Barriers to Weight Loss
Do you feel like someone is purposely putting barriers between you and weight loss success?!
Losing weight isn’t exactly a walk in the park, if it were that simple nobody would have a weight problem and we wouldn’t be talking about it right now (and I wouldn’t be writing an entire program on how to do it)
Through my experiences working with bodybuilders, fitness competitors, varsity athletes and regular personal training clients I’ve developed what I think is the simplest system for losing weight.
Most of us fall into rather predictable categories when it comes to our barriers and hurdles to overcome to achieve weight loss success.
But I don’t want to assume that I’ve seen and heard them all…so I’m asking you to let me know what your personal hurdles and barriers are for weight loss.
This could be anything from negative self talk (the battle that seems to be going on in your mind)
Hot button foods you can’t control yourself around.
People in your life who are negative influences that seem to pull you down instead of supporting you.
Situations and events you find yourself at that seem to promote overeating instead of sensible eating (this could be holidays, at work, with friends, with your kids, socially…wherever)
And anything else that I haven’t brought up here.
In general I think we all have something in each of the categories I’ve listed above but I’m sure there are other things I’ve left out here that you’re dealing with.
Whatever it is I’d really like to know about it, so if you don’t mind sharing can you put your personal hurdles and barriers to weight loss in the comments section so we can all feel a bit more normal with the challenge of weight loss (because we’re all likely feeling the same as each other and just haven’t really told anyone yet)
I’ll start.
I got caught up thinking I needed to be big (bulky muscular big). I actually got scared of losing muscle mass if I tried to lose weight (fat) so I got caught in a perpetual ‘bulking’ phase. I spent years just being fat/overweight simply due to my fear or being too skinny if I lost to much weight.
I also have hot button foods like chicken wings that I can’t stop eating if I’m in front of them (so I have to make sure I’ve budgeted them into my weekly calorie count if I go out to eat them…cuz man I’ll put back 30 of them no problem)
I also have buddies who are big eaters and when I’m around them it’s really hard not to overeat, so I have to pick and choose when I go out with them so that I can still eat and enjoy their company without it getting awkward while I eat a salad and they’re chowing pizza wings and burgers.
So those are my weight loss issues and I’ve managed to overcome them all but I had to become aware of them before I knew how to get over them.
What are yours?
John
11 Responses to “Barriers to Weight Loss”
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July 27th, 2010 at 8:32 am
I have three hurdles:
1)Eating alot of food in one setting or one meal. I eat alot of food every meal. I simply can not tell myself no when I eat. The is the foundation of my weight gain. I believe if I can get a hold of this problem than I will see results.
2)Easting out, fast food, etc. for most of my meals. This one needs no explanantion.
3) The will to exercise. Again this one needs no explanantion.
For so long i believed that I needed to cut carbs to lose weight, but after observing these three hurdles I can see that I have much simpler yet dangerous problems that can eliminated with time.
July 27th, 2010 at 8:58 am
Turning snack foods into a ‘meal’ instead of taking the time to make actual food. Ill think “Oh Im not that hungry, Ill just have a few crackers with peanut butter for lunch!” And then two hours later Ive mindlessly eaten an entire sleeve of crackers with peanut butter.
If I just took 10 minutes to make a dang sandwich/salad for lunch, it would have been fewer calories and more nutrients.
July 27th, 2010 at 9:39 am
ERV, yup, I understand the peanut butter cracker accidental binge! Working 12 hours a day and having to settle for what’s around you is pretty difficult. Plus, my family binges all the time, so during events I have to eat before I go and spend the entire time talking myself out of binging with them. It’s hard, but it works.
I would say for me it’s working and living in an area where eating healthy is a struggle. I do well when I plan my meals for the week, calculate the calories and eat very similarly day to day. I try to change it up every week, and even though it may seem boring to eat almost identical meals, I really like not having to think about it all.
When I practice Eat, Stop, Eat in addition to this, I tend to start losing fat. Doing P90x has made me much stronger, but as a female, my bodyfat stayed at 21%, even after 8 weeks of the program. So I will have go back to cutting calories rather than eating at or slightly above maintenance.
July 27th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
1) probably the most important, living with the family and going out with friends. Its hard to not eat too much when at home and of course when going out with friends there’s always lots of food too.
2) eating something small but then crave for more food; I’m not sure why that happens, but getting busy helps a lot
3) not being aware of how many calories I’m eating; like after a fast, I’m not careful, I might as well undo my deficit.
4) thinking too much about it, I found out that by just having a clear goal and not thonk too much about it but staying on track, makes the journey more enjoyable
5) not having a goal nor being able to measure the results. If you have a goal, you’re already accountable for your decisions and after noticing your waist going down and feeling lighter, you just want to keep up the good work; if you don’t have a goal you can “start next week”, “just call it for today and overeat all day”
July 27th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
After dieting pretty hard for 4-5 months, I’ve taken a break for the last week and a half. I know a diet break is supposed to be at maintenance level, but I haven’t quite succeeded at that! So needless to say, I’ve been “reacquainted” with some of my old issues. lol. I would say the main things are:
1) Food in the house. Almost all of my eating is in my home. I live with other people, so there’s a lot of temptation around the house very often. I’ve conquered this temptation before, so I know I can do it again. (I don’t want to break for longer than two weeks, so I’ll start up again very soon.) But it does take some discipline.
2) Bad habits, typical stuff like mindless eating, “grazing” in the kitchen, eating seconds and thirds, etc. One trick that’s been very useful is brushing my teeth immediately after a meal. I can’t remember one time that I went back to the kitchen to get more food after I brushed my teeth. It stops the meal dead in its tracks.
3) I guess a general issue is simply the energy density of foods. It’s so easy to eat a large amount of calories in a small volume of food when those foods are energy dense, like peanut butter.
Hot button foods: Chinese food, peanut butter, and desserts in general- ice cream, pie, cake, cookies, chocolate, etc.
July 27th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
think my biggest problem is emotional and obsessive compulsive eating
July 27th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Anything in a packet. It’s like a mini challenge.
Put me in front of packet of anything and I’ll hit the bottom.
What’s worse is that I know why – it’s the ‘washing machine’ you get from mechanical eating – like the ‘crack loop’ pipers describe when they’re lost in a high – your mind goes blank and you (I) hit an oceanic state.
Marketers know this too – they design products to reward repeat tastings – which is why you start eating crisps one by one and end taking handfuls of the devil’s shavings.
July 27th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
I was naturally very skinny. I tried to bulk up for a couple years but not seriously. Then I really pushed myself to eat. I’d eat 5 meals a day to the point where I was almost sick. I gained a bit of weight while doing the weights and was looking good. But I still thought I was too skinny even though my AI (didn’t know about it then) was really good. I kept bulking but started to notice more of the weight was fat not muscle. Since then the amount of food that would make me so full became normal. I know consciouslly that to lose weight I need to eat less calories than I burn, but doing that is another thing. Recently I have lost about 2.5 kg by switching from fast food meals to eating sushi or subway for lunch and cutting down on calorie drinks. I probably need another 5kg. I know what to do, I just haven’t been disciplined enough to do it. I think I need a bigger motivation to really knuckle down.
July 27th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
A couple of cultural learnings made it hard for me to keep weight off (I actually have the ability to be super determined to get it off but then…). 1) Food as entertainment. I love food. But it doesn’t always have to be good. Most of the time it is just sustenance. And then every once in a while I have a kick ass meal! 2) Not willing to be hungry. There is a myth in the US that if you are hungry your body will hold onto calories. BS. People run around the rest of the world and don’t eat at the first hunger pang. It isn’t wrong to be a little hungry. 3) Need to eat consistent solid meals. I often skip breakfast or lunch and occasionally skip dinner. Sometimes I eat small amounts of food a few times a day. This runs well with 1 and 2. 4) Cultural norms about eating more processed food. I’ve gotten down to the point that I eat flesh, fruit, vegetables, and nuts most of the time. And then every once in a while I have one of those killer meals and I throw all the rules out the door.
July 28th, 2010 at 7:29 am
You guys have taken a great step by offering us an open platform to express ourselves….THANKS. Now i have suffered from obesity my entire life,and whether u’r in US or INDIA the obstacles remain the same.Infact xactly the same.. There are(to my knowledge) 5 types of Barriers…. 1)SOCIO-CULTURAL Barrier 2)PSYCHOLOGICAL Barrier
3)LACK OF KNOWLEDGE
4)LACK OF TIME(it’s true)
5)LIFESTYLE
Dont ask me what i mean by these 5 points…then i’ll have to write a whole book on this….:)All those who commented have pretty much covered up all the points.THANKS GUYS.
WHAT i intend to say,is that, all the 5 Barriers mentioned above are related to one another,all of them contribute to-AN UNHEALTHY BODY.SO you have to get rid of all of them,now thats one heck of a tough job.But nothing to fear,JohnBarban is here.TAKE CARE.
August 1st, 2010 at 9:09 pm
I would have to say that my biggest barrier to weight loss was the fact that I still live at home. I live with 6 other family members 3 of which are pretty overweight and so with a house of 7 people there always mass quantities of food available and it was always so freaking hard to not eat all the time. the only time I was able to lose weight was when I was in school and I could stay there all day and not eat. I was able to lose 50 lbs in 6 months while I was in school and now that I’ve been on summer break I haven’t lost any appreciable amount of weight at all