Make new friends but keep the old.....remember that song? I looked up the lyrics because all I had ever heard was the first line. It sparked a thought in my head.
Being diagnosed with diabetes I had to form new habits. Insulin injections 4x a day (in the beginning), check blood sugars 3x a day, and not to mention new food habits. It was either get used to these habits or.....well, die.
Once I was in the swing of the weight loss journey, I formed new habits just about every day. I tracked every day, started exercising by walking and working out with a trainer. I gave up certain things in order to be healthier.....sodas, fast food, candy, sweets. It became a habit for me to wake up before sunrise and walk....first it was 3 miles, then it was 5, then it jumped to 10 miles every morning. I would walk again in the afternoon. Attending a yoga class became part of my activity habit.
Eating healthier, wiser, and and somewhat clean became a habit. I tossed out the artificial sweeteners....including Truvia. I opted for chicken more often than red meat. Instead of the regular light yogurt, I switched to greek yogurt and haven't looked back. I limited/eliminated certain carbs. Then there's the most important habit I formed and that was attending every Weight Watcher meeting, every Sunday. Weighing in no matter what. All of this was good until.........
Believe it or not, those old habits we think got tossed out still linger.....until we choose to replace them. Maybe not in the original form, but they are there. As part of changing our lifestyle - to a healthier lifestyle - we must learn to recognize when an old habit needs to be replaced. It seemed after I reached goal and was at a weight I haven't seen since high school, those old habits that I thought were gone, were not replaced. Not all, but a few. I have mentioned, on here and to several of you, the celebration lasted longer than I wanted. Then I started dating.......that was a disaster. Then I lost my job. I stopped attending the Weight Watcher meetings faithfully - every Sunday. My plan was to weigh in no matter what because my plan was to never get back on that road to gaining weight. Somehow, I took a detour and merged on that road without realizing it.
I started eating, "snacking," on the wrong foods. I think I have tried ever flavor of Chex Mix they make. I ate other things too. Chocolate chips. Chocolate chips mixed with the Chex Mix. Peanuts. So it wasn't the food I used to eat but it was the same old habit...snacking and eating just because. I stopped eating salads because I was home and snacked instead. After my dating disasters, the old habit of not feeling worthy of myself came back.....didn't even bother knocking. Same with looking for a job and not getting an interview. The old habit of telling myself I wasn't good enough or someone else had something I didn't was back. Which led to.....what? Eating. Oh, the major factor of my slump. My walking buddy and awesome friend moving nearly 4 hours away to Fort Worth. We stopped walking together and I stopped walking in the afternoon altogether.
So, the old habits have to be replaced with new better habits. Replace them with new, healthier habits to deal with stress and boredom, sadness. For example, if eating is a result of stress or feeling inadequate, it is not good to stop eating cold turkey. Change the food that is eaten. I feel like I'm having to learn that all over again. When I feel depressed, stressed or anything else, I need to change what I eat or do instead of munching down on a bag of Chex Mix and chocolate chips.
For instance, this last month I have felt inadequate and unworthy. The next thing to do if I don't eat anything is to bake. Baking can be therapeutic. But as I was looking through recipes, I realized baking might not be the best thing to do. Although I boast that I don't eat what I bake, sometimes I tend to sneak a bite. I need to find another way to deal with those feelings. Get out of the house, go on another walk. Lay out by the pool. Anything but be in the kitchen.
So the title is not true. You DO NOT keep the old habits. They are replaced by newer, better habits. Maybe find a substitute for your bad habit. Have a plan ready to do something instead of whatever it is you are dealing with. Knock out as many triggers as possible. In the beginning, I realized having the fruity adult drinks with apps was not a good stop along my journey. So I stopped going to the bars and happy hours. Somehow snacking seems to accompany watching TV. Have fruit on hand or other healthy snacks if snacking MUST happen.
See where this is going? In the last few weeks, I am resetting myself so to speak and trying to start fresh. Get in the frame of mind of when I first started on this journey. I need to replace the old habits that keep coming back with new ones....better ones.....better for me.
Y'all have a great weekend!
"I want to see what happens if I don't give up."
Christina
Being diagnosed with diabetes I had to form new habits. Insulin injections 4x a day (in the beginning), check blood sugars 3x a day, and not to mention new food habits. It was either get used to these habits or.....well, die.
Once I was in the swing of the weight loss journey, I formed new habits just about every day. I tracked every day, started exercising by walking and working out with a trainer. I gave up certain things in order to be healthier.....sodas, fast food, candy, sweets. It became a habit for me to wake up before sunrise and walk....first it was 3 miles, then it was 5, then it jumped to 10 miles every morning. I would walk again in the afternoon. Attending a yoga class became part of my activity habit.
Eating healthier, wiser, and and somewhat clean became a habit. I tossed out the artificial sweeteners....including Truvia. I opted for chicken more often than red meat. Instead of the regular light yogurt, I switched to greek yogurt and haven't looked back. I limited/eliminated certain carbs. Then there's the most important habit I formed and that was attending every Weight Watcher meeting, every Sunday. Weighing in no matter what. All of this was good until.........
Believe it or not, those old habits we think got tossed out still linger.....until we choose to replace them. Maybe not in the original form, but they are there. As part of changing our lifestyle - to a healthier lifestyle - we must learn to recognize when an old habit needs to be replaced. It seemed after I reached goal and was at a weight I haven't seen since high school, those old habits that I thought were gone, were not replaced. Not all, but a few. I have mentioned, on here and to several of you, the celebration lasted longer than I wanted. Then I started dating.......that was a disaster. Then I lost my job. I stopped attending the Weight Watcher meetings faithfully - every Sunday. My plan was to weigh in no matter what because my plan was to never get back on that road to gaining weight. Somehow, I took a detour and merged on that road without realizing it.
I started eating, "snacking," on the wrong foods. I think I have tried ever flavor of Chex Mix they make. I ate other things too. Chocolate chips. Chocolate chips mixed with the Chex Mix. Peanuts. So it wasn't the food I used to eat but it was the same old habit...snacking and eating just because. I stopped eating salads because I was home and snacked instead. After my dating disasters, the old habit of not feeling worthy of myself came back.....didn't even bother knocking. Same with looking for a job and not getting an interview. The old habit of telling myself I wasn't good enough or someone else had something I didn't was back. Which led to.....what? Eating. Oh, the major factor of my slump. My walking buddy and awesome friend moving nearly 4 hours away to Fort Worth. We stopped walking together and I stopped walking in the afternoon altogether.
So, the old habits have to be replaced with new better habits. Replace them with new, healthier habits to deal with stress and boredom, sadness. For example, if eating is a result of stress or feeling inadequate, it is not good to stop eating cold turkey. Change the food that is eaten. I feel like I'm having to learn that all over again. When I feel depressed, stressed or anything else, I need to change what I eat or do instead of munching down on a bag of Chex Mix and chocolate chips.
For instance, this last month I have felt inadequate and unworthy. The next thing to do if I don't eat anything is to bake. Baking can be therapeutic. But as I was looking through recipes, I realized baking might not be the best thing to do. Although I boast that I don't eat what I bake, sometimes I tend to sneak a bite. I need to find another way to deal with those feelings. Get out of the house, go on another walk. Lay out by the pool. Anything but be in the kitchen.
So the title is not true. You DO NOT keep the old habits. They are replaced by newer, better habits. Maybe find a substitute for your bad habit. Have a plan ready to do something instead of whatever it is you are dealing with. Knock out as many triggers as possible. In the beginning, I realized having the fruity adult drinks with apps was not a good stop along my journey. So I stopped going to the bars and happy hours. Somehow snacking seems to accompany watching TV. Have fruit on hand or other healthy snacks if snacking MUST happen.
See where this is going? In the last few weeks, I am resetting myself so to speak and trying to start fresh. Get in the frame of mind of when I first started on this journey. I need to replace the old habits that keep coming back with new ones....better ones.....better for me.
Y'all have a great weekend!
"I want to see what happens if I don't give up."
Christina
