When it comes to weight loss there is one colossal mistake that is made, that has been prevalent yet ignored for years, and has been a mistake that has prevented so many people from achieving their weight loss goals, and that mistake is not recognizing that there are two groups of people when it comes to weight management, and each group has different causations of weight gain and therefore need different solutions to manage it.
And the one colossal mistake that people tend to make in managing their weight, which prevents them from ever achieving their goal success is failing to correctly identify which weight management group they fall into. And this issue is prevalent amongst so many people trying to lose weight, and is actually causing people to consistently fail in their attempts, regardless of the time, effort and money that they invest.
So prevalent in fact that statistics show that their are currently approximately 4,173 billion people in the world currently trying to lose weight. That’s 52% of the entire global population.
The World Health Organization show that the success rates for LONG-TERM weight loss in adults currently is 20%.
That means that 80% of people trying to lose weight and keep that weight off fail!!
And that is because the current commercial model for weight loss is designed as a ‘one size fits all’ model which is diet-led using the CICO (Calories In Calories Out) model at it’s core, which is formatted and delivered by Slimming groups, Personal Trainers and weight loss coaches globally.
But the 80% failure rate proves that it categorically does not work for the majority of those using it, and there’s a very valid reason why-
group 1- Causation= CIRCUMSTANTIAL
Group 1- People that have struggled to manage their weight due to ‘circumstantial’ reasons.
For this particular selection of people, the main reason they tend to struggle with managing their weight is circumstantial/lifestyle.
This means that their weight gain can be attributed to lifestyle/circumstantial issues such as-
* poor time management
* habitual overindulgence
* limited mobility due to work/lifestyle
* external/superficial stress triggers.
This group tend to find that they rarely struggle with emotional attachments to food, display disordered/compulsive eating issues or have problems with emotional regulation, psychological blocks and patterns of self-sabotage when trying to make changes to their lifestyle. Their biggest issue is not managing their time/diet effectively and have slipped into lazy unhealthy habits for convenience, making their weight circumstantial and not deep-rooted in emotional disturbances.
For this particular group of people their primary focus for losing weight needs to be on circumstantial changes such-
- Improving habits
- Managing stress
- Improving sleep
- Moving more frequently
- Structured eating routines
- Portion control
- Mindfulness
Diet plans, commercial slimming groups, meal replacement plans and personalised nutrition/fitness plans are proven to work effectively for this group of people.
And they are the 20% success rate in the current statistics.
group 2- CAUSATION = OBSTRUCTIVE EMOTIONAL WEIGHT (OBE)
Group 2- People that have struggled to manage their weight due to OEW.
For this particular selection of people, the main reason they tend to struggle with managing their weight is due to the fact that they have Obstructive Emotional Weight (OEW).
Obstructive Emotional Weight is a psychological impairment that means that there are issues present that are multi factorial emotional and behavioral issues that have been developed and accumulated over time that created emotional weight/baggage which blocks long-term weight loss success.
And unlike those with circumstantial causes, the ONLY solution for achieving weight loss success for those with OEW is to lose that first, then physical weight is lost as a by-product.
But all the time the emotional weight remains present, and isn’t targeted and resolved the unwanted physical weight remains present too.
OEW consists of factors such as-
* Unresolved Emotions/trauma
* Contradictory beliefs
* Toxic food language
* Inconsistent behavior
* A limiting self-image
* Emotional avoidance
How to identify if you have OEW-
If you have a history of-
* Habitual weight cycling (constantly losing and regaining weight)
* Disordered eating patterns (including cycles of binge-eating/starvation)
* Emotional eating episodes
* Chronic food noise
* Irrational and impulsive behavior around food (a lack of self-control)
* Uncontrollable cravings
* Self-medicating with food (comfort eating)
* Inconsistency with eating routines
* Self-sabotage
* An ‘all of nothing’ mentality
Then you have obstructive emotional weight, which requires a completely different approach to weight loss.
Instead of a diet-led approach, a behavior-led approach is required.
In Layman’s terms, the primary focus for people with OEW should never be to control what goes in their mouths, but instead what goes on in their minds. Because once that can be controlled the eating habits will naturally become more controlled too, simply as a by-product of emotional regulation.
OEW is the cause of your unwanted physical weight, and food (your eating habits) are a consequence of it.
And by dieting you are only targeting the consequence (food) as a primary focus and not the cause (OEW), which is why you continuously end up back at square one, no matter how hard you try.
Now don’t get me wrong, a diet-led approach can achieve weight loss initially, and I’m sure you have experienced losses with it, but never maintained them.
That’s because the results achieved will sadly only ever be short-lived, because only the consequence has been modified, and the cause remains the same.
And so inevitably old habits/patterns re-emerge, with any weight that had been lost so far, frustratingly being regained again.
And the reason why this is a prominent issue that occurs time and time again for so many, is because their ‘go-to’ approach of commercial systems (diet-led plans and slimming groups) are not designed or equipped to offer emotional/behavioral resolutions/modifications to the deep-rooted emotional and behavioral issues present. And the outcome of those issues being overlooked/unresolved is constant weight cycling (losing and regaining weight) which leads to feelings of disappointment, shame and frustration whilst feeling incapable/inadequate.
And all of those feelings are a killer of motivation and focus, and lead to lapses in judgement and self-control.
All the time you are using the wrong system for you, you will receive the same predictable outcome of failure, because the core issues still remain.
In order for Group 2 to successfully lose weight long-term they are required to-
1 – Remove or reframe false beliefs
2 – Alter self-perception
3 – Change inner dialogue
4 – Improve emotional regulation
5 – Reduce food noise
6 – Manage stress effectively
7 – Balance hormones
8- Re-develop the understanding of nutrition
9 – Understand movement
10 – Improve environmental factors
Which this system is designed to achieve.
Once you can clearly identify the group you fall into, you can start to use the right weight loss system for you.
Which in time can also develop into eating disorders such as BED (Binge Eating Disorder), Anorexia, Bulimia, Pica, Rumination disorder or Food anxiety/avoidance