It’s not just about wearables

Process to success: Behavioural change requires more than just collecting data, we must turn that information into action

The road to weight loss is paved with good intentions.

That might not be a direct quotation of the original proverb, but it resonates too in this context.

Most of us set well meaning – and not to mention ambitious – weight loss and fitness goals but are unable to achieve them without clear guidelines and obedient tracking.

As the great data scientist Edward Deming said ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.’

And that aphorism applies to our health and fitness journey too.

It’s all very well having virtuous goals and ‘eating clean’ alongside training, but if we’re not regulating what goes into our body and what energy goes out, then it’s all a bit futile.  This is why wearable activity trackers like Apple Watch Fitbit and CorLife Partner Garmin are a fundamental (one of your 10,000) step(s) towards improving your physical health. 

An effective behavioural change journey requires insight, motivation, education and iteration of new behaviours – which quite counter intuitively competes with human nature’s predisposition to resist change!
 
When presented with better lifestyle choices, the logic of change can be clear and the intent to change firm.  However, quite paradoxically and unhelpfully, the subconscious instinctively recoils from adapting.  We innately feel the impulse to create obstacles and excuse the persistence of old behaviours.

Steve Peters provides a clear analogy of this embattled psychology with his Chimp Paradox theory.

The Chimp in our deep brain represents the ancient cerebrum preoccupied with living in the moment.  It is impulsive and resistant to change, making it disinclined to stick to new resolutions.

Whereas the Human brain is more strategic and logical, it competes with our less evolved Chimp side for control of behaviour and forward progression.  Which is why by repeating new habits, long-term behaviours are able to become ingrained and accepted by the resistant Chimp counterpart.
 
As established, it’s universally acknowledged that humans dislike adjustment, but alas great progress requires great change!  The very process of evolution involves movement and progression, which means that in order to evolve we must battle against the Chimp side of our brains that tells us to stay put.

A successful programme of change must be founded on an individual’s unique mechanics and motivations and laid out as a clear, personalised and logical path of action.  And to be clear and logical, we need tangible figures to track – this is why consistently interacting with data from wearables is key to establishing new lifestyle patterns.

CorLife has been developed to guide and support your weight loss journey with a clear path of action. The programme provides direction based on the individual’s initial wellness as well as their future disease risk.

And a constant stream of data provides signposts along the way to help navigate programme users, keeping them informed and educated on their journey to a healthier state of mind and body.

This is after all how sustainable habits are formed – and how you can ensure that the road to weight loss is not just paved with good intentions but is directed towards success!