Living the Lifestyle - Wildcard Wednesday, 7-7-2021

steve0mania

We meet here to explore, share, celebrate and (sometimes) agonize over how we do (or don't) incorporate weight loss guidelines into our daily lives. "It's a lifestyle, not a diet" is easily and often said, but sometimes not so simply put into practice.

This is a thread for everyone. If you're new to GoaD, or to weight loss, your questions and comments are always welcome. If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear. If you're reading this, join in the discussion!

Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion.

Monday -Crewahl (Charlie)
Tuesday – 88olds
Wednesday -
Thursday - misterhub (Greg)
Friday - whathapnd (Emmie)

Today's Topic: External incentives?

Without getting into the politics of COVID and vaccines, various officials, businesses, and states have worked to develop incentives to encourage folks to get vaccinated for COVID. Our state had a $1MM lottery for those who have been vaccinated, Crispy Kreme has a donut giveaway, Sam Adams had free beer, and today in the news, Joe Biden suggested that the federal government would develop a system for workers to go door-to-door encouraging vaccination.

Turning to weight-loss (which one can argue might even have a bigger overall impact on the public health than finishing the vaccination process in the US), before you started WW, was there any incentive that would have been sufficient to get you to your goal weight? If so, what would it have been? Be specific...would $10,000 be enough? $1MM? A billion dollars? The threat of a divorce? Etc.?

steve0mania

It's funny to generate a question for which I don't have a great answer!

I guess as a starting point, I'd note that I usually had a sense of self-loathing about my weight. I was ~50 pounds overweight (or actually, obese at that point), but I had gotten used to the idea that I was never going to be able to take the weight off, and that I was destined to be overweight/obese for the rest of my life. I think at that point, the level of incentive that would have driven me to take off all 50 pound would have to have been quite high. I don't think that anyone simply hounding me would have been helpful nor sufficient. The usual incentives that work health insurance plans provide (a minor discount on my insurance premiums) weren't enough (since they didn't drive me to lose weight). I don't have a real number, but I'm guessing it would have been in the $10k range? In other words, it would have had to have been more than some "walking around money." If my wife threatened divorce, that would have been sufficient too!

Later, however, as I got closer to starting WW, I recall thinking to myself, time and time again, that I really should join a program to help me. There was a Jenny Craig in our area, and I didn't know much about it, but it was a constant reminder that there were indeed programs out there. At some point I noticed an ad for WW at Work. At that point, I think my mind was toying with the idea of starting, so it probably wouldn't have taken much incentive. Indeed, if someone would have said something, that probably would have been enough to get me started. Whether that would have been enough to get me to my goal weight, I'm not really sure, but at least I would have started.

Finally, as many of us have experienced, there was an "a-ha moment," where the switch finally flipped. At that point I had internalized the desire to lose weight, and finally decided to take control of that aspect of my life. To be fair, I didn't have as much weight to lose as some folks did, so it only took me ~6 months to get to goal, but there was no incentive needed at that point.

So, the overall view is that the level of incentive that would have been needed likely changed over time. It's not that I didn't want to lose weight, but rather that I didn't believe I could lose weight. With enough incentive, I might have tried joining WW sooner, and likely shown myself that it was possible to be successful on the program. Thankfully, I found my way to WW by myself when I was ready!

88olds

I like stock market thinking applied to weight loss. I thinks it’s because of the short term ups and downs and long term trends.

They say the market runs on two emotions- fear and greed. I lost weight because I got into the fear camp. Well, it was where I put myself. But until I got a CPAP, got some real sleep, and was able to think clearly, I didn’t see where I was. It’s like Wiley Coyote suddenly realizing he has run off the cliff. He just hasn’t fallen yet. I was lucky. So big picture, there was no reward that was going to get me to change.

But this- then came the day I met Harry the tailor. Harry taught me how to dress. And it was great fun. So short term I rewarded myself with new suits. It was also fun to go back to Harry for alterations when the suits became too big. I think this was a new experience for him.

Unfortunately the options to go smaller are very limited. But I had become picky about the fit. Maybe I could get another 4-6 weeks before replacement. The whole play dress up thing was a lot of fun. I had guys approach me and try to buy the ties that Harry had picked out for me.

crewahl

Yeah, I could have gone for an incentive. This is know - I can be led and I can be persuaded, but I can’t be easily driven. So something that would have had sufficient impact to change my life would have been needed to get me to commit to the effort.

Like Steve-O, I had just about concluded I would be fat the rest of my life. I’d tried a lot of things and had not had any sustained success. Low carb took off fifty pounds, but by that point I would have done bad things to get a slice of toast and some OJ with my bacon and eggs.

So getting to a goal weight - assuming it was some mythical healthy number - would have been viewed as potentially doable, but not necessarily worth the effort. Accomplishing the goal would be worth something, but I couldn’t see success as a likely end point, and wouldn’t have wanted to make the effort and have nothing to show for it.

So I guess “life changing money” would have been needed - a million sounds about right. It would have to be enough to allow an immediate transition to retirement. I wouldn’t have responded well to anything that felt like a threat.

Of course, on the flip,side, if someone told me I could an unlimited lifetime supply of Krispy Kreme donuts every day if I gave up the idea of weight loss, that might have been enough of an incentive going the other way.

crewahl

88olds wrote: »

I like stock market thinking applied to weight loss. I thinks it’s because of the short term ups and downs and long term trends..

Okay, that’s a fascinating concept, George. I’m going to have to mull that one over.

88olds

crewahl wrote: »

88olds wrote: »

I like stock market thinking applied to weight loss. I thinks it’s because of the short term ups and downs and long term trends..

Okay, that’s a fascinating concept, George. I’m going to have to mull that one over.

A great stock market saying - the trend is your friend.