EMOhairstyle

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

12-23-09

Dec. 23--New Year's resolutions for many Americans will mean the latest diets and gym memberships.

But losing weight and keeping it off might be as much about the psychological struggles as the physical changes.

"Some people say losing weight is in the mind," said Judith Horvath, director of the psychotherapy training program at Texas Tech's Health Sciences Center.

The HSC psychiatrist said giving yourself a mental workout can complement healthful eating and exercise regimens.

"I think they need to go hand-in-hand," she said.

Psychological feelings make the holiday season one of the worst times of the year to embark on a program, Horvath said.

"Food can be used as emotional nourishment and to calm anxieties," she said. "The holidays stir up unfulfilled longings in people. People are reminded of the things they are missing out on."

But other emotions make losing weight hard year-round, Horvath said. Feelings of depression, a loss of control, rationalizing weight gain and low self-esteem can make losing weight seem like an impossible task, local experts said.

"Some people don't think they can allow themselves to look their best because they feel like they don't deserve to be a more attractive person," Horvath said.

Most of the morbidly obese patients treated at Lubbock's Advanced Bariatric Surgery Center are depressed, said David Syn, a bariatric surgeon who opened the practice in 2002. Many of them give up the antidepressants when they shed their extra pounds, he said.

They might also feel like they're losing a friend, like they must reach their ideal weight to succeed, or like they've already failed.

"If you look at the laundry list of diets they've tried on their own and failed, that can't have a positive impact on someone's psyche," Syn said.

Syn helps his patients overcome their overeating through surgery, counseling and education, he said.

"One of the great misunderstandings about what I do is that it's just surgery," said Syn, who spends hours with his patients before surgery and follows most for many years after.

"We are empowering people to take back their lives," he said.

Horvath said people striving for less dramatic weight loss can benefit from including family and friends in the process or talking to a professional.

The Texas Tech HSC Psychiatry Clinic provides a free counseling program for patients planning to lose weight, she said.

People should try to find distractions that help them stay away from food, Horvath said.

"They have to find out how to deal with the loss of satisfaction eating provides them," she said. "It's about exchanging the reward of food for the reward of achieving their goals."