Why Is Getting Started the Hardest Part?
There are things we put off for weeks that, when we finally get round to doing them, are nowhere near as bad as we expected.
Booking an appointment, sorting out the spare room, going back to the gym, making a phone call or finally doing something about our weight.
We think about it, talk about it, make plans for it and then somehow manage to find another reason to leave it until tomorrow.
The strange thing is that we often know exactly what we need to do. We just cannot seem to get ourselves to actually do it.
And then, when we eventually start, we wonder why we made such a big deal out of it in the first place.
So why is getting started sometimes harder than actually doing the thing?
Thinking About Something Can Be More Exhausting Than Doing It
You have probably experienced this with a job around the house.
There is something you have been meaning to sort for ages. Every time you walk past it, you think about how it needs done. You might even complain about it a few times.
Eventually, one Saturday morning, you get fed up looking at it and decide to get stuck in.
Twenty minutes later, it is finished.
You have spent three weeks thinking about a job that took twenty minutes.
Starting a healthier routine can be much the same. You spend ages thinking about what you should be eating, whether you should join a gym, how much weight you want to lose and whether you will actually stick to it.
Before you have even started, you have turned the whole thing into quite a big project.
Sometimes the thinking becomes more difficult than the actual doing.
We Like to Know How Things Are Going to Turn Out
Nobody particularly enjoys putting effort into something without knowing whether it will work.
If you have tried losing weight before and not got the results you wanted, it is understandable that you might be reluctant to go through the whole process again.
You remember the diets you abandoned, the gym membership you barely used or the period when you seemed to be doing everything right and the scales refused to move.
So rather than starting, you keep looking for a better approach.
You read another article, watch another video or decide you need to do a bit more research first.
There is nothing wrong with finding out what works. But there comes a point where you have gathered enough information to make a reasonable start.
You do not need to know exactly what you will weigh in six months before you decide to eat a proper lunch tomorrow.
We Make the Beginning Far Too Complicated
This is probably one of the biggest problems.
You decide you want to get healthier, and suddenly you think you need a completely different lifestyle.
You need new trainers, a gym membership, healthy recipes, food containers, a fitness watch and a shopping list full of things you have never bought before.
You are going to get up earlier, exercise regularly, stop ordering takeaways, cook every night and somehow become much more organised.
It is hardly surprising that you keep putting it off.
You have made the first step look like a full-time job.
In reality, you might be better off just going for a walk after dinner.
You can worry about the trainers later.
The First Time Is Usually the Most Awkward
Think about the first time you went somewhere unfamiliar.
A new gym, a new job, a class or even a restaurant where you were not quite sure how everything worked.
You spend more time worrying about what to expect than you probably need to.
Where do I go? What do I do? Will everyone else know what they are doing? Am I going to look completely lost?
Then you go.
And usually, after a while, it becomes normal.
A lot of people feel exactly the same way about asking for help with their weight.
They might not know what to expect from an appointment, what questions they will be asked or whether they will feel uncomfortable talking about it.
Sometimes it is easier to keep putting something off than deal with that first bit of uncertainty.
But once you know what the process involves, it often feels much more manageable.
You Do Not Need to Feel Ready
There is a common idea that one morning you will wake up and suddenly feel completely ready to change everything.
You will be motivated, organised, full of energy and absolutely determined.
And occasionally that does happen.
More often, though, it is a normal Tuesday. You are tired, work is busy and you have a hundred other things to think about.
If you are waiting for the perfect mood, you could be waiting a while.
Sometimes you start because you have decided it is worth doing, even though you do not particularly feel like it.
You might not want to go for a walk when you get home. But you put your coat on, head out and ten minutes later you are glad you went.
You did not need to feel motivated beforehand. You just needed to get out the door.
We Worry About Having to Keep It Up Forever
Another reason starting can feel difficult is that we immediately start thinking too far ahead.
If you decide to walk more, you start wondering how you are going to manage it in December when it is dark at half four and raining sideways.
If you want to eat better, you start thinking about birthdays, holidays, Christmas and all the meals out you have planned.
If you are considering weight-management support, you might start worrying about what treatment will involve six months down the line before you have even had an initial assessment.
It can become overwhelming because you are trying to solve problems that have not happened yet.
You do not need to work out what every day of the next year is going to look like.
You can make a reasonable decision about today and see how things go.
Sometimes We Are Just Afraid of Being Disappointed Again
This is probably worth acknowledging because it does not get talked about much.
If you have started and stopped several times before, beginning again can feel like setting yourself up for another disappointment.
You might think there is no point trying because you know how it usually ends.
But previous attempts can also tell you quite a lot about what does not work for you.
Maybe the diet was too strict. Maybe you hated the exercise you were doing. Maybe you were trying to change everything overnight, or maybe the timing was simply terrible.
It does not necessarily mean that every approach will end the same way.
Instead of repeating exactly what you did last time, it might be worth changing the bit that made it difficult.
If you never managed five gym sessions a week, try two.
If you hated preparing meals every Sunday, keep a few easy dinners in the freezer instead.
If you always got too hungry on a restrictive diet, think about whether a more balanced routine would be easier to maintain.
You are allowed to do things differently.
Make the First Step So Easy It Is Almost Boring
If something keeps getting put off, it might be worth making the beginning much smaller.
Instead of deciding you are going to overhaul your diet, start by sorting breakfast.
Instead of joining the gym and promising to go every morning, go for a twenty-minute walk.
Instead of planning every meal for the next month, work out what you are having for dinner tonight.
That might not feel particularly ambitious, but it gets you moving.
And once something becomes part of your routine, adding to it is usually easier than trying to introduce everything at once.
The trick is making the first step manageable enough that you will actually do it.
There is not much point creating a fantastic plan if it only exists in your head.
Stop Waiting for Life to Calm Down
This one catches a lot of people.
You are going to start when work settles down, after the holiday, when the kids go back to school or once you have got a few other things sorted.
Sometimes waiting genuinely makes sense.
But if you are anything like most people, there is always going to be something happening.
As soon as one busy period finishes, another one appears.
That does not mean you need to force yourself into a complicated new routine when you are already overwhelmed. It just means you might not need to wait until everything is perfectly organised either.
You can make a few changes while life carries on around you.
In fact, those are probably the changes most likely to last.
What If You Have No Idea Where to Start?
If weight management is what you are struggling with, it can be difficult to know which advice to listen to.
One person tells you to count calories, another says to cut out carbohydrates, somebody recommends fasting and someone else insists that walking is all you need.
You can end up spending so much time trying to decide which approach is best that you do not do anything at all.
It is worth remembering that there is no single routine that suits everybody.
Your age, health, lifestyle, work, family commitments and previous experiences can all make a difference.
If you are not sure where to begin, speaking to a healthcare professional can be useful, particularly if you have health conditions or have struggled with your weight for a long time.
For some adults living with overweight or obesity, medically supported weight management may also be an option.
At Keltoi, we offer online weight-management assessments for adults across Northern Ireland. You can start with a free eligibility check, and if you choose to continue, your medical information is reviewed by a UK prescriber.
Where treatment is clinically appropriate, the available options can then be discussed.
There is no guarantee that prescription treatment will be suitable for everyone, but an assessment can help establish what may be appropriate for your circumstances.
Once You Start, Things Usually Become Clearer
One of the useful things about actually doing something is that you stop having to guess quite so much.
You go for a few walks and find out what time suits you.
You try preparing lunch and realise which meals are easiest.
You change a few habits and see which ones fit around your normal week.
Some things will work better than others. That is fine.
You can adjust as you go.
It is much harder to work out what suits you when everything is still just an idea.
And that is why getting started is often such an important part of the whole process. You finally have something real to work with rather than another plan you have been thinking about for weeks.
The Bottom Line
Getting started can be difficult because we tend to make things much bigger in our heads than they need to be.
We worry about whether it will work, whether we will stick to it, what other people will think and how we are going to manage everything over the next six months.
Before we know it, something as simple as going for a walk or making an appointment feels like a massive commitment.
But you do not need to change your entire life in one go.
You do not need to have everything planned.
And you certainly do not need to wait until next Monday.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is stop thinking about the whole journey and just get the first bit done.
You can work the rest out as you go.
This article is for general information only and does not replace individual medical advice. Prescription weight-management treatment is subject to clinical assessment and suitability.