Have you managed to change your diet/exercise habits?

[Ali from The Office Diet]

I was writing about building and maintaining new habits today (The Office Diet » How to build new habits) ... and wondered how others who've successfully changed their diet and weight tend to approach this.

Did you add in one or two little changes at a time (eg. drinking 6 glasses of water a day, getting 5 fruit & veg a day etc) or did you go for a sudden overhaul of your diet?

For me, it was a combination of both. When I first lost weight (about 2 stone) as a teenager, I cut out a lot of foods straight away; butter, chips, etc. But since then I've gradually learned to like new things, and I eat a lot more fruits, veggies, wholegrains and so on without much effort. I also used to be a constant snacker, which I've managed to get out of the habit of.

Would be interested to hear how starting new habits, or breaking old ones, has worked for everyone else!

Ali

[Bodhi]

Ali, it seems like every time I've made a change it has been sudden. But, I've always gradually slipped back into my old habits. I'll decide to eat health and I'll do good for a while and then something will break my new habit and I'll fall back into old eating habits.

[hatsoff2halford]

I went from eating a classic american diet to vegetarian in one day...two months later I cold-turkeyd going to a vegan diet. Then now, the present, I went from a vegan diet to an all raw diet in one foul swoop...I'm on day 23 now And the day I started eating all raw I re-subscribed my gym membership, and I've been working out pretty consistently since.

I like to get things done apparently.

[Michelle]

I started loving myself and food more and I worked (and continue to work) through the issues represented by excess fat on my body. Through meditation I realized that food offers itself up, indeed sacrifices itself so I can thrive and how much suffering that causes to the food if one doesn't lovingly and appreciately accept that sacrifice. Now I only eat what my body and soul can lovingly appreciate and use.

[Marco Polo]

The sudden overhaul bit doesn't go down well with me. Whenever I try something new and radical for a few days (e.g. a vegetarian diet), there's this permanent image of a juicy Big Mac stickied in my visual cortex. Then when I go back to my original diet, I eat more than I should. Overall I'm a very disciplined person, but when it comes to my diet I find it hard to make big changes in a short amount of time.

[quin]

MAJOR OVERHAUL
2 years ago whilst I was on Summer break from University, a slightly traumatic car accident urged me to take control of my life. I started walking every day (along with 3x weekly intensive dance rehearsals), cut out all junk food, drank litres of water, ate an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables and spent time cooking nutritious meals. In a month I lost almost 6kgs.

This massive weight loss actually scared me! I have always been quite athletic, fit and slim because of dance training so 6kgs was ALOT to lose from my already small frame. After Summer was over and I was back at Uni for another year, I fell back on old habits and gained back about 5kgs.

LITTLE CHANGES
At the start of January I implemented a "no lollies or chocolate bars" 30 day challenge into my life. At the start of February, a "no Facebook" 30 day challenge. Coming up to the end of February, I will have gone 2 months without chocolate bars and lollies and a month without Facebook.

Removing those 3 things from my life have dramatically improved my life. I have lost 3kgs and am no longer exhausted during the day from removing lollies and chocoalte bars, and because I am no longer using the computer at night and waisting hours on Facebook, I feel better, am more productive and find that I have no trouble falling asleep at night (which is something I have always struggled with).

Go me!

[Ali from The Office Diet]

Cool! Looks like the conclusion so far is that some people thrive on sudden, big, change and others on little incremental ones... maybe I should've guessed that one!

Bodhi, maybe you need to try making one small change at a time till you get where you want to be? Sounds like Marco Polo's experience echos yours (I know just what you mean about that image of the big mac -- I dream about cakes and cookies and chocolate when I get too strict about my diet!)

HatsOff2Halford, I'm very impressed! I'm guessing you were inspired by Steve?

Michelle, it's great you've found a deeper appreciation for food now.

Quin, well done on the Facebook-fast! I quit playing an online RPG that I'd been into for years last Lent (most of my friends had stopped playing, so I was only sticking around out of habit.) It's amazing how much more productive I've been since...

Thanks for the responses, anyway, all of you.

Best,

Ali

[Ohabu]

I also like to do it all at once. I went from a rather regular diet to completely raw on the 2nd of january and have never looked back.

I quit smoking cold turkey two years ago.

Right now I'm working on that polyphasic sleep experiment. It's going okai, not as hard as I expected it would. Overslept the first day but seems to be getting into the groove now (day 4). Driving the car feels a bit dangerouns, I'm noticing a clear dip in concentration levels and had to break hard on 3 different occations. Will leave the car alone for a few days.