The first steps to stop being obese - part 1

When we start, we are motivated and enthusiastic. But we are also fragile and vulnerable, with doubts and uncertainties about whether or not we are capable of succeeding. We want to be and we think we are. But we don't have any real demonstration that we can do it yet, we don't have much to hold on to, just this motivation of ours.

Once the weight starts coming down, it's easy to keep going! "We're already losing, this is the one we're going to get!!!". The problem is before that....

Success comes with time. Failure, that one, happens right at the beginning, in the first few days or weeks, when the likelihood of quitting is highest.

Initial motivation fades quickly if it is not nurtured and protected. If we don't see the results of our efforts every day, we lose momentum and doubt begins to set in. At that point, the probability of failure is very high: the slightest difficulty will be too great to overcome. The journey may end then.

Now, if after only 3 or 4 days we already have a demonstration of the results of our effort and commitment, motivation not only remains intact, but also increases! If these results appear without us feeling hungry, without our moods getting uncontrollable and without us feeling trapped, we feel an unshakeable certainty that we will achieve them.

One of the big differences between just wanting to lose weight and no longer being obese is the need for real and immediate positive reinforcement.

Those who only need to lose 2 or 3kg to achieve their goal start from a comfortable position: their weight is practically normal, their health is not in danger, there is no physical or mental urgency to lose weight. Despite the desire to be able to lose them, you do not have to significantly change your lifestyle, which will already be healthy. You don't need daily positive feedback, you already have it permanently.

For those who are obese, having too much weight and not being able to lose it is your reality, often of years. You may have even tried to stick to some plan, be it exercise or diet, without achieving results. This history becomes ingrained, we are pre-programmed not to be able to win. When uncertainty and doubt begin to set in, we give in easily because we feed the usual narrative, we see the same movie playing out, we feel lost and unable to achieve our goals.

We give upand go back to our comfort zone.

Did we give up too quickly because we didn't have enough willpower to keep going? Maybe, but that's a simplistic explanation. The more realistic one is because the positive reinforcement given by the numbers of kilos to be dropped were not enough to feed motivation and to be superior to the discomfort of the process.

But it does not have to be like that!

(...)