My friend Suzi stated on Twitter that she had not changed the number on her driver’s license when she had gained weight, not out of embarrassment but because she had hoped she would get back to that weight. She announced this on Twitter because she was celebrating that as she went to renew her driver’s license she is back at that weight.

Can you be like Suzi and use the number that was once reality as motivation? First, consider if it is an appropriate weight for you. Your weight as a teenager is likely inappropriate for an adult. Perhaps, the weight that you have listed is from sometime in your adulthood or perhaps there is a weight from adulthood which would be a more appropriate goal. Wouldn’t it be great to know with certainty that when you are asked at the DMV that all the information listed is still correct, or to tell them that your address has changed but be able to state that your weight is correct?

I am proud of Suzi and how she has worked for this achievement, and that she is not stopping here. She has made several small dietary changes which have added up to a large change. She slowly built in an exercise plan and recently completed her first 5k race, raising money for Loving South Africa. She has a few more races planned, including the Indy Mini Marathon with me in May. In just seven months, she has lost 20-30 pounds and seven inches! You can acheive amazing things when you find what motivates you!

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What’s Driving Your Motivation to Lose Weight?

He could have resolved one day not to eat fast food ever again, looked up several new healthy recipes, gone to the grocery and bought all the ingredients; however, my guess is that after a week or so he would be looking for a break from all that cooking or disappointed in his skill or time management. Going to the grocery may seem overwhelming when you don’t know where everything is or even what you really want.

An option that might lead to more success would be to prove to overcome his self-doubt one meal at a time, even one hour at a time. He could have decided that instead of driving through Starbucks on his way to work, he would eat the cereal he already had at home. Maybe that night, it wouldn’t seem so difficult to pack the next day’s lunch rather than planning to drive through Wendy’s. Slowly, finding something to eat other than fast food would not seem nearly so difficult, as he starts to realize that he has been avoiding it.

Similarly, he could tell himself that he’ll eat a healthy lunch and wait at least an hour before finding a drive through. Each hour he could evaluate his hunger and cravings and determine if fast food is necessary. Perhaps he would only make it an hour the first day, but he might find that it is easier to go an entire day, especially if it gets busy at work.

Another method for overcoming self-doubt would be to remind yourself of past achievements, rather than focusing on the specifics of this hurdle. Consider times in the past when you have been able to practice self-restraint or avoid temptation, even if it seems to be an entirely different situation. The situation may be different but the process may be very similar. Focusing on the positive and those things that empower you can only help you to tear down the wall of self-doubt and make the hurdles in the path to your goal easily surmountable.

Also read The Hurdle of Self-Doubt, Part I

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The Hurdle of Self-Doubt, Part II

Even when we take each step individually, some steps can feel like a longer reach than others. A friend who has been reading my posts at Diets In Review shared with me recently that in his struggle to lose weight the biggest hurdle was not finding new information on nutrition and exercise that could help direct his behavior or modify his metabolism or even avoiding the temptation of his comfort foods, but rather the most difficult part for him was believing that he could actually make it over those hurdles. Self-doubt is a hurdle in itself.

Until I dated a marathoner I was pretty anti-running and it took him a while to convince me to even give it a try. Once I realized I could set my own pace and distance without feeling tortured, I began to work it into my routine. After I had been running casually for a while, watching him and others run races, I felt like I could give it a try. After I had run my first race, I was impressed with what I was able to accomplish, and I have set some higher goals for myself. Each was a step; being convinced that I was capable was a hurdle I had to jump before I was able to reach that achievement.

Also read The Hurdle of Self-Doubt, Part II.

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The Hurdle of Self-Doubt, Part I

When I quit drinking soda, I was not addicted and did not have withdrawals, but it was the first thing I reached for when craving sweet or wanting a boost in the afternoon. Rather than trying to control what has become an unconscious reaction, you may find it easier to control the stimuli that cause that reaction or create new stimuli to create a new reaction.

Are you trying to stop a certain habit or reaction, create a new habit, or replace an old habit with a new one? When trying to stop a specific reaction, it can be helpful to remove those things that might encourage that reaction and introduce new cues that discourage that reaction.

If you want to quit smoking, you don’t want to buy cigarettes and have them available. Posting a picture of yourself at your highest weight on your refrigerator is a common stimulus people use to discourage excess snacking.  If you are trying to improve your health by adding flossing to your daily schedule, a post-it note on the bathroom mirror might be the only added stimulus you need until it becomes an unconscious part of your routine. If you want to start eating healthier snacks instead of junk, put the graham crackers on the eye level shelf and the junk food out of site.

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Simple Steps to Make Habit Changes Easier

One of the first steps to making a life change is moving from the stage of precontemplation to contemplation, becoming more aware that your life could be improved in some way and how the status quo could be less than helpful. A process that can help you in this stage transition is known as Consciousness Raising. Consciousness Raising can occur purposefully or you may stumble upon information. Regularly visiting DietsInReview.com presents more opportunities for new information to be integrated into your consciousness; however, not everything we blog directly applies to you and your goals. Stumbling upon information would be as if someone unexpectedly handed you a brochure or flyer about what you needed to know while you were walking down the street one day. Checking out books from the library on the subject would be purposefully increasing your own awareness.

The first step of Consciousness Raising can be asking for information and feedback from those around you. Sometimes it is easier for those around you to visualize the impact certain things have had on your life. In addition, the people you hold most dear can make observations that are specific to you rather than general information. You can also seek out more information by attending classes, searching the internet (reading DietsInReview.com), seeking out experts, finding books and articles on the subject, and starting conversations with others. It is amazing how frequently you can find more information and contacts simply by talking about what is going on in your life or those things that interest you. You never know who may know something or someone that you need to know.

Information may be at your fingertips, but how do you know if it is accurate information? Anyone can post anything to a web page, even Wikipedia! My mother taught me early that I was never allowed to simply accept what I was told. I had to know the source of the information and if that source was accurate or trustworthy. As an adult, I challenge myself to purposefully look for contradictory information to test my own ideas. The recent political race can be a great example. In such major elections a lot of misinformation or twisted information is presented as fact. I have raised my consciousness by exposing myself to people with a variety of opinions and actually reading or watching the things they suggest.

Take advantage of the variety of information out there and learn more about ways that you can improve your life. Stay tuned for an example of dangerous information promoted online.

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Improve Your Health by Being Informed

Positive reinforcement is adding something to a situation to encourage an increase in a behavior; it is like rewarding good behavior or a job well done. A positive reinforcer can be anything from verbal or written praise, a new toy or extra time for a favorite activity (like riding a bike) for a child, a special trip to the spa, or a bonus at work. There are different ’schedules’ of reinforcement used in behavioral psychology, reinforcing every time a behavior occurs, after a specific number of occurrences, or randomly.

Positive reinforcement is the method of choice for shaping a child’s behavior and can certainly assist you in making changes and meeting your goals. A reinforcer will only encourage a behavior if it is something enjoyable to the person you are trying to reinforce, whether that is yourself, your child, your partner, or an employee.  Verbal praise is always a good choice because it is free and immediately available. You can use personal affirmations to encourage yourself to increase a behavior; with every stride of your jog, you can remind yourself or all the reasons you are running and how much you have already achieved. Combine personal acknowledgment with affirmations from others by updating your online status message. I have watched many of my friends encourage each other to make improvements by leaving positive comments on their updated status messages about their daily efforts.

For other reinforcers it is important to know what is motivating to the person you are trying to effect, as well as the value behind the behavior. A cookie may be motivating to a child, but how does that fit with encouraging a child to exercise or eat broccoli? My mother was very effective in training me to finish my dinner without complaint by allowing dessert afterward. Unfortunately, she unintentionally paired the completion of a good meal with a desire for something sweet. I have to consciously fight the craving for sweets at the end of most meals. I keep reminding myself that eventually I will retrain myself.

What can you do for yourself, say to yourself, or allow yourself to reward your efforts towards your desired lifestyle change? Be creative, be positive, and achieve!

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Positive Reinforecement Supports Positive Habit Changes

Habits are extremely powerful and, by nature, something that we do without thinking. Aristotle’s quotation can be illustrated with the simple explanation of saying “excuse me” after you sneeze. As a child, you had many things to learn about sneezing; your parents probably had to teach you to put your hand (or elbow) over your mouth, to use a Kleenex, not to sneeze on other people, and to say “excuse me.” Sneezing is automatic, but everything that follows is learned. Ideally, from the time you were able, every time you would sneeze, your mother would follow up with “say excuse me” to which you would oblige. Also, at some point your mother would explain to you that this is appropriate social behavior, although she probably said you need to ‘be polite’ to have friends. Even if you were only begrudgingly obliging your mother by repeating “excuse me” to her promptings, you were still practicing the behavior. Eventually, it became ingrained enough that you would say it without prompting, at least in front of your mother. When that happened, if she was smart, your mom would reinforce the behavior by appropriately acknowledging it by saying something as simple as “Thank you for using your manners” or as over the top as “I am so proud of how polite you are, remembering to say ‘excuse me’ when you sneeze!”. (Both are appropriate when working with kids).

Thus you’ll start to feel good about this behavior. When you feel good about doing something, you’re more likely to do it more often.  Eventually, you started saying “excuse me” without even thinking about it and without your mother telling you what a good kid you were. It probably even got to the point where you felt uncomfortable if you didn’t say it. That’s when you know that saying “excuse me” when you sneeze has become a habit. You are considered polite when saying “excuse me” is a habit. You learned to do it and integrated it into you. This is different than saying “excuse me” because you are polite.

These are the same steps you have to take if there is a new habit you want to integrate into your life, whether it is an exercise routine, flossing, drinking more water, or writing thank you notes.

(1) Visualize your goal, what you are doing, and why it’s important to you.

(2) Practice, practice, practice. Research shows that it takes between 3-6 weeks of doing a behavior consistently before it becomes a habit. It’s going to be uncomfortable at times; you may only be doing it because you feel obliged. This is where you go back to your visualization to help motivate yourself. Also, it helps to reinforce the behavior in a positive way (this is not punishing yourself when you don’t do it).

(3) As a result of your reinforcements or seeing the results of your new behavior, you will start to feel better about what you are doing.

(4) Once you’re doing it without thinking or experiencing some dissonance when you don’t follow through with your new behavior then you have developed a habit.

What habits do you want to integrate into your life? Who do you want to be? What do you want to repeatedly do?

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4 Steps to Creating New Habits