Many women over 40 are chronically stressed. The family, the job, keeping in touch with friends and relatives, it’s easy getting to much to bear.

Stress has been linked to gaining weight- and there are many reasons for that. A study involving 225 overweight women has shown that the opposite is true as well: If you want to lose weight permanently, you need to learn to relax.

One third of the women learned relaxation with “mind-body techniques”- meditation, deep-breathing, yoga and positive visualization techniques. “Positive visualization” means creating mental images or movies of positive events to happen in the future.

Another third concentrated on exercising as well as healthy eating- based on a Social Cognitive Theory program. The final group received the same information as the second group in the mail.

All groups have been at risk in gaining weight, and could keep their weight using the techniques above.

The first group showed the best permanent improvement: After two years, they’ve maintained the psychological and physical improvements. The leader of the study comments:

“The positive results are exciting, given the limited long-term success of traditional dieting approaches.”
“By learning and practicing relaxation techniques as part of a wider lifestyle change program, women have effective tools to manage stress and emotions without resorting to unhealthy eating.”

Generally: Weight loss programs are often focused on eating (dieting) and exercise. But: you will need some more components if you want to lose weight permanently after 40. Relaxation and stress reduction are important too.

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• Do You Want To Lose Weight Permanently Over 40? The 10 Best Lifestyle Tips
  
• The Balance On Your Energy Accounts Is Making You Fat
  
• Can’t Lose Weight Permanently Over 40? Do You Know An Inconvenient Truth?