Short-term goals

Had a good meeting of the weekly follow-up group this past Tuesday.

One of the issues that keeps cropping up is the difficulty in setting the next goal once a person has achieved a significant amount of weight loss. For the first month or two, the goal is the weight loss itself. Since the weight comes off fairly steadily, there is a "reward" every few days. It is easy to keep working at it.

Once a person has lost 10, or 30, or 50 pounds (depending on the person), the weight loss slows down or stabilizes. What should the next goal be? To say that "I will lose 4 pounds in the next 4 weeks" does not always do the job. The time frame is long, and there is not enough change in the daily weight to keep up the morale. It is too easy to freestyle (cheat!) for a day or two or three, thinking that one will make up for the freestyling in the next few days and still reach the goal. The problem is, unplanned freestyling for two or three days in a row just brings back the Type 2 hunger, and then it is is easy to slide.

At the meeting on Tuesday, we talked about setting a repetative short-term goal instead of a long-term goal. The short-term goal is simple- I will eat sensibly until my next freestyling day. That's it.

This is an achievable, simple goal. It uses the "happiness trumps pleasure" principle. It provides a positive feedback every few days. The weight loss is no longer the goal! I have tried it over the past few days, and it has made my eating decisions very simple.

I think we are on to something. 

Comments

[Laurie Briggs]

Well after Tuesday's meeting I tried pinto beans, cheddar cheese and salsa. It was a hit. Adding cheese definitely made the beans appealing. Main questions I have is Pace salsa ok or do I need to buy in the nutrition section and is it ok to have cheese and beans when I already am having a protein in the meal. (chicken, hamburger)

[Alok Kalia, MD]

Adding a small amount of cheese for flavor is OK. If you do so, it might be good to avoid cheese in the mroning munchies or the Texas 2-step on the same day.

Any salsa is fine. However, spicy foods can increase the appetite. Just make sure the salsadoes not make you eat more than you would have otherwise!

Of course,during the first two weeks, we would not recommend salsa.

Alok Kalia, MD