How Do We Make Lasting Changes in the Face of Quick Fixes?

As we roll out a new year, the resolutions are pending. Usually surrounding weight loss, fitness, or nutrition, we resolve for better. More times than not, we achieve a small gain and then full reversal. Yo-yo weight loss, return of stress or pressures boomerangs us into old habits. The impending question - how do we actually make true change? 

As the GLP-1s (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Agonists) rose to popularity with weight loss, this lasting change concept begs the question now more than ever. Not just with weight loss, but with any chronic illness, finding out why pathology manifests there-in-lies the healing. Let’s just make sure to do this without shaming. The first thing I ask someone pursuing weight loss is if this is a self-worth conundrum. Are you going to love yourself more if you are thinner? If so, that’s not love at all. 

Especially in the area of weight loss, it’s often suggested that doing this one surgery or treatment may have promise in a multitude of areas. For example - GLP1 medications promote reduced risks of heart attack and stroke, improved kidney and liver health, lowering cholesterol, easing joint pain and inflammation, aiding in sleep apnea, even showing promise in treating certain addictions and boosting brain health (1). All of this adds to the appeal of the quick fix. 

While I truly hope all those areas are improved for each person who takes that medication, setting an expectation of reversal of pathologies in the areas of cardiac, liver, kidney, cognitive, mental and behavioral health is unrealistic. Each of these areas have a strong conditioned response consisting of genetic and environmental interplay. In my own health, if I don’t exercise on a regular basis, I will have elevated cholesterol. The engrained exercise habit assures my cholesterol health, not a medication alone.

Reversing pathology begins with understanding the driving factor at the heart of the habits: Coping. Whether we are balancing stress, mood, fatigue, or just random fates of life, we are making choices about what goes in our body and what we do with our body each day. As we slide in and out of coping strategies, our health is impacted. Currently, more than 100 million Americans have obesity. (2) 

Nothing changes if nothing changes. Going into why a nutritional habit exists requires a look at deeper issues. For example, both the Center for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health link eating out as significantly increasing obesity. Restaurant meals often have excess sodium, food additives and are prepared with unhealthy hydrogenated fats making them far less healthy than home-cooked meals (3, 4).

How often you eat out impacts your ability to lose weight. This seems like an easy solution; stop eating out. However, when you truly assess what motivates someone to make that choice, it’s not so simple. Time, stress, convenience, overworking, low energy and motivation all impact that choice. If someone is working overtime, racing to pick up kids, scrambling to meet deadlines and paying bills, cooking a meal may be impossible. It’s less about not eating out and more about gaining a community, re-prioritizing responsibilities, and creating new boundaries. That’s a lot to do. No wonder change is hard, but let’s not give up. Here are some basic ways to create lasting change. 

Start small. 

Pick a change that almost feels too easy. Once when I was an overwhelmed mother of a toddler, I remember feeling successful when I could do a 1-minute meditation. This extended into a 5-minute walk. Tiny wins build momentum. Start with something that almost feels too easy - drink one more glass of water, eat one more vegetable a day. General rule - if you can’t do it on your craziest day, it’s too big. 

Habit Stacking - Attach the habit to something you already do.

The term “habit stacking” came from S.J. Scott in the book Habit Stacking: 97 Small Life Changes That Take Five Minutes or Less. Essentially, link a new habit to an existing one. Example - after I pour my coffee, I meditate for one minute. 

Here is how I started habit stacking: After I brush my teeth, I do 10 countertop pushups at an incline. I actually am getting arm muscles! When I get up from my computer, I stretch my back. Habit stacking is small but effective; the same activity, same time, same context equals automaticity, and viola - a new habit is made.

Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult.

This is actually a horse training concept developed by my favorite horse trainer, Buck Brannaman. When riding horses and teaching steering, you close off all the non-desired directions and create an opening in the obvious desired direction. Usually done by developing a feel and easing up on pressure with reins, thus shaping behavior. 

Make your life easy. I always have socks with my running shoes (socks are hard to find at my house). My workout clothes are easy to find. As far as nutrition, if we want ice cream, we have to get in the car and drive to it. Just ask my son, we have an abundance of healthy snacks. Unhealthy snacks are not easily accessible. 

Use Positive Reinforcement. 

B.F. Skinner in his book, The Behavior of Organisms, outlined the successes of positive reinforcement with operant conditioning. Positive reinforcement is adding a favorable stimulus after a behavior to increase its likelihood. It’s far more effective for long-term change than negative reinforcement (removing something unpleasant). Positive reinforcement also fosters self-esteem, lowers anxiety, and builds engagement and confidence. 

I learned that I will exercise for any amount of time as long as I am listening to a great podcast or music, watching something funny on TV, or having a fun time with friends. When I couple exercise with fun things, I love doing it! Rather than being a thorn in my side, the task is fun and a stress reliever. The more you add fun to your change, the better the habit will develop.

Focus on identity, not outcomes. 

Psychologist Eugene Gendlin developed “Focusing” as a technique for creating change by accessing a source of meaning rather than a process of change to attain an outcome. For example, instead of thinking, I want to lose 10 pounds, you can reframe your identity. I am a person who moves my body daily. Outcomes follow identity. When you are reinforcing your identity, lasting change is more powerful. I am a health nut, therefore I eat vegetables. The focus is on your identity, not the activity. 

Change is Uncomfortable.

It’s ok to create the process and have ups and downs, in fact it’s realistic. Expect that you will have hard days; those days don’t define you. Just because you had one hard week, doesn’t mean everything is derailed. Just begin again. 

Hippocrates once said, “Before you heal someone, ask him if he’s willing to give up the things that make him sick.” Lasting health gains are based on habit change, not a short-lived course of treatment or quick surgery. 

Remember, people are doing their best in a world that can be stressful, profits on unhealthy habits, and is becoming more and more isolative. Celebrate tiny wins. You are a loving, strong person. The fact you are even trying to change confirms this. Ultimately make sure you are seeking change out of self-love and self-respect. Make change because you love yourself, not so that you love yourself.