The challenge of losing weight and keeping it off is not something that comes and goes. Creating healthy habits and maintaining a regular exercise program requires constant effort, dedication and support. Developing an obsession with the scale, experiencing guilt and falling into a a cycle of self abuse are common side effects of weight loss efforts. If you didn’t already notice how much your mood and emotions affect your weight, and weight loss here are 3 emotional habits that may be holding you back from achieving your weight loss goals. Eliminate these emotional barricades to your weight loss success today!

Stop Obsessing Over the Scale. Weight is not just a number, and weight loss is only a part of developing a body composition that is not only healthy, but also flattering. It’s easy to let your heart and mind get in the way of a healthy balance especially when there is constant bombardment of temptations, images of tiny women in sexy swimsuits and an idea of beauty that feels unattainable at times. A healthy, strong and fit female body has a body mass index of between 18.5 and 25. Don’t be concerned about a number unless that number calculates your body fat percentage. A regular bathroom scale weighs fat, but it also weights muscle, which is denser than fat thus it weighs more. If you haven’t always noticed your number on the scale plummet on with a healthy diet and exercise plan it’s ok. Forget the scale and calculate your BMI here. Read more about BMI here.