Landing at a plateau in your wellness journey can be frustrating and demoralizing. Plateauing is the term used to describe being in “a period or state of little or no growth.” For TOPS members, this may be a lack of significant improvement in terms of mobility, weight loss or lowering health risks for certain conditions such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
So if you have been feeling stuck for a while, try this cognitive tool to reignite forward momentum toward your goals:
Mental Contrasting
Spending hours making vision boards or simply daydreaming about your future success could start to have the opposite effect of what you are hoping for. This is one reason that Gabriele Oettingen, a professor of psychology at New York University, created the WOOP framework to help people learn how to harness the power of mental contrasting.
More often than one might think, she explains that, only focusing on eventual positive outcomes — rather than the steps one needs to take to get there — “can make our brain think we’ve already accomplished our goal, leaving us ill-equipped to handle obstacles and setbacks along the way.”
However, Oettingen affirms it can be much more effective to visualize “a fitter, more confident you in the mirror” after also imagining yourself exercising or savoring a fresh bowl of fruit on a hot summer day. You mentally combine the desired result with the habits one must cultivate to get there.
Want to give her WOOP method a try? Follow Oettingen’s steps:
Wish: Write down your wish (Make sure your initial goal is reasonable!)
Outcome: Next, notate the specific details on how your life will change for the better if you can bring your wish to life.
Obstacle: Make a list of potential and/or current obstacles you need to overcome.
Plan: Create an “if-then” plan for each one: “If [X obstacle] occurs, I will do [Y action].”
Of course, people can wind up plateauing for a variety of reasons. Thus, here are a few Wellness Wednesday blogs that also address the need to periodically “reset” how we are tending to our fitness, mental health and nutrition needs.
Have you previously felt like you were at a plateau? Share more about what kept you from giving up by leaving a comment below this post.
Make an effort to have a mindful moment (or two) each week before the end of March as well, because inner peace benefits our brains — and bodies!
~Rachel
I am not on a plateau i can’t stop eating junk.I am depressed of myself and don’t want to Go back at TOPS every week I say to myself next week.My subsription is due at the end of the month don’t know if l am going back.
Hello Jeanne,
I want to encourage you to reach out to one or more of your fellow chapter members. You might find that they gone through a similar phase at some point in the wellness journey. Being able to reach out to others for additional support is on of the BIG benefits of being a part of the TOPS community. Also, you may want to take a peek at the “7 Types of Hunger.” It may provide clarity on what is causing you to keep eating foods you are trying to phase out.
Thank you for your support.
Jeanne, hi. I was struggling a few weeks ago. I had gained a few pounds since the first of the year and it didn’t seem like I was going to get my act together any time soon. I am fairly new to my TOPS group and don’t know everyone very well but I took a chance and asked a fellow TOPS member is she’d be willing to be my “text buddy” for a couple of weeks. I asked if I could text her daily about how I was doing. Just knowing I was going to be texting her how my day went helped curb some of the incidents of eating things I knew I should not be eating. I’m not sure if this will help you, but it worked for me.
THANK YOU for sharing this advice here. I have no doubt that other members will find it to be very useful.
I’d like to add an “S” to WOOP to signify STICK TO IT. Things just need to be revisited several times as I journey!
Woops, there goes another rubber tree plant! But I always have high hopes!
I really like your “add-on” to this acronym, Barb!
I’m really good at the first two, but even though I know there will be obstacles I never think about what they might be and thus I never have the if/then plan of action. I’m pretty good at adapting when things don’t go as planned, but I do think having the if/then ideas in place it would be easier to adapt more quickly.
I would say the one thing I have kind of done this for is eating pizza. I made a “rule” that I can have pizza whenever I want and I can eat two pieces of pizza. Since I made that rule I have never eaten more than two pieces of pizza at one sitting. I guess it would play out like this:
Wish: I want to be able to eat any and all foods I like. I will not restrict any single food. I can eat all foods in moderation.
Outcome: I will have a healthy relationship with food. It is a huge mental struggle to have an unhealthy relationship with food.
Obstacle: Pizza. When we have pizza I always overeat. I’ve never been able to eat pizza in moderation.
Plan: If we have pizza, then I will only eat two pieces.
My current struggle is I babysit my four year old grandson. I eat things I would never eat when he’s at our house. I’ll be getting him some Cheez Its for a snack and I’ll eat two or three. When we go to Burger King to the play place and he doesn’t eat his small amount of french fries I eat them. It’s never a lot of food, but a few times a day, two to three times a week adds up. I need to ponder some if/then scenarios for these situations.
Teri.
I also agree that the first step is identifying moments you find it challenging to make certain nutritional choices. This is something you already outlined quite well in the message you posted! Here’s a suggestion worth considering: Maybe pack an assortment of “mini” healthy snacks for you to have on hand when you are taking care of your grandson. That way you’re able to still have the pleasure of eating with him at times without necessarily having to eat the same food he is having (or doesn’t finish etc).