How I Applied Toyota’s Eight Steps to Problem-Solving to Weight Loss

One year ago, I was still recuperating from my 11^th surgery in seven years. I looked in the mirror and knew that I had to make a change but today wasn’t the first time I saw it. Weight loss had been an exercise is futility in years past. The deluge of shaming images of people happy, skinny and in the gym proved to demotivate me instead of motivating me. 

This year was different. I detested not being able to bend down to tie my shoes. My size 20 pants were barely big enough to hold my girth. My body was overgrown and bloated. Medically, I was labeled obese. Every time I heard that term, a knot formed in my stomach that had nothing to do with the pancakes that I ate that morning. Something had to change. 

I had tried the traditional New Year’s resolutions. I pledged to follow whatever diet was popular that year and vowed to exercise everyday. Nothing lasted past the Martin Luther King holiday. The epiphany came in shocking clarity. We are set up for failure when we fall into the cycle of weight loss that the media and consumerism pounds into our heads. 

As a marketing professional by trade, I understand buying cycles intimately. Many of these cycles come about because of human rhythms but many are created to spur buying of certain products. For instance, August is a big new car-buying month because auto manufacturers have begun delivering the next model year vehicles. 

There are also natural rhythms that spur change. Spring is a time of renewal and nature is coming to

life. Our bodies respond to the increasing sunlight and warmer weather. Spring doesn’t happen in January in our part of the world. We fall prey to the New Year hype because people have added a few pounds over the holidays and deem it a perfect time to guilt people into paying for a gym membership, purchase exercise machines that  end up covered in clothes by February and invest in the latest diet craze.   

Last year, my 50^th birthday was on my horizon. The rays visible in the months just before the dawn of the second half of my envisioned century of life. I also knew that to reach that milestone a major shift had to occur and it wasn’t in my actions. It was all in my mind. I had to change how I thought about losing the extra pounds and I had to change the process to make it a success. 

Over the years my brother, who is an industrial engineer, worked for tier-one Toyota suppliers and shared the “Formula for Change” developed by David Gleicher and refined by Kathie Dannemiller in the 1980s and the “Eight Steps to Problem-Solving.” I had used the philosophy in business but never applied it to my personal life. If it worked in business, I came to believe it would work for personal change and growth, too. 

In this article series, I will share these strategies and how anyone can utilize them to address any challenge especially weight loss. I hope you will join me on this journey of discovery and success. Ignore what the media is telling you right now. Instead, Let’s prepare for success. 

There are three factors that must be present for meaningful change to take place. According to the “Formula for Change,” these factors are:

D= Dissatisfaction with how things are now;

V= Vision of what is possible;

F= First, concrete steps that can be taken towards the vision;

If the product of these three factors is greater than

R= Resistance

Then change is possible. If D, V and F are multiplied and any of them are absent (zero) or low, then the product will be zero or low; therefore not capable of overcoming resistance.

For me, I had reached that point. My D, V and F sum was greater than any resistance I would face. I despised my unhealthy body, I had a vision of being able to walk up a flight of stairs without being out of breath and I knew I had to establish concrete steps to reach the goal. 

My first step was to look at my situation in an objective way that took emotion out of the equation. Knowing that I am an emotional creature,  I had to neutralize this aspect. I also knew that all the “experts” weren’t experts in the field of Kerri Smith; however, I was the subject matter expert and I needed to begin acting like it. 

Toyota’s Eight Steps to Problem-Solving proved to be effective in overcoming the resistance. The first step is to “clarify the problem.” When researching the steps, every source said you have to be specific. This was a difficult step because it forced me to be very honest with myself. Here’s my step one:

·       Weight: 243 lbs./ 100 lbs. overweight according to standard BMI chart

·       Pants Size: 20

·       Mobility: Constant low back pain, difficulty standing & walking

·       Hunger: High, no control to resist comfort foods

·       Health: High blood pressure, susceptible to illness, enlarged heart & liver

·       Mental: Self-sabotage, excuse seeker 

Gulp, that was hard to admit to myself. It also shed light on the real issues I had to conquer. No longer could I use my go-to narrative that included excuses for all of these identified problems. It highlighted the fact that real change (weight loss, in this case) begins in the mind. 

I hope you will join me over the next eight weeks to learn how to find real success in life by applying a tried and true method for meaningful change. Step one for readers is to invest in a notebook and a pen. Sit down and honestly contemplate the “Formula for Change.” Are your D, V and F high enough to overcome R? Write down what makes up your formula. If the answer is “yes.” Then, “clarify the problem.” Remember, lying to yourself is a form of self-sabotage. Bare it all and no matter how ugly it may feel at first, you will mentally begin to tear down the resistance. 

Next Article - Step #2 Define Current State 
 

Kerri Smith is a marketing professional by trade but dedicates her life to learning and challenging the status quo. Smith is a wife, mother, grandmother, businesswoman, professional speaker, teacher, student, author, survivor and lover of life. Learn more at www.cuexceed.com.