4 Common Psychological Blocks to Weight Loss and How to Overcome Them

When we think about weight loss, we often focus on the physical aspect of the process. However, understanding the psychology behind weight loss can help us find sustainable and lasting success when losing weight. A study on the relationship between weight and psychology found that up to 23.2% of women with obesity and 11.7% of men with obesity are affected by depressive symptoms. In fact, obesity and mental disorders such as depression share a high co-morbidity. Studies have shown that the relationship is bi-directional — depression may lead to obesity, and obesity may be a risk factor for developing symptoms of depression.

Further analysis of the study participants found that the number of weight loss attempts, the desired weight loss, and weight maintenance can be associated with symptoms of depression, while desired weight loss and weight maintenance influence the intensity of anxiety symptoms. As such, making mental adjustments to your weight loss process can help yield healthier and better results. Below, we'll look at the four common psychological blocks to weight loss and how you can overcome them:

Stressing yourself out

Weight loss can be stressful, especially if you tend to put yourself under too much pressure. According to a study on stress-eating and weight change, stress can contribute to the development and maintenance of obesity. Too much stress can trigger physiological changes in your brain's hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and reward processing. These changes can induce overeating, especially of foods high in fats and sugar.

It's important to note that three stress-related eating styles induce unhealthy eating: emotional eating (eating in response to emotional stressors instead of hunger or satiety), external eating (eating in response to environmental food cues such as social media pictures of food or restaurants), and restrained eating (eating less than desired to regulate body weight). While we're more aware of the first two eating styles, we often fail to recognize how dieting can lead to additional stress. While applying a little pressure to motivate your weight loss can be good, overdoing it and stressing yourself out can be unhealthy and produce worse results.

Restricting your diet

Restricting your diet can psychologically affect you and your weight loss process. Limiting your food intake can actually cause you to eat more by conditioning yourself that certain foods are out of bounds or "forbidden." This can trigger a stress-related eating response that grows into a cycle of restriction and deprivation, followed by overeating and guilt. Additionally, categorizing foods as "good" or "bad" can result in a poor mental state, impacting your confidence, self-trust, and decision-making.

Besides the psychological effects, restricting your diet and limiting your calories can also lead to chronic health issues and conditions, such as anemia, heart damage, bone disease, eye disease, and in extreme cases, even death. Instead of chasing a quick fix for weight loss, making manageable adjustments — such as portion control or healthier ingredients — to your diet and lifestyle to achieve sustainable weight loss would be more beneficial.

Blaming yourself for lacking willpower

It can be easy to blame yourself and feel guilty for lacking willpower during your diet. But sometimes, it's your biology working against you. When you lose weight, your body is inclined to return to its set point weight, or your body's predisposition for a certain weight. Everyone's set point weight is different, which explains why many people who are obese find it so challenging to lose weight.

Decreasing your set point weight may be difficult as your body triggers certain adaptations, such as increased appetite. For example, if your body's set point weight is 180 pounds, the body may have difficulty going below that number. The good news is you can lower your set point weight by slow and steady weight loss through behavioral changes. You can do this by tracking your nutritional intake and maintaining physical activity on top of your diet.

Weighing yourself too often

Finally, it can be tempting to want to track every step of your weight loss journey. Many people trying to lose weight check their numbers on the scale every day or multiple times daily. This is psychologically unhealthy as you may react negatively or emotionally towards small changes or fluctuations in your weight, which are normal occurrences.

We've previously written about why smart people self-sabotage, and the same applies with weight loss. You want your weight loss journey to be perfect and without mistakes, so you have a speedy reflex to the smallest changes, often to your detriment. Letting yourself become emotionally driven in your weight loss can make you lose sight of your goal, sabotaging your journey. Instead, focus on your weight goals and try to keep track of what and how you eat on the days that you feel good and healthy.

This blog was written by Kayleigh Rowe