Don't Ghost Your Goals: The Mirage of Motivation

Welcome back to the Daily Dumbbell, where we continue to petition the UN to add burpees to the section of the Geneva convention banning torture. We’ll let you know if they ever get back to us.

Happy Monday everyone! We hope you’re as fired up for this week as we are. And if not, we hope some of our patented nonsense can turn that frown upside down!

Today in a Nutshell:

• Motivation is a mirage

• Research Roundup!

Let’s dive in!

Motivation Monday:

Welcome, fitness friends, to the desert of aspiration. You’ve packed your gym bag, laced up your shoes, and embarked on a journey towards your goals. Whether that’s losing some weight and improving your quality of life, or achieving the Thor look you’ve always wanted.

Now, see that oasis in the distance, shimmering and oh-so-inviting? That’s motivation. As you march towards it, it fuels your dreams. It’s like a rush of caffeine, an adrenaline shot straight to the heart. You can see your dreams materializing, you’re crushing your to-do list, and you’re basically walking on sunshine.

But wait! As you approach this tantalizing oasis, something weird happens. It begins to fade, and suddenly - poof - it’s gone. The adrenaline fizzles out, the caffeine wears off, and you’re left standing in the desert, thirstier than ever.

woooooah

What in the name of goal-setting just happened?

You’ve just witnessed the Mirage of Motivation. It’s gorgeous from afar, but when you try to grab it, your hands come up empty.

So, What’s the Plan?

Time to call in the cavalry: habits and routines. If motivation is the unreliable friend who sometimes helps you move, habits are the trusty truck that’s always there.

1. Autopilot Activate: 

Habits are like your brain’s autopilot. When you’re in the habit groove, you don’t need motivation. You just do the thing because it’s part of your day. Like brushing your teeth or terrorizing your girlfriend. It’s basically second nature!

2. Make It Easy: 

Simplify your environment so the path to your goal is a downhill slide. Want to workout in the morning? Set your gear out the night before. Want to eat healthier? Keep the junk food out of the house. Make the right decision the default decision.

Make it so you have to go out of your way to make the wrong decision.

3. Consistency is King: 

It’s not about making monumental leaps; it’s about taking consistent steps. If your current exercise routine is a stroll to the fridge, don’t aim for a marathon. Start with a 10-minute walk. Then, make it 15.

Make each successive step so easy you couldn’t possibly fail. So easy that it makes you laugh a little bit at how silly it seems. These are called “giggle steps.”

4. Safety Nets: 

Habits are your safety nets for when motivation bails. They catch you and keep you going, even when your inner spirit animal is a sloth.

In short, while motivation is the flashy poster child, habits are the unsung heroes. They’re the silent guardians, the watchful protectors of your goals. Don’t chase mirages or waterfalls; pave paths instead.

It might not be as glamorous, but trust us, it’s the ride that gets you where you want to be. And who knows, along the way, you might just find a real oasis. With actual water and everything.

Research Roundup:

Important:

A team in Australia found that chronic stress interferes with the brain’s satiety signals, causing a vicious cycle of reward signals leading to more cravings and less control.

If you’ve ever felt a strong urge to eat calorically dense, rich, or heavy foods during periods of high stress, you’re not alone. In fact, that’s where the term “comfort food” comes from.

It’s completely normal to crave those foods that give you comfort in times of stress. However, it seems that the more we give into these cravings, the more we train our body to crave them, and sinisterly, the less pleasure we get from them; causing our brain to want more.

In the study, mice that were stressed out gained twice as much weight as the control mice on an identical diet. They found that stress interfered with satiety through a molecule called NPY. NPY appears to block the satiety signals that our brains produce in response to having enough food.

When the researchers blocked NPY in the stressed mice, they stopped eating as much and didn’t gain the stress weight. Sounds promising!

You Don’t Have to be Perfect

It turns out, you don't need to track 100% each day to be successful. 

Researchers from 3 universities teamed up with Weight Watchers to hold an intervention for their terrible company find out how often you need to track your food to successfully lose weight over a 6 month period.

There were 3 distinct patterns among the participants in the trial:

1. Super trackers. Those who tracked almost every day for 6 months. They, on average, saw 10% weight loss.

2. This group tracked regularly for the first 3 months, then gradually dipped to around once a week. This group averaged about 5% weight loss.

3. Low Compliance. They began around 3 days per week and this dropped to 0 by the 3rd month. They lost on average about 2% of their BW.

Our favorite part of the study?

People are in different stages of their journey. They require different strategies based on where they are in that journey. Being able to differentiate these groups a little bit & tailoring the approaches could lead to better outcomes and more interesting data!

The Importance of Environment

Ever felt like your friends and family were sabotaging your weight loss journey? Well, according to new research you might not be imagining things after all…

Whether by jealousy, or out of fear that you changing will leave them behind, many loved ones are not supportive of habit change. The biggest culprit? Feeders. The people around you who push food on you despite your best efforts to protest.

Thanks a lot grandma.

Quick Hits

Walking improves memory in seniors

Exercise counteracts risk of genetic disease?

Did cold weather lead to the development of social behaviors?

We hope you enjoyed this newsletter! Let us know if there’s anything specific you want to learn about. And as always, if you loved it, share it with your friends and family.

Maybe not grandma… she might be offended today.