If you're struggling to lose weight and you can't stick to a diet or get motivated to exercise, it might help to talk to a mental health professional. Sometimes, eating too much is a way of dealing with emotions or trauma, or eating the wrong foods could just be a habit you can't break. A counselor won't have the magic answer to weight loss since you probably already know what you should do. Instead, counseling can help change your behavior so you have a better chance of sticking to a diet. Here's how mental health services can help with weight loss.

Identify Your Triggers And Make Healthy Trades

There might be things that trigger your hunger that you aren't aware of. It might be loneliness, sadness, or anger. You may feel physically hungry even though you don't need to eat. Counseling helps you recognize what you're feeling and how it makes you react. If you turn to food for comfort, once you realize you're doing it, you might be able to change your behavior if you can find a better substitute. This involves figuring out what brings you true pleasure so you can trade that for eating between meals or late at night.

If you have emotional trauma or depression, you may need to undergo therapy for your condition so you're not only happier and better adjusted, but so you can lose weight too.

Teach Practical Living Skills

If you hate to cook and have a habit of grabbing junk food and snacks that are easy to eat, your counselor can help you with lifestyle changes and planning. You may need to learn things like how to delay your gratification, plan ahead for meals, and deal with dietary challenges. By talking about different scenarios that could come up in daily life, such as friends pressuring you to eat sweets, you'll know what to do rather than sabotage your weight loss efforts.

You may have a hard time staying on your diet because you sabotage yourself unconsciously and always look for excuses to fail. A counselor helps you identify this pattern so when you start having thoughts that lead you astray, you can redirect your thoughts toward doing what you need for weight loss and improved health.

Motivate You To Exercise

One difficult aspect of weight loss is having to exercise. It's easier to lose weight when you're active, and regular exercise is good for both your mental and physical health. However, getting motivated to exercise is often difficult when you've been sedentary a long time or when you have depression and have no energy. A counselor can help you develop strategies that get you started with exercises you enjoy. You may find the hardest part is just getting started, and once you see how much better you feel, it gets easier to stick with exercise over time.

Losing weight can be hard, especially at first. You may need the help of your doctor, a nutritionist, and a mental health counselor to get started. Once you begin to see results, the real motivation should kick in, and with ongoing support, you may find you're losing weight and improving your health. Contact local mental health services like Comprehensive  Behavioral Health Associates Inc to learn more.