Judith S. - The Diet Trap Solution: Train Your Brain to Lose Weight and Keep It Off for Good

D iet books, diet plans, diet programs. They all want you to believe they have the magic formula. Eat what they say, and losing weight will be easy and quick.

If thats true, why are two-thirds of Americans overweight? Why do most people who lose weight gain it back? And not just once but over and over again?

Were going to tell you the truth: Losing weight can be easy at first, but continuing to lose weight after the first few weeks or months, and then keeping off the weight you lose, can be very difficult. That is, unless youve learned how to identify the problemsthe trapsthat youre certain to encounter, and figured out how to develop escape plans for each one.

We all face plenty of traps. Stress, family problems, and food pushers are some of the negatives of life. But there are also vacations, celebrations, holidaysthe positives of life. All these situations can create traps when your goal is to lose weight.

Without special plans to address these real-life situations, keeping weight off can be a constant and draining battle, and studies show that most people fail in the long run. Why? Because having an eating plan is not enough. Using an app or a website isnt enough. Even having someone else prepare your food and deliver it to your doorstep isnt enough.

You need something moresomething youll never be able to whip up in a blender or buy in a store. You need to learn how to lose weight. How to motivate yourself every day. How to change sabotaging thinking (Its okay to eat the last piece of birthday cake because otherwise it will just go to waste!). How to get yourself back on track whenever you make a mistake.

In this book, you will learn how to create your own personal escape plans to help you get out of your stickiest traps. Youll acquire the tools you need to prevent or escape from the traps all around youthe traps you create, traps that other people create, traps that life circumstances create, and even certain universal traps that we all encounter.

To be successful, you do need an eating plan. But your success will not be determined exclusively by protein or carbs or fiber. You will experience success when you learn how to stick to your plan even when you dont feel like itwhen youre stressed or upset, when people push food on you, when youre eating out at your favorite restaurant, even when youre traveling, attending a special event, or celebrating your birthday. The escape plans you create will contain the solutions you need when temptation strikes. They will detail exactly what you need to say to yourself and what strategies you need to use when a trap threatens to throw you off course.

This approach has helped thousands of dieters stick to their plans and lose weight, even when confronted with challenge after challenge. Take Jessica, for example. Jessica came to see me after almost fifteen years of struggling with her weight. Since college, she had gained and lost the same forty pounds several times. Now struggling to balance her personal health goals with her hectic career as an HR manager, Jessica felt disheartened, ready to give up.

Jessica knew all about sound nutrition, and she could recite the pros and cons of just about every popular weight-loss program. She knew the facts coldbut those facts were no help when she was upset. She desperately wanted to learn how to stop eating when she wasnt hungry, especially when she needed to soothe herself. She knew her favorite chocolate-covered pretzels, caramel popcorn, and mini-doughnuts werent healthy, but that was what she craved when she had a fight with her partner or was anxious about missing a deadline at work.

I do okay a lot of the time, she told me, but when Im upset, I go right for the sweets. I know I shouldnt. I know every time I do, it sets me back. She sighed. I cant help it. Im just so weak. Food is the only thing that calms me down.

Jessicas difficulties are a prime example of the emotional eating trap. She didnt realize that her biggest challenge wasnt feeling distressed; it was what she was telling herself about feeling distressed. She had convinced herself that she simply couldnt cope without eating.

No wonder she was trapped. She had completely bought into the idea that food was the only solution when she was upset. An important aspect of Jessicas ultimate success in losing weight was proving to herself that this simply wasnt true. Being human, Jessica will always experience negative emotions. She just had to learn how to cope with them differently.

Heres the cold, hard truth: the headaches of life dont care that you want to lose weight. Difficulties with work, with relationships, with finances or healththese things never go away. No matter how unjust it may feel, life will never stop presenting you with challenging moments and situationsand in each of those moments and situations, temptations to eat. Those temptations are easier to resist when youre feeling strong and committed. But when you feel weak or impulsive, they can seem unavoidable, inescapable, completely unfair.

They can feel like trapswith a capital T.

If youve tried to lose weight before, chances are your experience went something like this:

You find a diet plan that implies you wont need willpower and discipline. You believe the hype that the plan will automatically make dieting (and then maintenance) painless. Just follow the plan and the pounds will melt off, they promise. And you feel certain: Yes. Finally. This is the One.

You want to believe in the magic. (Who doesnt?) You buy into the fantasy that dieting will be easy. You believe that this new diet will eliminate your hunger so you can lose all the weight you want in a short time.

With your plan in hand, you... dont start right away. Instead, you have one last blowout, eating everything you want in whatever quantity you want. You think, This is my last chanceIm going to enjoy it! You may even put on a few extra pounds as you overeat pasta, pizza, cupcakes, french fries, chips, cookiesfoods that arent on your new diet plan. You tell yourself that it doesnt matter because Ill start my diet on Monday!

You stock up on whatever magical formula your plan prescribes. Maybe its grapefruit or quinoa, maybe certain brands of low-fat frozen meals or Greek yogurt. Maybe you stuff your veggie drawer until its overflowing with kale and beets. You toss the chocolate and the ice cream. You start to measure your food, eat at prescribed intervals, drink eight glasses of water, and step up your exercise. Like a soldier on a mission, youre focused and determined. Youve got this.

Andheres the kickerit works! Temporarily. You lose a lot of weight (okay, true, most of it is water weight) the first week, and you feel excited and optimistic. You find it pretty easy because your motivation is high. (Why else would you be starting a diet right now?) The pounds seem to melt away. No sweat!