Diets fail too often. People set lofty exercise goals with no follow-through because it's easier to not do it. There are so many things that go wrong with a traditional diet and exercise program that it's no wonder that more people are looking for better ways to lose weight and get healthy once and for all. Psychologists have always recognized the need to change the entire person versus traditional diets and exercise routines. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one way that therapists are working to create a change from the inside out with people who need to lose excess weight and find a healthy lifestyle.
The mind body connection to weight management is much stronger than many people realize. Dieting and exercise only go as far as a person's mind will allow. Someone who lacks ambition and follow through is not going to see as much success from a weight loss program as someone who is driven to succeed. The use of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy works to change the thinking first, and then the physical appearance will change because the mindset has been altered. By essentially re-programming and retraining the mind-body connection, therapists are able to help people lose weight, get healthy, and maintain that healthy lifestyle on into the future.
Yo-yo diets are a prime example of what happens when you try to change the body without the mind being a part of the change. People often do quite well for a short time when they decide to change what they eat. Eventually, however, their old habits take hold and the weight returns because their mindset has not been changed at all. It has been shown that people who succeed at obesity management and weight management are those who undergo therapy or some form of counseling at the same time to get their mind in the right place while also working on their body. When diets, exercise, medications, or even surgery aren't enough to keep people thin and healthy, CBT can add that extra push to help give people the healthy lifestyle that they have always needed.
Having a direct relationship with a therapist can help to create a strong mind-body connection to weight management and help people to produce better results because they have an individual plan. Through things like CBT, meditation, and self-monitoring, people can learn to change the way they think, which then allows them to change the way they eat, exercise, and live their lives. The goal is the same across the board: creating a healthy lifestyle and changing a whole person so that the health is both physical and mental, rather than focusing on the physical by itself.
The reason that diets often don't work and that exercise routines are always 'good ideas' and little more is because the habits and mindset of the people trying to lose weight are unchanged. Until the entire person is addressed and a whole new healthy lifestyle for mind and body is created, weight loss may be fleeting, at best.
