My name is Steve Saunders. I've been thinking about and applying the psychology of weight loss for years. I'm hoping that I can share some of the things that I have learned.

Recovering From A Spiral

During weight loss there are going to be set backs. It is not a question of if, but when (after all we are human). The real question, however, is how do you recover, especially after a significant downward spiral.

Thanksgiving Crash

Starting on November 1st, I had set a goal for myself to lose 10 pounds for three months straight. I even scheduled an appointment with my doctor with the explicit purpose of a weigh in, targeting a 30 LB weight loss. I have done this before, and I knew how to lose the weight. Well, when I am on mentally, that is.

By the 3rd week, I had lost nearly my entire 10 LBS for the month. But guess what week 4 was … yep, Thanksgiving week. A number of things kicked in that week, (1) I was already ahead of my goal, and felt a sense of security (2) I rationalized, “Hey, it’s Thanksgiving, and a holiday week, of course I am going to eat. (3) Exposure to lots and lots of temptations (4) I worked pretty hard on my side business.

So what happened, I gained about 9 pounds. Yep, oh shit. My whole months progress evaporated in week.

So Now What

Well, of course it is important to figure out strategies, thinking patterns, and social support to make this scenario less likely, or at least a less dramatic gain. This is important. But even more important is to figure how to get back on the horse again.

You must expect setbacks when you are working on weight loss. It is going to happen, more than once. What distinguishes long term weigh loss success, I believe, is not giving up when you hit a bump, or in my case a mountain. Get back on the horse, learn from what went wrong, and keep going.

Even though crucial to success, it is no so simple to say hey, I’m good, I’m off to the races again. Lots of things are working against that outcome, like disappointment, despair, futility, to name a few, not to mention the fact that you have re-engaged old unhealthy eating habits.

So, I am going to use this opportunity to devise a strategy that I believe will be effective in hopping back on that horse, even perhaps with some enthusiasm :)

The Strategy

After giving some thought to my situation, here is the plan that I devised

Recover

* Determine the damage and face up to it
* Don't despair
* Revisit your whys
* Take small actions to swing your momenum back in the right direction
* Lean on social connections
* Rengage the healthy habits that you have developed
* It's OK to adjust your goals
* A new Beginning

Learn

* Dispassionate assessment
* Figure out all of the factors that contributed to your downward spiral (there are likely several)
* Enumerate the warning signs that presented themselves leading up to and during the spiral
* Determine which tools that you can use to help identify and mitigate similar situations in the future

I’ll be going through this process, and writing about it over the next week