by Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY
Many people will wake up this morning
resolved to eat healthier, exercise more and lose weight, but adopting a
new habit isn't a piece of cake. USA TODAY asked three experts to talk
about the best way to improve these health habits heading into the new
year.
Joseph Grenny, author of Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success and one of the founders of coachalba.com, a site that helps you succeed in making changes:
We
studied the attempts of more than 5,000 people to change some tough
habits. The vast majority failed. But a few hundred made it.
The
people who succeeded most were those who relied least on willpower.
Instead, they took control of the things that influenced their own
behavior. This helped make change much easier. For instance, successful
changers:
• Identified people who would help them with their new
habits. Our research shows that if you get three or more people who
encourage your good habits, you're about 40% more likely to change.
•
Shaped their environment to make the changes easier. For example, if
you eat off a big plate, you may eat more. If you put cookies on the
kitchen counter, you're more likely to eat them. If you want to change
your choices, change your environment to make bad choices harder and
good choices easier.
• Learned a new way to deal with impulses. If
you are tempted to overeat, use an inspiring photo, inspiring thought,
or personal motivation statement to remind yourself of the reason for
changing. It helps you feel motivated to do the right thing.
•
Developed new skills because new habits almost always require that. For
example, you can learn to articulate your emotions and change your mood
when you are tempted to eat for comfort.
• Rewarded themselves for
short-term achievement. After you exercise, you could reward yourself
by reading a book or newspaper in a relaxing chair for 20 minutes.
When
you fail, turn the bad day into good data by reflecting on which
sources of influence set you up to fail. Then take control of the thing
that controlled you. Little by little change will become easier until
new habits become literally inevitable.
Health psychologist Jim Annesi,
director of Wellness Advancement for the YMCA of Metro Atlanta, studies
exercise adherence, exercise and mood change and the effect of physical
activity on weight management:
Starting one healthy habit
may help you build other good habits. A little bit of exercise can
improve your self-control, feelings of success and levels of stress.
When
you start with a very manageable physical activity program of two or
three times a week - it can be as little as walking for 15 to 20 minutes
each time - you have to practice self-control to pull that off. After
you've stayed with regular exercise for a while, you get a sense that
you are starting to control something related to your weight, which may
help you have a greater sense of ability over your eating, as well.
With
regular exercise, even moderate amounts, your mood will improve,
reducing anxiety and possibly depression. Those feelings are highly
related to emotional eating and so exercise may have a positive impact
on your eating through these means, as well.
You may want to set
some moderate exercise goals for yourself - perhaps moving from walking
45 minutes a week to an hour a week. You will feel a sense of
accomplishment as you attain such incremental goals. These feelings of
self-efficacy can play a huge part in sustained success with weight
loss.
All these changes improve your chance of sustained weight
loss not by the calorie burn, which may be limited if you are a new and
somewhat out-of-shape exerciser, but by the psychological changes that
could lead to improved eating habits.
Psychologist Joe Burgo, author of Why Do I Do That? and the founder of afterpsychotherapy.com:
It's
really hard to change habits (exercise more and eat less) because in
addition to the physical challenges - hunger, fatigue and muscle
soreness - there are often emotional challenges that are not addressed.
So even people who are very motivated to change often fail because they
are not prepared to deal with a whole set of feelings that come up when
they go on a diet and start exercising.
We all know that
the long-term benefit of exercise is stress reduction, but we don't
acknowledge that adding a new exercise routine to an over-committed life
is also stressful. You are building in a kind of failure because you
are adding stress.
What you were doing with that time before you
started exercising (watching TV, shopping, sleeping more) may have been
sources of comfort. They might have helped you relax and unwind. Now you
need to find a type of exercise you enjoy enough to take the place of
those other activities.
When it comes to diets, you have to think
about all the emotional reasons we eat - sexual frustration, anger,
unmet emotional needs, depression and anxiety.
So if eating is a
defense mechanism for you, what is going to take its place? You have to
prepare for it. What are you going to put in place of eating as a
constructive comfort? It might be going out to movies, listening to
music, reading, window shopping, watching TV programs that you really
like. It's even better if you're watching them while you're on the
treadmill. You need to schedule in those activities at the times you
would be eating.
Also, don't go it alone. Go through it with
someone else, so you can share the diet and the feelings you have about
it. And don't try to do it all at once. Try to make small changes so
that you don't put too much stress on yourself. You are much more likely
to succeed.