75 Days | The Power of Habits

Much of my information in this post came from Nick Frye, Behavioral Specialist at Take Shape for Life.

The Power of Habit

“I don’t know what happened, I just found myself eating pizza” 

“I couldn’t help myself” 

“I just went on auto-pilot.” 

I hear this often from clients.  In fact, truth be told, I've said them myself!

Sometimes, we really have no idea how we found ourselves in that situation and then we really beat themselves up over it. We tell ourselves that we just can’t overcome these things or there isn’t any way to control them. Or maybe we believe that we are just self-sabotaging ourselves, or that we really don’t want to lose weight. However, what we are in fact experiencing is a habit.

A habit is a repeated pattern of behavior that LITERALLY changes our brain and creates a “neural pathway” in our nervous system. This means, that it very easy for us to slip back into old habits because they have become a part of our biology. That’s right, they become part of us. It’s just like the old saying “it’s just like riding a bike” which of course means that even 20 years from now you could get back on a bike and all the movements would come right back to you. This is because when you were younger you developed a neural pathway that made these movements almost second nature. The same thing happens with unhealthy eating. These patterns of behavior become so ingrained into a person’s lifestyle that it becomes a part of them.

Does this mean we are helpless? On the contrary! 

Since we changed our biology in creating unhealthy habits then we can change our biology in creating healthy habits! The first thing is to recognize that habits are like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Now, just follow me here. I want you all to imagine making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It’s simple enough, right? We all know how to make one; you just do it! Just as simple as that. 

But, if we actually take the time to imagine ALL the steps it takes to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich then it becomes much more complex. Let’s think about it:

Step 1: Decide you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Step 2: Go into the kitchen.
Step 3: Grab the bread from the pantry.
Step 4: Grab the peanut butter from the pantry.
Step 5: Grab the jelly from the refrigerator.
Step 6: Grab a plate from the cupboard.
Step 7: Grab a knife from the drawer.

And so on and so forth…

I think you see my point. It takes WAY more steps to complete than we originally thought. This is the exact same thing for habits. We tend to see an unhealthy habit as just a motion we go through but in reality we go through MULTIPLE steps. 

This is really great news because that means we have multiple chances to interrupt the habit! So, here’s what we do… 

1) Let's think through our habits and identify all the steps it actually takes us in order to complete the unhealthy behavior. 

2) Write these steps down. 

3) Decide which steps would be the easiest to interrupt. Which steps are the easiest to notice? What can they do once they catch themselves? This way when they are about to go “on auto pilot” they will be more aware of what they are doing and have a better chance at stopping themselves.

Here are a few questions to consider: 

• What happens right before you go on “auto-pilot”? 
• What are you thinking or feeling right before you engage in unhealthy eating habits? 
• What happens right after you engage in unhealthy eating habits? 
• What are you thinking or feeling right after you engage in unhealthy eating habits? 
• What were the steps that led up to the unhealthy eating? 
• What were the emotions that triggered the unhealthy eating? 

When you answer these questions, you are starting to recognize your own thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

Here are a few tips to help:

1) Practice patience. It can take as many as 180 days to truly drop an old habit and adopt a new one, so stay with it!

2) Celebrate catching yourself. When you are able to interrupt the habit at any one of the steps be sure you celebrate this! Don't just say “oh, here I go again!” Instead, say, “Yes! I was able to catch myself from doing this.”

3) Use cues. Set up reminders such as photos or magazine clippings of something that represents an important metaphor for your goals. (How about your vision board!) 

4) Get help. Ask yourself, “Who can support me? Who will be my ally? Who is on my team?” (This nice this is--everyone here is on your side!  And I am always here for you.)