How can Psychology help with Weight Loss?

The Psychology component of the Food For Thought programme uses the principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT.

The first principle of CBT is the connection between how we think, how we feel, and how we behave.

We use this connection to help people change their situations and their lives.

The Psychological Approach

How we think has a huge influence on how we feel and ultimately goes on to affect what we do and how things are going to turn out for us.

Take a moment to consider how important this is. How you think affects how you feel about the situation you’re in, and what you do about it.

In this way, how you think affects how you eat.

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Another important principle of CBT is this:

It is not just the situations you find yourself in, or the things that happen to you, that determine how you feel and react.

It is how you perceive, or evaluate, those situations.

Think about how empowering this is! If we can learn to think differently, we can interpret situations realistically and helpfully.

Then we change how we feel, how we behave, and how we eat.

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Thinking and Eating…
They’re Related!

Our thoughts include our beliefs, our fears, our motivations, our evaluations and our expectations. And we all have thoughts around weight, size, dieting, success, setbacks and failure, not all of which are helpful!

Our behaviours include what we do, what we avoid doing, and how we can sabotage our own efforts to lose weight.

CBT involves challenging unhelpful thoughts and behaviours and replacing them with new ones.

The Psychological component of the Food For Thought Programme is tailor-made to help you:

  • Identify your own, individual thoughts and fears relating to dieting, deprivation, treats, rewards and setbacks
  • Challenge your thinking and replace it with helpful alternatives
  • Change sabotaging and unhelpful eating behaviours into healthy and productive ones
  • Uncover emotional reasons behind why we eat, and underlying factors behind your weight gain
  • Learn about Food Addictions and how to break them Permanently

You’ll never think about food the same way again!

CBT has been validated by up-to-date research to be an effective psychological approach to weight loss.

Use CBT for Weight Loss

Tests and Questionnaires

What is unhealthy eating behaviour?  When does enjoying food cross the line into food addiction?  When do second helpings become binge eating?

If you’re interested in learning more about what is considered bingeing behaviour, or food addiction, you can check out the following questionnaires.

Yale Food Addiction Scale

Binge Eating Scale

ACORN Self Assessment Tool

 

But remember – you don’t have to be a food addict or binge eater to want to learn more about permanent weight management.

The Food For Thought Programme is for anybody who wants to learn how to enjoy and commit to healthier food choices.