The Problem With Deciding You Need a Fresh Start

The main problem with deciding you need a fresh start is that although it seems like a tempting option, the reality is you cannot completely leave behind the person you are and the problems you are having. If you're single, lonely and unemployed, simply telling yourself it's time for a fresh start is not enough. It is important to make an effort if you really want the situation to change, but even if you revamp your CV, take up a hobby and sign up to dating sites, there are no guarantees that anything in your life will change. Unfortunately, when you make a big song and dance about making a fresh start, you only end up disappointed when nothing really changes and you feel even worse if other people know you've failed.

There is nothing wrong with deciding that there are features of your life that could do with improving, but it is worth geting away from the idea of a completely fresh start. It isn't unusual for individuals to get away from it all and move somewhere far away in an attempt to make a fresh start. However, if you decide to do this, you could find yourself alone and without anyone to turn to when you could really do with some support. It can be hard to meet new people and make friends as you get older and you may end up isolated and full of regret, wishing that you'd stayed where you were. That isn't always the case. Some people move and know what they're doing, have a renewed sense of purpose in life and quickly make friends.

Change can be good. If you've lived in the city for a long time and you're fed up with all the hassles associated with big-city living, you may find moving to the countryside is desirable. There is always the chance you may find it dull, but sometimes it is worth taking the risk. Ultimately, you should have a better idea of what you want out of life than anyone else and if you're not happy with the way things are going, only you can change the situation. At the end of the day, though, 'escaping' isn't always enough. Even if you remove yourself from a particular situation, you cannot erase all the experiences, thoughts and connections you have had.

If you're in debt and want to make a fresh start, thus deciding to get a new job and start spending less, putting some money aside to pay off your loans and other financial commitments, you have to prepare yourself for the fact it isn't going to happen overnight. It may be that you're stuck in an unhappy relationship. You can leave, but at the same time if you have a house together and a family, you cannot completely remove that person from your life with a snap of your fingers. At the end of the day, life is complicated and although it is tempting to believe you can separate the past from the present, move on and make a fresh start, unfortunately, in most cases life just continues onwards, even if you do make a few adjustments to the direction you're heading.

The Problem With Being Indecisive

Indecisiveness can hardly be considered a positive character trait, because if you are unable to make a decision and stick with it, you generally find yourself drifting along in a sea of uncertainty. You can frame indecisiveness in a positive light by saying that it is a good thing to take your time to weigh up the pros and cons before making a decision. However, that is exactly the point, because you do have to reach a decision, eventually, and choose which option is preferable. It could be something as trivial and, in the grand scheme of things, unimportant as choosing what to wear to a party or it could be something as important as what to study at university and which career path to take.

This is when indecisiveness can become a problem, because you think you know what you want, then you do some reading or come across other information and suddenly you're no longer certain. Consequently, you can end up wasting your time, or it might be that you make a decision, only to quickly change your mind again, thus finding yourself stuck in a position you're unhappy with. You may decide you want to study a certain subject at a particular university only to find yourself swayed by the arguments of others who think that a different subject or university would suit you better. Really, you should know yourself better than anyone else, but even when you take a good hard look at the person you are, sometimes it's hard to know what you actually want in life.

If this is the case, you may end up drifting from course to course or job to job, never really feeling completely satisfied, because you just can't decide what you want. It is tempting to hope that you can keep floating along until one day, out of the blue, something happens and your whole life changes. Suddenly, somebody offers you a high-paying job in a competitive, exciting industry; you meet the man or woman of your dreams and settle down and have children, or not, as the case may be. It doesn't work like that, though. If you want a particular career, you have to be prepared to fight for it and that means believing in yourself and your decisions, rather than vacillating and always wondering whether you're made the right choice.

The same goes for your personal life. You can keep wishing that one day you're going to bump into someone who you will want to settle down with, or you could join dating sites or make an effort to put yourself into situations where you're likely to meet someone. However, you still have to make decisions - do you want to get involved in a long-term relationship? Do you want to get married? Do you want to have children? If you're uncertain about what you want, it's not really fair to drag someone else along for the ride. Mind you, if you find someone who is also indecisive, you can bumble along together in your own particular way! Indecisiveness is not your friend, because it is so easy to keep putting off living and to avoid committing yourself to anything, even though doing so is not in your best interests.

Why are so Many People in Denial About Their Weight Problem?

It is difficult to face up to a weight problem, as once you do, you then have to take action to change the situation. Sometimes, it is just easier to bury your head in the sand – to keep on eating your usual diet and piling on the pounds – than it is to address the fact that you're unhappy about your size and concerned about the implications for your health. You can't ignore the problem forever, though, as eventually you will find yourself struggling to find clothes that fit and feeling miserable about yourself, whilst also developing health issues that wouldn't be a problem if you were lighter.

If you're in denial about your weight problem, rest assured you're not alone. Many people avoid tackling their weight until they are so heavy they are classified as 'morbidly obese' and have no choice but to lose weight or else come to a premature end. Clearly, it is better to try to address a weight problem before it takes over your life and you have to confront it head-on. Losing weight is a challenge, so it is understandable why most people would prefer to ignore the issue of their weight, but you only make the whole process harder for yourself if you keep putting it off.

You have to be extremely motivated to lose weight and to keep on losing the pounds week after week, and when you have over 100 pounds to lose, it makes it all the more difficult to stay focused, whereas if you're only 20 or 30 pounds overweight you can reach your goal sooner. However, most people try not to contemplate the idea that they could ever let themselves get that heavy. They watch these documentaries about dangerously overweight individuals trying to lose weight and believe that their weight problem will never get that bad.

Yet, the chances are if they continue to lead an unhealthy lifestyle, gaining weight as a result, they could quite easily end up with such a weight problem. The trouble is when members of your family are also overweight, as well as friends and neighbours, being overweight seems normal and so there is no real motivation to lose weight. You don't have to worry about standing out when all your friends and relatives are the same size. Plus, with an increasing number of plus-size shops you can dress fashionably and look nice, so that you may not see the need to lose weight.

Recognising that you have a weight problem means that you need to consider what has caused you to gain weight, so you can change the situation and stop it from happening again. If you're an emotional eater, this can be a painful process, and even if you just eat food because you love the taste, you still have to find a way to change your eating habits in order to lose weight. Any kind of change is difficult, which is why most people would prefer to believe that they're either a healthy weight or only a few pounds overweight and that the extra pounds are hardly likely to cause them any damage.

Why is Emotional Eating a Problem for so Many People?

There are many people battling a weight problem who, for some reason, are unable to control what they eat and how much. Everyone has to eat, but for some people it seems almost impossible to eat the right foods in an appropriate quantity. They are hooked on sugary, high-fat, high-salt foods that are extremely calorific and they have difficulty knowing when enough is enough. They keep on eating until they are past feeling full, often feeling ill because they have consumed so much food. This clearly isn't a particularly pleasant feeling, yet they carry on regardless.

Emotional eating could be at the root of the problem for many individuals. There are some people who are just plain greedy and who really enjoy their food, but for others food is an emotional crutch. When they are feeling low about themselves it is food that that gives them a temporary boost, making them forget their problems even if it is only for a few minutes. They try to avoid thinking about the inevitable come down, when they have to face up to the fact they have consumed a whole day's worth of calories in half an hour.

Everyone has issues in their life, but some people are better at coping with what life has to throw at them than others. Optimistic individuals who never let anything get them down may not feel the need to eat lots of sugary food to feel good. They may have their own strategies for dealing with stress, anger and frustration. There are plenty of other people, though, for whom life's difficulties are overwhelming. They need something to get them through the day and food is cheap, readily available and less controversial than drink and drugs.

It doesn't help living in a world where so much is expected of people. The pressure to do well in their professional and personal lives is too much to bear for some people and these are the types who turn to food for comfort. It can be difficult to ask for help and to admit to someone else that there is a problem, so that many people just bottle up all their problems and try to ignore them, whilst using food to dull the pain. Unfortunately, emotional eating just leads to more problems, as it fuels weight gain and can leave individuals feeling down about themselves.

In a society where people face a great deal of stress in the workplace and at home, with lots of tasks that need doing in a short space of time without a lot of support from friends, colleagues and relatives, it is food that some people use to cope. Instead of talking about their problems, individuals are more inclined to use other strategies to get them through, as admitting they are struggling could be perceived as a sign of weakness. This is perhaps why many people who have a habit of emotional eating try to keep it a secret.

The Problem With Emotional Eating

Emotional eating can become a problem, as if you feel that you are unable to control your emotions and use food to comfort yourself, then weight gain is a possibility. It is extremely difficult to stop yourself from gorging on all the foods you know you shouldn't when you are depressed or angry, because you know how good food tastes as well as the positive feelings eating it gives you. Although you may later experience shame and regret, when you're eating you try to push any negative thoughts out of your head.

Unfortunately, you can't ignore the fact you have just consumed a day's worth of calories in one sitting and you end up feeling rather down and frustrated with yourself. You may want to be one of those people for whom weight management is not a problem, but until you learn to control your eating and break the association between eating and feeling better about yourself, albeit temporarily, you will struggle to control your weight.

Although there are some people who eat when they are happy and upbeat, as well as depressed, for many it is negative emotions which cause them to seek comfort in food. It is therefore important to find a way to deal with negative emotions without always turning to food, especially when you know that you will only feel worse about the situation. If you start putting on weight and feel as though you are unable to stop, of course you're going to feel bad and you end up trapped in a cycle of eating to feel better, gaining weight and feeling worse so that once again you turn to food.

This is obviously a situation you do not want to find yourself in, particularly since being overweight can undermine your self-esteem further and make it very difficult for you to remain positive. You therefore need to gain control of your weight, before the issue of weight comes to dominate your life. You have to learn to find ways to cope with stress, sadness and frustration without always turning to food. This may require you to develop relaxation techniques or take up a sport that will get you out of the house and give you an opportunity to socialise.

Indeed, it is important to interact with other people, so that you know you're not alone. There are plenty of other people struggling with their weight and who use food as a source of comfort. However, you don't want the situation to spiral out of control, which is why you have to try to get a grip on your emotional issues and stop relying on food to make yourself feel better when you know that in actual fact it will only exacerbate your problems and leave you feeling worse about everything.

The Problem with Yo-Yo Dieting

Yo-yo dieting is where you regularly alternate between dieting and eating 'normally'. When you're on a diet, you usually consume far too few calories, thus depriving yourself of essential nutrients, whilst eating normally tends to mean you consume way more calories than your body requires. Consequently, it becomes impossible to stabilise your weight, as it continually fluctuates up and down, depending on whether you are on a diet or not. Managing your weight in this way is therefore not particularly beneficial for your physical and mental health, which is why you need to get away from the notion of dieting to lose weight.

If you go on a diet to lose weight, you usually have a particular goal in mind. You may want to fit into a size 10 dress in time for your wedding or be beach-ready for your summer holiday and so you throw all you have into losing weight. You are so focused on reaching your goal that you don't mind depriving yourself of all the foods you usually indulge in. You tell yourself that you only have to do this for a few weeks or months and you'll be down to your ideal weight. However, once you reach the size you want to be, you have nothing to motivate yourself to stay that size and you have no idea of how to keep the weight off, either.

Old habits start creeping back into your routine, as you start eating more junk food and avoiding exercise. You put on a couple of pounds, but tell yourself you'll do something about it soon when, in actual fact, you continue to bury your head in the sand. If you enjoy eating and hate doing exercise, this is what your natural reaction is. You don't want to face up to your weight gain and so you don't, even though you know that being overweight makes you miserable. It is hard learning how to control your weight, though, when you've always used fad diets to help you shed the extra pounds, as you cannot see any other way.

Eventually, you realise you have to do something about your weight, but instead of going about weight loss sensibly, your inclination is to go on ridiculously low-calorie diets. Clearly, you're not doing your body any favours by regularly depriving it of calories and then switching to excessive calorie consumption. It messes with your metabolism and can make it harder for you to lose weight in future. Plus, yo-yo dieting can have a negative impact on your self-esteem, because you become defined by your weight and so whether you're slim or overweight you are never truly content.

It is therefore essential to get out of the trap of yo-yo dieting, because it won't help you maintain a healthy weight in the long run. Although you may enjoy losing weight rapidly, there is very little point in doing so if only a few weeks or months down the line you are as heavy before. You need to concentrate on taking small steps that will help you lose weight gradually and that will get you in the right frame of mind for long-term weight maintenance.

Why Fad Diets Will Not Solve a Weight Problem

It isn’t easy to decide to lose weight when you know it is going to involve months of religiously watching what you eat. It is a real hassle changing your eating habits just to lose weight, but when you don’t like the way you look and are worried you’re getting so heavy that your health could start to suffer you may opt to do something positive and take action. Instead of aiming for gradual weight loss which can be achieved through healthy eating and regular exercise, though, there is a good chance you will try to lose weight as quickly as possible by going on a diet.

After all, there is no shortage of fad diets out there to choose from. Whenever you pick up a woman’s magazine there will be a headline telling you that inside there are tips to help you lose 10 pounds in a week. You become fixated on losing lots of weight within a short space of time, because you want to get back to living normally, rather than counting calories forever. You want to be able to go to a restaurant with your partner and eat whatever you want without feeling guilty and to go drinking with friends without worrying about your calorie intake.

You therefore choose a diet plan that offers rapid results with not that much effort on your part. You don’t have to think about what you’re going to eat when it is all laid out for you; you don’t have to make time for exercise when the diet is so low in calories you’re bound to lose weight, anyway. All you have to do is stick to the diet and watch the weight fall off you. It might be a challenge at first, but every time you step on the scales and see the numbers decreasing you know that it is worth it, which keeps you motivated to continue.

However, before long following the diet becomes rather tedious. You may have lost a bit of weight and so you decide you deserve a treat or you’ve had a bad day and can’t be bothered with the diet for one day. When you’ve broken your diet once, though, it becomes easier to do it again and eventually you give up on the diet altogether. This comes as no surprise since fad diets are there to encourage rapid weight loss, but are not meant to be followed for long periods of time. They do not prepare you for what is needed to maintain a healthy weight and so you simply go back to the habits with which you are most familiar.

Clearly, then, fad diets will not solve a weight problem when they merely get you to focus on the short term. Instead of looking for ways to lose weight at a sustainable rate you take steps that you hope will enable you to reach your goal weight within a short space of time, so that you won’t have to worry about your weight again. It doesn’t quite work like that, though, since you have to be prepared to control your calorie intake if you want to prevent yourself regaining weight. Unfortunately, despite the high rate of failure when it comes to fad diets, people are still drawn to them, as everyone wants to believe it will be different next time and that they will succeed.

Are You in Denial About Your Weight Problem?

If you are in denial about the fact you have a weight problem, you are not alone. Many people cannot face up to the fact that they have let themselves go and that they have put on so much weight that it could be damaging their health. After all, it is much easier to bury your head in the sand about being overweight than it is to confront the issue head-on and deal with it.

To reverse a weight problem, you obviously have to make changes to your eating and exercise habits. Unfortunately, introducing any kind of change to your life is always difficult and so it is tempting to avoid dealing with your weight, even if it is making you unhappy. You tell yourself that your weight isn’t really that bad and spend your time comparing yourself to people who are even heavier than you. If you can still get about and aren’t confined to a bed, as the people with a ‘real’ weight problem are, you are able to convince yourself that you don’t have to do anything about it.

However, morbidly obese individuals were not always that way. Those with a serious weight problem were not always as heavy as they end up. When you don’t want to find yourself in the position of having hundreds of pounds to lose you have to take action early on. You can’t keep pretending that your weight doesn’t bother you and that you’re just as healthy as your slimmer friends. If you sit around eating junk food and never bother to exercise, the chances are you aren’t as fit and healthy as you could be.

You may decide not to step on the scales, because if you don’t know how much you weigh then you don’t know how serious the problem is. Of course, you know when you’re putting on weight, because every time you go shopping for clothes you find yourself having to buy them in a larger size. Perhaps that is why you choose to avoid clothes shopping altogether, especially when there are only a few stores that stock clothes in your size.

Even if you try to kid yourself that your weight isn’t an issue, when you develop health problems and your quality of life begins to suffer you can no longer do so. If your weight prevents you from doing the things you want to do and you have negative feelings about the way you look, it is time to take action. Indeed, it would be preferable to deal with your weight before it reaches such a stage, but the main thing is that you finally face up to the fact your weight is a problem, so that you can take the action needed to facilitate weight loss.