Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Slow and Steady Loses (Weight)

I think the most common thing I hear from people about fitness and nutrition is about changing habits. Oprah once told me that it takes a person 13 tries before they change a habit. And, I mean, Oprah is always right. Except that it took me about 6 years to really change my habits and get my nutrition in line and have actual fitness habits.

My thoughts on how one changes habits? Verrryyyy slowwwwly. I don't know about you but when I take on too much I get overwhelmed and no good can come of that. Busy is one thing, overwhelmed is a whole other beast. When I've tried to start four different new habits all at the same time they never stick.

Want to start going to the farmer's market, cooking more and eating less processed food? Sounds awesome but I wouldn't do them all at the same time. Its easy to get anxious about the end result and thus try to do all the new things at once but if you do, in all likelihood, you'll end up doing none of them.

First I started going to Weight Watchers. Well, second and third. I went to there three time before it stuck. Once I liked my weight and had my caloric consumption under control I started changing what I was eating. I started to cook meals that fit actual food groups. Then the food groups changed. Now I make my own bread. I have gone from normal 20-something to total food freak in just a few years. Try to resist the urge to give me a gold star.

There are all kinds of habits I'd still like to change. For instance, I could have probably done without the 2 pounds gained over my birthday weekend (I got a whole weekend!). In other realms of life: I'd like to remember to clean the car more but its just so far away and who carries cleaner and paper towels with them into the parking garage? I'd like to teach myself to be more productive in the morning - I'm really good at getting a day's worth of work done from 3 to 5 pm everyday - and I think this habit will slowly kill me. The list goes on.

Tortoises win the race!

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