Today I was up at 7am, getting dressed and making my way downstairs to exercise. I did stretches, worked out to Joe Wicks, did some more stretches and then finished by necking my water, followed by a multi-vitamin tablet. I then made my way back upstairs and had a shower, made a tea and then woke my wife up. We then had a chat, and the chat made me do a little research into the psychology of why we can't stick to diets, or continue a journey or exercise, when we know we should.
The first website I looked at explained 5 ways to overcome psychological blocks to weight loss. Essentially, to summarise the article, the five most common blocks are an 'all-or-nothing' mindset, having a 'negative body image', 'stress', 'depression' and having had a 'personal childhood trauma'. They are all self explanatory from the titles as to why they may lead to weight gain or not being able to maintain an approach to leading a healthy lifestyle. Some of the tips for overcoming those barriers were quite useful, from keeping a journal, making small changes to routines and eating/exercise habits, listening to self talk (talk positive to yourself rather than focus on the negative), relaxation techniques (such as guided imagery), prioritising sleep to seeking psychological help. They are all explained how they might help you to overcome the barriers in the article here.
Another website I explored had some similar reasons, although a little harsher than others and almost speaks directly to the reader, telling them to be truthful and stop lying to themselves. It gives 5 reasons why you may not be losing weight despite dieting and exercising. The article is here.
The next article was essentially an interview with Jim Keller, who is the Director of Behavioural Health at the WeightWise Bariatric Program in Oklahoma City. In the article he gives various psychological reasons why we eat more than we should. He explains that obesity 'isn't simply a function of laziness or an indication of emotional instability' but that there are also genetic and biological factors that are 'constantly interacting with an array of environmental factors' that contribute to gaining weight and causing attempts at maintaining a healthier lifestyle to crash. He talks about the fact that we are designed to eat and why changing eating habits is so difficult. The article then goes on to give 5 pretty common sense tips to help you lose weight. The first half is more informative than the 'tips' section, but it's still a good read here.
There were another couple of article I read that, essentially, say the same thing and they can be found here, here (scroll down to the 'changing your eating habits' part), and here. All give different angles on the same stuff, but good reads nevertheless.
All in all I have had a productive day in terms of trying to find out why some people don't manage to stay on the right path and slip and go back to the way they were, or find plausible excuses for quitting. It's helped arm myself against them, although I know that I will have to continue to be vigilant if I want to keep going and maintain a healthy lifestyle and lose weight. I may look into different ways to motivate myself tomorrow and also ways to maintain that motivation even when I really don't want to.
To end my blog today, the positives that have come out of the day are that I have completed my writing, researched phycological barriers of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, exercised, cleared a blockage in the bathroom and written my blog. Just reading to go and then I will have achieved everything I wanted to have achieved by the end of the day.
Finally, I am grateful today for articles online that have helped me improve my knowledge of psychological factors that hinder weight loss; I am grateful for my coat because the weather has become cold rapidly today and, without it, my walk with the dog would have been far less pleasurable; I am also grateful for my dog, who's snuggles and comforts me when I need it.
Until tomorrow, stay safe and stay strong.
Thanks for reading.
Sean.
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