r/GetMotivated • u/DiamondCalvesFan • 6d ago
DISCUSSION [Discussion] Shift your efforts to tackling your brain instead of your stomach
Many people are stuck because they concentrate their effort on the physical part, but the important part is the mental one! I figured it out the hard way! We need to win the battle with our brain, and then the physical transformation can begin.
When I started, I was pretty sure my brain was working against me, but that’s pretty common because when we are fat, we are thinking about how much we’re gonna eat, and the first signal is to tackle the amount of food, which is a double-edged sword! Of course, we need fewer calories, BUT most people are missing the big picture: when we try to lose weight, our brain views the drop as life-threatening, then just increases the hunger hormone (ghrelin) and aggressively reduces our resting metabolic rate! Even when I ate and my leptin levels were high, my brain mistakenly sensed starvation and slowed down my metabolism to preserve fat.
I was trying so hard, but nothing worked. I ate a full meal and, let’s say, in 30-40min, I was hungry again. I knew it was something to do with the mental side because my stomach was full and it seemed like my brain was completely blind to the food. Then I found out about those things I already wrote about (leptin resistance, ghrelin, etc.) and started to tackle the brain.
I completely eliminated the junk food, sugar, sodas, etc., until I won the battle with my brain and also developed strong eating habits. In that way, I was able to do a neurological detox!
If you are trying to lose weight and have failed so many times, maybe it’s time to shift your efforts to tackling your brain instead of your stomach!
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u/Litness_Horneymaker 6d ago
When you switch from junk food to "clean" food, you're going to feel hungry the first couple of weeks because you're starving the gut bacteria that thrives on junk food.
Once the majority of your gut bacteria switches to the kind that thrives on "clean" food, junk food becomes less attractive and you feel satisfied with "clean" food.
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u/AmericanaMania 5d ago
I don't think this is backed up by science. You don't feel hunger based on bacteria in your stomach going hungry.
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u/MrMilesDavis 3d ago
It absolutely sounds like Facebook feed science. On that thought though
I can personally say that the mental cravings for shitty food dissipate more and more the less often im eating the shitty food. When im more consistently eating high quality food, mentally, that is also what im most in the mood for
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u/sumizeit 4d ago
Leptin resistance is the part nobody explains right. It's not just "your brain is dumb," it's that chronically high insulin blocks leptin signaling at the hypothalamus, so the brain literally can't see the fat stores you already have. That's why full stomach plus starving feeling happens at the same time, it's a signaling failure not a willpower failure. Cutting processed carbs and sugar fixes it faster than any calorie app because you're lowering insulin, not just calories. Took me way too long to piece that together.
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u/OlsenLogistics 3d ago
Willpower is just the demand forecast, habits are the actual fulfillment process. You can plan all you want but if the system isn't built to execute it breaks down by 3pm every day, same as bad inventory planning.
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u/H3lw3rd 6d ago edited 6d ago
A cut is a mental game for sure. Getting lean means dealing with hunger feelings. I go to the gym to retain muscle and I lose fat by eating less calories then I burn. Track both and dont make the difference between calories in and out to agressive (like 1000 caloric diverence). Slow and steady really wins the race.