Create Healthy Habits in 4 Steps- Daily Health Quest #2

A few months ago, after taking a break from healthy eating and exercise (mostly due to reinjuring my knees and neck) I decided I was done carrying around my excess weight and I set a goal for myself. This was the December 12, 2021.

My Goal: Loose 26 pounds (for a grand total of 50 pounds)

I knew the basics of how to loose weight, but I wasn't sure the best way to connect the dots. I had already tried the diet called "Bright Line Eating" and it was SO restrictive (no flour, no sugar, no snacks, weigh out all of your food, etc), so I most definitely did NOT want to try that again, even though it did work! It just wasn't fun or something I could do long term.

I started reading a book called "Atomic Habits" by James Clear, on Amazon here. 

The book isn't about health or dieting or loosing weight, but rather how to create good habits and break the bad ones. 

This was exactly what I needed. I wanted/needed good habits to sustain me through my weight loss journey and to continue for living a healthy life.

The book was everything I hoped it would be!! It clearly explains how to create healthy habits and how to stop unhealthy habits.

Before I read the book, my thought was "I want to loose 26 pounds."

After reading the book, my thoughts are:

 

1. I am a healthy person. (If I think am are healthy, I will make decisions that a healthy person would make)

2. I track my calories and stay within my "calorie budget" everyday. (healthy habit)

3. I weigh myself every morning. (healthy habit)

4. I do a one hour workout 4 times a week.  (healthy habit)

5. I do not eat junk food while I watch TV. (break the bad habit)

It's been about 2 months since I started doing this, and I've lost 13 pounds (just 13 pounds left until I reach my goal!), lost 4% body fat, and I honestly don't feel restricted at all. The habits I've created have outlined the life I live now and I don't even want to stop doing what I'm doing after I reach my goal weight. 

How did I manage to create new healthy habits?

The book "Atomic Habits" talks about the four steps to successfully start a new habit:

1. Make it obvious

    I will {behavior} at {time} in {location}. (Specifying the time and location is important)
    After {current habit} I will {new habit}. (Habit stacking is very effective)

    So for me, this was:

    1. I will enter the calories I eat into my app every time I eat while I'm eating the food. 

    2. I will weigh myself after I use the bathroom at 7am every morning.

    3. I will put on exercise clothes after I weigh myself on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursday, and Fridays, at 7am. I will start my workout in the living room after I get the kids' lunches made. 

    Design your environment for success.

    1. Keep healthy food out on my kitchen counter and on my nightstand.

    2. Keep the weights I use for exercising under the couch in my living room so I can see them easily.

    3. Keep my exercise clothes hanging out of my dresser drawer so I don't even need to open the drawer to locate them. 

    4. Keep socks in my tennis shoes, just below the exercise clothes, so I don't need to find socks. 

    5. Meal prep ingredients for lunch and keep them in the front of the fridge in a microwave safe bowl so it's easy to find and only takes 2 minutes to heat in the microwave and start eating. 

    6. Follow healthy eating and fitness types of people on social media. 

    7. I do not bring junk food into my bedroom.

2. Make it attractive

    Use temptation bundling to make your habits more attractive.

    After {habit I need}, I will {habit I want}. 

    For me, this was: 

    After I exercise, I will make myself a post workout smoothie. (I REALLY love them!)

3. Make it easy

    Reduce the friction associated with your habits.

    For me: 

Friction = Getting in my car and driving to the gym

Reduce Friction = Exercise in my home

Friction = Trying to stick to my calorie budget while eating out 

Reduce Friction = Eating food that I prepare myself most of the time (I still eat out, but not nearly as often)

Friction = I want a bowl of cereal in the mornings when I feel like I'm starving, because it's so quick and easy (not healthy)

Reduce Friction = Keeping the cereal out of eye sight and keeping oatmeal and a measuring cup out on the counter. 

Friction = Having a hard time finding my exercise clothes

Reduce Friction = Keep my exercise clothes hanging out of my dresser drawer so I don't even need to open the drawer to locate them. Keep socks in my tennis shoes, just below the exercise clothes, so I don't need to find socks. 

The opposite also works for breaking a bad habit.

Current = a nice stash of junk food in my night stand to eat at night while I'm watching TV

Create Friction = get rid of the junk food in my bedroom and do not keep it in eye sight.

4. Make it satisfying

    We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying. 

    For me...

    1. I have more satisfaction while I'm exercising now that I have a good set up. Let me explain:

    - I like to drink ice water while I'm on my exercise bike, so I set up a little table next to my bike and put a drink of ice water on it before I start exercising. Now I can have a drink without getting off the bike.

   - I don't like to feel sweaty and hot while I exercise, so I set up a fan with a remote control so I don't even need to walk over to it to turn it on. I put the remote on the little table next to my bike. The fan is awesome and makes such a difference to my comfort level while I'm exercising. It's available on Amazon here. 

    - I get bored while I'm biking, especially now that I'm up to biking for 40 minutes at a time. I typically read a book for about 20-30 minutes and listen to music and text my friends or hang out on social media for the last 10-20 minutes. I keep a book that I'm excited about and my phone on the little table next to my bike. I also started using an Amazon Echo, available on Amazon here, for music, which is so fun because I can just say "Alexa, play my running playlist" or "Alexa, play happy music" and not even have to fumble around my phone to get some good tunes going. 

    - I get really frustrated with my bike not being able to tell me my accurate heart rate (Once my heart rate gets over about 140bpm, it only registers every other heart beat, plus I will usually use my hands to read a book or play on my phone so it doesn't even register my heart rate because I'm not holding onto the sensors), so I got a heart rate band that I wear on my chest, available on Amazon here. It connects with my phone so I can check my phone to see my current heart rate. It's very accurate and even tells me how many calories I have burnt in real time, and it keeps a history of past workouts. I love the feature that tells me how many calories I burn in real time. It definitely motivates me to keep going and is very satisfying to watch the calories burnt go up, up, up.

   2. I reward myself after I exercise by making a delicious smoothie to enjoy while I'm stretching.

My two most favorite low calorie high volume post workout smoothie recipes: 

Vanilla Berry Post Workout Smoothie

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Post Workout Smoothie

If I've exercised all 4 times, after I exercise on Friday I shower and crawl back in bed and watch a TV show. 

I'm not sure I could dream of a more satisfying way to spend my time during and after exercising. I don't even think about not exercising now that I have this awesome routine. I'm as comfortable as possible, which makes this habit much more likely to stick.

I ONLY make myself a smoothie after exercising so it feels ultra satisfying. 

I ONLY get back into bed after exercising on Fridays if I've done all four workouts that week so it feels ultra satisfying. 

Of course, you will want to find what works for you. You might not like the things that I like. That's okay! 

Take the main 4 steps to creating a healthy habit (make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, make it satisfying) and adapt them for what works for you according to your tastes and preferences and what new habits you want to start. 

If you want to learn more about building good habits and breaking bad ones, I highly recommend the book "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. It's available on Amazon here. I have only scratched the surface of the information contained in the book.