Lose weight permanently: Using your brain for weight-loss

We've all been there: after a month of sticking to your New Year's resolution diet, you attend a party for the big game that is overflowing with sweets while wearing a mask, of course.

All of a sudden, chili dip and corn chips are screaming your name, and you can't focus on the game because you're using all of your mental effort to resist them.

You experience remorse, humiliation, and diminished self-esteem when you ultimately give in.

Weight gain results from combining these emotions with the notion that because you blew your diet, you may as well eat more before you start being "good" again the following day.

You tend to establish healthier eating habits over time when you concentrate on minimizing your guilt and shame surrounding food and greater body image acceptance," says Dr. Heinberg.

A diet mentality also informs you that your food choices are an indicator of how valuable you are as a person.

You must be a terrible, weak, or undeserving person if you consume "bad" foods. This may continue a pattern of emotional eating that increases weight gain, lowers self-esteem, and is hard to break.