According to recent studies, individuals who struggle with obesity may gain greater weight loss results with the support of counseling. As obesity related problems can often stem from emotional or personal issues, many experts believe that counseling serves to help individuals heal the core of their weight-related problems.

Contributing Factors to Weight Gain

As an array of personal / emotional factors can contribute to weight gain, dieters who are coping with deeper (often hidden) issues may most significantly benefit from counseling. For example, a propensity to gain weight and / or overeat can often be stimulated by factors such as:

• Low self esteem
• Former experience of personal and / or sexual abuse
• Lack of spousal support / abusive personal relationships
• Inability to move on after a tragedy (such as a death, job loss, etcetera)
• Emotional eating (can be caused by loneliness or other factors)

Generally, these factors that can contribute to weight loss cannot be healed by mere diet and exercise alone. As the internal / emotional catalysts driving individuals to overeat are

psychologically complex, individuals who have been unable to achieve weight loss success can encounter remarkable benefits with the support of a mental health expert.

Counseling and Weight Loss

In examining various counseling and weight loss studies, Bio-Medicine reports that individuals who engage in weight loss counseling have been reportedly able to lose 6 percent more body fat that by diet or exercise alone. In fact, in an analysis of 46 weight loss trials, dieters receiving counseling were able to gain additional benefits, such as:

• Greater initial weight loss results
• Greater long-term weight loss success, as approximately half of the weight loss was maintained for 3 years
• More frequent counseling meetings resulted in even greater weight loss results
• Can I Benefit from Weight Loss Counseling?

If you have struggled to lose weight by diet and exercise efforts in the past, then perhaps counseling can be an effective weight loss method for your own personal needs. Since moderate weight loss can have a remarkable impact on your body’s overall health and wellbeing, counseling can be a life saving treatment for your struggles. In fact, a moderate loss of just 10 to 20 pounds can significantly reduce your risks of obesity-related diseases such as:

• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Stroke
• Heart disease

Additional obesity-related problems

To assess your own needs, reflecting on your eating habits may help guide you towards the best decision. Oftentimes, dieters who are prone to overeating and / or struggle to control their food cravings may be driven to obesity from internal / emotional problems.

If you find that you are unable to control sudden hunger urges, if you are unable to feel full when eating, and / or if you feel you are mental consumed with thoughts of food throughout your day, then counseling can be of great service!