The Royal Road to Weight Loss - Stress Reduction
By Christine Sutherland | July 29, 2008
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Experts agree that there are 17 lifestyle factors which people need to investigate and attend to in order to achieve permanent weight loss. At the top of the list is our stress levels.
The big lie about weight loss, which diet companies try to suck people into believing, is that weight loss requires dieting. In fact the opposite is true. Dieting ends up adding 6 lbs per year per dieter, and dieting fails for nearly 100% of people. No, dieting is not the answer, but lifestyle factors, including stress reduction, are in most cases the only answer you’ll need.
Why is stress so important? Stress produces a hormone called cortisol, and while a certain amount of cortisol is essential for health, too much cortisol will damage your entire endocrine (hormone) system, including playing havoc with your metabolic rate. Stress reduction is a key factor in permanent weight loss.
If you are a stressful person, due to circumstances or due to your nature, especially if you have an actual anxiety disorder, then it’s highly likely that your metabolic rate has been compromised, and highly likely that you have other health problems as well. It’s vital to get help quickly.
The first step should always be to visit your doctor, because the symptoms of anxiety can mask a medical condition. For example thyroid disorders can bring on a stressed state of mind and even panic attacks! So first see your doctor!
Unfortunately the most common treatments for anxiety are pretty unsatisfactory, taking weeks or months to achieve benefit, if ever. These include a range of medications, and psychotherapies such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. These approaches should be considered out of date.
It’s also quite common for people to use alcohol or other drugs to try to soothe their stress or anxiety, even when they know this isn’t good for them. An effective therapist will ask questions about drug use and help you to put in place strategies that work a whole lot better!
When you’re seeking an effective therapist or an effective program, realise that you won’t see client testimonials very often, if at all. An ethical therapist will not generally ask clients for testimonials, and will not generally use them. Instead, they will be able to point you to actual scientific research.
Testimonials do not constitute proof. For example almost everyone can point to someone whom they’ve heard stopped smoking through using hypnosis. However all studies show that hypnosis works for less than 1% of people. This miserable success rate, no better than trying to stop cold turkey, doesn’t stop the snake oil merchants from putting up dozens of testimonials asserting that hypnosis cures smoking.
You need to be aware that the placebo effect can be responsible for the improvement of a few people even when the majority are unhelped by a particular treatment. The beauty of ignoring testimonials and using only those treatments backed by validated research is that at least you know the placebo effect has been calculated out of the results!
In order to eliminate your stress or anxiety, you need a technique which will quickly “mess up” your typical reaction to thoughts or situations that used to distress you. BMSA (Brief, Multi-Sensory Activation) is a very modern and effective treatment that accomplishes exactly that, often immediately.
For example, you might have a fear of going outside, and feel incredibly stressed or panicky each time you think of going out the front door, or getting into the car. With BMSA you’d deliberately hold a mildly-stressful thought in your mind at the same time as you applied the technique. You’d very quickly discover that you were unable to bring up the stressful feeling, even though you might try very hard to do so.
There are huge advantages to resolving the stress in your life once and for all. Reduced stress levels improve your metabolism, but they also improve mood and sleep function, both of which in turn also improve metabolic rate. It’s an exponential impact on weight loss!
So don’t delay. Make a commitment to sorting out those stress levels right away, and enjoy all the great benefits that are waiting for you!
Topics: Lose Weight |
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