05/23/2025
Part 2: Potential solutions to sneaky weight loss obstacles. The other day I shared several ways in which we may be blindsided by weight loss obstacles—these obstacles are all around and many are sneaky. Here are some suggestions for combating some of these issues.
1) Habits are hard to abandon. The solution here goes hand in hand with number 8–don’t multi-task. It takes time to develop new habits, and it definitely takes time to abandon old ones. If you’re looking to get rid of a habit, try just getting rid of one, and refrain from adding in something new until you’ve gotten a handle on the old one. For example, if you are hoping to stop hitting the snooze button (old habit) and start getting up earlier (new habit), first focus on not hitting the snooze button. Once you feel like that’s starting to take hold (maybe after a month or two), THEN begin to inch your way into the new habit of getting up earlier, perhaps 5 minutes at a time.
2) Will power and self-control are like muscles. Baby steps. That’s the way to go here. You’re going to get “sore” when you first start exercising, be it your muscles or your will power. Instead of a no-pain-no-gain mentality, begin with easier exercises. Begin with fewer exercises. Begin with less frequent exercises. You may not be able to go an entire week without sweets, but you can probably go one day per week without sweets.
3)Environment, environment, environment! Some things we cannot change. We probably can’t stop our coworkers from bringing in donuts or cookies for their birthdays. We can’t stop fast food places from advertising on the billboards on your commute. We won’t get our grocery stores to stop putting candy in the checkout lanes. But we could take a different route to work to avoid the billboard or bring a healthy snack for our desk so we avoid going to the break room. And we can be sure to meal plan and grocery shop and budget in order to avoid filling our carts with junk and in order to stock our own fridge with healthy foods.
4) Eating healthy does not always mean eating less. The temptation for those dieting is to skip meals–or to skip eating altogether–when they know an indulgence is happening later. This is bound to backfire and cause overeating. Instead, try pre-planning your day. When you know you are eating cake or going out for drinks later, look ahead to your meals and decide where you can make some slight cuts from each meal, such as a reduced portion size, swapping milk for water, or skipping a side dish. You still want to feel energized and nourished throughout the day, and to enter into your event not feeling ravenous.
5) We’re busy. Never underestimate the power of sameness here. We typically eat similar things on a daily basis for breakfast and lunch, so why should dinner be any different? People often cite boredom for why they end up eating out instead of cooking at home, but if you’re busy, and cooking the same basic things makes it easy (and you probably end up ordering the same old pizza or fast food week after week anyway), then why does that need to be a problem? Additionally, sit down and write out a list of easy meals that you regularly make. You probably have more than you realize and you can make a rotation out of it, like every two weeks or at least every few days, for instance. And there are soooooo many websites out there with loads of FAST, easy meals.
6) You keep believing that you should eat like your ancestors. So many folks out there are trying to eat like cavemen. Or pioneers. And absolutely, if we ate more like our ancestors, we would probably not have the weight troubles that we have today. But our ancestors did not have the same problems we have today, nor were they exposed to the same things. They adapted, and we should too. Instead of trying to revert to prairie life, consider which modern day struggles plague you the most. Try coming up with ways to counter those issues–for instance, if fast food is something you regularly turn to, try finding “fast” healthy foods you can buy instead, such as a veggie tray or microwaveable brown rice pouches or a rotisserie chicken.
7) The numbers you have in mind for your weight or pants size are either arbitrary or inappropriate. It’s all about our mindset here. You can be grateful for the body you once had in your more youthful days. And I hope you will be. But take a good look at a high schooler–that is a child, not an adult. It would not be appropriate for you to still look that way and most people would probably believe you to be too skinny if you did. I hope you will also be grateful for the body that you have today. It’s okay to hope for change and to plan for change, but remember, your body has given birth, it provides a liveable home for your loved ones, it makes dinner, it reads stories, it pays a mortgage, and it is often up at night praying for your children–your motherly body is not meant to be like it once was. Adjust your expectations accordingly.
8 ) We are not good at multitasking. As moms, as adults, we often have to multitask. But with the things that really matter, we need to slow down. It is probably unrealistic to expect ourselves to eat perfectly healthy, get the recommended amount of exercise, work full time, take our kids to every mother-loving activity under the sun, and get an abundance of sleep. When you hope for a change in body composition/appearance, try really focusing on one thing at a time. Instead of signing up for a gym AND writing out a rigorous meal plan, try simply adding a daily post-dinner walk. Okay, maybe you’ll need to pack a brown bag dinner and walk during your kids’ baseball games or swim practice 😉 But simplicity is the name of the game.
9) No one wants to hear that weight loss is going to take a long time. I know. This one hurts. Certainly weight loss can happen expeditiously, but if we truly want it to be a sustainable effort that suits our modern lives, we really need to embrace the slow burn. I’d rather see you take a short, post-dinner walk every day and make really simple meals like spaghetti on repeat than start training for a marathon and going vegan. Because a slow burn is better than burnt out.
10) You’re too concerned with high calorie burn and deep calorie cuts. Similar to number 9, drastic is usually not the way to go. If you start doing HIIT multiple times a week on top of torching hundreds of calories running multiple times a week, you will, in fact, burn more calories…but you will, in fact, need more calories to fuel these workouts. So slashing calories from your diet by skipping meals and food groups and entire MACRO groups (!!), especially while performing vigorous exercise, is extremely detrimental to the health and energy levels of most human beings. Plus, as you lose weight (and you will, at first), your body releases hormones (or stops releasing hormones) that signal needing to eat due to low energy availability. You will probably be far more successful by adding that short evening walk and minding your portion sizes of the normal foods you eat.
11) Portion sizes have gotten out of hand. Be aware that most meals when you go out to eat have upwards of 1000 calories, which is probably more than half of the calorie requirements for most women. This is relatively easy to remedy, thankfully. Use a smaller plate at home, ask for a to-go box at the start of your meal and put half of it away immediately when out to eat, and avoid fast food joints in favor of healthy “fast” food (see number 6).
12) Your neighbor/friend/sister/coworker makes it look easy. Another mindset-based solution. When you feel comparison creeping in, sit down and write a list of all of the ways in which your life differs from that person. You are not broken because you wear a different pants size or don’t enjoy their flavor of exercise or can’t seem to get on board with the keto diet that they had success with. You are you. Find the things that bring you enjoyment. Find the things that work for your lifestyle, your family, and your preferences. There’s something out there for everyone and there are probably as many paths to the same end result as there are people.
We live among all sorts of dieting minefields; best practice is to avoid what we can, but to learn to work around those things we can’t avoid. Simple is typically better than complicated. Small is easier to manage than large. And reality is easier to work with than fantasy. Some of these changes are actionable , some are mindset related. No, these changes won’t produce obvious, overnight results; they will, however, produce long-term results that will be MUCH easier to stick with in the future. Let’s talk about your goals, hopes, and dreams. I believe in you, and I want to help you get there!
www.mothertomotherwellness.com
