When I read that Weight Watchers were abandoning the traditional method of calorie counting, I did a dance in my local café. The traditional programme of fat and calorie restriction is to be replaced in favour of a point’s based system.
According to Grocer magazine, the international dieting giant said it was adopting the ‘ProPoints’ system because ’science had moved on’ and the previous style of calorie-counting had been proven to be inaccurate and ‘outdated’, reports the Daily Mail. The new plan will centre on the amounts and types of protein, carbohydrate, fibre and fat in food, rather than its fat and calorie content. The plan will also ‘allow’ a few extra points so that dieters can have a couple of drinks or puddings on a night out.
These moves are all a step in the right direction but I doubt that they will make much difference to the depressing statistics that show most diets end in failure. So why do so many people fall off the dieting band wagon or pile the weight back on after they have worked so hard to loose it?
Could it be because our human frame responds to so much more than just reducing food to a numerical value?
What about the psychological factors?
After years of working with people who want to lose weight I recognize there are many things that lead to an unhealthy attitude to food. Sometimes it is those unhelpful habits learnt in childhood from well meaning adults. People also use food like a drug to sedate, cheer or silence difficult feelings.
Address the things that make someone eat compulsively
What ever the psychological reason for over eating if it is not addressed any diet will eventually fail. The driving force behind these inner compulsions destroys logical intention and will power. Life becomes a battle against will and strong emotions, making a dieter feel a lack of control and low in confidence.
Diets make people miserable
Have you ever set out to achieve something and felt de-motivated before you have got out of the starting blocks? That’s what most dieters tell me, and is that suprising? Starting off on a period of deprivation, forced to concentrate more on something they are already obsessed about. Is it a wonder that dieters struggle?
Oh I can feel a rant coming on so have decided to write an article and self help tips to get over some sensible ways of loosing and maintaining weight.
