Whenever you take steps to change your lifestyle behaviors, whether to stop smoking, eat healthier or begin an exercise plan, it pays to take some time and identify the barriers to your plan.  These are the roadblocks to your success.  They are usually easy to list since they are often related to your list of Cons.

So if we consider the healthy eating plan that must be followed to lose weight, barriers might include:

• Not knowing what to eat and what to avoid
• Not knowing what are proper portion sizes
• Not understanding food labels
• Having difficulty finding the time to do some research on proper nutrition
• Being tempted by unhealthy snacks at work
• Being a frequent snacker
• Eating out frequently, possibly due to business travel

Barriers to starting an exercise program to help lose weight and for its other benefits often include:

• Having difficulty finding the time to exercise
• Not having access to a place to exercise
• Being embarrassed to exercise in front of others due to self consciousness about being overweight
• Physical limitations

These are the potential reasons why you may fail in your plan – if you don’t determine how you can overcome them.  So when you make your list of barriers, you need to list next to each barrier what you will do to counteract them.  This way, when you are faced with the barrier, you will know how to respond.  For instance, if you are unsure of what to eat and what to avoid as well as appropriate portion sizes, you need to do some research online or at the library.  To help with portion sizes, you may need to buy a scale and measure all your portions.  When you take the time to identify your barriers you can usually strategize how to eliminate them before you are faced with their challenges.  Including barriers and their solutions in your plan preparation can help assure your success.

Next time I’ll talk about a few more important parts of your healthy lifestyle behavior change plan.

For Your Health – Dr. Bob