It is well established that diets do not work! Ninety-five percent of people who loose weight on a diet have regained the weight that they lost within three years. In fact, there is much evidence that diets cause weight gain, by creating a sense of deprivation that tricks the body into believing it is starving. Many scientists now believe in a weight “set point” for each person. For some people the set point is on the low end of the scale – a naturally thin person. For others the set point is on the higher end – a naturally heavy person. Your body is striving to reach its own set point, not a hypothetical weight that you think will make you happy. When you weigh less than your set point, your body slows metabolism down – thinking you are starving. When you eat more than your set point, your body speeds up metabolism. It is possible to gain more weight than one’s set point when one is not aware of the body’s natural messages (emotional eating, for example).

If diets don’t work – how can you loose and manage weight? By understanding the psychology of eating and learning to pay attention to your bodies needs. Attuned eating is process of learning to listen to what the body really needs. It starts with learning a hunger scale: from Starving to Stuffed. Most of us are not aware of how hungry we really are. Many people in the United States rarely experience a high stage of hunger. It also includes learning about the cues for eating and managing stress when the cue is not hunger related.

If you want to learn ways to gain more awareness of eating cues, but NOT diet – here are some excellent books to get started:

Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink – demonstrates through scientific experiments that the environment impacts our eating much more than we realize. This book is written in an entertaining way.

The Diet Survivor’s Handbook: 60 Lessons in Eating Acceptance and Self-Care by Judith Matz and Ellen Frankl. Emphasizes ways you can feel better about yourself and your weight, without a focus on loosing weight.

Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight by Linda Bacon. Examines the scientific evidence that it is possible to be healthy when statistically “over weight”. Also emphasizes that developing a natural and healthy patterns of eating and movement – one finds their internal weight set point. Debunks many myths about weight, BMI and health.

Of course you may want to work with a health or mental health professional who values the Attuned Eating approach. Here is a website that can be of assistance in finding health professionals: http://www.sizediversityandhealth.org/content.asp?id=32

Michael Winters is a Psychologist in Houston focusing on marriage counseling and therapy. Michael received his PhD from the University of Memphis and has been practicing since 1991.