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Stop your bad habits now before its too late

By Bloganywhere ⋅ January 29, 2008 ⋅ Email this post Email this post ⋅ Print this post Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

January 29, 2008

You are in a race for time to complete an important project in only two hours. You are headed to the vending machine for your favorite treat. You’re stuck in traffic and your performance evaluation is scheduled in 10 minutes. You start biting your nails. You are exhausted and need to get some sleep. You can’t seem to turn off the television and go to bed. Can you relate to any of these? If so, you have adopted bad habits to provide stress relief. Stress relief can be obtained through healthy, positive habits too.

Habits are reoccurring, probably unconscious patterns of behavior. Everyone has habits. Positive habits provide structure, stability, and security. Good habits include healthy eating, exercising, journaling, or talking with a friend can relieve stress. Negative habits can be self-destructive, and have a negative pull on our self-esteem and self-worth. Bad habits often include stress eating to calm or alleviate stress.

Unfortunately bad habits serve a purpose in our lives. They are unhealthy coping strategies that have an immediate payoff. The short-term payoff includes alleviation of stress, calm our nerves, and provide a distraction or escape from a bothersome situation or feelings. The long-term impacts are weight gain, unattractive nails, and fatigue. When the long-term impacts interfere with your life, you need to change your habit. You need to find healthy coping strategies that provide the short-term payoff you need. The long term impacts can also bring in major health realted problems like diabetes and other mind and body diseases.

Your awareness and desire to change a life interrupting habit can be immediate. You make the decision that you are tired of a certain habit or behavior and you are committed to its replacement. Alternatively, you may have the desire to change a bad habit and need a step-by-step plan. If either of these happen to you, it’s time to move forward with your habit replacement.

  • Step 1: Name it! Define the habit.
  • Step 2: Commit! Make a full commitment to changing this habit.
  • Step 3: Set short-term and long-term goals. You don’t want to become overwhelmed. You aren’t going to lose 50 pounds in two months.
  • Step 4: Identify and eliminate your triggers.
  • Step 5: Get support. Ask for support from your family and friends that are important to you.
  • Step 6: Accept plateaus. Plateaus are part of the process. Motivation is high as you start to change a habit.
  • Step 7: Give credit to yourself for your decision to change a bad habit. Be kind to yourself.

Bad habits such as compulsive overeating have payoffs. Recognize how a bad habit limits your life. Follow these steps to ditch a bad habit and step up to habits that allow you to reach your weight loss and maintain your weight loss goal.

Written by Bloganywhere · Filed Under Health 

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