The architecture of sustainable weight loss
How strong is your structure? We cannot expect a robust edifice to stand on a fragile base. Yet this is often how the diet industry approaches change.
I created this idea six months ago but was hesitant to release for a number of reasons. However, the more I work with clients who struggle with emotional eating, the more important this philosophy becomes. This is the cornerstone of FOTM.
When building a sustainable fat loss model it is important to think of three things: the foundation, the frame, and the facade. Like an iceberg, the facade is what the world sees. The small tip of a pyramid that belies the strength of the mass underneath. Also like an iceberg, it has the power to sink the Titanic. Underneath the facade we have our frame. This is where we hang our walls. What allows us to build our facade for the world to see. This is our daily practice. And at the very bottom, the foundation keeps this whole structure standing. We build the entirety of our lives on this.
Weight is dynamic. It is malleable. It won’t be a linear change. Yet it is what people see. It is why we diet. So we can’t ignore it. But we also can’t base our worth upon it for it is not completely under our control. It is an outcome, not a process. Therefore a top down approach to sustainable weight loss won’t won’t work.
As we move down the pyramid we come to where much of our daily work at FOTM occurs, the frame. Within the frame is our skills work, our behaviors, and our environment. Our skills are those tools and strategies we use to develop long lasting habits. Our behaviors are how we approach the outside world. And our environment is the world in which we live. All of these things are able to be manipulated, it just requires work.
At the very base is that which determines our happiness. As I have written before, I believe that relationships are the purpose for our lives. If we don’t nurture and build those relationships, we won’t value the changes we are trying to create in our frame and our facade. Without value, the entire structure is vulnerable to collapse. Yet relationships aren’t limited to others; our relationships with food and with ourselves are essential in change.
If sustainable change is what you are after, it is vitally important to approach weight loss in a holistic manner that takes into account the entirety of the structure. Stop trying to build an upside down pyramid or you will never find stability. We are great at losing weight, we just suck at maintaining it. Perhaps the structure is why.