SOOOOOOO, we talk a lot about forming and formulating strong simple nutritional habits that will create longevity change and get you the results you want. BUT, lately I have realized that people just don’t understand what we mean when we say these things. Worse yet, we expect people to understand what those things mean without a context and framework to go off of. While, I agree that you are in control of your own guidelines and nutrition acquisition, I do believe that proper guidance and education is a must to understanding what a habit based on nutrition is suppose to look like.
SOOOOOOO, today I want to give you some examples of how to approach this on a smaller milestone basis, which ranges from month to month. This will hopefully show you how to create strong habits that reflect your goals and take away the confusion of focusing on an outcome and more on the process.
Let’s start simple…..
Goal: Get more water and feel more hydrated.
Habit: Drink an extra glass of water a day.
So, let’s say the goal above reflects a longer term goal of feeling more energetic. I am not here to argue the science on this, just understand water is important to aid all the systems and functions of the body. With that said, let’s focus on where things fall off. Typically, a person will equate more water consumption with ounces needed daily. While I don’t disagree, that is not a habit, that is an outcome of a habit. If the goal for this is to get more water daily or 2-3 days out of the week there are a few ways to approach this.
This will help ensure that you are reminded to drink that glass of water first thing in the morning, and start off the day right with the amount of water you have deemed appropriate. For a real behavior change sandwich it with a reward following your glass of water. For example, a glass of water and then follow it with that coffee you love to drink.
Carrying a reusable water bottle is a visual/kinesthetic reminder that you have a goal. Here you have outsourced your goal to a tool that represents your goal, whatever the daily parameters are. That bottle represents the amount of ounces you feel is a good amount and to take it a step further you can refill it a few times to insure a hydration goal. Let’s say that number is 4 times a day. If it’s a 20 ounce bottle and you do that 4 times. Well, i’ll let you do the math…..
Ok, let’s move onto another goal that I hear more frequently
Goal: Lose Weight to fit in old clothes (Bigger goal and more ambiguous, but same principles still apply).
Habit for the month: Eat more veggies 2-3 days out of the week.
(Notice, we have gotten more specific with our parameters in the habit, month-to-month, just 2-3 days to ensure intake is met and successful).
Again, this just an example of what you might be working on, not a prescription of what works for all. We all know veggies are good for us and this is just a fictitious example representing what someone, may need to get in order to aid their weight loss goal.
Now, I could ramble on for hours, but that’s not the point. The idea here is to show you and begin to engage in the process of thinking about habit forming and the process of your goal. Yo-Yo dieting does work, but only for a short while and falls prey to restrictive means. We want people to understand the process and goal-habit formation so that they may make better choices for themselves without our help all the time. I mean why look good/feel good for 1 year when you can look good/feel good for a lifetime?
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