Comfort is amazing. I love to feel comfortable and I love helping others to feel comfortable too! Whether it’s in conversation with someone or by offering family and friends a warm drink and a blanket when they come over to visit. Comfort is important and healthy in a lot of different situations. But if comfort becomes the goal over healing or growth, then it can actually slow things down!
Take a knee replacement as an example. In the immediate days after surgery, comfort coming from the right positioning, proper pain management, and nutritious food can help you manage pain and help your body to recover from the injury of surgery. But when the surgical site is healed and it’s time to work on your mobility, comfort is not going to be a helpful goal. Physical therapy, stretching, and strengthening just aren’t comfortable after knee surgery! But without those things, you may find yourself more comfortable for a period of time, yet ultimately unable to function the way you’d like to.
THE COMFORT BALANCE
Comfort is beautiful and necessary at times, but it needs to be kept in healthy balance with discomfort. We usually romanticize comfort as being an exclusively good thing, but like with most positive things, there's a balance that actually keeps them healthy! Both too much comfort or too much discomfort can lead to stagnation and stall progress in our lives. Depending on the situation, comfort and discomfort can become healthy or unhealthy for us. Think about how people talk about getting out of their “comfort zone”- sometimes it's in a positive way, and sometimes it's in a negative way.
Comfort can be an enemy
Comfort can be a friend
Discomfort can be an enemy
Discomfort can be a friend
When you're on your weight loss journey, sometimes comfort needs to be added. While other times, it's better to get a little more uncomfortable. It can require a bit of practice to figure out what's needed, but discovering how to balance the two is key.
HEALTHY DISCOMFORT
Working on any positive life change, such as pursuing a healthier lifestyle, involves a dynamic mixture of comfort and discomfort. When you let go of some comfort, you make space for the healthy stretching that comes with making changes in your habits. It shouldn’t feel so hard that you feel like you’re at a point of snapping emotionally or physically; it should feel like a little stretch, or a little resistance.
Growth involves stretching!
Newness involves unfamiliarity!
Achievement takes overcoming challenges!
A muscle pushing back against a weight feels discomfort at first, but when the muscle meets that same amount of resistance time after time, the muscle builds up more muscle fibers. That amount of weight becomes easier and easier for the muscle until it doesn't feel like resistance at all. It's the same way with many things you'll experience in your weight loss process.
The Unfamiliar Becomes Familiar
While you're building in a new habit it will feel unfamiliar at first and take more energy than a second-nature habit you've already adopted. I know that sounds obvious, but often we think the new thing will continue to feel unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and challenging forever!
But remind yourself of a second-nature habit you have, like brushing your teeth. When was the last time you had to think through the steps involved, or even thought about your brushing technique? It's probably been quite a while. There was a time in your life where you had to learn this new skill and it took some time and focus, and probably felt uncomfortable at first, but now you brush your teeth without even thinking about it! When you truly integrate new habits into your life, you'll be able to continue practicing them nearly without thinking about it.
Discomfort Transforms Into Comfort!
Nobody really enjoys being uncomfortable, but the great news is that the discomfort you feel when adding healthy habits into your life is temporary! When you stretch outside your comfort zone to try something new, different, or challenging, those uncomfortable areas can actually become part of your comfort zone. You won’t stay uncomfortable, your comfort zone will just get bigger! Just like with the muscle example, time and repetition will help turn resistance into ease. The things that start out feeling different, risky, and challenging will become familiar, safe, and easy!
WHICH DO YOU NEED MORE OF RIGHT NOW?
When you think about your health, do you need to make room for more comfort or discomfort right now?
If you have any health-related goals you'd like to start working on, you're a candidate for getting comfortably uncomfortable 😉. Making changes in your health by adjusting your nutrition and physical activity will probably feel a little uncomfortable for a time (but not knee-surgery-uncomfortable of course). However, similar to a physical recovery process, what you feel will be temporary if you keep going! And if you're already working on your health goals, make sure you're not trying to change too much at once.
Beware of the temptation to flip-flop from one extreme to the other! Let's look at a couple of weight loss scenarios on how extremes can look versus a more balanced approach. These brief examples are based off of common patterns I've seen.
[With Extremes]
Someone decides they’re ready to work on losing weight. That same person, who was at one point not ready to make changes in their life (content in comfort), can become someone who tries to add in ‘all’ the new healthy habits at once (full-on discomfort).
This person may feel 100% committed and may be very successful on paper for a little while, but then the brick wall shows up. Burnout happens and then they go back to old habits (full-on comfort) because they’re too tired from adding in too many new changes in a short period of time (discomfort).
This person fell victim to the 'all-or-nothing' mindset. This mentality will tempt you to run toward all comfort or all discomfort. Choosing all discomfort- going 100% full force into making as many changes as possible, as quickly as possible- seems like it would help you get where you want to be faster, but it will not. The all-or-nothing approach will rob you every time. Don't let it steal from you on the way to your goals!
[With More Balance]
Someone decides they're ready to work on losing weight. That same person who was at one point not ready to make changes in their life (content in comfort), can become someone who decides to work on 1-2 new healthy habits at a time (discomfort).
This person wants to make progress as quickly as possible, but they resist the temptation to try to do it all at once. Consistency happens and then they form new habit after new habit (full-on comfort) because they learned when to add in a new habit (discomfort) and when to simply maintain current habits (comfort).
This person struggles with an all-or-nothing mindset at times, but they've chosen not to link arms with extremes. You can see more balance- they've learned to sense when they need to push ahead and when they need to simply hold their ground on progress they've already made. You can experience this kind of balance when you become as mindful of how the process is affecting you personally as you are about seeing your weight loss goals met. Discovering the right balance for you can be easier with support and accountability at your side.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
Whether you realize you need more comfort or more discomfort in your life right now, know that a healthy growth process should include both comfort and discomfort at the same time. 'Healthy' levels of comfort and discomfort will be defined differently for you than for someone else though. So staying mindful of how you’re doing will help you know what you need more or less of during your journey. If you can identify when something feels too stretching, or where you feel too comfortable, you'll be able to make adjustments that keep you on track towards your goals.
You don't have to be held hostage by comfort or intimidated by discomfort either. You can make progress towards your goals by making space for both comfort and discomfort in your journey. We all need to get comfortably uncomfortable in order to experience change, are you ready for a change?
A Little Note From the Author
You may have noticed, that I like to dive deep on the blog. After working in the area of weight loss for some time, I've come to know that a healthy mindset is a critical part of a successful weight management journey! As a dietitian I believe that what we consume impacts our bodies, overall health and our quality of life. So, I like to share mindset focused topics here that can truly help you make the nutrition and wellness changes you'd like to make! Stick around the blog for more deep dives and when you're looking for some lighter posts and quick tips, follow the Facebook page!
Thanks for reading!
-Anne, Dietitian with Get RD Nutrition
Get RD Nutrition is a virtual nutrition practice for residents of North Carolina- offering weight management support, right where you are! The core of our weight management support is simple, practical nutrition guidance, but with a strong emphasis on mindset. If you feel ready to make lasting changes in your weight, check out the link to learn more about our programs and packages at Get RD Nutrition. Feel free to send me a chat- I'd love to hear from you!
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