Sleep. Exercise. What we eat and drink. De-cluttering. The foundation that good habits are built on.
Monitoring these and bringing health to these four areas of our lives will build strong self-control and help us create more good habits.
And when I say monitor...I don't mean write down all the good things we eat, all the times we exercise, all the sleep we get...I'm talking about monitoring all of it. The good the bad and the ugly!
Monitoring is to help mange yourself. To see patterns, to come
out of denial, to get back on track, to face reality, to motivate you to
change.
It’s about awareness, it’s about
accountability! Those are the things necessary to change any destructive habit.
Changing habits is about recognizing what we
are doing…holding ourselves accountable to ourselves and then choosing to
change. Being honest with ourselves…wow. Why is that so hard? It’s hard to be
accountable to ourselves, and it’s hard to be accountable to others as well.
We should pay special attention to any habit that we try to hide.
The desire to prevent family,
friends or co-workers acting as witnesses, from seeing what’s on the computer
screen or knowing how much time or money we are spending on a habit, to when
and what we're eating, is a clue that in some ways, our actions don’t reflect
our values, or don't reflect our desire to be healthier!
Here's a little more information about the four foundational habits that help us to build self-control.
SLEEP:
The last 30 minutes before
bedtime is a danger zone! Being
mildly but chronically short of sleep makes people more susceptible to hunger
and temptation. Did you know that
studies show that obesity is more common among those who get less than 6 hours
of sleep. How many times have you eaten
more calories in 30 minutes at bedtime than you've had all day??? Start your
get ready for bed routine earlier…( and by the way, routines are a string of
habits) Wash your face, brush your teeth, get the coffee ready, if those are done earlier, then “going to bed” won’t be such a chore.
MOVE:
Physical exercise is the
magical elixir of practically everything. Exercise relives anxiety, boosts energy and mood,
improves memory, sharpens executive function and contributes to weight
maintenance. It both energizes us and calms us! It’s been called the miracle drug! Well, no wonder it boost our ability to
maintain new and healthy habits!!!
Few aspects of everyday life are more
foundational than eating. Food is one of the things people feel the most out
of control about. When we feel in control of our
eating…we feel in control of so many other areas of our life! One of the problems with the eating and
drinking “habit” is that our brain needs food to manage impulses. One of the
best ways to avoid impulsive over eating is to eat.
DE-CLUTTER:
For most people outer order contributes to inner
calm. And you know if you've been around THW for any length of
time…inner calm, inner peace, inner healing, contributes to healthy
eating. People get a real shift when they put things in their place, tackle
nagging tasks, clear surfaces, and get rid of things that don’t work, or aren’t
used. This surge of energy makes it easier to ask more of ourselves, to use our
self-control, and to stick to a challenging habit. In the book “the power of habit” the author
points out that even the habit of making your bed each morning is correlated
with a sense of greater well-being and higher productivity. With de-cluttering you’ll find that keeping up is easier than catching
up!
So as we press into this
habit team challenge, I want to make sure that we are really pressing in to
what will make a permanent difference. You manage what you monitor. So whether you are monitoring your sleep and
realize that you do better because you’re keeping track, or you’re monitoring
your exercise so you take that extra trip down the driveway so you can write down your extra steps…it will make a difference. You are ALL monitoring your food and drink…for better or for worse. Not just on
the good days. Every day, every bite. Do it for you!!! You’ll see yourself come
back around even if you’re in a pit!
And if you’re monitoring your de-cluttering efforts it will inspire you
to keep going.
Our winning teams for the week:
Noon: Team "At The Corner of Happy and Healthy" Becky and Cheryl with a 2.33% of weight loss!
6 PM: Team "Lose It" Donny and Emily with a 3.02% of weight loss!
Congratulations to you all!
We are going to celebrate the accountability a team mate brings by doing something special this week for our team mate. A text, a note, a reward...and we are going to celebrate next Thursday by joining in on the fun of Spirit week and dressing to show our Team Spirit!
Your Challenge for the week:
- Not One Stinkin Piece
- Continue the #healthyweighhabits 21 days challenge
- Come next week with Team Spirit by dressing like your team mate!
We manage what we monitor...it's all about monitoring! The good, the bad and the ugly! Change will happen when we are honest with ourselves and others!
Always encouraging you,
Letha
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