Environmental Dynamics Of Weight Loss

When was the last time you stopped to consider if your environment supports or hinders your weight loss? For that matter, when was the last time you stopped to consider the impact your environment has on you at all. For many people, the impact the environment has on them goes largely unnoticed. Especially when we have a myriad of responsibilities and expectations, we may find our lives just too busy to take the time to stop and consider these things.

It is the age old mistake of failing to notice the forest through the trees. However, the impact the environment has on how we think, feel and act is astronomical. Perhaps nothing illustrated this more clearly than the famous Stanford Prison Project, where a randomized selection of people were chosen to live for 3 months in a virtual prison. Half of the group were assigned the role of guard, and the other half were assigned the role of inmate. The affect this environment had on the study participants was very telling, even to the participants themselves.

Many found themselves acting in very angry, deceitful, even abusive ways. In the words of one of the participants, "I never thought I would act like that, I just couldn't stop myself from being angry." What we can learn from studies such as this is that we clearly underestimate the ways in which we are affected by the environment around us. Often, we assume that people's behavior will remain consistent across a variety of environments. This assumption is what is referred to as "the fundamental attribution error" and can account for a large degree of misconception about human behavior.

When we make this error, and fail to account for the impact the environment has on us, we remain blind to the underlying dynamics of our behavior. We may find ourselves struggling with our dislike of our job, for example, all the failing to recognize that although the job offers advancement opportunities, great pay, and great location, there is no validation or recognition for our efforts. Clearly, without being validated it is difficult to engender feelings of pleasure with anything, especially a job. Likewise, if those around us give little attention to our efforts, we may struggle with the desire to continue pursuing our passions. In both of these cases, when we are not aware of how the environment affects they way we feel about something, our attitude toward it will remain a mystery to us.

As every person is comprised of a unique blend of needs and wants, the specific way in which the environment affect each individual will be very different. While some have a need for validation, others have a need for challenge, and yet others, a need for acceptance. While determining just what these needs are can be very challenging, the way in which the environment supports or negates these needs is not so. But in order to do so, we will need to slow down and separate ourselves from of environment long enough to absorb the full impact it has on us. Start by asking yourself, what things in my environment make me feel positive about my goals or passions, and what things seem to make me feel negative about it? Now go further by asking yourself, "What is it about those things that make me feel positive; what do they offer?" and "What is it about those things that make me feel negative; what do they offer?"

Answering these questions can begin to increase your understanding of your needs and wants, and how they may be supported or negated by the environment.

In terms of weight loss, the affect the environment has on us is again, often overlooked, and very profound. While we may be toiling away with our weight loss efforts, if factors in our environment do not result in positive emotions, we will struggle. The important understanding is that with weight loss, the positive emotions need not be directly related to losing weight. What this means is that an abundance of people cheering on our weight loss will not compensate for an abusive relationship, causing us to experience anxiety, fear, and shame. Instead, these overwhelming negative emotions will cause us to doubt ourselves, feel as though we are not worthy, and perhaps, that we do not belong. Operating from this fragile emotional framework will make anything but negative behaviors very challenging. Often, these negative behaviors can be both avoidance, as in reticence to reach out for help, and self damaging, as in overeating, bindging, drinking or drug use. In either case, the behaviors reflect the emotional reality that is created by the environment we find ourselves in.

Clearly then, without considering the factors in our environment that can result in negative emotions, our weight loss efforts will feel like an uphill battle. In this sense, the ways in which we structure the environment to either support or sabotage our determination to lose weight will make the difference between whether or not our attempts to lose weight will feel overwhelming, and not possible, or challenging, but not impossible. So think again, what factors in your environment cause you to feel positive? And how much time to engage in these things? Now, what factors in your environment cause you to feel negative? And how much time do you engage in these things?

Perhaps it is time to do a little restructuring. Whether it be weight loss we want to achieve, or any other significant life change, we are going to need to start with enough of a positive emotional framework to weather the inherent challenges of any change. So while you are factoring the amount of calories you need to burn, or what foods you are going to eat, take a little time to consider what other activities you are going to do, people you are going to see, and things that you do, and the effect they have on the way you feel. If you are like most people, you want to lose weight to feel good. However, let's not forget that we gained weight because we didn't feel good. Now it is time to fix that.

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