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Break the Chains Holding You Back from Weight-Loss SuccessIt’s Monday night, you’re in your workout clothes, about to press play on the Real Moves Strength 3 video when you get the call from your husband asking if you can drive your daughter to and from her Girl Scouts meeting because he got roped into a last minute business dinner. There goes your workout—and the catching up on bills and emails you were going to do afterwards. You wind up doing bills and emails on Tuesday night, again forgoing a workout. Wednesday evening you had a prior commitment.

The result: Three days of no exercise.

180 REAL APPEAL | VOLUME THREE

Spreading

yourself thin

Unexamined emotionsProcrastinating

Being tired or hungry Being away from home

Unrealistic goals

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What Causes a Chain Reaction?O ften, if you look back, you’ll find that

the reason your eating or exercise

plans went awry is because of a chain

reaction—a series of events stretching

back several days, weeks or even months.

But with a mix of foresight and focus,

you can prevent the reaction from even

happening and break the links in the

“chain” before they mess with your weight!

Sometimes a chain of events is similar to a

multi-car pileup on a foggy road. It’s only

when you can see clearly in front of you

and behind you that you can avoid this

type of accident. By identifying all the links

in the chain that drove you to overeat or

skip workouts, you have a better chance of

preventing the chain reaction the next time,

too. You’ll ace this, because, over the past

year, you’ve acquired all the right skills.

Thinking back on your last episode of

overeating or skimping on exercise, can

you trace back the steps that led to the

problem? Can you think of a way it could

have been prevented in the first place?

Here are common catalysts to chain

reactions to consider.

• Spreading yourself thin.

You say “yes” to too many

people (like your husband

who called asking you to

cover his scout carpool

pick-up), and become too

overscheduled to work out or go food

shopping. (For a refresher on how to say

“no,” go back to the “Stop Weight-Loss

Sabotage” session.)

• Being tired or hungry.

Both can make it hard to resist

fattening comfort foods. Plus,

it’s hard to whip up a healthy

meal when you’re zonked. (See Session

4 on quelling hunger and Session 11 on

getting better sleep.)

• Procrastinating.

This troublesome habit can

make work pile up, crowding

out time you could be exercising

or preparing meals. (For a time

management booster check back to

the “Manage Your Time, Manage Your

Weight” session.)

• Unexamined emotions.

Stress, loneliness, boredom,

anger, hurt, feeling blue and

even being elated can trigger

emotional eating—which, in turn, can

make you disappointed in yourself for

racking up the calories. Then you might

cope with the anger and sense of failure

by eating some more…and the vicious

cycle continues. If this sounds familiar,

double down on conquering it. Sessions

5 and 8 offer lots of helpful strategies.

• Unrealistic goals.

While aiming high is a great way

to embrace challenge, making

unrealistic demands on yourself

is a setup for failure. If you judge yourself

harshly after falling short of your own

tough standards, you might give up and

abandon them altogether. For example,

is it realistic to plan to work out for 1 ½

hours every day this week? If not, how

about planning two bouts of 30 minutes

on four or five days? Check back to the

“Hit the Reset Button and Restart Your

Weight Loss,” session for help with

setting achievable yet inspiring goals.

• Being away from home.

Vacation, business travel,

visiting a relative—being

away from home can make

it tough to eat well and

work out. (See session 14 about dealing

with life’s curveballs and the “Get Off the

Slippery Slope of Relapse” session on

preventing relapse.)

Set Goals

LATER

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No time to eat

breakfast or to pack

lunch 03

Ate 1,750 calories

for dinner (½ chicken,

mac ‘n

cheese, biscuit

and pie)

09A string of meetings

at work, so no time to buy lunch

05

Got hungry and dipped

into the o�ce

candy bowl

07

Woke up late

02Late night internet

shopping

01

Left homewithoutany food

04

Did not each lunch

06

Left work ravenous

08

Break the Chains!

The Calorie Blow-Out

“I’m mad at myself for overeating tonight. How come I still can’t control myself?”

Work backwards and you might find

the answer. It could have been a chain

reaction like the following one.

Up late shopping online, you skimped on

sleep. The next morning, you slept through

the alarm clock, got up late and flew out the

door, without eating breakfast or packing

lunch. At work, meeting after meeting

meant no time to go out and get lunch. You

ate the granola bar in your desk drawer and

periodically dipped into the office candy

bowl. On the drive home, you pulled into

the rotisserie chicken takeout restaurant—

absolutely ravenous! Instead of your usual

order—chicken leg, corn on the cob and

steamed vegetables, 420 calories—you

had a half chicken with a side of mac-and-

cheese, a biscuit, and a slice of pie. That’s a

whopping 1,750 calories!

When figuring out your own chain reactions,

it’s useful to write them out as a chain, so

it’s easy to see where you can break a link.

Even after a chain reaction is launched, you often have one or more opportunities to stop it before it messes with your weight. Take a look at the following examples to see how you can break the chain.

What triggered this chain? It could have

been emotions (boredom, loneliness,

anxiety), procrastination (delaying your

evening chores or even your bedtime), or

fatigue (too tired to get off your chair!) that

kept you shopping online until all hours.

Now take a look at a few ideas on how to

prevent the chain or, once triggered, how

to break the chain before succumbing to

that calorie bomb of a dinner! Your problem-

solving skills come in handy here—for a

refresher turn to the “Four Simple Steps to

Solve Your Weight- Loss Problems” session.

Prevent the chain from happeningSet a “bedtime!” timer and

get off the computer when

the bell rings.

Chainbreaker Ask a co-worker to pick

up a sandwich for you. Or,

keep a stash of apples and

cheese sticks in the office

fridge and peanuts in your

desk drawer for a quick

makeshift lunch!

Chain breaker Keep Real Appeal bars

(recipes on pages 49 and

53 of the Real Foods guide)

in your freezer. Grab one

on your way out the door.

Microwave it as soon as

you get to work and eat it

at your desk.

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The Lost Workout DaysHere’s another example, this one of how a chain reaction could lead to days of no exercise. We found three points in which you could have broken the chain so that you could have made it to your workout. You may see even more opportunities!

O nce you get in the habit of thinking

about missteps as chain reactions,

all kinds of chain breakers start to present

themselves. What’s your biggest weak

spot on the Real Appeal program right

now? Think hard. Is there a chain reaction

at work? If so, brainstorm a few chain

breakers, then try one out right away—you

might be amazed at how the right tweak at

the right time can make all the difference!

Prevent the chain from happeningAnticipating lots of work,

you get up an hour earlier,

and exercise before going

to work.

Chain breaker Get a co-worker to help you

with the project so you can

get the job done on time.

Chain breaker Leave work without

completing project—check

with your boss to make

sure that taking an extra

day or two is OK to finish it.

Your ChainFill in the blanks.

(If your chain is shorter, just ignore the last link or two.

If it’s longer, add links and chain breakers.)

Link 2First trigger Link 3

Link 4 Link 5

Your Chain Breakers

Link 2First trigger Link 3Prevent Chain from Starting

Link 4 Link 5

Chain Breaker Chain Breaker

Chain BreakerChain Breaker

Start here

Start here

Feel guilt about not exercising.

06

Leave the o�ce too late to go

to the gym or exercise to a Real

Moves workout.

05

Drive to work.

02

Wake up to leave

for work on time.

01

Bigger workload

than you'd even

anticipated; running behind.

03

Work later than

planned in order to catch up.

04

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I will break any chains holding me back

Commitment Contract Because chain reactions can lead to weight gain, I will either

head them off or break the links. To help me find effective chain

breakers:

My signature: ______________________________

I will analyze episodes of overeating or missed exercise

to see if a chain reaction led to it.

If there was a chain reaction I’ll:

• Write down all the links in the chain

• Come up with ways I could have avoided it, or points at

which I could have intervened and broken the chain.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue my other healthy habits to the best

of my ability.