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In marketing, one of the basic tools that helps to reach the right group of customers is the so-called persona. In other words, it is a consumer model with specific interests, behavior and needs, to which the appropriate advertising message should then be adjusted.
For the purposes of this post, we will also create several such personas, based on thousands of users of our website, their personal stories and motivations that guide them, at the moment when an intrusive thought appears in the head for the first (or subsequent) time: I need to lose weight.
Persona No. 1 – The queen of newspaper diets
Let’s name our first dietary persona Kasia. It will be easier for us to imagine our heroine. Kasia is a well-groomed middle-aged woman. He has a good job, adolescent children, a group of faithful friends, a married couple with considerable experience and a few or a dozen kilograms of excess weight. Kasia is a warm, smiling woman, a good mother, a loving wife and a devoted friend. Looking at Kasia, almost everyone would say without hesitation that she is happy and self-confident, in the end she lacks nothing. Exactly. But why Kasia’s life in the area of nutrition can be divided into two periods, alternating – a restrictive diet and different lengths of breaks in weight loss? Kasia is an expert on diets.
He knows every hit, knows how Adele lost weight, what the Copenhagen diet is and how it differs from the Mayo Clinic diet. She was already on keto, low carb, IF, ate only eggs, only bananas, drank cocktails, knows the offer of at least a few dietary catering and knows how to prepare lettuce in a million ways. In her life, Kasia lost a total of several dozen kilograms and gained the same amount, and sometimes more. Why does Kasia keep trying and giving up going back to square one?
If we persuaded her to a total confrontation with herself, it might turn out that, in fact, Kasia hates herself, her body and appearance. She is ashamed to undress in front of her husband, she looks at the mirror with reluctance and cannot say anything nice about her body, but she could talk about his shortcomings for hours.
He probably still has childhood memories and a few unpleasant remarks from his peers, or worse, adults about his body. Taking another attempt to lose weight, Kasia can see through her imagination how her life changes, how she becomes self-confident, happy and attractive. In the end, she accepts herself because she will be perfect, or at least thin.
Should Kasia actually lose weight? If he is overweight, it would be good to change his lifestyle for his own health. However, in order for the next attempt to become the last one, Kasia would have to accept and appreciate herself, believe that she is good enough and treat herself and her body for the first time in her life.
Persona No. 2 – The Avenger
One of the so-called women’s TV shows “REVENGE BODY WITH KHLOE KARDASHIAN” (PL: New Body with Khloe Kardashian). Each episode is a story of two people who come under the care of the main host, and through her, to star coaches and nutritionists. All this to change your lifestyle, diet, achieve your dream figure and with your new image to take revenge on someone who previously did not appreciate them, did not notice, or just as often abandoned, or was the object of unspeakable feelings. In other words – I’ll lose weight, buy new clothes, take care of makeup and a new hairstyle – let him know what he lost. Meet our Avenger, and for the sake of history Marta.
Probably the desire to prove to the whole world, or just to one person, that I am better than she thinks is a strong driving force to introduce changes in life. The only question is whether it is suitable and how long lasting. It would seem that the program referred to here, in terms of looking inside oneself, in search of the right motivation to change, leads Marta into a dead end.
However, after watching a few episodes, Martha may come to similar conclusions as their heroes. They will only succeed when they find the strength to change deep within themselves. Admiration in the eyes of others is just a nice side effect, which at some stage of reconciliation with yourself ceases to have any meaning.
Person no. 3 – instant victim
According to a report by Hootsuite, over 31 million people use the Internet in Poland. Almost 26 million people use social media. Out of almost 5 hours that a statistical Pole spends on the Internet, two of them are devoted to social media. We visit YouTube most often, followed by Facebook (over 90% of users) in the second place among «social». Instagram is used by over 9 million people, and women make up almost 60% of users. Every fifth of them is 18-24 years old. And it is the representative of the latter group that is our next model persona. Let’s call her Ola.
She is young, attractive, but still far from phenomenal influencers, perfect in every way, at least in the photos published on Insta. Theoretically, Ola knows that these thousands of photos appearing on Instagram are the result of many hours of studied poses, appropriate light, makeup and, finally, sometimes absurd processing in dedicated applications. Theoretically. In practice, Ola wants to be like them. Ideal. Effects? Unfortunately, they can be extremely dangerous, not only for health, but also for the life of our Ola. Depression, eating disorders – this is the heaviest caliber, not so rare.
What can Ola do in this situation? The simplest advice is to log out, at least for a while. Think of yourself without constantly equating to social standards or trends. Hours previously spent browsing the board, invest in your passion, interests, meetings with relatives and friends.
Persona No. 4 – victim of the kind
Agnes. In principle, they can be of any age and life situation. The key to her irresistible need to go on a diet is her immediate surroundings. Yes. They want the best for her. They can be, for example, the closest family who, for Agnieszka’s sake on Sunday lunch, in passing will mention that she should not eat dessert, because she has recently arrived here and there. A kind friend who points out that it’s time to get down to business, go on a diet and buy a gym pass, and she will repeat it every time we meet. Husband regularly reminisces about his wife’s pre-pregnancy figure and constantly pinches the rounded sides, with comments about more well-groomed friends.
It is too much for Agnieszka to start looking more and more critically at her reflection in the mirror and despairingly look for help in the miracle of diets and strenuous training under the dictation of the most fashionable, online trainers. There is also a great chance that it will fall into a vicious cycle of weight loss and quickly become the queen of newspaper diets from the sacrifice of the kind. It takes little to shake the already fragile self-confidence.
Is there a rescue for Agnieszka? The first solution that comes to mind in this situation is to free yourself from the toxic environment. While in the case of friends or co-workers, the matter is not impossible, in the case of family, especially close ones, it is quite a radical solution. And although it sounds quite banal, it is definitely worth talking to the family. Voice your opposition to the harsh comments, inform about your deepening complexes and declining self-esteem.
What’s wrong with me?
What do all our heroines have in common? Sooner or later, each of them will ask themselves this question – what is wrong with me? Why can’t I reach my goal. Each of them will spend hours analyzing their weaknesses and making further attempts to implement the plan to achieve the perfect body, and thus a better, happier life. This, in turn, will most often have the opposite effect to the expected one.
Regardless of what the end result is to be – a beautiful silhouette, smaller size of clothes, better well-being, reliable condition to play with children, and maybe better research results – the road to it must start in our head.
And when we manage to confront ourselves and find the answer to the question of what I really need and what I care about, half of the work is behind us. Now all you need to do is be good to yourself, take care of yourself as we care for those we love.
Where to find solutions?
There is no reliable and universal recipe for achieving the perfect weight or size. This is obvious. The path of each of us will be different, more or less winding, more or less bumpy.
That is why we have to love ourselves so much, with our flaws, with our complexes. That is why we have to take care of ourselves so much, even if we lack outside help in the form of understanding, support or motivation.
Let’s start changes in our head, perhaps for the first time in our lives focusing on our own needs, not succumbing to the pressure of the environment, not following artificial trends and accepted standards.
Here you will find a handful of useful links
Motivation – what to avoid so as not to lose it: https://.pl/artykul12558_Motywacja-czego-unikac-by-jej-nie-stracic.html
New Year’s resolutions – how to make it successful this time: https://.pl/artykul12752_Nowy-rok-nowa-ja-czyli-magia-postanowien-noworocznych.html
You make a big mistake counting only the kilos – how to measure progress on your diet: https://.pl/artykul12648_Popelniasz-duzy-blad-liczac-jedynie-kilogramy.html
My body is good: https://.pl/artykul12102_Cialopozytywnosc-moje-cialo-jest-dobre.html
And finally, a few words about our service, the Tasty Tailored Diet. In addition to a balanced and effective diet plan (with a base of over 6000 recipes and a convenient shopping list) and an individual training plan, as part of the subscription, we gain other tools that will help us stay on our way, achieve our goal and stay motivated.
The most important of them is unlimited contact with a dietitian, psychologist and trainer. Ask a question via message or chat and our specialists will be sure to help. There are also Premium Support Groups, in which we can find Users with similar goals and interests. The Vitamotivation program developed by psychologists, interesting challenges involving the community, a special group on Facebook … This time, on the way to achieve your goal, you will definitely not be left without support!
We are curious what else motivates you to change? How do you find your motivation on the way to success? How did you convince unfriendly people, relatives or friends to support you? Be sure to let me know in the comments! 🙂