How Food Addiction Develops

As far back as we can remember, most weight loss programs offer a strategy to limit calories (diet) or burn more (exercise).

With the percentage of overweight or obese people in industrialized countries, we must face the facts: only considering calories consumed or burned is ineffective in the long term.

The energy fundamentals remain true, however. Eating more calories than you burn leads to weight gain.

Why doesn't the reverse work? Yes, when you provide your body with the right amount of calories and do some exercise, you lose weight. Still, the real question is: why is it intolerable for most people? Why do they go back to eating more than their actual energy needs?

Weight loss is not just about calories

The biggest mistake is thinking that weight loss is just about calories. It is as if we could reduce human beings to this single dimension. Although we live thanks to the energy (calories) consumed, we cannot ignore that our thoughts, emotions, and environment influence our reactions and behaviors.

We live in a stressful environment. We are the products of a world that cherishes productivity, success, and appearance. But all this is based on an ideology that pushes us to always want to do more without caring about our desires and emotional needs. We are robots made of flesh and bone for the society we have created.

To all these social pressures, we add those we impose on ourselves.

"I have to do twelve hours of exercise a week to look good."

"I have to take 10,000 steps today."

"I have to eat healthily."

"I have to give my best at work."

"I have to lose weight." "I have to... I have to... I have to..."

Through all these demands and this stress, what do we become? Anxious, tired, exhausted, and sick people.

The cork on the volcano

Worse, even when our bodies' signals tell us that we need to slow down, listen to ourselves, respect ourselves, and take time for ourselves and our families, we do not listen.

We put a cork on the erupting volcano, hoping it will be silent. But the moment comes when the pressure is too great, and everything explodes. Nothing works for us anymore.

Why are we like this? Because performance takes precedence, not our emotions, not our well-being. And think for a moment, has anyone ever taught you to manage your thoughts, feelings, and stress effectively? For most of us, the answer is no.

When food becomes a coping mechanism

To compensate for our inability to cope with this world, to which we have difficulty adapting, we develop coping mechanisms or addictions.

Food is one of these mechanisms. It provides immediate gratification, allowing our brain to release neurotransmitters that will soothe us briefly.

But this does not solve the problem at its source.

If we do not take the time to analyze and understand our emotions and thoughts with kindness, curiosity, and honesty, we go around in circles.

When it comes time to lose weight, and we strive to manage our diet better, which often boils down to extreme deprivation, we will face the inevitable: the inability to resist temptations.

The prohibition of eating, combined with our inability to manage stress, exacerbates the problem. We eat even more. Then comes guilt. We perceive ourselves as incapable, people without willpower, and shame overwhelms us. There is nothing healthy about all this.

As long as we do not understand the dynamics in which we find ourselves, the problem repeats and sometimes lasts a lifetime.

The step before weight loss

If this text "speaks to you," here is my advice: Forget about diets and the idea of losing weight for now.

Invest time in learning to manage your thoughts and emotions better, and question these values of performance, self-surpassing, and perfection that suffocate us from the inside. Consult a health professional to guide you if necessary.

We are, above all, human beings with aspirations and rocked by emotions. We cannot stifle this in favor of a world of performance, stress, and appearances, thinking all this is for the best.

Everything is connected

We are worth more and deserve better, and we must reconnect with our emotional needs. The body, mind, emotions, and metabolism are inseparable.

Of course, it is a work on oneself that will serve us for the rest of our lives. The goal is not to seek perfection or enlightenment but to progress toward greater well-being.

Losing weight is a positive consequence of the work done on oneself.