Weight Loss Tip - The Thin Mind Set

Here's the most important weight loss tip that you're ever going to hear: Deprivation doesn't just happen; it is something that is done to you by other people or by other external factors. Children living in poverty are deprived. Families trapped in war-torn cities are deprived. Prisoners on starvation rations are deprived. They have no choice, no control over their situation. But by this definition, it is virtually impossible for most middle-class Americans to be truly deprived of food. Because the fact is, you can eat anything you want, anytime you want!

Other people may beg, nag, badger, bribe, or even threaten you, but ultimately the decision to eat or not to eat is always yours. No one can take it away from you. No one, not me, not your doctor, not even your spouse, can force you to avoid a food. When you decide to follow a diet plan, you are not being deprived, you are simply making a choice.

A few years ago, an overweight man at a dinner party told me that he abandoned his last diet because he was "tired of feeling punished." The question that immediately came to my mind was, punished by whom? Nobody was holding a gun to his head. Nobody was threatening him with divorce or unemployment if he didn't stay on the diet. This man had simply exhausted himself by fighting, and eventually losing, a battle against an enemy that didn't even exist.

Learning to control what foods you eat is not deprivation. Any feelings of deprivation that you have had on past diets are simply products of the mind-set you imposed on yourself. Nobody was depriving you. You did not check your free will at the door when you began the diet. Your food options were (and are) always open. It was you who chose to follow the diet in the first place.

The thing that you need to think about, is why your chose the diet in the first place. The reason that you chose it because you thought that dieting would make you feel better about yourself, improve your health, and help you to feel better about yourself. Whenever you choose to follow your diet, you are not being deprived, you are simply choosing that you want to reach the goals that you set yourself at the start of the diet.

Don't trip yourself up by the fact that you may not always feel happy about making these choices. Nobody is always happy about what they have to do to make their lives better - but they are happier for having done it. Feeling deprived is really just another way of surrendering to the control of food. It is a denial of your freedom and self-determination. You do not need a diet or a doctor to control your food intake. You have the knowledge and power to do that all on your own. You simply need to use it.

Good food is, and should be, one of life's greatest pleasures. Sharing a meal with the people we love is one of the most enjoyable experiences any of us can have. But food should enhance your life; it should not be the centerpiece of your life. Your life should not be controlled by food any more than it should be controlled by drugs or alcohol or any other external substance. You can not focus your entire life around food and be thin. If you want to take control of your life and weight, then you have to choose what is important to you and stick with your choices.

Please note: This article was are NOT written by a doctor or other medical professional, and represents the personal opinions of the author only. Always consult your doctor before changing your diet, or beginning any exercise or fitness plan, etc.!

First published at http://www.diet4women.com/article_thin_mind_set.php

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