Habits

Your habits make you who you are.  They give you the body you have, and have led you to the place you are currently at in life.  Change your habits, change yourself, change your body.  I am stuck where I am because I have been largely unsuccessful at changing my habits.  I haven't addressed them since I have just been focusing on dieting and up until now I have just been stuck in the whole dieting mentality and the whole idea of dieting.  How did I break out of it?  Honestly because I was so sick of dieting!  I didn't want to do it anymore, it took up too much space in my brain.  I was tired of worrying about it, tired of always thinking about it.  I just want to live!  The word "diet" has gotten so much negative feedback that the word has been changed to "lifestyle".  However, I wonder how many people like me have just substituted one word for another.  They say they are going on a lifestyle change but the treat it exactly like a diet.  A lifestyle change is not just counting calories and exercising.  A lifestyle change is making permanent changes to your life that you plan on living with.  Or in other words: changing your habits.

I have been stuck because I have not changed my habits:  good and bad.  In order to get healthy, be active, and reach a good weight you have to add good habits and get rid of bad ones.  I have been using the app "Way of Life" to track the habits I am trying to either add or get rid of.  I have decided to start small and try to build up to where I know I should be as I accomplish the easier versions of good habits.  Here is the list of habits I am trying to develop or change:

1. Positive thinking- I've talked a lot about this over the past several posts:  I have set an alarm to remind me to think of something positive that has happened three times a day.  I have also added writing down something I am thankful for and writing down one good thing about myself or one thing I am proud of myself for that day.  Hopefully over time I will begin to dwell on more positive things throughout the whole day and also develop a greater love for myself and my body.

2. Pray in the Morning- spiritual development.  I'm really good about praying before bed, but I have always struggled with morning prayers.

3. Drink 3 cups of water- One of my biggest weaknesses.  I want this to get up to 9 cups of water but I'm starting slow.  Drinking 3 cups of water every day is a huge challenge already

4. Eat three servings of fruit- fruit is easier for me than veggies so I'm going with the full three servings a day

5. Eat two servings of veggies a day- half of what you are supposed to eat in a day but again, starting slow, this is already difficult to do every day

6. Read scriptures 10 minutes a day- spiritual, again a challenge

7. Track every day- It's hard for me to track every day.  I usually make it 4-5 days a week.  I would like to track even when I don't eat well

8.   Stop emotional eating- my nemesis.

9. Exercising- this is on here to remind me not to over exercise, and to try to develop a healthier relationship with exercising and manage my energy throughout the week.

When I drink water, eat my fruit and eat my veggies I am less likely to binge.  Again also hoping that managing my exercise better will reduce food cravings.  So you can see that a lot of these things are all things that can be done while dieting, my focus has just changed.  You have probably heard the word "tools" before.  When I listened to successful people talk about how they lost weight, they would refer to tracking as a tool.  That is something I never understood until recently.  Yes, tracking is a tool.  It is something to help you on your journey to a healthier life.  It is something that helps you see what you are eating and can help you know how much to eat so you can change your habits to eating less and eating better.  It's a tool that helps you change your habits.  The things we use to lose weight: Weight Watchers, My Fitness Pal, Spark People, Fitbits, Heart Rate Monitors, Gym Membership, etc.  These are all the tools that we use to help us change our habits. 

Instead of using these tools to compliment my way of life I was using these tools as my way of life.  Letting them rule my life, being a slave to the whole calories in vs calories out equation.  In listening to the half size me show, I have noticed a recurrent theme.  People who are successful at losing weight and more importantly at maintaining their weight loss have found a way to incorporate these tools and the changes they make into their life.  They have found something they can do day in and day out without it feeling like a strain, or a pain, or that they are being deprived.  They talk about changing their habits.  Especially people who started out very heavy.  They talk about cutting down on fast food, adding a short walk, starting to cook at home, making a choice that is healthier than what they used to do.  They change their behavior.  They don't necessarily go on a diet.  They work to make changes in their life.  They still slip up, they still have bad days but they feel like they can continue on their path.  There is something more than just a pants size at the end of the road.  There is improved health, longer life, a more meaningful life.  I know I will still have good days and bad days, but hopefully the bad days won't be so bad, and there will be many more good days and hopefully I can stop kicking against the pricks.  Stop railing "I am so sick of dieting and losing weight! I just want to be done!"  Because when coming up with a way of life you never are done living, and you won't want to go back to your old bad habits because you will love the improved, healthier, happier, more energetic you.  You will love your new way of life because you worked to make improvements at the foundation.  Long lasting changes, not superficial changes.

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