Similarly, evaluating goals and reviewing progress regularly is critical to managing weight. People are easily led astray when there is no self-monitoring: no planning or review mechanism, for example, not weighing themselves regularly, not recording diet (including all meals and snacks) or level of physical activity, You don’t anticipate changes in your daily routine, such as during festivals, which don’t go well with your current weight management plans. there is no regular review of plans to check for red flags.
This means that we are not aware of the need to get back on track, until our clothes feel tighter, or when we weigh ourselves late at the clinic.
CLEAR AND CONSISTENT
In Mr. Yuen’s case, setting the extreme goal of preparing each meal daily was too time-consuming and labor-intensive.
Because she didn’t set a timetable for resuming her weight-loss routine and didn’t develop the habit of checking her weight-loss progress regularly, she gradually gained weight. Consequently, he felt demoralized when he noticed that his weight increased and he avoided weighing himself regularly at all. The more he avoided it, the harder it was for him to return to normal.
Since then, however, he has modified his goals and worked them around important celebrations that brought him joy. Some days, he would arrange visits between meal times so he could have his healthy meals before leaving.
He also became more aware of his thoughts and shifted his mindset from all or nothing, to enjoying CNY in moderation and reminding himself that weighing in weekly wouldn’t take long and was part of his approach to keeping his weight down.
The holidays are one of the common pitfalls of weight management plans. But if we are aware of how we think and feel about food and the rationalizations we make to stop doing something better for our bodies, the better our results will be.
When we complement the “hardware” with weight management “software” tools, it will mean that we can still savor delicious pineapple cakes without tipping the scales.
Mabel Yum Po Shan is Director and Senior Clinical Psychologist of the Psychology Service at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.
*Pseudonyms used in this comment.
.
