Developing a Motivation System for Weight Loss and Exercise Continuance

Is this you on December 31, “I am going to lose 30 pounds next year and look great for my 25th high school reunion?” January 1, you make the resolution. On February 1 you lose five pounds, but on March 1, you have gained back seven.

If so, you need to examine your motivation system. Motivation to achieve difficult goals usually requires a “system” of reinforcement behaviors rather than just one end-all be-all motivation device. There are two sources of motivation—intrinsic and extrinsic. The drive connected to intrinsic motivation is “to be a better healthier person;” or, “responsible people keep their weight under control so as to look their best and avoid lifestyle diseases that come with being overweight, and I am a responsible person.” Examples of extrinsic drives are money, rewards, recognition, power, and even tokens.

When possible, we want to be motivated by intrinsic (internal rather than external) motivation, but it's not always possible to be internally motivated about everything. This is where extrinsic motivation becomes valuable. Good behaviors are often in competition with bad behavior. I can take my 4 mile walk or I can read on the couch. At the party, I can make healthy food choices or I can overeat foods with high sugar, salt, starch, or fat content. Motivation drives all those choices, both the good ones and bad ones. Also, good and bad motives are in competition for your will.

Motivation to behave a certain way is driven by how past behaviors have been reinforced. The reinforcement to overeat chocolate candy is because it tastes great. The reinforcement to restrict chocolate in your diet might come from wanting to maintain a recently gained weight loss goal. Or, by approving comments made by a significant other.

Motivation systems require a specific goal. The goal must be defined and what behaviors will be used to reach the goal. After the goal is set and the enabling behaviors determined, a series of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation schemes must be determined and linked together or nested. Also, the schemes will range from elaborate to simple. Especially the extrinsic rewards should be definable and tangible.

The MoneyWalker will illustrate how a motivation system works by using his own system as a working example. My new year’s goal was to be within what the American College of Sports Medicine defines as normal weight. My current weight is 173 pounds. For me, a normal weight is between 129 and 169 lbs. This number range was calculated using my height, weight, age, and gender and then placing the data into a Body Mass Index formula (BMI). My recommended BMI is between 19 and 25. Mine was 25.5 just into the “overweight” category. Thus, my specific goal is to lose four pounds.

Now that I have a specific goal, what set of behaviors am I going to use to lose the weight. The answer is to exercise regularly and practice portion control. My exercise of choice is one guaranteed to burn calories, a daily walk of four or five miles. Every mile burns 100 calories. Portion control means to eat smaller amount of foods known to cause fat storage—sugars, starches, and fats. I try to limit myself to 2200 hundred calories daily. With the exercise program, my net calorie for daily metabolism is between 1700 and 1800 calories. I should lose weight with that amount. I also will weight daily and record the weight in a journal. Although weight fluctuation is normal, upward trends aren’t. Daily weighing provides important trend data. Another behavior is to eat breakfast every day.

I have found that intrinsic motivation does not provide enough reinforcement to sustain my habit of daily walking. Also, feel-good strategies weren't helpful. Beautiful scenery didn’t work, variety of walks didn’t work, and walking with friends didn’t work--for me it was MoneyWalking. MoneyWalking is my name for finding money and other “valuable” objects while walking. Finding a piece of money on the ground is very powerful reinforcement. It supplies classic behavioral random variable reinforcement schedules. One never knows when, where, or how much money will be found during the walks. Also, MoneyWalking involves learning, the more you walk the more money you find. It is a matter of learning where people lose money.

Thus, MoneyWalking is the base of my motivation system, but many other types of motivation schemes are nested within the system. For example, I name the various types of money finds. My ventral striatum really fires hot and heavy when finding a scatter of pennies that someone just dumped on the ground. I call it a penny dump or a Benjamin dump (my son Benjamin tells me he just dumps his pennies on the curb when they accumulate in the console of his car).

Another technique is to count the money as it is found. My goal for each walk is to find one dollar are more. In the metric system “deci” means 1/10th. As I walk and find money, I keep count of the number of decis that are found. At the end of a walk, if I have found $1.29, I record 12 decis, one for every 1/10 of a dollar. While walking I am very aware of the number of decis and the fraction needed to make the next highest deci. In the above example I require just one more penny to earn another deci. Sometimes, I am tempted to add a few blocks to my walk just trying to close out the next higher deci level. Decis are like intermediate goals and serve as "tokens" I earn along the walk.

As mentioned above, daily weighing and recording the weight is nested into the system. I hate myself when today’s weight is higher than yesterday’s. Daily weighing is a great for self transparency. I weigh every morning, regardless of what splurge might have occurred the day before. A trending upward scale pattern is a grating reminder to cut back on the portions and monitor the choices.

Giving back to society is another form of external motivation nested into my system. I rehab, reuse, or repurpose hundreds of objects found during my walks. Then, ever six months, I conduct a MoneyWalker yard sale with all proceeds going to one of my favorite charities, the Baptist Friendship House for Abused Women and their Children or the University of New Orleans Homer L. Hitt Distinguished Lecture Series. Also, all the money found by the MoneyWalker is divided between these two charitable causes. There is nothing more rewarding than helping a worthy cause (and for some, the recognition that such giving bestows on the donor). “I can’t stop walking now, all those battered women and their children are counting on me.” is powerful self-talk.

In summary, if you are not meeting your weight loss goals, you might need to recalibrate your motivation system. Define your weight loss goal very specifically. Determine what behaviors you need to follow in order to reach your goal. Select a powerful base extrinsic motivation reward system, one that has the passion to sustain your behaviors. Combine your base motivator with secondary motivators to amplify the reinforcement. Be sure to include intrinsic motivation as a critical part of your system. Effective motivation systems are not easy to establish or follow. And worse, there are counterproductive motivation systems operating within you that compete for your willpower. Yet, a well conceived motivation system is a critical part of your weight loss and exercise program.

Remember, a happy walker is a regular walker.

MoneyWalker

Initiation Impairment

Feature Entry: Initiation Impairment

Surely it is not the lack of motivation or my higher desire for sweet and fattening foods that is keeping me from reaching my Body Mass Index goal of 168 pounds. With great fanfare the MoneyWalker announced to the world on January 1st that he was going to lose 8 pounds and reach the elusive goal of a normal BMI for his height, age, and weight. But after two months, he still has a long way to go. I tell myself that I am adequately motivated to lose those last few pounds, but they won’t go away.

Now I am thinking I might have a medical disorder. While preparing for a blog on my anticipated “nested motivation systems” I found the existence of a new medical condition—initiation impairment. I think that is me. When I begin a carefully conceived intervention plan including the creation of a food journal, practicing portion control, selecting large portions of fruits and vegetables while avoiding starchy, sweet, and fatty foods, exercising daily using American College of Sports Medicine guideline; I just can’t seem to get started. So that must be it, I have Initiation impairment.

It must have happened that day many years ago when I knocked myself unconscious going for a spectacular racquet ball play. Instead, I tripped and suffered a concussion by hitting my head against the concrete wall. It must be a case of delayed onset of TBI or traumatic brain injury that is causing my problem. These days, all the former NFL football players seem to be talking about their TBIs with all their negative consequences. We can't blame them, they have initiation impairment.

Isn’t modern medicine wonderful! Until reading about Initiation impairment, I thought it was just my lazy attitude that was preventing me from reaching my weight loss goal. But not to worry, I am still going to write that blog about how to lose weight using nested motivation systems just as soon as I recover from this dreaded case of initiation impairment.

What excuse are you giving yourself for not keeping your New Year’s resolution to lose weight?

And what was the tip from the photo? Stop using excuses like initiation impairment and start consuming less calories than you are burning. It will cut a little of the belly fat away everyday.

MoneyWalker

The FitnessGram and Childhood obesity

Note: The MoneyWalker's journal entries are at the end of this blog.


Feature Entry: The FitnessGram and Childhood obesity

Recently the MoneyWalker was invited to a Past Presidents Reception sponsored by the Louisiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (LAHPERD). We had no agenda except small talk and past pleasures, but the informal conversation eventually led to two topics of interest for this blog. One was “exercise as medicine” and the other was childhood obesity. We eventually talked about what Louisiana schools could do to reverse what has become a national epidemic according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One solution was to adopt the well established FitnessGram, a product of the world-famous Cooper Aerobics Center of Dallas, Texas.

Two states, Texas and Delaware require that the physical fitness assessment tool be administered each year. In Texas, all 3rd through 12 grade students are administered the test and the results sent to parents. Students do not “pass” or “fail” the tests, rather they are evaluated against established standards denoting a healthy level of fitness including the body fat index, a measure that sends cautions for both anorexia and overweight/obesity.

Data from the mandated test indicate that 42 percent of Texas’s 4th graders are overweight and 36 percent of 11th graders were overweight. Other data point out that the Texas data reflects similar findings in most U.S. state. There are six sub-scales in the FitnessGram—aerobic capacity (the ability of the body to sustain long bouts of cardio respiratory work), body composition, muscular strength, endurance, and flexibility.

One interesting finding from the Cooper researchers is the existence of a strong correlation between physical fitness and academic performance: “There is a direct correlation between a student's physical fitness and school performance. Data shows that students who were able to achieve a Healthy Fitness Zone in at least five out of six FITNESSGRAM tests scored higher academically and had fewer discipline problems in school.” However, caution should be followed before interpreting this data as causal. For example, we know that being overweight is also highly correlated with stress, anxiety, and lower self-esteem. These factors are also associated with academic performance. Perhaps it is a more positive self-image that is driving the better grades data.

Accompanying the FitnessGram sent to parents is the Cooper Fitness Activity Pyramid designed to resemble the popular CDC food pyramid. At the activity base is “lifestyle activity.” The second level is “aerobic activity” and “aerobic sports”; third is “muscular activity” and “flexibility activity”; and the apex is “rest.” Examples of lifestyle activity include walking, bicycling, playing active games, and work-active jobs. Aerobic activity examples include aerobic dance and running while aerobic sports include field sports such as football and soccer. Examples from the third level, muscular activity and flexibility activity, include gymnastics, weight lifting, stretching, and yoga. The rest level includes school work, home work, reading, computer games/TV/videos, eating, and sleep.

The levels are not value ordered. The Cooper pyramid is provided as a simple way to inform students and their parents of what activities promote a healthy lifestyle and that prevent problems associated with becoming overweight.

As might be expected, there has been pushback from parents and others concerning the Texas requirement. Harriet Brown’s popular blog, Brave Girl Eating, and the parent of a daughter diagnosed as anorexic suggest that an unintended consequence of the Texas law is to promote anorexia in school children. Others have warned that the test will damage the self-esteem of the children in that it amounts to a negative external motivator, fear of peer labeling and bullying to pressure school children to follow unproven “best practices” for maintaining or achieving health related physical fitness practices. Still others reported that schools should be spending scare resources on more academic pursuits.

The length of this blog is already beyond the MoneyWalker’s knowledge of how long a blog can hold the attention of his readers. A future blog will address the motivation issue. In the mean time, we applaud Louisiana’s effort to follow Texas’s lead in their effort to combat the rapidly growing problem of childhood and youth’s alarming propensity to be overweight.

MoneyWalker

Journal Entries: November 5, 2010 through November 10, 2010

Nov. 5: Weight = 175.8; Coinage = $2.09, 53 pennies, 2 nickels, 7 dimes, 3 quarters; 5 Glass bottles; 3 ground scores.

Nov. 6: weight = 173.6 lbs.; Coinage = $3.31, 56 pennies, 2 nickels, 9 dimes, 5 quarters (one super find and one wheat); ten glass bottles, 5 ground scores.

Nov. 7: Weight = 176.0 lbs.; Coinage = $6.17, 122 pennies, 17 nickels, 21 dimes, 8 quarters (two super finds including $1.75 in a newspaper coin return); one glass bottle; 8 ground scores.

Nov. 8: Weight – 175.2 lbs; Coinage = $4.52, 72 pennies, 9 nickels, 11 dimes, 9 quarters; four glass bottles; 3 ground scores (two more super finds).

Nov. 9: Weight = 174.4 lbs; Coinage = $3.95, 35 pennies, 2 nickels, 14 quarters (13 quarters provided by Jason at the Mid-City Car Wash as a donation to the Friendship House); 14 glass bottles.

Nov. 10: Weight = 174.0 lbs; Coinage = $2.10, 70 pennies, 3 nickels, 5 dimes, 3 quarters; 3 glass bottles; 5 ground scores.

Note, each of the six day reports above indicated a coinage total of $2.00 or more value, easily a MoneyWalker record.

MoneyWalker

Incorporating Walking into Everyday Life

Journal Entry 3/20/10: Weight = 170.4 lbs.; Coinage = $.50, 10 pennies, 4 dimes; Glass bottles = 17; Ground Scores = 8.

Journal Entry 3/21/10: Weight = 171.4 lbs; Coinage = $4.04, 99 pennies, 10 nickels, 8 dimes, 7 quarters; ( one super find, 2 quarters, 1 nickel, 2 pennies in a curb scatter); Glass bottles = 16; Ground scores = 5.

Journal Entry 3/22/10: Weight = 172.6 lbs; Coinage = $ 1.59, 39 pennies, 2 nickels, 6 dimes, 2 quarters; Glass bottles = 4; Ground Scores = 6.

Journal Entry 3/23/10: Weight = 171.8 lbs; Coinage = $1.25, 50 pennies, 2 nickels, 4 dimes, 1 quarter; Glass bottles = 19; Best coinage find = a quadfecta on a long range errand run, a curb dime at the doctors park, a nickel find in the candy machine return at the hospital, a quarter find at the service station’s air station, and two pennies at the hardware parking lot. Money is everywhere looks if one looks carefully

Feature Entry: Incorporating Walking into Everyday Life

The 3/23/10 journal entry that describes how the MoneyWalker found $.42 on one run of daily chores led me to consider how to find natural and interesting ways to increase the number of steps taken each day. My goal is take 12,000 steps daily, the number derived by exercise physiologists as the amount required to keep weight at or near the recommended Body Mass Index.

The MoneyWalker follows three strategies to reach the 12,000 step goal—daily 90 minute fitness walk, residual green walks that involve walking to complete chores near my home in Mid City New Orleans, and Parking-lot walks (instead of parking as close to the destination as possible, I park as far from the desitnation as possible) when a destination is beyond the logic of a residual walk. The motivation for incorporating this much walking into my everyday lifestyle is multifaceted. Two important hinges drive the behaviors. First, is the desire to stay physically fit and avoid weight gain. These are both intrinsic motives and lack the power to sustain the 12,000 step behavior. The second hinge is extrinsic and involves a “bizarre” habit of searching for money while performing the exercise. Past blogs have defined how the brain’s pleasure center, the ventral striatum, seems to be hardwired to demonstrate pleasure when a lost coin or paper currency is found. Moreover, the pleasure derived from finding coins is highly reinforcing. The link to walking is obvious, the more you walk, the more money you find.

But is there that much money out there to be found? One estimate is that people in the U.S. lose $300,000 every day. Finding money is a learned skill. When the MoneyWalker started, his average was about .25 cents for a one hour walk. Now his daily walk, although now a 90 minute walk, yields more than $1.50 a walk.

Later we will reinforce many other benefits from incorporating walking into your everyday life including fitness, weight management, prevention of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, and more personal joy and tranquility. Also, we will more fully discuss specific ways that each of us can find the time and the will to complete the walks.

MoneyWalker

Newspaper headline warnings and reminders

Journal Entry: Weight = 174.4 (Weight up, week-end company gets the MoneyWalker too often.); Coinage = $2.02, 82 pennies, 3 nickels, 8 dimes, 1 quarter; Glass Bottles = 12; Ground Scores = 2; Best coinage find = one dime on a “hunch” detour.

Feature Entry: What follows are several newspaper headlines with a few comments:

“Holiday shopping season is near!” It is time to develop a firm holiday strategy for portion control. The MoneyWalker will practice his habit of first taking a beverage glass and not sit down at holiday parties. Then he will make extra efforts to mix and mingle. It is very hard to eat, talk, and hold food saucers. Also, he will avoid the cheeses and concentrate on the fruits and vegetables. Also, he will double his intention to weigh every day.

“Mattel creates a more diverse Barbie!” Yes, but she is still thin. She obviously practices portion control, eats a healthy breakfast, and regularly exercises. She is a role model for all of us.

“The best revenge!” In Joy Hirdes’s Friday Times –Picayune feature “A personal look at living well,” she featured Mandy Vicknair, a teacher’s assistant. Mandy, a grandmother dropped seventy pounds in a spin class. Mandy talks of the importance of gaining family support for losing weight: “I told my family, this is hard for me but y’all have to help.” We must be firm with our "enablers" and tell them to cool their negativie insistencies.

“High BMI can cut women’s life expectancy!” Says Maria Cheng, AP medical writer, “Being fat in middle age may slash women’s chances of making it to their golden years. For every one-point increase in their Body Mass Index, women have a 12 percent lower chance of surviving to age 70 in good health when compared to thin women.” Other studies have found the same for men.

It is early, but the MoneyWalker is developing his holiday strategy now. Can't wait to show off my six-pack abs come this January.

MoneyWalker