BARRIERS TO WEIGHTLOSS Lack of Support and Accountability Obesity exhibits a pattern of social clustering, meaning that the probability of a person becoming obese increases if they have a friend, sibling, or spouse who became obese. Social support is a welldocumented component to weight management. Social norms guide expectations about acceptable behavior that occurs in a group context. Individuals within a peer network can create pressure concerning healthy food choices. For example, individuals have indicated the existence of saboteurs to weight loss efforts. Conversely, individuals who receive social support and engage in weight loss interventions with friends are less likely to drop out of programs and are more likely to maintain weight loss. It is important to note that the efficacy of recruiting spousal support for weight loss maintenance is not conclusive. In addition, the type of social support may dictate the success of long-term weight loss efforts. Individuals who regain weight report receiving reminders and suggestions as a form of social support, whereas maintainers received compliments for participation in healthy behaviors. It is possible that the form of support that regainers received may be perceived as negative. Lack of Exercise Exercise is a crucial component to a healthy lifestyle; however, exercise alone may produce only modest reductions in body weight . Nevertheless, research reviews and meta-analytical data have concluded that diet programs that also include an exercise component are more efficient for weight loss than diet or exercise interventions alone . Exercise program design should be based upon individual preferences and enjoyment . These programs should foster positive affective responses that increase confidence, motivation, and intention to exercise . Confidence in one’s ability to exercise is a crucial construct to participation. Self-efficacy, the personal belief in one’s ability for a given task, is mediated by performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states . Expectations of personal efficacy regulate whether coping behavior will be initiated. Personal efficacy also will determine how much effort will be spent and how long effort will continue in the face of obstacles. The stronger the self-efficacy beliefs, the longer people will persist in a task that requires effort . Behavior change and maintenance, in part, are determined by the perception of one’s capability to engage in the behavior . Individuals who hold stronger self-efficacy beliefs are more likely to meet exercise recommendations. if the four sources of self-efficacy, performance accomplishments are considered the most powerful source of self-efficacy . Therefore, exercise programs should be enjoyable and also foster a sense of mastery. Lack of Willpower: Temptations and Portion Control Resisting urges for immediate gratification is a highly adaptive human trait that leads to long-term goal attainment. When an individual inhibits an impulse to engage in a behavior that would undo a commitment, they are expressing willpower . Dieters have the long-term goal of weight loss. This process will inevitably take months or years to achieve. On the other hand, dieters also have a hedonic desire to consume food, which is activated through sight and smell. When taking part in a weight loss effort, self-control is the exertion of control over food urges. It has been proposed that self-control is a limited resource and can be depleted when overriding impulses with executive function. Depletion of self-control on one task (i.e., emotional control over frustration at work) leads to higher perception of effort to engage in future activities that require self-control (i.e., resisting food temptations at home) and also reduced resources for future self-control . Resisting urges for immediate gratification is a highly adaptive human trait that leads to long-term goal attainment. When an individual inhibits an impulse to engage in a behavior that would undo commitment, they are expressing willpower.” Muraven and Baumeister compared self-control with a muscle where exerting self-control causes a temporary depletion effect but long-term practice of selfcontrol strengthens the ability to exert it in the future. However, Miles et al.) observed that self-control training did not improve self-control. Self-control training participants did not eat any less chocolate than those in the control group. This may not be surprising because the form of self-control training was to use one’s nondominant hand for 6 weeks. Although participants were put in a scenario where it was required to override an impulse to use the dominant hand, they did not have to override tempting urges such as chocolate consumption. WEIGHT LOSS FACILITATORS REFERENCES https://journals.lww.com/acsmhealthfitness/fulltext/2017/11000/self_regulation_strategies_for_barriers_to_weight.8.aspx#:~:text=Th ere%20are%20many%20barriers%20to,regulation%20skills%20to%20be%20successful.
