Brisbane Psychologist Nicole Wimmer is keen to help you find success when it comes to losing weight and reaching your health and fitness goals …
Are you desperately trying to lose weight but getting nowhere? Have you tried every diet but just can’t stick to any?
Often people trying to lose weight manage to “stay on track” for a few weeks but just can’t sustain it for enough time to make a real difference to their weight. Others can drop weight quickly but put it back on again and more!
Your thoughts play a big part in your weight loss attempts and can often sabotage your efforts.
All or nothing thinking (also known as “black and white” thinking) is common.
“Well I’ve blown it for today anyway so I might as well eat the rest of the packet of biscuits!”
“I haven’t reached my goal so far so why bother?”
Support for your Weight Loss Journey
Having the support of a Psychologist during your weight loss journey can help smooth out the hurdles and mountains of despair and keep you on track.
There is no magic wand but if you can have your intentions, behaviours and thoughts working together towards your goals you will have the best chance of success.
The diagram below reveals the vicious cycle that occurs when unhelpful, negative or sabotaging thoughts work against your best intentions and undermine your motivation.
Guilt
Guilt is a negative and heavy emotion. It is our enemy when it comes to weight loss. The guilt web can be quite a complex one and we need to unravel it to ensure our weight loss journey is a successful one. A weight loss journey based on guilt has no chance of helping us stay on track as it triggers the very behaviours we are trying to avoid.
Unrealistic goals
Unrealistic goals only lead to failure. By setting goals that stretch us, but don’t ‘break’ us, we can gain confidence and a sense of achievement, not weight! This gives us the momentum and motivation to keep going and achieve our goals.
Deprivation
Moderation – Moderation – Moderation! When you deprive yourself of the foods you LOVE this generally only makes you crave them even more. You can only struggle for so long before your willpower is stripped and you cave in to your cravings. Usually you will then binge and your self esteem and confidence suffers (not to mention your waistline!). Don’t look at certain foods as the enemy or ‘bad’ – it is just food. In the end it is the small changes not the big ones that will have the greatest lasting impact on your weight loss.
Incidental exercise
A common mistake when it comes to exercise is thinking that it needs to be a class or personal trainer, and we need to put on our exercise gear, for it to “count”.
Simple things like getting off the bus a stop early, walking to the shops rather than driving, or taking the stairs rather than the lift or escalator contribute to a more consistent energy expenditure. If you are running late for an exercise class it can easily be missed, and the weather can put an end to that personal training session so if you are depending on those to be your only exercise options then it is easy for you to be left short.
Author: Nicole Wimmer, B Sc (Psych), MA (Psych), PG Cert Mgmt, Grad Dip Safety Science, MAPS.
Nicole Wimmer has a relaxed and engaging approach to therapy, and draws on a variety of evidence-based approaches to individually tailor a plan to suit each client. Her therapeutic orientation is a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).
While addressing current presenting issues with clients, Nicole also focuses on developing skills in the client to better equip them to deal with future challenges as they arise.