Power of Habit

Change Your Life By Changing Your Habits

Think about all the things you did today, from the moment you got up until the second you clicked over to this blog and began reading. 

You probably woke up to your alarm, begrudgingly turned it off, threw the covers off your bed, stood up, and shuffled into the bathroom, where you probably took care of buisness, and maybe took a shower or washed your face.  You may have walked into the kitchen, put water and coffee grounds into your coffee maker, turned it on, and then made and ate breakfast.  Later, you drove to work, did the things on your schedule, and drove home.  In between, you probably walked around, used the bathroom, checked your email, used a fork and knife to eat your lunch, and drank water or coffee. 

Now think about how many of those things you did without conciously thinking about them.  Did you have to look at the directions to get to work?  Did you have to be told how to log in to your email?  Did you read the manual for your coffee maker?  Most likely not.  Now consider the things you do that you may consider a "bad" or "good" habit.  Maybe its snacking in front of the TV, going to the gym, smoking, going to church every Sunday, or going out to pick up a 1,000 calorie fancy coffee drink with co-workers at lunchtime. 

What all of your daily activities and good or bad habits have in common is that you do them without thinking.  Your brain learned these behaviors at some point for some purpose, and then stored them so you could stop thinking about them each time.  This is great for efficiency- imagine if your boss had to re-train you every morning!- but it also leads to repeated bad behaviors. 

According to The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, habits contain 3 things: a cue (a trigger that tells your brain to automatically perform a behavior- for example: time for work), a routine (the behavior- drive to work, show up), and a reward (the reason your brain stores that behavior- you don't get fired!).  Duhigg suggests that since habits are stored in our brains, you can't easily break them- you simply have to fight them and overpower them with new, better habits.  The key to this is identifying the cue (WHAT makes you do it) and the reward (WHY you keep doing it), and then replacing the old routine with another. 

In order to replace old habits with new ones, focus on identifying rewards you crave and the triggers that lead you to perform a behavior.  Do you enjoy the socialization that going on smoke breaks at work gives you?  Replace the routine of smoking with going for a walk break with coworkers instead.  Does coming home from a hard day at work trigger you to sit in front of the TV in order to zone out?  Head straight to the gym and let the day unfold in your head as you pound out a few miles on the treadmill. 

As you continue your journey to become healthier, think about your good and bad habits and try to identify why you do them.  It isn't easy, but with a little self-examination, you will begin to understand your brain's reasoning and become better equipped to work at creating more good habits and overcome the bad.

Don't Be a Statistic of Weight Regain and Relapse

Last month I had the honor of attending and presenting at the 2012 American Society for Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery annual meeting in San Diego, CA. There was emerging theme and sense of urgency in the field of bariatrics;  preventing and overcoming weight regain and relapse after bariatric surgery.  This is an area not regularly discussed, often shooed under the carpet and managed on a case by case basis.

At least once a week I receive an inquiry for revision surgery due to weight regain.  This concern is not solely related to gastric banding, but every single bariatric procedure available including gastric bypass and gastric sleeve.  In my opinion, the goal is not to wait for the patient to falter, but to aggressively prepare individuals for the road that lies ahead, identify barriers to success and nip relapse "in the bud" as soon as it starts to rear it's angry head. 

This week's support group will be focused on identifying symptoms of relapse, looking at barriers for success and developing a plan or strategy for preventing or overcoming relapse.  I hope to see you there.  Don't let yourself be a statistic of weight regain and relapse.

Monday 7/9/12 at 6 pm. 

Nursing Education Center

20201 S. Crawford Ave.

Olympia Fields, IL 60461

Personality Plays Role in Body Weight, According to Study

July 18, 2011- American Psychological Association

Impulsivity strongest predictor of obesity

WASHINGTON—People with personality traits of high neuroticism and low conscientiousness are likely to go through cycles of gaining and losing weight throughout their lives, according to an examination of 50 years of data in a study published by the American Psychological Association.

Impulsivity was the strongest predictor of who would be overweight, the researchers found. Study participants who scored in the top 10 percent on impulsivity weighed an average of 22 lbs. more than those in the bottom 10 percent, according to the study.

“Individuals with this constellation of traits tend to give in to temptation and lack the discipline to stay on track amid difficulties or frustration,” the researchers wrote. “To maintain a healthy weight, it is typically necessary to have a healthy diet and a sustained program of physical activity, both of which require commitment and restraint. Such control may be difficult for highly impulsive individuals.”

The researchers, from the National Institute on Aging, looked at data from a longitudinal study of 1,988 people to determine how personality traits are associated with weight and body mass index. Their conclusions were published online in the APA’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology®.

The remainder of the article can be found at http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/07/personality-weight.aspx

How Self Control Works

Brain How Self-Control Works It's a skill, we are learning, that profoundly shapes lives. How does it work? Where does it come from?
Scientific American 4/15/2011 by Dan Ariely

The scientific community is increasingly coming to realize how central self-control is to many important life outcomes. We have always known about the impact of socioeconomic status and IQ, but these are factors that are highly resistant to interventions. In contrast, self-control may be something that we can tap into to make sweeping improvements life outcomes.

If you think about the environment we live in, you will notice how it is essentially designed to challenge every grain of our self-control. Businesses have the means and motivation to get us to do things NOW, not later. Krispy Kreme wants us to buy a dozen doughnuts while they are hot; Best Buy wants us to buy a television before we leave the store today; even our physicians want us to hurry up and schedule our annual checkup.

There is not much place for waiting in today’s marketplace. In fact you can think about the whole capitalist system as being designed to get us to take actions and spend money now – and those businesses that are more successful in that do better and prosper (at least in the short term). And this of course continuously tests our ability to resist temptation and exercise self-control.

The remainder of the article can be viewed at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-self-control-works

The Trilogy: Skills, Motivation and a Paradigm Shift from "diet" to "lifestyle."

Weight loss is a journey. There will be ups, downs and plateau's. Last week during the "Chew and Chat" sessions I defined weight loss as "a set of skills that can be applied over and over again to become a new lifestyle." Although willpower, hope and motivation are important, they will carry you about two weeks. Consider adopting a weight loss philosophy that contains a trilogy: (1) skills, (2) motivation and (3) paradigm shift from "diet" to "lifestyle."

The trilogy is powerful for many reasons. It implies that you have control over your weight loss journey, overall health and room for moderation. A healthy lifestyle eliminates thoughts like good, bad, right, wrong, success or failure. In my opinion and experience, all or nothing thinking is a significant contributor to relapse or complete cessation of the program. It takes 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound. One high calorie meal, day or even weekend is not going to undo all of the hard work you have completed thus far. When you find yourself stuck in all or nothing thinking consider this: IF YOU LOST 10 POUNDS, YOU HAVE BURNED 3,500 CALORIES. YOU WOULD HAVE TO EAT 68.6 BIG MAC'S TO UNDO ALL OF THAT HARD WORK! When you stumble, stop the negative thoughts, put them in past and move forward.