Is your mental health suffering with weight loss?

If you’re reading this, there is a good chance that you’ve been working to lose weight for years. Maybe even forever.. Don’t get me wrong here. I am a supporter of trying to be a healthier version of ourselves, and I am a supporter of weight loss if weight loss helps achieve that goal. But for some of us, our desire to lose weight causes our mental health to suffer. It becomes something we think about all the time. It becomes who we are. 

It can be so easy to get stuck inside our own heads. We’re not only thinking about food, about weight loss, but we can get stuck in a loop of “it’s not enough” or “I’m not enough” thinking. Our happiness may feel like it depends on weight loss success. Our mental (and emotional) health takes a beating in all of this. 

If this is you, below you will find a powerful exercise to help you acknowledge some truths, some beliefs, some awareness around your relationship with your pursuit of weight loss. It’s a challenging set of questions to help you evaluate your mindset and then you can decide what you want to do about it. 

Our mental health is just as important as our physical health, because it impacts how we think, feel, and navigate daily life. It impacts how we see the world and see ourselves. Just like we care for our bodies with rest, movement, and nourishment, our minds need support, balance, and attention too. If the desire to lose weight takes up a majority of space in our mind, there is less space for other things that are meaningful and enriching. 

So check out these questions. Contemplate them and journal your thoughts. This exercise is going to allow you to see your relationship with your weight from a different perspective. It may expose some limiting beliefs, some truths and untruths about your thinking, and it’s definitely going to create some new conscious awareness. Then you decide if you want to make some changes in your thinking. 

1. Where did my beliefs about my body size come from? (parents, culture, peers, etc.)

2. What is the payoff for obsessing about it? (I feel in control, I avoid other things I don’t like about my life, it feels like it’s what I deserve, it motivates me, etc.)

3. Who am I without the constant dieting? (I’m a quitter, I’m a valuable person, I’m the biggest girl in the room, etc.)

4. What would be the consequences if I weren’t spending so much mental and emotional energy to lose weight? (I might gain weight, I would look like someone who doesn’t care, I would feel like a failure, etc.)

5. What might some benefits be? (I could enjoy life more, I could eat a wider variety of foods, I could spend time doing something else, etc.)

6. How does my constant dieting and thinking about weight loss affect those around me? (I’m not fun to go out with, I’m always criticizing myself in front of my kids, I can’t be spontaneous, etc.)

7. What am I missing out on? (ice cream parties with my grandkids, social gatherings, feeling freedom around food, etc.)

8. How do I typically feel about myself day to day? (like I’m not doing enough, like the scale dictates my mood, like a positive person who struggles with weight, etc.)

9. If my desire to lose weight is out of balance with everything else in my life, what is suffering? (my mental health, my self-esteem, my enjoyment of life, more time with my family. etc.)

10. What would I tell the version of me 20 years ago? (you look good just as you are, take better care of yourself, don’t worry so much, don’t buy into what society tells you is beautiful, etc.)

If you want some support on this, coaching can be a valuable experience. Click HERE to find out more about my services.