Tracking Medication Side Effects, Behaviour Change, and Values: A Holistic Approach
Disclaimer: This post is for general information only and is not medical advice. Please consult a qualified healthcare provider for any decisions about medication, side effects, or treatment plans.
When individuals work toward weight-related goals, they often focus on nutrition, movement and routines. And for many, medication also plays a major role; especially those that affect appetite, energy or metabolism.
Understanding how weight loss medications and healthy behaviours interact is important, not only for weight loss, but for medication fading as appropriate.
A behaviour analytic approach to medication management may be to track:
medication side effects
behaviour changes,
personal values and committed actions.
Together, these help create a fuller picture of progress, readiness to change, and behaviour patterns that can help guide medication decisions.
Tracking can help distinguish medication effects from behavioural patterns.
Some medications cause changes in hunger, energy, sleep or fluid retention. Without tracking, one might misattribute these changes to poor motivation or lack of willpower. But when you track both side effects and behaviours, you can see whether
changes are medication related,
behaviour changes are working, even if hidden by side effects, or if
medication fading is realistic right now.
An example.
An individual taking antipsychotics may experience a 4lb. weight increase during dose adjustments, however their behaviour tracking shows
consistent healthy meals
daily physical movement, and
reduced snacking.
Without tracking, they might think they’re not trying hard enough. With tracking, it becomes clear the weight change is pharmacological and not behavioural. This information can keep you from abandoning healthy behaviour patterns, despite side effects that might indicate your healthy habits aren’t working (i.e. weight gain).
Consider that weight loss alone is rarely a motivating value. But when behaviour change goals are connected to personal values, individuals can build the resilience and persistence to carry them through medication adjustments, and continue with healthy habits. Some common values linked to healthy behaviour goals might include:
remaining active with your children
improving general long-term health
maintaining independence
feeling confident in day-to-day life, or
increased emotional stability.
Medication fading often requires self-driven, sustainable behaviours or habits, along with strong values that provide the “why” behind your efforts.
An example.
Perhaps a family member preparing to fade off a weight-loss medication, identifies one of their values as “being energized and present with their kids”. This value helps to drive committed actions such as planning balanced meals, taking evening walks after dinner and prioritizing sleep. These behaviours become a stable foundation of sustainable healthy habits while medication is reduced.
Committed Actions Show Readiness for Medication Fading
Committed actions are the specific, observable behaviours that support your values. These actions help determine whether you have the consistency and structure needed to maintain progress as medication doses decrease.
Tracking committed actions helps answer questions related to your value, such as:
Are you eating regular meals?
Are you engaging in physical movement you enjoy?
Are you incorporating mindful coping skills instead of relying on medication only to suppress appetite?
Are behaviour patterns stable or fluctuating?
An example.
Before tapering a medication to suppress appetite, one practices:
scheduling meal prep
engaging in mindful eating skills, and
a morning routine that incorporates movement and boosts energy
By tracking these actions for several weeks, not only does one build confidence in one’s ability to maintain healthy habits, but this information provides health care providers insightful and valuable data to support decision making.
Tracking Values + Behaviour + Medication Effects Creates a More Accurate Narrative
Instead of a story like: “That medication made me gain weight, I stopped taking it.”
Try tracking:
medication start and stop dates
dates of dose changes
intensity and frequency of side effects
Behaviours such as meal times, physical activity, sleep, and/or use of coping skills
Values and Committed Actions (why is this important and how do I demonstrate it)
and Outcome Data, such as weight, energy or stress levels, hunger cues (to help determine if what you’re doing is working)
Together, these help paint a fuller picture of what’s going on.
Final Thoughts.
Medication is just one part of some weight-loss or health change journeys. And by integrating values, committed actions, and tracking of medication side effects and consistency of behaviours; individuals and health care providers can make informed, compassionate, and sustainable decisions.
Values keep people anchored.
Committed actions demonstrate readiness.
Tracking connects everything to create a coherent story.
From Habits to Behaviour Change: Using Nudges to Create Positive Tipping Points
Behaviour science shows us that small changes can lead to big shifts. Combing habit strategies with behavioural tipping can help
make desired behaviours easy and rewarding
connect actions to identity and values
use modelling and reinforcement to spread change
The results are sustainable habits, and stronger community that align with wellbeing and shared goals.
Your behaviour doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s shaped and designed by our environments, learning histories of reinforcement, and social norms.
You can however design your environment to create new norms and shape behaviour change.
Positive Tipping. Occurs when a small number of individuals engage in a new behaviour, which is observed by others. The larger group starts to model the behaviour and social contagion takes hold, increasing conformity through continued modelling and social reinforcement, until the new behaviour becomes the norm.
How to Trigger Positive Tipping Points:
Implement behavioural nudges, and simple prompts that help make the desired behaviour more accessible.
Frame participation or adoption of the desired behaviour as an invitation to collaborate, and not an obligation.
Make the desired behaviour the default option and easier than alternatives.
Model the desired behaviour as social proof that others are doing it too. People will ask, “Is anyone else doing this?” before they start themselves.
Pair the desired behaviour with positive consequences. For example, collecting rainwater saves potable water and lowers costs.
Motivation Matters
Behaviour change is difficult because it competes with already established habits and immediate rewards.
Long term benefits often feel distant, while our short term habits are reinforced in the moment.
To help overcome this:
Tie desired behaviours with your current values and who you want to be.
Highlight immediate benefits as well as the future long term gains.
Provide more immediate reinforcement or incentives for the new behaviours.
The Science Behind Habits
Habits form through cue -> behaviour -> reward
Cue: environmental trigger
Behaviour: automatic response
Reward: reinforcement that strengthens the habit
Over time, these habits or behaviours become automatic and difficult to change, however:
start small, breaking big goals into more manageable steps
pair desired behaviours with existing habits
modify environmental cues to disrupt old habits and help support new ones
Examples in Action:
Fitness wearables provide immediate feedback and reinforcement for healthy behaviours.
Pairing nutritious foods with preferred flavours helps to make healthy choices more rewarding.
Text/email reminders help encourage physical activity, helping to boost well being and productivity.
Bottom Line
Behaviour science shows us that small changes can lead to big shifts. Combing habit strategies with behavioural tipping can help
make desired behaviours easy and rewarding
connect actions to identity and values
use modelling and reinforcement to spread change
The results are sustainable habits, and stronger community that align with wellbeing and shared goals.
Driving Performance While Supporting Employee Wellbeing
Sustainable workplace engagement is about creating an environment based on shared values, appropriate resources and building resilient employees. The result is a workforce that is more engaged and ready to meet the challenges ahead.
Individuals are motivated to act in ways and pursue goals that align with their values and what matters most. When management, organizational and personal values align, research predicts:
higher job satisfaction
lower employee turnover
greater trust and collaborations among teams
Values alone, however are not enough. Employees require the right job resources, both workplace and personal and access to these resources show:
reduced stress and discomfort
increased engagement and performance
more effective responding to challenges
The Case for Resilience
Developing employee resilience should be a core goal for organizations because while workplace challenges inevitably do increase job stress, resilient individuals:
demonstrate less distress,
greater persistence, and
ability to adapt to meet goals.
Resilience is about more than just coping, it’s about the ability to thrive under pressure.
The Missing Link: Engagement
Engaged employees who see value in their work are motivated to invest time and effort into organizational goals. Engaged employees are also tend to experience greater personal life satisfaction.
Yet most employees are not engaged at work, resulting in billions lost in productivity (Lu et al., 2023).
Happy and engaged employees are productive employees, so how do we increase engagement?
Strategies for Sustainable Engagement
Identify and provide appropriate job resources to help reduce stress and boost motivation.
Connect work tasks to employee values and identity, helping them see why their work matters.
Reinforce engagement behaviours consistently and regularly, through recognition, positive feedback and growth opportunities.
Have leadership model value-driven behaviours, for employees to look to for guidance.
Bottom Line
Sustainable workplace engagement is about creating an environment based on shared values, appropriate resources and building resilient employees. The result is a workforce that is more engaged and ready to meet the challenges ahead.