The activity I chose to do was to watch 3 videos (on food, exercise, and weight loss/management)--these are actually the same ones I watched last year, so I didn't expect to get much out of them. But oddly, because I was watching them at exactly the right time--when I was thinking that it's time to get my act together again--they proved somewhat useful. (Well, the weight loss one was kind of ludicrous in that way of all weight loss advice, in that it was based on the premise that long-term weight loss is possible for anything more than a fraction of dieters, but I didn't really bother processing the messages from that one, which I watched last.)
In particular, the exercise one had a concrete suggestion that basically blew my mind when I thought about it. Assuming that you are starting from a sedentary baseline (which is basically true of me right now), it recommended that a person start with 10 minutes of activity, 3 days a week, and over time to increase the time (slowly) until you are exercising for 2.5 hours per week. That's right--10 minutes, 3 days a week. Whoa. It never occurred to me to start an exercise plan at a level that is below what I am capable of doing, but it actually is kind of genius...because one of the biggest problems with exercise is how hard it is to establish a firm exercise habit that holds in the face of the very normal, daily distractions and barriers that exist, like not having/wanting to spend that much time doing it. Thinking of this exercise plan as primarily a habit builder that forms the foundation for future exercise, rather than a full-on exercise plan in itself, I realized that this was perfect for me. Exercising a short amount of time for 3 days a week will be easy--physically, psychologically, and pragmatically. I think about doing that and I'm like, Yep, I've got this. Because I know from experience that the hard part of exercise for me is not doing it, but getting my ass out of my comfy chair, changing clothes, and getting on the damn machine. If I can rebuild a habit of exercising, the rest will follow.
So I decided that I'm going to start this week with the habit-building program of 15 minutes, 3 days a week--10 minutes of cardio and 5 minutes of strength training on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. And Robert's going to join me!
The other big aha moment watching the videos was realizing that it's not only OK, it's totally recommended that you set short-term goals and reward yourself. This is not really how I've operated (other than the mini-rewards of my rabbit stickers on the calendar). But this time, I feel far enough removed from my normal habits (and the rabbit sticker has not been a sufficient carrot, ahem, to tempt me to engage in the vague positive health behaviors I've been thinking about the last couple months) that I am going to actually do the thing they say to do: set goals and reward myself (in an appreciable way) for meeting them. And because I'm not an idiot, I'm setting goals around practices and behaviors (not outcomes). And because I can afford it, I'm going kind of big with my rewards.
With all this in mind, I was like, Well, maybe it's time to supplement my Style Challenges with Life Style Challenges! (I don't know why, but that conceptualization feels much cooler and much more interesting.)
How I'm trying this out (because I recognize that there may need to be tweaking along the way) is this: I will have a Life Style Challenge every week (Monday-Sunday). This Challenge will almost always have multiple parts, but not too many parts (because changing too many things at once is not very effective). The way I'm thinking about it now is a tripartite challenge: one eating challenge, one movement challenge, one "other" activity challenge. On Sunday, if I've completed all parts of the Challenge, I get my $25-30 reward. (I'm thinking of it as a range because that's an amount that would cover one relatively inexpensive reward, like a new scarf, or is a nice down payment on a later reward. I don't want to say $25 and then find the absolute perfect navy/yellow scarf next week for $26 and be like, nope, I haven't earned that yet.) Then for the following week, I will set a new Challenge (but I can keep any or all parts of the previous Challenge, and for things like the eating one and the exercise one, this consistency might be key to successfully building the habit).
Here's this week's Life Style Challenge:
(1) No bread, no pasta, no rice
(2) Exercise for 15 minutes, 3 days a week (T, Th, Sat)--10 min cardio, 5 min strength
(3) Make 1 new paleo vegetable recipe
Sounds kind of easy, doesn't it? I hope that it is. I mean, that is the idea. I would really rather err on the side of easy challenge, big reward, especially here at the beginning.
The rationale for (2) I discussed earlier. The rationale for (1) is that I know I do better when I stay away from too many grains in my diet but the combination of moving and, for the last couple weeks, being sick, has really done a number on that. (When I am nauseated from having a cold, grains is pretty much all I want to eat.) Those 3 foods are the ones that I find myself eating the most that I'd be better off not eating, so I'm starting there so I can break the habit of eating them and regain that happy mental place in which I do not really think of those items when I'm thinking of food. Meanwhile, I am giving myself the option to eat a few Triscuits (the only likely grain product in our apartment that's not one of the verboten 3) if I need/want to because that's not a food I tend to eat to excess or find particularly desirable.
As for (3), I have discovered in the last couple of months that there are a LOT of vegetables and methods of vegetable preparation that my system really can't handle. Indeed, that's a lot of the reason I started eating rice and bread again--I found that I was doing better having eaten a couple pieces of buttered toast than I was eating steamed broccoli, for example. But I need to eat vegetables, and I'm better off staying away from grains. Thus, it's time to experiment with some new vegetables and/or new preparations and find some new standbys to replace the veg I can no longer eat. I've had to ditch basically all raw vegetables (except baby carrot in extremely small quantities, an amount that would have a 4 lb rabbit scoffing at its inadequacy), including my very favorite thing, my dad's broccoli slaw recipe, and my second favorite thing, regular cole slaw, and my third favorite thing, green salad. No longer can I take a bag of frozen veg, pop it in the microwave, and enjoy the speed and convenience of steamed vegetables either. I can still eat roasted veg (except for onion) but that takes a long time to prepare and is not at its best when made ahead of time and reheated. I will continue with the roasted veg (lately I've been all about the red peppers) but I really need to add some other options to my repertoire. Luckily, I already know what I'm going to try as a new recipe, and I even already have the ingredients from a previous grocery shopping trip. Game on!
Have you ever tried a similar strategy in your own life? How did it work for you? What would you pick for your own Life Style Challenge? Seriously, no challenge is too trivial--the Life Style Challenge isn't about pushing yourself to the limit (as I see it), it's about getting started on building habits / getting some things off your mental to-do list and accomplished out here in the world. What would you like as a reward? I'm really thinking navy/yellow scarf might be what I'm picking out for myself next weekend.
Oh, and just so you are not worried, I'm still wearing clothes around here...and enjoying the warmer weather! We're supposed to have highs in the low 50s all this coming week!
Navy/lime striped sweater (thrifted, Izod)
Straight leg jeans (Kohls)
Chunky silver necklace (JNY)
Navy ankle boots by Seychelles
6 comments:
Congratulations on being completely moved in!
And your new strategy sounds awesome.
I'm not sure I can answer your question properly. Probably the answer is no!
I've not yet tried the method of starting a new habit by starting with something super easy, though I did hear of this a few weeks or months ago.
I don't like traditional reward systems because it's hard for me to think of an appropriate reward. I want it to be something I want, but something that I'm willing to not have if I haven't earned it, but something not bad for me. For example, it can't be reading or chocolate/dessert because I want those things to be staples. But it can't be buying stuff or eating out because I shouldn't be doing that very often.
Peer pressure can work for me. If a friend wants me to join them in something they want to do that sounds like a good idea to me, that's pretty good motivation for me. (That's why I'm already in Spanish II and also started jogging again before retirement.) But of course that kind of strategy comes from elsewhere and not myself. Except for the part where I find the kind of friends who want to do things I think are interesting.
Making a list or chart of things I could check off can be bizarrely motivating, even though I don't have any bunny stickers at all.
Currently I like to make a huge list of things I'd like to do possibly in the next year and then occasionally pick a new one out to work on.
Interestingly, finding new ways to make vegetables is also on my list. (By "vegetables" I mean "produce.") And I also know what I'm going to try as the new recipe. It's those mushrooms that Tam's advisor fed us that one time. He told us that the ingredients were mushrooms and butter and that's it. I can't even remember if the mushrooms were still whole, cut in half, sliced, or what, but I can experiment.
This sounds like fun. I wanted to ask, have you looked into Fodmaps? (If not, just Google it to learn more than you ever knew or wanted to know about it.)
On second thought you probably have.
Debbie, I agree that the reward systems are tough, in part because you have to sort of convince yourself simultaneously that you can afford whatever the reward is but that you can't just get it anyway, regardless of your behavior. Luckily I had decided that I would cut back on my clothes purchases because I have a lot of clothes already, not because I can't afford them--thus, I could turn around and put this shopping back into my life as part of the reward system. So it's a fortunate confluence of circumstances.
It's cool that you have figured out that you're socially motivated and you've made that a part of your life. Congrats on making it to Spanish 2 and for the jogging!
I too can find checking things off a list motivating, but I think my job has currently maxed out that kind of motivation, if that makes sense.
Mushrooms and butter--yum.
Tam, I'm familiar with FODMAPS but it's been a while since I've read about it--it's definitely a thing for people with IBS. My experience with the elimination diet actually lined up well, but not perfectly, with high FODMAPS foods. For example, I can't tolerate corn even though it's a low (or moderate?) FODMAP food. It's probably worth my revisiting the food lists as I'm considering my veg choices--it's something that completely fell off my radar. I'm pretty sure my recent favorite roasted red peppers are low FODMAP.
Rick had a lot of luck going to the gym for 15-20 minutes a day, back when we had a gym at our apartment. He always felt like he needed to work out for an hour or more (so he never went), but going every morning without too much commitment was really good. Unfortunately we moved and he's now trying to start jogging in the morning, which will take some time to get going. I'm a big fan of doing less than you think you can just to get the habit going. But I'm as guilty as anyone about not doing 10 min of yoga if I know I would rather do an hour, but I don't have time for that, etc....
Some of these ideas (goals, rewards, social pressure) are of course incorporated in my company's products too, which is cool. There are various goals like # of steps per day, # of active minutes, etc. Of course you just get a badge, not a tangible reward :)
Jen, Rick's experience is great to hear about. There's a real danger here (as in many aspects of life) of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. Here's to those of us trying to be half-assed! (Esp. when we're being zero-assed at the moment.)
And yeah, it's interesting how companies are successfully "gamifying" regular lifestyle activities with badges, leveling up, etc.
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