The “I Don’t Knows” of Weight Loss

(c) IvonneWierink – fotosearch.com/k0973126

Three words I hear an awful lot, daily — let’s call them some of the buzz words of weight loss — are: “I don’t know.” Some examples.

Before the client gets on the scale.

    Me: So, how’d you do over the weekend?
    Client: I don’t know.

When the scale shows a weight gain.

    Me: So, what happened? 
    Client: I don’t know.

When a client has no diary.

    Me: How come?
    Client: I don’t know.

When a client has over- or under-eaten?

    Me: Why?
    Client: I don’t know.

When a client has gone off the rails.

    Me: What happened?
    Client: I don’t know.

When I a client says “it was like a cup” or “it was about 4 oz.”

    Me: Why didn’t you weigh and measure instead of guessing?
    Client: I don’t know.

Again, these are just a few examples, but here’s what they all have in common.
 

1. Every time, clients did in fact know why they did or did not do something.  In all cases, they made a choice NOT to do something they should have or TO DO something they shouldn’t. 
2. Every time, clients got the results of the actions they took yet hoped to get the results they wanted. 

Do people who are trying to lose (and maintain) weight have an occasional bad day, by accident or on purpose? Of course. Do people who have a goal (any goal) they’re trying to reach have an occasional set-back? Of course. But, when it comes to weight loss, and my interaction with clients, I can’t let them accept the excuse that they don’t know.  I’ve got to probe a little:
 

•  Did they sleep-walk into the kitchen at 1:00 a.m. and not know they were eating a cake? No.
   
•  Were they hypnotized and manipulated to do something against their will? No.
   
•  Did someone or something prevent them from making a better choice? No.
   
•  Did they have amnesia and couldn’t remember to plan their day? No. 
   
•  Did the car drive itself over to McDonald’s? No.
   
•  Were they beamed up into a spaceship and force-fed M&M’s by aliens? No.

My clients are smart people. They do know . . . every single time. 

    I just didn’t feel like it.
    I was stressed.
    I wanted it.
    I was bored.
    I was lazy.
    I was hungry.
    I wasn’t hungry.
    Everybody else was doing it.

These and other truths do come out, and my role is to make sure they own up to it and are truthful to themselves.

Here are a few synonyms for “I don’t know”–meaning, another way of conveying it:

🔺 not that I know of

🔺 don’t ask me

🔺 your guess is as good as mine

🔺 good question

🔺 I couldn’t tell you

🔺 how should / do I know?

🔺 not for the life of me

🔺 who can say?

So if you’re an excuse maker or a blame thrower, don’t be so dead set on “I don’t know.” Instead, why not consider branching out and using some of those other responses to explain away why you didn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t or just wouldn’t do something?

How we plan to achieve the goals we want to reach is completely up to us. How we choose to react to things (events, circumstances) is completely up to us. We get the results of the decisions we make and the actions we take, or don’t.