Achieving a Healthy Mindset for Maintenance
Dr Paula Watson
Liverpool John Moores University
Paula delivering her talk to our Accrington Be Strong group on Wed 26th June 2019
Continued from last week: –
View last week’s discussion article here
Point 3: Take the pressure off!
Questions to reflect on (honestly):
- What does your current weight target mean to you? Why that number in particular?
- Do you feel motivated by your weight target, or is it starting to get you down?
- Have you ever considered how it would feel to forget about your weight target, and focus instead on the process of changing your diet and physical activity?
Be Strong is a lifestyle transformation programme. The focus is on changing your physical activity and dietary behaviours – and if you do this (and weight loss is your target), you will lose weight.
But sometimes the weight targets can take over. I have seen multiple Facebook posts from Be Strongers who have achieved remarkable weight losses (2,3,5,10+ stones!) yet are stressing over those last few pounds to get to their target weight. If this is you, read on…
For long-term success, you need to enjoy the process – focus on the “now” and take the pressure offDr Paula Watson
Research shows that too much pressure (without enjoyment) is bad for motivation. If you constantly feel pressured (either from others or yourself), you end up taking short-cuts, you do things because you feel you “have to”, and this can have a negative effect on your mental wellbeing. Something eventually has to give, and when this happens you fall off the wagon (and re-gain becomes more likely).
If this is resonating with how you feel now, the four tips below might help you take the pressure off and re-gain your enjoyment of healthy eating and physical activity. After all (as discussed in point 1), this is a lifelong process.
- Be flexible about your weight target and acknowledge that “the number” you first came up with might not be the best weight for you. If you are struggling to shift those last few pounds, it could be that you are striving for something that is beyond what your body will achieve on a comfortable healthy lifestyle. So sometimes you have to listen to your body. Keep in mind that the BMI ranges set by the NHS are based on population data – they don’t take into account the amount of muscle you have, and they don’t take into account individual variation in body shape and size. If you find you sit comfortably at 10 stone 7lb, are happy and healthy and are able to maintain this weight, why keep on fighting to try and get to 10 stone (when this will likely be a battle for you to maintain)? It is also important to remember that you will naturally fluctuate within a few pounds (depending on time of day, water retention etc.) – so really it makes little practical sense to fixate on one specific number.
- Try not to be overly restrictive with your diet. Research shows that the more you restrict something the more you want it. So over-restriction is more likely to lead to binge episodes. Where possible, try and buy into the “everything in moderation” philosophy. Where you have “no” foods (and I get this, I too have to not bring certain things into the house to stop me eating them!), try and replace them with something that will meet that craving but won’t tip your calories over. For example, I have a sweet tooth and always want to finish a meal with some kind of a “dessert”. So I choose something with natural sugars that also gives me some nutrition (e.g. fruit or a Naked bar). I find this satisfies me and I’m more able to go without those foods I’m trying to eat less off.
- Make sure your goals are meaningful to you. Not everyone is motivated by having a weight target – and that’s ok. Perhaps you set a weight target just because everyone else was, or because you thought you had to in order to attend Be Strong (you don’t by the way!). If this target isn’t personal to you, or isn’t something you really care about, this will have a negative effect on your motivation. If you are feeling this way, perhaps have a chat with Rick or Rachel who will support you to come up with a more meaningful goal for you (e.g. this could relate to mindset, to physical activity or to diet).
- Accept that this will take time and there will be ups and downs. Finally, it is important to remember the amount of time it took to gain any excess weight (this didn’t happen overnight!), and think about the amount of time it might take for this weight to come off. You will have good days and bad days. But if you accept this is a lifelong process (see point 1), rather than something that needs to be sorted in a few months, you will find it easier not to beat yourself up when things aren’t going well. After all, what is two days out of a lifetime?
And this isn’t to say weight targets aren’t important, particularly in the early stages of your journey, but sometimes it can be helpful to worry less about the numbers and focus more on how you feel. And you’ll be surprised – taking that pressure off may even mean you reach that elusive target!
Read the full article here
