I think most people would think that losing weight makes you happier? The research shows it doesn’t in the long run. Losing weight, just like falling in love or getting a promotion creates a short term bump in happiness but after a while you return back to where you were. Could this be one reason why so many people regain their weight? One question I ask people I coach that is very enlightening is: what do you want by losing weight that you don’t already have? Or what are you hoping that losing weight will do for you? These powerful questions are what lead us to the unresolved issues that need to be worked on so that the weight loss is illusory.
What is also interesting is how much we compare ourselves to other people and how that affects our happiness levels. Nick Powdthavee who wrote the book The Happiness Equation, said: “it feels okay to be fat when our loves ones-or other people with whom we normally identify-are fat as well.” This I found to be very revealing. We live in a thin-obsessed culture. If we are comparing ourselves to celebrities and social expectations, we will be miserable. That is why I suggest you look at your weight goals differently. It’s not about losing weight. Weight gain is often a symptom for something else that is unresolved and the eating is a distraction for those unresolved issues. It is about feeling good. When we feel good emotionally and physically it’s easier to do what we need to do to stay at a healthy weight.
So I learned some other interesting things from The Happiness Equation that we can learn from. Our capacity for happiness just like our weight has a set point to which we continually return. Happiness is a point of view, part of how we see the world. It’s similar to our personality. That is perhaps what really needs to be worked with or else we continually fall back to the place we began. It is kind of like a catch 22: happier people tend to earn more, have more satisfying relationships and even better health. Albert Schweitzer so wisely said: ‘Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.’
I think the answer or the key lies in how we define happiness and how we go about attaining it. The best way I know to increase your happiness set point is to learn how to meditate. It actually is proven to grow new brain cells in the area of the brain that registers happiness. That is why I developed by new meditation program: Smart, Sexy and Sane…meditation made easy. The sooner you begin the better you will feel. Then it becomes easier to guess what…eat healthy and stay fit.
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