Motivation, a powerful anesthetic: numbing the pain of vacating our comfort zone
March 3, 2021
The genesis of a health and fitness mindset begins when you decide to clear your comfort zone, aware that the route to change is attractive but unfamiliar. It all happens fast: you get swept away by that first tsunami of inspiration, momentously resolve it’s high time you overhaul your lifestyle, hit the ground running, and you’re well on your way to reaching that weight or blood pressure reading goal. So far so good. But the discomfort of subverting your diehard routines, day in and day out, starts to creep up on you after that initial superpower surge dwindles. Truth be told, yours could be a thankless endeavor at times: you slog away in that spin class, sweating blood for what feels like an eternity, obey all your nutritionist’s orders, start to feel and look better, and your inconsiderate neighbor brings you her infamous chocolate cake, threatening to snuff out your ardent good intentions and staunch compliance. What now? Do you cave in and call it a day? As unnerving as any weight loss or health protocol can be, a long-term contingency plan can greatly help you pull in the reins should you fall short, here and there.
Much of the apprehension and early folding in a new health regimen comes from assuming that the initial impetus will translate into an ongoing, day-to-day, minute-to-minute keenness to eat clean and exercise, but these are to be viewed as two distinct phases of your plan. Goals invariably pass the torch to commitment, but we need motivation to ease that transition on a continuing basis. Below is a list of 10 suggestions that might help you keep motivation in your corner:
Plan in small wins. Setting your weight loss milestones one by one in the nearest future will help to build your confidence and keep a timely perspective on external and internal influences. For instance, it’s easier to lay out your food shopping list, eating pattern and consequent weight loss expectation for the next couple of weeks based on current work schedule and general health state, than it is to venture a weight loss forecast for two months down the road. The pressure of controlling and yearning to achieve too much too soon may be overwhelming and lead to a sense of powerlessness, one rash decision away from surrender. Unless a medical condition is present that requires a drastic dietary intervention, take this in your stride. If you set out to make smaller and manageable changes you will avoid falling into a state of emotional and physical stress, which is likely to blunt your progress.
Expectations are key. You motivation does not idle on a flat line, it gets frequently hijacked by diversions lurking around. Rather than moving your goal posts or backpedaling on your intents when motivation fails you, think of your health design as a driving map on your navigation system, with the red dots marking construction delays and traffic jams on the route to destination: if you just factor those snags in, prior to hitting the road, you will be less tempted to take the wrong detours and ultimately end up turning back on an impulse. Likewise, if you allow for possible delays in your weight loss progress due to disruptions and occasional willful indulging, you will be unstoppable.
Setbacks are for losers. In a good way, that is. There will be setbacks along the way: plateaus, bad days, vacations, holidays: they are just that, setbacks, not the end of the world. You don’t need to punish yourself or stop eating healthy altogether on the assumption that all is lost - nothing, in fact, could be farther from the truth! Consider your day-after guilt a cue that you no longer want to revert back to old ways, hit the reset button and don’t give it too much thought.
Ditch the last ditch effort mentality. The road to success is always under construction: there really is no such thing as a last attempt in the pursuit of wellbeing. Think of your newfound health awareness as a lifestyle upgrade rather than an agonizing regime of abstinence and deprivation. Diets do not work, they can only assist as short term interventions in critically advanced pathologies; to add insult to costly injury, boilerplate diets create that doom mindset that conditions people into setting themselves up for failure. Folks in the diet and weight loss supplement industry are not interested in making you thinner for life, I hope that is clear.
Put your blinders on. If looking at Instagram selfies of flawless bodies is gnawing at your self-esteem, it’s time to do some account weeding. Grotesquely self-promoting dummy shots on social platforms are clearly there for a reason: window dressing sells anything. Enough said.
Learn the ropes. Tackling a weight loss or otherwise health enhancing project should feel just like any other meaningful task in life: you learn as you go, factor in pitfalls, slumps and challenges, and ultimately get pretty good at figuring out what you can autonomously manage. Replace your old routines with new ones: start by learning to shop for wholesome foods, do some basic healthy cooking and some kind of exercise that fits your schedule and level of fitness. Learning new things improves your sense of self-efficacy in every area of your life. The more you learn, the likelier you are to avert weight loss industry scammers’ baits such as magic potions, fat zapping pills and mass produced meal systems: knowledge is power.
You are an individual, not a community project. Telling people you are on a new health seeking path in your life may not always get you the approbation you expect. Some people tend to resist change in social settings, and might more or less subconsciously sabotage your efforts. On that note, some weight loss psychologists maintain that weight loss support groups are not such a good idea and may tank your good intentions. Occasionally, misery will seek company, and some frequenters of these weight loss communities may unintendedly project onto others their sense of inadequacy or anxiety over stumbling blocks. Someone I mentioned that to fiercely argued that that has always worked for her in the past, which makes no sense whatsoever, since she had to go back for more (and pay) a few times, and to this day, she is still overweight.
Eyes on the prize. That vision of yourself 25 pounds lighter, running a marathon or getting off your medication seems to vanish in the distance at times, like a mirage. A reality check every so often, if you feel you are losing sight of your objective, will help you stand your ground. Rather than weighing yourself neurotically though, pause and refocus: self-care is much more effective than negative feedback from an unforgiving scale.
Set boundaries. Motivation wanes through stressful circumstances. Changing your dietary habits or exercise regimen may not be enough to give your lifestyle a systemic depollution. You need to become aware of inbound elements in your life that are not conducive to better health, and strive to keep out anything toxic - in broad terms - that causes unnecessary stress. Surround yourself with positive, healthy people, who would have no reason to sap your much-needed energy. There is a plethora of literature and videos out there on the subject, and many experts feel this is one underrated but effective strategy to shield your motivation from foreign invaders. Remember that saying: you leave the door open, anything will wander in.
Practice gratitude. Day-to-day motivation thrives on gratitude. You own each little and big step of your journey, be grateful for all of your achievements and blessings in life. The beauty of gratitude is that it likes to stick around and push you to improve. Above all, at no point during this process should you blame yourself for being where you are, or worse let guilt have the final word. Guilt is not a solution and is inherently useless; we all make the best decisions we can by what we know, what we have and how we feel, and perhaps you have been given bad diet advice in the past. Be proud of yourself through it all: the path of least resistance is the most seductive, but you chose not to take it.