Changing habits

Changing habits is one of the most difficult things we try to do. We seem to have a default setting that takes us back into the groove, regardless of the habit or how much we want to change.  Smoking, eating things that we know aren’t promoting our weight or health goals, negative thinking, being too crabby to those we care about, etc. We all have habits we’d just as soon change.  And we’ve all failed at changing them.

This month I’m recommending a little book I heard about on NPR. I had been trying to lose 7 lbs for 10 weeks.  It was a toss up for me of buying new clothes or going to the trouble to change what I was eating. Telling myself that getting into my clothes was my goal didn’t keep me from the extra portions.  Since I discovered consignment shops when I lost 40 pounds a few years ago, the cost of “new” clothes wasn’t too big a factor.  It was the motivation to change my habits that was my problem.  This Year I Will… by M. J. Ryan made the difference.

If you have a habit of thinking or action that you want to change, check out this book.  It combines science, psychology, real world stories, humor and the best tips from the field.  You’ll understand why those habits are hard to change, have tools to discover what you need for motivation and support to make the change and then ways to keep on track with your new habit.  Know, though, that just reading the book and talking about it to someone else won’t cut it.  As she quotes Lou Holtz in the chapter You Can’t Get Fit By Watching Others Exercise- “When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done.”

When I changed my affirmation from "I want to lose 7 pounds to get into my clothes" to, “I think and act in self-loving ways” everything changed.  When I vary from my meal plan, I beat myself up mentally. I can count on this as I count on the sun rising. Remembering this affirmation allowed me to stay on my meal plan and to praise myself when I did!  I feel a lot better mentally and I lost the 7 pounds.