What Gives in Your Routine When Life Happens

You never know, things happen sometimes very suddenly, sometimes gradually. Your everyday regular life and routine can become a mess. Yep I said it a MESS. Disruptions, upsets, illness, surgery, happy occasions, bad scheduling, traffic, accidents just general stuff can may if even more difficult to stick to the routine...exercise, eating healthy, getting rest.

I am speaking from experience. Recently I have had a lot of life (and death) get in my way. My sweet kitty and treasured friend of a dog died within one month of each other. Now that sucks and it is so not fair. Then in the middle of all this emotional upset I had a horrible, indescribable, completely draining stomach flu and then I through in a little knee surgery for good measure.

What happened in my life could not have been prevented. But with the drama in my life it took heroic efforts to want to move my body to exercise and think about taking care of myself. Some times after I was recovered from the stomach flu the movement would help my mind clear.

My message this week is something I learned through all of this, doing something positive created a positive reaction in my feelings. It helped if I did one thing, even something small and seemly insignificant for myself. The energy from this created a positive impact on the rest of my day and I was able to heal.

Doing something positive for yourself in the middle of what ever chaos is happening in your life can help you get through it much better.

So, take a nap, have a healthy snack, go for a walk, soak in the tub, even sit back for five minutes and close your eyes and free your mind. Create something positive for yourself and it will come back to you in a positive way.

Start Small - Why Small Changes Work

I recently read an article about a task force that consisted of members of the American Society for Nutrition, the Institute of Food Technologists and the International Food Information Council. Their job was to study the efficacy of "small changes". They came up with 5 reasons why "small changes" might help people be more successful achieving goals. These reasons are:

1. Small changes are more realistic to achieve and maintain than large changes.
2. Even small changes can have an important impact on body weight regulation.
3. Small, successful lifestyle changes can lead to increased self-efficacy.
4. The small change approach can be applied to environmental forces.
5. The small change approach can become a unifying platform for the public and private sectors to work together to combat obesity.

So what can you take away from this? Regarding #1, any goal you set whether it involves eating healthy, smaller portions, more exercise is much more achievable in small increments. For example instead of saying "I am going to exercise every day after work this week" when you have not worked out at all is unlikely to happen. Take it smaller, make a goal to work out once or twice the first few weeks to get comfortable with the idea. You are much more likely to keep that goal.

Secondly, regarding the second item on the list. If it is important to reduce your body weight stop thinking in the big picture. This can be overwhelming. Start small again. Every 1/2 pound is less than you started with. DON'T get on the scale daily to check this but DO check around the same time once a week. Remember reducing portion size will reduce calorie intake. Take a smaller plate and a smaller portion and be done with it. Again, think about how to achieve this goal by making obtainable. Pick once or twice a week to start and work your way up to more often.

The 3rd point on the list is extremely important...self-efficacy. This is your belief about your capability to execute a course of action. If you have a strong sense of self efficacy you are much more likely to be successful in your endeavors. Making small changes creates success which in turn creates more self efficacy. YOU CAN DO IT!

Items 4 and 5 on this list were mentioned to make us aware of the environmental influences that effect our ability to make changes. Businesses have "supersized" meals creating the thoughts that more is better. Think in terms of "100 calorie packs" and "low fat or healthy" options that are becoming more readily available. These options can be created on your own to keep costs down tool. Make your own "100 calorie packs" buying bigger quantities and breaking it down. Become more aware of what you have when you have it.

Although this article concentrated on weight loss it can be easily applied to exercise and any other goal you wish to make your own.

Think Small Get Big Results!