What do the iceberg & learning model have to do with weight loss

If I have not updated this blog in a while, it is likely that I have stopped working hard on losing weight.

Pay attention, here comes the science:

Imagine an iceberg as a metaphor for your mind! (We have Freud to thank for this model)

Only 10% of an iceberg is visible (conscious) whereas the other 90% is beneath the water (preconscious and unconscious).

Unconscious is allotted an overwhelming 75%-80% (the rest is 'preconscious' but that's one Freudian bit of information too far for me)

I use the following model in training sessions to explain the circle of learning but when I thought about it, I realised how well this fits in with explaining successful weight loss.

unconscious incompetence

You don’t know that you don’t know – like when you are five and don’t know that you can not drive a car. I do not know when I was last at that stage in connection with my weight. I remember as far back as when I was about four being force fed cod liver oil and those god awful coal tablets by my mother and grandmother . I was too thin and was not eating enough and I was very aware of my weight being an issue which made me....

conscious incompetence

You know you do not know – now you are 15 and know you can not drive a car. I knew I had 'baby speck', was 'podgy' at the age of about seven I guess. But I did not know that there was something one could or should do anything about.

conscious competence

You know you know – you 18 and are just learning to drive – you are aware of every single action necessary to drive a car. There is not much else you can do or are aware of when you are a new driver - it takes all your brain power to stay on the road and keep out of trouble

When I had my brain wave, I realised that it is exactly this stage which I have to be at constantly as long as I want to lose weight successfully. It is in on my mind, I am aware, I am working on it, I am in control.

unconscious competence

You drive along, think about work or a fight you had last night and have suddenly arrived at you destination without even knowing. This stage is important for humans to be able to function - we do not want to think about how to walk, breath, talk etc. It all happens without a conscious thought from us

And this stage is for people who do not have a weight problem, they do not have to think about what, when, why and how much they eat. They just eat the right amount for them and then stop.

However, things get dodgy when I slip into unconscious competence. I go back to my bad habits, let my unconscious rule the roost and am surprised when the scales are on the up. If I do not get myself back into conscious competence PDQ - I no longer record what I am eating, I do not use my resources to help me and a very good indicator of all that, as I said at the beginning, will be if I stop writing this blog.

So there, I said it. You can pull me up on it – I would so hate that.