Day 10

Well, today is the day before. I actually start what I call my program to lose weight. I have already started eating clean, and I did this before. I started almost 2 weeks before eating better or cleaner prior to starting P90X. I started that on Friday the 13th, weird day to start, and it has been going pretty well.

The idea here is start to form the practice or routine before the workout as it will be tough enough on its own, why add the extra stress of changing your eating habits at the same time. It's been said that it takes 21 days to form a habit, but that is only a supposition by a surgeon who saw amputees getting used to the loss of a limb after 21 days. Another study suggested that the average of people to drink a glass of water routinely within a set of parameters was 66 days, but could happen as quick as 18 days and as much as 256. So, what does it all mean? NOTHING!! We are all different so how long it will take is something that is most likely unique to us, however, we all need the same things to form a habit.

Forming a habit is broken into 3 phases.  First, there's a cue, or trigger, that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and let a behavior unfold. Then there's the routine, which is the behavior itself, and finally there is the reward which is something the brain likes that helps it remember the "habit loop" and thus forming a habit which we will do without even realizing it. My personal one is opening the fridge and looking in it. Guess that is why I am over 300 lbs.

Ten days ago I started to form a new "habit loop" by cutting out certain foods and introducing others. Now we all have done this from time to time. "I'm gonna eat better or I'm gonna go on a diet" are all things we have said over the years. As young as 14 or 15 years old this has been said by some of us, but once we get over 30 our metabolism starts on a downward spiral whether we know it or not. We gain weight it is just how it is. One of my favorite lines from Grosse Pointe Blank is from Joan Cusack when asked if she went to her 10 year class reunion. "Yes, I did. It was just as if everyone had swelled." And that my friends is just what happens if we let it. I did.

Hopefully the new forming habit loop (tired of the ""), will stick and so far so good. I really love food, but have found that the better you eat, the more you can eat. The better you eat the more full and less hungry you are. Ever wonder why or how that could be possible? That is your glycemic index at work.

I think that instead of balling this into one post, I will put that into another post.

Good luck to all who are trying to change the bad habits for the good.