How Can Understanding Behaviour Change Help You Lose Weight?

Why is change so darn hard?

I suppose if it were easy no one would struggle with weight and food. We'd all stay at our ideal weights, exercise regularly, and not have the horrible, emotional attachments to our bad diets that we do. But change is difficult, and there's a reason.

Every thought and behaviour we have is defined and controlled by biological and neurological connections in our brains and bodies. When we do anything, whether we're brushing our teeth or grocery shopping, we're operating on a subconscious set of connections that were formed when we first took up the behaviour, and they were strengthened and solidified (with repetition) over time.

We've all had the experience of arriving at our destination while driving without consciously remembering how we got there. That's because our brains and bodies were driven (pun intended), subconsciously, by a fixed set of neurological connections while we thought about something else. It's the same with all behaviour--good or bad.

What do emotions have to do with it?

Behaviours come with emotional attachments. When you end up on the couch with a bag of chips, and you don't know how you got there, it's because the simple thought of the chips created an emotion that caused you to react.

When you thought about the chips your body released some feel-good chemicals in anticipation of eating them--a reward. That initial thought and the emotional response to that thought are what drive our behaviours. Eventually the process reverses and the chemicals begin to drive our thoughts, which drive our emotions . . . and we have a viscous, addictive cycle  So, even though we might want something badly (a healthy lifestyle), we're struggling against some pretty, powerful connections that control our thoughts and actions on a subconscious level. Sounds a bit hopeless--but it's not.

Can we change?

The good news is that nothing is written in stone. All behaviours can be changed. I didn't say it was easy. But it can be done, and your life and happiness are worth the effort.

When we attempt to create a new behaviour--deviating from an old routine--we create new connections in our brains that didn't exist before. So, for example, if we go to the grocery store and decide that this week we're going to scrap the white, starchy carbs (that are very bad for us) and buy whole grain bread and pasta, we've literally changed our brains. New neuronal connections are formed based on the new behaviour.

Let's say that making this healthy choice makes you feel good. Now you've attached a positive, emotional response to this new behaviour. (Don't forget, everything we do is emotionally and chemically driven.)
If you performed this new behaviour once and reverted to your old ways, those new connections would quickly fade and die. However, if you kept at it (despite any obstacles), each time you made healthy choices those connections and the emotional chemicals attached to them would grow stronger and stronger, eventually solidifying the new behaviour. The best part is that the connections to the old behaviour grow weak from lack of use, just like our muscles. Eventually the new, healthy behaviour takes over, becoming a subconscious way of life.

Use will power while you've got it.

As I've said before, will power will only get you so far. Eventually it will fade. It does help during the tough beginning stages of change, though, as your brain and body learn the new behaviour. When the behaviour becomes habit, the connections are then fixed and become part of who you are. You no longer think about it. It becomes a way of life, and you don't need will power any more.

This is how permanent change takes place. It takes time, effort, repetition, and consistency. When you begin to understand how change is part of our neurological and biochemical makeup, it's easier to pursue. Can you understand why going on a fad diet doesn't help you make lasting change?

We need to think long-term here. It's not about losing a certain amount of weight in a short period of time, gaining the weight back, and repeating the process. It's about lasting change. Because, the powerful chemical (emotional) and neurological responses that are attached to bad, unhealthy behaviours will always pull us back to our old ways. We can't help it; we're wired that way. However, we have the power to rewire our brains and change our lives forever.

In future posts, I'll help you move through the necessary steps for lasting change .