Forming New Habits-Don't Give Up!

So you've decided you are going to finally do something about your weight, fitness, eating habits, sleep patterns, general overall well being.  And you made some New Year's Resolutions to go along with your new goals.  Where are you in your journey?  Have you stayed the course, or will you be making the same resolutions next year?


Let me offer you a little encouragement. Prevailing thought has been it takes 21 days to form a new habit. This thought was first offered in the preface to his 1960 book ‘Psycho-cybernetics’, by Dr Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon turned psychologist who wrote:‘It usually requires a minimum of about 21 days to effect any perceptible change in a mental image. Following plastic surgery it takes about 21 days for the average patient to get used to his new face. When an arm or leg is amputated the “phantom limb” persists for about 21 days. People must live in a new house for about three weeks before it begins to “seem like home”. These, and many other commonly observed phenomena tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell.’ (pp xiii-xiv)
Researchers from Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts & Wardle (2010) have done a more rigorous and valid study of habit formation. Participants performed a self-chosen health-promoting dietary or activity behaviour (e.g. drinking a glass of water) in response to a once-daily cue (e.g. after breakfast), and gave daily self-reports of how automatic (i.e. habitual) the behaviour felt. Participants were tracked for 84 days.Automaticity developed indistinct pattern: initial repetitions of the behavior led to quite large increases in automaticity, but these increases then reduced in size the more often the behavior was repeated, until automaticity plateaued. Assumed that the point, at which automaticity is highest, is also the point when the habit has formed, it took, on average, 66 days for the habit to form. (To clarify: that’s March 6thfor anyone attempting a New Year’s resolution.) {Automaticity is the ability to do things without occupying the mind with the low-level details required, allowing it to become an automatic response pattern or habit. It is usually the result of learning, repetition, and practice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaticity}

Based on research-it takes longevity, will power, a cue or triggering event, and accountability to help you form new habits. If you haven't stayed the course like you wanted to, that's ok! Just start again and don't beat yourself up. One fun way to help yourself is to make a chart that you check off to remind yourself to do the new behavior. Put it in a visible place in your home so all your family members and friends with see it and ask you about it. Form a group with friends or co-workers who are working toward a similar goal. Have a conference call every week to report your success or get encouragement when you haven't quite reached your goals. Facebook pages also give you instant feedback and can serve as an idea exchange for you and others who are on the same journey.
As stated above, it takes learning, repetition, and practice to form a new habit. And that happens on the average of 66 days.

So, start over, keep going, set your goal again, or come up with a new goal. Today can be the first day to help you take yourself on the journey you want to travel to make yourself the best you possible.

Visit my Facebook page HealthyLife4Me to find more tips and encouragement.

Have You Fallen Off the Diet Train?

It happens to everyone.  We start out with the best of intentions.  Need to lose just 10 lbs., or maybe a little more.  20, 30.  More?

We find a weight management program that appeals to us, and get started.  Week 1 and 2 go smoothly.  Then, all of a sudden-mmmmm, that pizza sure looks good.  One bite won't hurt. That BBQ smells so good. A little brisket with lots of sauce, this one time, won't hurt. Oh my, chocolate covered strawberries for Valentines Day! But my honey gave them to me, and I don't want to hurt his/her feelings!

Don't feel like you are alone in the Attack of the One Bite!  We ALL falter from time to time in our quest to lose those inches and drop those pounds. I know for me yesterday, Super Bowl Sunday, the queso our friends made, was my undoing!

One way to battle the struggle to "cheat" is to allow yourself one day a week to go "off course" and eat outside of your plan.  Or, if that's too often, make it every other week.  According to fitday.com, allowing yourself a cheat day gives you a reward for all your hard work.  Your cheat doesn't have to mean going crazy and overeating all day long, but rather, replacing one meal with "forbidden" foods.  Then, it's back to the plan.  See this great article for more tips:  http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/the-importance-of-having-one-cheat-day-when-dieting.html#b

Work hard, eat well, have a little fun, and those pounds and inches will come off.

If you get totally derailed, just forgive yourself, give yourself permission to have failed, and start over!

If you need additional encouragement, ideas, or coaching, contact me at 832-603-2879 and we can take this journey together!