Diet Psychology Tips for Motivation

(Jayne Freeland - July 2009)

You’ve decided to embark on the weight loss path via a diet. Or perhaps you’re still at the crossroads trying to choose the right path towards weight loss. Either way, a little diet psychology might help you find the motivation you need to take the first step and find success this time.  

Diet Psychology Tip 1: Set your goals appropriately 

A plan needs a goal, but don’t make the goal something that is either unrealistic or too difficult. When you set goals such as these, you will likely meet failure and deem the plan unsuccessful when in fact, it’s probably just going to take a bit more time. Healthy diet plans allow for a gradual fat loss. Very low calorie diets allow you to lose weight rapidly, but you cannot stay on this path for long AND you will lose lean body mass, creating a “skinny/fat” physique.  

Set small goals and reward yourself with a non-food item when you achieve them, which leads me to the next tip. 

Diet Psychology Tip 2: Do not punish yourself for missing a goal 

Punishment never works as well as positive re-enforcement. Sounds like parenting advice, right? When parents discipline their children, they do so to try to avoid a negative situation in the future. If parents put more emphasis on positive behaviour through reward, this is the type of behaviour they will see more often. The opposite is true if emphasis is placed on negative behaviour.  

View your mistakes as an opportunity to learn. A food diary is a good way to track your eating patterns. Do stressful days cause you to overeat when you get home? Then on bad days, find a different activity for your evening that doesn’t involve food or places with food. Maybe you overeat at a certain point of your monthly cycle. Hormonal fluctuations can cause an increase in leptin, which is a hormone that triggers hunger. Again, plan around this time and be prepared by loading your fridge with healthy snacking items and getting any temptations out of sight, out of mind. Speaking of which…. 

Plan and Prepare 

Purge your kitchen of unhealthy items and fill it with healthful items. Back when I began my weight loss efforts, I completely emptied my kitchen, placed things in boxes and painted the kitchen red. I cleaned cabinets, the refrigerator, the stove and the pantry. As I replaced my kitchen items, I placed anything unhealthy or worn out in a box for either donation or the trash. The tabletop deep fryer left the premises as did many snack foods. I restocked my refrigerator and pantry with only healthful items. 

I felt so good and couldn’t wait to begin my weight loss plan! Preparing yourself for the challenge that lies ahead is one of the best ways to start on the right foot when you want to lose weight! 

 
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