When ‘What’ comes before ‘Why’

How many times when weight loss crops up in a conversation, is the first question often asked, “So what are you allowed to eat?” After which we start listing the items that ‘The Diet’ prescribes we should eat – as well as when, and how much …

This drives me nuts. I believe it is one of the main reasons ‘The Diet’ is often unsuccessful.

Firstly, when we subject ourselves to the decree of ‘The Diet’ before we have consciously decided why we are doing so, we are ,in effect, giving our power and free choice away.

‘The Diet’ becomes an external locus of control – and we all know how we end up resenting and rebelling against that. We are doomed to fail before we start.

Secondly, the ‘what’ of a diet is not the primary focus and should only come later in the weight loss or healthy lifestyle process.

The Journey Starts with finding your ‘Why’

To begin with, it can be a long journey to get to the point where you start to realise that you want to change the way things are, that you need to act with regard to your health and weight loss.

It is a realisation and decision that has to come from within, that you make for you, yourself, and not as a result of peer or societal pressure (again the external influence of ‘the other’).

It is at this point, that you will consciously – or maybe even subconsciously, discover and identify WHY you want to lose weight.  You might want to address a health concern or meet a fitness goal.

You might feel that you want to be comfortable being active and playing with your kids, or you might just feel tired of the uncomfortably tight fit in restaurant chairs and aeroplane seats.

It has to be an authentic goal or desire that will be strong enough to drive your resolve and enable you to see the benefit of sticking to the plan.

When days are dark, friends are few and you feel like giving up and driving to the nearest shop to buy that comfort packet of chips or slab of chocolate, your Why has to keep you fixed on your goal.

Having a strategy is vital

The principle of “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek, is a very useful strategy to use.  It is typically applied to organisational strategy. But then, we are our own organisations, and strategy is what we need if we want to succeed at our plans.

So, starting with WHY, for me, is essential and makes sense in the long run.

Here is Simon Sinek’s Golden circle, and you will see that why is at the centre, so we have to work from the inside out.

So, once you have determined your why – the next step would be to think about how you are going to achieve it. I suggest you need to invest some time deliberating on the how.  Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Will you able to get going on your own – or do you think you would need someone to help you get started?
• Do you stick at things usually, or do you struggle to stay motivated ? You also need to have a bit of self-knowledge and honesty here.
• Do you have a hectic family life – and how supportive is your partner?
• How well do you know your own body and its nutritional needs? Do you have allergies or food intolerances?
• Do you have enough reliable knowledge on nutrition to make informed and sensible choices – or will you consult a dietitian?

The How is going to be your compass and will set the direction for the route you are going to take to start the journey.

Some words of caution

Because our bodies are so finely tuned and complex, I really do not suggest you play Russian Roulette with a diet programme.

For example, if everyone is doing the miracle 10-day Hype Diet, and someone you know lost 10kg in 3 weeks eating only watermelon or grapes – it does not mean to say that diet is going to work for you, or that it is even healthy! How long did their weight stay off?

Beware of Hype Diets and slimming products.  There is a reason they are such big business.

You need to be informed and sensible. I went the DNAlysis and dietitian route.  That was my choice and a result of a long journey of introspection and trial and error.

If, for example, I had followed the hype around high protein and high fat diets – it would have been detrimental to my health and would have caused me to pick up weight and become despondent.

From my point of view

When you have deliberated and considered your options of how you will achieve your why, only then, will you need to even start thinking about the what of the way forward.

Without a doubt, I recommend that you consider seeing a dietitian as part of your HOW.

Before you start making excuses about the cost of a dietitian consultation, think about what your next family take-out or what buying a bigger size item of clothing will cost… or what your next impulse buy to make you feel good about yourself will cost, and choose the dietitian instead!

Determining your Why and How doesn’t cost a cent.

What it does cost though, is a commitment to spending time on some introspection on finding out your Why and possible options for the How.

Some people have asked me what I suggest about starting a weight loss programme if your budget is tight and you feel that dietitians and blood tests are out of reach. We will talk about this as well the What part of the process in my next blog post.

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