How Do I Change My Habits?

This is a question that we have all asked at one time or another isn’t it. It can be a tricky thing to do too, especially when life and other people’s opinions enter the fray. For exaple…

When out for a meal with family or friends, have you ever had someone look over and peer down at your meal, and ask, rather condescendingly, one eye-brow raised, ’should you be having that?’

You feel embarrassed, resentful and would like to reply by saying ‘what the *!%@’s it got to do with you what I’m *!%@$@! having? Mind your own *!%@$@! business and %@$@ off while you’re at it.’ But you don’t. A more than reasonable part of you knows that they mean well, they care, and you would be taking things to DEFCON 1 at what is meant to be a jovial catch-up.

Instead, you laugh along, making some self-deprecating comment and deliberately leave half the meal untouched to prove you have the willpower to see this thing through.

It can be frustrating and disheartening can't it? Especially if you have come to realise you are not going to do this weight loss thing by living like a monk. So, if the above has happened to you, know you are not alone. Well meaning family and friends will always be offering 'support.' Our job, is to maintain our focus on doing things sustainably and being kind to ourselves in the process. And this brings me to my...

We eat for more reasons than sustenance. We eat for comfort, social connection, to fill time, and to enjoy the sodding stuff! Yes, that may have contributed over the years to weight gain, but simply deciding to lose the weight does not mean that all becomes irrelevant. In fact, it becomes more important than ever. For sustainable weight loss, then management, we need to factor in the reasons why we eat and to work with it not against it. This complex mix of motivations and needs, is the result of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, coupled with a very abundant food environment today. We dismiss this at our peril. So, in this short video, I share the anatomy of a habit - and why it is so important to work with our habitual drives wherever possible.

Dave

Dave Algeo, Restless Mid-Lifer'It is never too late to get life back on your terms and have even bigger adventures!'dave@restlessmidlifer.com