Why Should I See a Psychologist to Help Me Lose Weight?
It’s Not My Head That’s Getting Fat.
Dr. Horst H. Mueller, CRHSPP
Registered Psychologist
Member, Weight Wise Community Network
It is really very simple… Overweight and obesity occur when we consume more calories than we burn. But the reasons for such an imbalance are more complex; involving genetic, medical, environmental and psychological factors.
Genetic and Medical Factors
Numerous studies have shown that there is a genetic predisposition to obesity unrelated to either lifestyle or environment. There are some medical conditions such as hypothyroidism, depression and certain neurological problems that can interfere with the body’s ability to maintain a healthy weight. Moreover, many commonly prescribed medications for common medical conditions can increase appetite.
Environmental Factors
Lifestyle factors, including how much we eat and how much physical activity we engage in, affect overweight and obesity. Canadians tend to eat high-fat, high-calorie and low-nutrition convenience foods instead of healthy meals. We tend to eat too large portions; super-sizing nearly everything. Moreover, nearly one-half of Canadian adults get no leisure-time physical activity and less than a quarter of us meet the basic physical exercise standard of brisk walking for a minimum of 30 minutes per day, five times per week.
Psychological Factors
Psychological factors influence our eating habits. Many of us eat in response to stress and such negative emotions as anxiety, sadness, anger and boredom. Others—a little over 10% of those who are mildly to moderately obese and try to lose weight on their own or through commercial weight-loss programs—have binge eating disorder.
During a binge eating episode, we may eat large amounts of food and feel unable to control how much we are eating. Those of us with the most severe binge eating problems are also likely to have low self-esteem and experience symptoms of depression. Binge eating disorder makes it much more difficult to lose weight and keep it off over time.
High-fat foods and diets high in noncomplex carbohydrates inhibit the release of stress hormones, supporting the theory that chronic stress can lead to a constant urge to eat such foods. Food cravings are the body’s attempt to alter brain chemistry in order to self-regulate hormonal imbalances created by stressful feelings. When stress is persistent, stress hormones maintain the stress response at a heightened level of alert, resulting in the formation of surplus fat cells, blood pressure elevation and salt retention. Those of us who habitually use food to deal with unpleasant emotions eventually lose the ability to regulate how we feel and the ability to maintain healthy ways of resolving problems and coping with life stresses.
Although psychological factors are rarely the only reasons that a person is overweight, for those of us who are genetically predisposed to obesity and exposed to environmental factors that promote unhealthy foods and overeating, emotional and psychological factors can make the problem much worse. Moreover, repeated attempts to lose weight and failing, or succeeding only to gain it back again, can result in a great deal of frustration and worsen feelings of low self-esteem, depression and anxiety. It is easy to become caught up in a cycle of eating to cope with bad feelings resulting in weight-gain that only makes you feel worse. Soon feelings of hopelessness sabotage good self-care, resulting in increasingly detrimental food choices and reduced activity levels. You just want to give up completely.
Dissatisfaction with body shape and weight, issues related to control over eating, low self-esteem, inability to self-sooth, depression, and poor stress coping can all play a role in sabotaging successful weight-loss and the maintenance of healthier weight. These are all issues that a psychologist can help you with. A psychologist can help you address the psychological factors that affect your eating and weight and teach you strategies that focus on achieving and maintaining the lifestyle changes that support a healthier weight over the long term.
For more information, contact Dr. Horst H. Mueller at Green Apple Health Care, Suite 221, 9148-23 Avenue, Edmonton. Tel: 780.485.9468
