If we eat lesser and move more than what we do today, we will easily start losing weight. The challenge is the psychological barriers to weight loss that prevent us from doing what we know is simple on a sustainable basis.
There are many aspects of weight loss – To know more read about the 4 Phases to Weight Loss Mastery.
Stress is a common cause of eating disorders leading to weight gain. Weight gain can lead to other physical and mental health conditions adding to the stress level. This cyclical nature of weight gain needs to be broken by understanding why we do what we do. How we can do things differently to make a difference and break this self-defeating cycle.
To break this cycle caused by wrong thinking and ill-planned and often wasted attempts to lose weight, we must understand the psychological barriers to weight loss.
Overcome “Psychological Barriers to Weight Loss”
4 Psychological Barriers to Weight Loss
When we eat when hungry what is good for us and use up all the energy we received from the food, there is nothing left to store. In such a situation there will be no weight gain.
If we eat lesser the amount of energy we need, we create a calorie deficit. If we are eating right, we will use up some of the body’s stored fat and in turn, we will lose weight.
Counting calories is not an easy or very effective strategy. Aspects like hunger and energy are controlled by our subconscious mind. It may be difficult to understand how to listen to hunger and the difference between actual and projected hunger when the thought of hunger arises. Without understanding the causes, if we try to lose weight using a quick-fix solution like a popular diet plan, it is unlikely to succeed in the long run.
The main Psychological Barriers to weight loss are:
- Quick Fix Mindset
- Eating Habits Patterns like Habitual eating Or Emotional eating
- Lack of Motivation
- Lack of willpower
4 Step Plan to Overcome Psychological Barriers to Weight Loss
1. Changing the Mindset
Changing the mindset begins with clarity on what we value more. If it’s the quick results we seek, we may easily get tempted by shortcuts. When we see that results are not sustained, it is time to give up our delusional ideas of quick fixes and shortcuts.
Sustainable Long-term Lifestyle Habits
Lifestyle changes are lifelong in nature. Developing these good habits may take time and the results may be slower than quick-fix methods, but the results are also long-lasting.
We have to prepare our minds for the long haul. Once we have changed our mindset, we start listening to our bodies to understand the cause of our situation.
Cause and effect – What is the cause of weight gain?
Nature works meticulously – For every cause, there is an effect. Beliefs, Values, and Attitudes shape our thoughts and the choices we make. Even though we know what is good for us, many times making that choice is difficult for us.
The 5 pillars of weight loss are the 5 principal areas that affect our weight. We have to identify mini-habits within these 5 areas that when developed will bring us closer to our weight management goal.
2. Develop good habits one mini-habit at a time
We have discussed the limitations of the quick-fix mindset and how the WAR mindset and CHIP action plan approach do not work in the long run in the struggle phase of our weight management journey.
WAR can bring a lot of change very quickly but it may result in damage some seen, some unseen. But what we learn from the WAR mindset is a STRONG DESIRE and WILL to bring about change. If we have successfully and consciously achieved weight loss anytime in our life, we have one important resource that we need to act on, and that is WILLPOWER.
If one is to excel in 100 meters running or a marathon, both need effort, training, persistence, and willpower. There is one huge difference between a 100 meters sprint and running a marathon. The shorter version needs speed, whereas the longer version needs physical endurance and mental strength.
The quick-fix approach requires high motivation and strong willpower for the short term. Maintaining a high level of motivation for weight loss and willpower, in the long run, is virtually impossible for most people. Constant effort/struggle is tiring.
For a sustainable plan which needs minimal ongoing effort and eventually becomes a part of us and is so natural that we effortlessly maintain our health and fitness. We need to focus on a long-term sustainable approach.
Most of the things that we do are driven by habits. Instead of relying heavily on willpower and high motivation which are both difficult to sustain over long periods of time, we need to use the power of habits for a sustainable approach. The focus is to make small changes that are easier to execute and which can become our lifelong habits over time. Over the longer term, we would have transformed ourselves, one mini-habit at a time.
We need to use existing knowledge and apply it to bring about the changes in our lives bit by bit, one micro or mini-habit at a time.
3. Develop Sustainable Motivation
The CHIP action plan is the quick-fix approach. It may require high motivation, but one only needs it for a shorter duration.
We will move from struggle to learning, to growth, and then finally to mastery. We want weight management to become a part of us, that is our goal. Initiating the idea into our being may be quick, but nature takes its own time to respond.
From the time, the seed is sown in the soil, nourished and till the tree can bear fruits is different. Apple trees take 2-5 years, Banana trees take 2-3 years Citrus Trees take 1-2 years, and many flowering plants take 3 months to a year to blossom.
Even the process of seeding to flowering or fruit bearing takes time, constant nourishment is required. Similarly, we need to nourish our bodies and mind and give them time for them to respond to the changes we seek from them.
Some Tips for Self-Motivation
- Set a long-term weight goal which may be your ideal weight.
- Set a short-term goal of what you would like to weigh in 1-2 months from now.
- Remember there are no failures, there is just feedback for us to act upon, learn and make the changes that are necessary to move forward.
- As we learn, make note of changes in the list of micro habits that can help us move more and eat less.
- Learn to “take action”, one micro or mini change a week.
- Watch the habits of other successful people. No comparisons are required, only notice the habit pattern.
- Measure the results.
- Reward yourself with new clothes, shoes, a book, a gadget, or anything else. Something other than food.
- Stay positive, and engage in activities that keep you happy.
- Get enough rest.
- Exercise your imagination to boost your motivation. (refer to BIG Picture Visualization Technique)
4. Develop Sustainable Will Power
Willpower is an extremely useful but limited resource available to use on a daily basis. It is a resource of our Conscious mind.
- It is extremely useful because it helps us choose actions despite the resistance of “Feeler I”.
- It is limited in nature as the resistance causes mental fatigue and therefore, we are able to use it for only a few hours a day.
We have so many desires and many need the use of willpower. We must use it wisely and cannot use it for weight loss alone especially as weight management is required throughout our lives. As we move from the struggle phase to mastery, the use of “willpower” should diminish. If we must depend only on willpower, over a long period of time, we will be setting ourselves up for a long struggle in the holistic sense.
In the struggle phase, we looked at diet plans. Most diet plans require heavy changes in our daily routine, and we called this a CHIP action plan. The successful implementation of the diet plan strategy relies on our willpower.
If we use an approach of making simple sustainable changes in our diet and exercise routines. This reduces our dependence on willpower as they become a part of our habit or routine. This takes the pressure off our conscious mind.
Use visualization techniques to see the big picture, and to improve motivation to work on our mini habits. This helps us sustain our drive over a longer period.
However, there will be times in the learning and growth phase when the psychological aspect of our personality may weigh us down. It is important that we exercise our willpower for short periods of time in our journey to bring about mini-habit changes in such difficult situations.
Willpower becomes an important resource and will be needed to remain on course for our goal. But the use of willpower will be lesser and a little easier because we will be focusing on mini-habit changes rather than making heavy changes.
