Atomic Habits for Eating
I recently read James Clear’s Atomic Habits and was inspired to take a look at the way habits impact how we eat, and, as a result, our weight and health.
James Clear discusses the pervasiveness of habits in our lives, with almost every action we take being the result of the accumulation of habits.
What is a Habit?
In the problem phase of a habit, you have a cue and then a craving. In the solution phase of a habit, you have a response and a reward.
With this in mind, habits are strongly contextual – based on time, place, and other factors like hunger levels.
There is also a strong focus on moving away from goals and into systems to develop new habits.
Examples of Eating Habits
As an example of a typical habit cycle, it is lunch, and I have walked into my kitchen. I see the blender, a cue. I crave food, so I start making a smoothie, my response. The reward is a healthy lunch.
This is part of the system I have in place to maintain my current weight and health.
An example of a prior habit would be my evening snack habit. It is 7p, after dinner, and I am settling in to watch video game videos on YouTube. The cue is the time and place, and my pantry has a Costco bag of tortilla chips. I begin to crave a snack, so I fill a large bowl with chips, get a Costco bar of Cheddar Cheese out of the refrigerator and get a thick slice of cheese, my response. The reward is 750 calories of unnecessary snack on top of three or four meals for the day.
Broken System
The system for that habit resulted in obesity, high blood pressure, and other health issues exacerbated by overeating and being physically inactive.
The Laws of Habit Formation
James Clear talks about the process for creating and destroying habits:
1st Law – make it obvious
Put out a bowl of apples on a counter
Make a defined healthy grocery list
2nd Law – Make it attractive
Stack healthy habits – add a small reward to a healthy habit
After you eat a healthy meal, do something you consider rewarding (check Reddit, or eat a small piece of chocolate)
Join a group like r/loseit where the desired behavior is normal
3rd Law – Make it Easy
Meal prep for the week ahead or meal plan for each meal
Eliminate options that are not healthy by not buying them
Automate – if you get groceries delivered, take advantage of removed grocery store cues
4th Law – Make it Satisfying
Use a habit tracker like Myfitnesspal
Created chains of activity, like meeting your calorie goal for the day, and don’t break the chain.
Never miss twice, give yourself a break if you don’t make it for a day, but never start a negative chain.
How to Destroy Habits
Alternatively, destroying a habit can also be valuable.
Make things you don’t want to eat invisible – hide them, don’t buy them, or have someone take them away. My example was to stop buying giant bags of chips and giant bars of cheese.
Make things you don’t want to eat unattractive – create a penalty for eating poorly, like having to donate to a charity you don’t support or losing access to Facebook (which may not be a bad thing). If I started putting on weight again, I would have to explain to my friends at the BJJ gym I had been eating poorly.
Make it more difficult to eat in a certain way by adding friction in the process – make a commitment to eat a certain way publicly and then disclose how you are doing, but also look at different ways to make it harder to eat as you have been. Get your spouse to take over buying groceries – my wife does a great job of making sure I don’t eat badly.
Make it unsatisfying by getting a friend, loved one, or even someone on r/loseit to be your accountability partner. Create a contract with yourself to make life better for future you, but also to make failure to comply public and painful.
Final Thoughts
I know there is a lot to unpack here, but read Atomic Habits if you want to learn more.
It is packed with valuable insight and would have been very effective in my weight loss process had I found it earlier.
I am happy to answer any questions or provide support to those who need it.
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