worst about ourselves. Sometimes people overeat in an attempt to cover up feelings of inadequacy.
• Motivational Problems
  Sometimes people have very bad health habits and can’t seem to coach themselves very effectively. Often they need some external support and encouragement to get with it and stay with it.
• Emotional eating
  Eating temporarily increases mood and energy. The effects are very short-lived (usually between 10 and 30 minutes) and are followed by feeling even worse. Sometimes people are caught in a cycle of using food to get temporary relief from emotional discomfort.
• Food addiction
  Also called compulsive eating, food addiction is very real. Because of the temporary emotional uplift eating brings about, some people become addicted to this temporary surge in metabolic activity. Of course the body has to work extra hard in order to process and store the extra food, so the effects don’t last, but the inevitable let-down is not enough to stop an addict.
• Relationship distress and/or loneliness
  Similar to people with Emotional Eating, people in negative or painful relationships will sometimes seek to fill the void with food and the very short-lived metabolic uplift that comes from eating. Of course when this temporary uplift passes they tend to be even more unhappy and heavier than before. And just as lonely or disconnected as ever.
• Boredom
  We sometimes undergo life-changing events that leave us disconnected from activities that once kept us involved and active. Being overweight can not only come from the lack of physical activity that may be lost, it can come from an attempt to distract ones self from the boredom. Having meaningful daily activity is important to weight managment, and is often addressed through the counseling available at the Marriage and Family Center.

As part of your weight-loss counseling we will thoroughly assess you for the above issues.  We will also send you to your primary care physician for a thorough physical–after all, we’re not medical doctors.  We are also not dietitians, so we won’t be recommending any specific diets.  But remember, pills and diets don’t work.  We have been trained to help you face the psychological factors above.  If you think any of those factors could be behind your weight issues, please contact us today.