I'd like to hear your thoughts on this...

Tools for Saying on Track
In my last blog, I talked about the parts of my regimen that slipped on day 79, but didn't get around to discussing why some things stuck while others didn't. I'm going to ramble on for a bit to try and get at some of the underlying reasons behind my actions... If I'm lucky, I'll have some raw material that I can refine into a set of tools for rescuing failed convictions.

Motivation 1: The Only Option is the "Right Choice"
Motivation 2: You've done it so long you no longer have to think about it.
Motivation 3: Regimen - The new habit is tied to other things you already do every day.

These first three items are interrelated.

Why am I still eating 3 healthy meals per day?
I'm still eating my 'healthy soup' every day for lunch, and fruit (usually with cottage cheese ) as a snack... I have been doing this so long that I no longer think about what I'm going to eat for lunch, I just eat my preplanned meals.

It's easier than cheating?
Because I can eat my soup without making other decisions it becomes an easy default option. If I decide to eat something else, I have to figure out where to go, see if I have the cash and the time to spare, and wait in line at some drivethrough. So, in order to cheat (eat bad foods for lunch ), I have to work harder! (I think I'm on to something here! )

Create lifestyle changes in such a way that it is easier to stay on track than fall off.

This is easy to say, but hard to apply to every situation... How could I make it "easier to get up at 5am and go to the gym" than "stay in bed"?

Why am I avoiding caffeine and chocolate?
First, a little history: When I was younger, I abused caffeine. I remember polishing off at least 1 2-Liter bottle of Mello Yello when I was at a sleep-over. (As you might imagine, there was very little sleeping. I remember my friend's mom asking me if I ate superballs for lunch. *laugh* boing! ). I'd be wired and animated all night, then depressed and lethargic all day.

As a teenager, I recognized the caffeine crash as fueling my occasional depression, so I tried drinking lots of coca-cola to get out of my funk. It didn't help. I just became horribly anxious AND depressed. At some point after college I stopped drinking caffeine entirely. I noticed that my energy and mood leveled off and avoided caffeine ever since... until recently.

When I was at my heaviest, I stopped caring about what I was eating... So I started drinking soda again. When I drink soda, I get VERY chatty. It's weird. Sure enough, I found myself getting a good caffeine buzz... The next day I was inexplicably depressed... and the depression lasted for several days - long after the caffeine would have left my system.

Not too long after that, I noticed the same feelings around consumption of chocolate. Weird. I wouldn't have thought that chocolate would have that much caffeine in it.

Fear
Depression is debilitating... If there is anything I fear in this world, it is being crippled by my own brain. Whether it is accurate or not, I have identified caffeine as a trigger, so I avoid it like the plague. Every time I have gone back, I have regretted it later.

The tangibility of this fear and the association that I made with caffeine locked this change in place.

Interestingly enough, I have a suspicion that refined sugar is another contributing factor, but I haven't had the same physical response, so I allow myself to slip and eat sugar again.

I suppose, if it were possible to educate yourself and believe (not just pay lip service) to the deleterious effects of things like refined sugar, saturated fats,... not working out regularly, you could use fear of the repercussions to make a life altering change

The drawback to this motivation is that people often need immediacy to use this sort of change. Without immediacy, there is a lack of urgency.

More later...