I’ve mentioned previously that one of the most important ingredients in a weight control program is more often implied than specifically mentioned: the role of psychological factors. I know that for myself, I have learned that it takes me about four or five specific psychological “tricks” every day to stick to my program. As I’ve been working on this blog, I’ve come to realize that I’ve never really listed them all in one place before.

I assume that it’s not just me. It seems likely that for the vast majority of people, the psychological factors are key to sticking with and succeeding at any significant weight control program.

Think about it by way of an analogy: Many of us have probably fantasized about some kind of “full immersion environment” that would literally force us to stick to all the tough weight loss “rules” we must follow to lose weight. Maybe some “fat farm” resort where nutritionists prepare all your meals, and where you’d have lots of free time and a trainer and an Olympic-quality gym to use every day. Or maybe just join the military and they’ll make you lose the weight at boot camp. (I’ve had students who tried this route.) Or maybe some medicine that decreases your appetite and so takes away the hard “psychological” part of the process. You may even consider surgery or stomach banding, mechanical processes that among other things, tend to powerfully reduce both your appetite and your capacity for eating too much.

In all these cases, what we are wanting to do is to get some external factor to essentially supplement or even to replace the psychological processes that others have managed to use to make their programs work. Essentially, these alternatives take us out of the realm of having to make sure our “heads” and our behavior stick to the diet/exercise plan.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with these alternatives. Two of my close friends are preparing for surgery, and I’m sure it’ll be super helpful for them. I’ve considered it and discussed it with my medical advisers a few times. People who do it often swear by it.

But suppose you decide it’s not for you — not yet, anyway. Or suppose boot camp is out of the question (I’m too old), or that you can’t afford six months at a spa? What then?

It’s likely that these are not, in fact, the solutions for the vast majority of people. Most of us have to slog on as best we can, trying day after day to stick to the diet changes and exercise regimens we know are likely to work for us.

In that case, it may be helpful to list some of the psychological attitudes that can aid successful weight loss.

I haven’t done a systematic survey of these. What I am going to list here are seven psychological factors that I have personally found to be helpful in weight control. Your mileage may vary; not all of these will be useful for you. But this is the list that makes the most sense of this for me. Maybe you’ll find some of them helpful.

Briefly listed, they are:

1. Keeping weight loss a high priority

2. Persistence (as an attitude, as well as a behavioral pattern)

3. Frustration tolerance

4. Rituals and positive focus

5. Feedback looping — an attitude of “learning as you go” and modifying what you do as a result

6. Self-image: learning to see yourself in a new way (as an athlete, as a thin person)

7. Motives: having clear reasons for what you do — what will you DO with this new, thin self when you have her/him?

In future posts I’ll talk about each of these, including the value of each attitude/habit and how you can go about systematically changing your thinking so that you can up the odds that you’ll stick to your program. None of these are things you just “have” or “are” — there is an element of skill in making each of them work for you. Stay tuned for suggestions as to how to make the seven attitudes a part of who you are.