Psychology of Fat Loss

Ok, this isn’t a post about dieting, it’s about psychology.  You see, there are a zillion weight loss programs out there and guess what? They all work.  All of ‘em. Every single one.  Go pick one that sounds good and follow it to the letter.  I’m sure you’ll like the results.

The problem isn’t whether or not dieting works, it’s how we approach it that determines our success or failure.  Some people start strong, lose a bunch of weight and end up gaining it back within a year.  Others struggle from the get go and give up in the first week or two.  Like all changes in lifestyle, the factor that has the largest effect on making a lasting change is motivation.  Motivation is what fuels follow-through, but how does one stay motivated through something as uncomfortable as eating healthy?  In a word; Results.  It’s more than just objective quantification of results, though.  We need to see these results presented in a way that stokes our fire.

I’m borrowing the idea from personal finance expert Dave Ramsey.  Most people come to Dave looking for help with a mountain of debt.  Any good economist or mathematician will tell you that the best way out of debt is to pay off the balances with the highest interest rate first.  Makes sense, right?  Get rid of the debts that cost the most first and you’ll save money in the long run.  The problem is that if paying off debt was simply about math, we’d all be millionaires.  The fact is that paying down debt is much more about psychology.  We need to be rewarded for our efforts or we lose interest in the struggle.  Without small victories, without milestones, without accomplishment, the task seems endless and insurmountable.  Dave’s solution is the Debt Snowball.

The Debt Snowball ignore interest rates completely and focuses on debts with the smallest balance first.  Once the smallest debt is paid off, its monthly payment is then rolled into the monthly payment of the next smallest debt.  When that one is paid off, you roll what you were paying into the payment of the next.  The reason this method is effective is that small debts are eliminated quickly, building a sense of accomplishment early on in the process.  That accomplishment carries you to next debt and the next as the payment you can make to each gets bigger and bigger.

So what the hell does all this have to do with fat loss?  Everything.  If there is a better proxy for fat loss than debt, I can’t think of it.

To stick with a diet, people need to see results quickly, which is why many diets include a two-week induction phase that promises to cut your weight by 10 pounds or more.  The problem is that this initial weight loss is water weight, not the more stubborn fat, so weight loss slows to 1-2 pounds per week after this initial phase.  Experts have agreed for some time that 1-2 pounds per week is a healthy rate of weight loss, and now that water retention has been reduced those pounds will be mostly fat.

Losing 1-2 pounds per week isn’t quite as exciting as losing a pound a day, so what can one do to stay motivated in this less exciting time.  As I mentioned earlier, we need to view our results in a way that stokes our fire.  Many diet books will tell you to invest in a scale that measures body fat percentage, not just weight.  The thinking is that if you’re exercising as well as dieting that you will be building new muscle which adds to your overall weight.  By focusing on body fat percentage, you can assess your overall body composition.

Here’s the problem with this approach: If you’re 300 lbs and 50% body fat, losing 2 lbs in a week only reduces your body fat by 0.2%.  I don’t know about you, but 0.2% isn’t a number that gets me excited.  If I’m seeing this number I’m supposed to be focusing on creeping down from 50% to 49.8% to 49.3% over the course of two weeks, I’m going to lose interest- this is going to take forever!

The solution is simple. Rather than looking at the percentage, find a scale that also tells you your body fat weight.  Now instead of counting down in fractions, you’re counting down in whole numbers.  You see the scale go from 150 to 148 to 146 over the same time period as the example above.  Even though the results are exactly the same the point is that the numbers we’re using are larger, and that makes it feel different.   This is the same psychology as the debt snowball- you might be paying the same amount of money each month as you would if you went after the highest interest rate first, but by seeing those smaller debts drop off early, you stay motivated to follow through.

The next time you’re faced with a seemly insurmountable task, try changing the scale by which you measure results to one that delivers more impressive numbers while maintaining the same pace.  You’ll feel like you’re making real progress towards long-term goals.

What other areas could this approach apply to?  Leave your ideas in the comments.