It's Time To Take Back Your Life

Tag: healthy

Old habits die hard

When starting a diet or exercise program, old habits can die hard. I can only speak for myself, but I find that my old habits get in the way of my success. They are probably the biggest nemesis for me not reaching my goals.

Whether driving through Starbucks, your favorite fast food, or staying in your routine of eating _______________ (fill in the blank) before bed, old habits die hard. I call it “habit creep“.

Breaking the routine

When we are most vulnerable and needing that sugar, caffeine or processed food fix, they are there to secretly cheer us on. Habits make those cravings unsurmountable. I think the secret is trying to do something new in your schedule. You must break the routine, to break the habit. For me, it is diary, particularly cheese.

For each of us, this trigger or craving is different. We all lead different lives with various responsibilities. However, if you normally push away from your meal, and sit on the couch and watch television, try doing something new.

If this is where you eat ice cream, maybe you can do laundry, spend time with the kids, or go for a walk. The secret is break the cycle that you know and have come entrenched in. That is all it is, a cycle of doing the same thing over and over. We can set our clocks by it.

Things to do as you learn to break the bad habits

When the cravings start, you can do a number of things. I guess it might depend on the habit. If you are trying to stop smoking, I am not too sure sitting down and journaling would stay off the cravings. I think you might have to exercise to get beyond that one. I have been told that chewing gum or straws help.

It could be a hobby that you choose to partake in such as journaling, writing, gardening, woodworking, getting ahead of emails for work, walking, biking, playing cards, light cleaning, or reading a book. Maybe you could go for a run or work out. You get the drift.

You must do anything but allow yourself that indulgent pleasure of extra calories, unwanted fats, processed foods, nicotine or drugs. You just need to take yourself out of the geographical location that makes you want that ice cream, drink, cookies or nicotine. Whatever your vice might be, change your location and mix things up.

If you do nothing else, do this one thing

I will tell you if you don’t do anything else on this journey (eg. lose weight, increase exercise, eat healthier), you need to stop smoking! Smoking is a leading killer and affects so many people’s health. All the top killing diseases are attributed to smoking, eg…heart disease, cancer and stroke.

Also, those of you that chew tobacco or vape, you are not any better off, so don’t think you get a pass. First, we do not know the long-term affects of vaping. Second, for those that chew tobacco products, ask anyone that has throat cancer and is on hospice, if they could do it all over again, would they? I bet the answer would be, “yes”.

Habits die hard, but they are not impossible to beat!

Alicia

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog. My name is Alicia. After successfully losing 35 pounds on a whole food plant based diet, I decided to “flex” out of my diet for my birthday. My sister wanted to cook for me. It is just easier sometimes to flex for a night or weekend, instead of trying to levy a restrictive diet on someone who doesn’t understand. So, I flexed.

Then the unthinkable happened. A little thing called life, reared it ugly head and I lost my job. The stress sent me straight to my comfort foods of diary, processed foods, cheese and wine. The weight has returned and I feel horrible.

I know what caused it, but I could not seem to stop. Why, because it is a habit. Like when you have had a stressful day at work and you come home and have that one drink just to take the edge off. Pretty soon, that one drink has turned into two, and maybe three. It gets so entrenched in your habits, the drink is in hand shortly after you enter the door. Habits, they can be difficult to break.

Maybe you go through your favorite coffee establishment or fast food each morning. A combo meal at lunch, or happy hour with friends. It’s all the same. It could be a huge bowl of ice cream or six energy drinks/coffee in a day. The effects these have to our health is outrageous.

I decided to create this blog, because I do so much better when I hold myself accountable. Putting my story out there, for even the possibility of one person seeing it, gives me that added drive I need to succeed.

This blog is a work-in-progress, and hopefully will be taking shape in the near future with content that can help you reach any goals you might have.

Thank you for stopping by, and please come back for updated content.

Alicia