Pleasure, pure and simple
We can't escape the fact that the most obvious motivation for indulging in unhealthy behaviour is pure pleasure. It just feels so darn good. It's very difficult to remind ourselves that regular indulgence in those delicious slices of chocolate cake could add up to obesity 10 years down the line.

There's a huge gap between knowledge and action, and it's a gap governed by the unconscious. "There is often also an unconscious gain from unhealthy behaviour," says clinical psychologist Greyling Viljoen. That one-too-many drink that gives you the Dutch courage to say and do anything you please; those 10 extra kilos that keep potential suitors from getting too close. It's irrational stuff that we would be hard-pressed to identify, but it has the potential to override health knowledge, and derail our carefully laid cognitive plans for change. Taking an honest look at your motivation for indulging in unhealthy behaviour is often more revealing of just why you can't stick with change.

So how do we do it?
Know that "have to stuff my face one last time" feeling the Sunday before you plan to start a diet? You're storing up pleasure for the drought to follow. Some of us mistakenly believe that healthy change equals effort, denial and loss. The first trick to effective change is to turn that feeling on its head. If you can find good answers to the question: "What am I going to gain from this?" you're a lot further down the path.

Instead of saying: I'm quitting smoking.
Rather say: I'm reclaiming my sense of smell and taste.
Instead of saying: I can't eat chocolate.
Rather say: I'm on my way to a healthy, slim body.

You're essentially giving your brain cognitive ammunition to shoot down those feelings of loss with positive messages of gain. "When the benefits of the change outweigh the cost of the change in your mind, then you are in a position to really contemplate change," says Guse.

Change for life
"When under pressure, the first thing to fall away is the most recent thing learnt. Change is about consciously overriding the dominant response until the new way of thinking becomes more dominant," advises Clinton Gahwiler, psychologist at the Sports Science Institute of SA. It is the Last In, First Out (LIFO) principle being played out in the organisation of your own brain. If relaxation for you is slobbing in front of the soaps, and you've been doing it for 15 years, it's going to take a lot of conscious effort to make going for a walk around the block a more dominant response. "To begin to effectively establish a new behaviour takes three to six months. For behaviours with an addictive component, it's even longer," clarifies Guse.

What to watch out for
False-hope syndrome is considered not just a stumbling block, but an entire syndrome. Self-change attempts can often raise "false hopes", where we expect impossible benefits from change. We believe that losing 10kg will lead to exciting change in the rest of our lives: we'll meet the man of our dreams, we'll find the right job, we'll become the most popular girl at the party. This can lead to disappointment and backsliding.

The all-or-nothing approach. "One major hurdle is an all-or-nothing mentality," says Guse. You're doing well until it's a colleague's birthday. Out come the cakes. You could have one slice without disrupting your healthy eating too much, but instead, you see one slice as blowing it completely, so you gorge on three slices. Understanding that veering a little off course doesn't directly equate to complete failure is a vital component for successful change. Making dietary changes is like a car journey, says Johannesburg dietician, Anne Till, in her book, The Ultimate Diet Solution (Struik). Poor food choices should be viewed as a puncture – a brief delay, but totally fixable.

You can do it
Remember even the most determined hedonist has the potential to change. Those who succeed in long-term behavioural change will have slipped as many times as those who fail. The difference is in how they view that failure. Change is not a chance encounter, it is a daily challenge. Starting today.