Groupe de Réflexion sur l’Obésité et le Surpoids Association selon la loi de 1901
	Diet Alternatives How to lose weight intelligently
	Startup question Another approach for obesity Face food another way Progress on the psychological front Who to call to find help? To learn more about cognitive and behavioral therapies To learn more on Freudian psychotherapies

Startup question : Lose a little weight, a lot, or none at all

— Ask yourself if losing weight is really worth it. This is not a pointless question. A lot of people try it, not many achieve it.
— Ask yourself what you really expect from losing weight. What will it change in your life? What if you were not happy just losing part of your overweight or what if you lost no weight at all?
— Except in some cases of major health problems, LOSING WEIGHT IS NEVER MANDATORY; IT IS A CHOICE.
— You can chose to accept your weight and enjoy your life while there is still time. Of course, all your problems will not be solved; you will have to face an intolerant society. That does not necessarily prevent you from being happy and living your life to the fullest. You will also have to pay attention to your health, do at least a minimum of physical exercise, eat as healthily as possible, treat your hypertension, articular problems, cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, and other problems. If you chose to stay fat, your psychological difficulties will not fly away; why not get help on those aspects as well, if necessary?

— No matter what choice you make, remember you have only one life to live and no time to lose; you'd better live now without waiting to reach an ideal weight which is too often unreachable.

— Whether you decide to lose weight or to accept yourself as you are, it is important to understand the ins and outs of what you are facing.

Another approach for obesity

We eat too much compared to our needs because we do not listen to the signals sent by our body.
— The incapacity to perceive or take into account nutritional feelings characteristic of physiological needs is a significant obesity factor. We cannot recognize satiation or we neglect it because we do not eat in response to hunger, but due to psychological factors.
— This problem is particularly important because diets emphasize disturbances of the perception of nutrition signals. This is why endless diets, far from improving the situation, worsen the disease of obesity.

To lose weight permanently, you should:
— Reconcile yourself with food, stop waging war against it, and learn to eat a little of everything again.
— Learn to face life’s difficulties in ways other than eating.

Face food another way

Eat consciously
— The best food is often the most nutritious.
— However it is quite irrational to blame food for being nutritious.
— It is best to eat whatever you like and to enjoy it fully without guilt. You can thus eat meat, fish, vegetables and fruits, bread, rice and beans, but also french fries, cakes and cookies, chocolate and peanut butter.
— You should savor these dishes and pay attention to their flavor, their real flavor, feelings they give in the mouth, in order to enjoy them fully.
— What will you notice? When you are hungry, they look delicious. And the more you eat, the less they taste: this is the sign that you are satiated.
— The objective is to become capable of listening to your body and to stop eating when you have eaten enough.
— Hunger and satiation feelings are most often denied and set aside by people going on a diet that follows strict and predetermined eating plans. This is really a veritable re-education of eating behavior.

Lose some food if you want to lose some weight
— Eating healthy things is good, but only if you do not eat too much of them. Losing weight is being capable of seeing what additional food is too much and to know how to content yourself with what is sufficient to satisfy your needs.
— Leaving a portion of the food that is available to you, giving it up and feeling sorrow are difficult acts for most overweight people.Here again a re-education of eating behavior and psychological progress are required.

Eating response to a non-eating problem:

— Over consumption of food is most often a defense mechanism against various psychological difficulties.
— For example, over-eating anesthetizes and prevents us from having unpleasant thoughts or emotions which we do not want to face.
— We end up eating in order to avoid being weighted down by amorous and professional failures, anxiety about the next day, guilt feelings, anger, hate, frustrations, and a number of dissatisfactions.
— We hang on to these difficulties regarding our weight and our eating like we hang on to a familiar demon who presence is painful on the one hand, but protects us from other demons, supposedly worse demons, on the other hand.
— To achieve losing weight permanently, people should resolve these different problems, otherwise, they will not manage to diminish their food consumption and put a stop to their compulsive behavior.
— A psychological approach must be considered from the beginning in the treatment of eating disorders.

Some classical situations that can lead to overeating:

Who to call to find help ?

A physician or a shrink?

— A general practitioner, a nutritionist or a dietitian who only regards obesity as a dietary problem will only address the problem in the short term. They will obtain only short term results in the best case scenario.
— A psychologist or a psychiatrist who only considers the psychological aspects will also only provide partial help. People having difficulties with their weight often need psychological help, but this is not enough to modify eating behavior.
— A therapist who tackles the problem both in its alimentary and psychological aspects or two therapists working in coordination will most often be more effective.

To learn more about cognitive and behavioral therapies

To learn more about Freudian psychotherapies