I found an article on Yahoo today: 20 Habits that make you fat ; and it got me thinking about habits in general. I looked up habit and often found it defined as a set of behaviors that are usually carried out unconsciously. Habits are not all bad; looking both ways before you cross the street, bathing regularly, shaking hands are all good, beneficial habits. The problem comes in when habits are bad; laziness, nail-biting, overeating...
Whether good or bad habits are hard to break. The problem is you can't really break a habit. You have to replace an old habit with a new habit, a bad habit with a good habit. My son and I recently had this discussion. He is in the habit of wrapping the leash around his hand when he is taking the dogs out. The problem with this is that he tells the dog to sit and stay, opens the door, steps out, the leash is so short that the dog then gets yanked out the door and gets fussed out for not staying! Grrrr... So, my son has to replace his old habit with a new one, not wrapping the leash around his hand. I need to replace my old, unhealthy habits with new, healthy ones!
I am making progress with replacing my bad habits. I was in the habit of drinking at least one bottle ( 32 oz water bottle) of tea a day. Now, instead I drink that 32 oz of actual water! I have cut down my tea intake to about 2 eight oz. cups a day at most. Also, I drink sweet tea, I'm from the South after all. Now though, instead of using 10 scoops of sugar I use only 5. I have cut my sugar in half! I am also getting into the habit of working out at least 4 days a week, a habit I hope to keep after I go back to work in a couple of weeks. Working out at Curves is much better than laying on the couch!
I recently watched a video clip that talked about the worst restaurant foods. These foods had calorie counts ranging from over 2,000-5,000+ ! What I noticed most though was the fact that several times it was mentioned that the servings for these dishes were 2+ people! This means that one plate of food should feed more than one person! However, all too often a single person eats the whole meal by themselves ( I do). I believe that, as a country, we have lost all sense of portion size. I remember a time before super size, biggie size, up size, and king size. I remember when a small was the size of a child's drink today and a medium was the size of a small today. Up until this month I would eat fast food at least once a week and sometimes more, usually McDonald's or KFC and usually one of those Super, Biggie, King.... I have done better this month though, I've only had fast food twice! I'm really trying to watch the fast food because I don't need to eat it and I don't need to spend the money.
I'm really trying to cut down on all forms of eating out. It is too expensive, and I don't eat right when I eat out. When I eat out it is usually fast food, Chinese food, or pizza. My husband and I are planning on going to Red Lobster for our anniversary next week. I'm not cutting out dining out all together. I am going in with a plan though. I've checked out the menu on-line. I know what I want to order and, I'm asking for a to go box right off. This way I can put half my food in the box right away and control my portion size. And, as far as dessert goes, maybe I will share it with my husband or maybe it will join the other half of my entree in my to go box!
If you do what you have always done you'll get what you have always had. This statement holds true in almost every circumstance. Behavior plays a huge roll in weight loss. If my behavior does not change neither will my weight. It was my behavior that caused me to gain weight and it will be my behavior that causes me to loose weight. Yes, I know, emotions play a HUGE roll as well. However, emotions start with E silly and I'm only on B :) And, the emotions alone will not cause me to gain weight. I can be happy, sad, lonely, depressed, excited etc... all day long and unless I take the action to eat (and eat unhealthy) I will not gain weight. It all has to do with BEHAVIOR. There is a saying : "Watch your thoughts they become words. Watch your words they become actions. Watch your actions they become habits." And all your habits put together make up your behavior. Sometimes I skip the the thoughts-words part and go straight to actions. For instance I think "Ooh, I really want McDonald's for lunch." Then I would go to McDonald's. So then it becomes a habit to go to McDonald's every day, or once a week, or once a month... and thus my new behavior is going to McDonald's. And it all started with a simple little thought. My first step to changing my behavior has to be changing my thoughts. I may still have the thoughts of going to McDonald's for lunch but then I need to think about how I have food at home or how I brought my lunch or how I need to go workout first. Then my behavior will ultimately change as well. Weight loss has to be a lifestyle change and that is all about behaviors.
