Dropbox of Supportive Behaviors

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I just wanted to create a place where I could keep track of supportive behaviors that I find. I read a lot and like to glean useful, evidence based information from the world to make this project easier. I am a planner and a researcher so I am looking for behaviors that are supportive of weight loss and health. When I find them, I'll post them here in case anyone else cares. Individual things that might just be for my situation I'll post on my status. General info here.

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  • theowlbox
    theowlbox Posts: 912 Member
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    Most common and often obvious behaviors (from an article quoting Bringham and Women's Weight control Program)

    Include Cardio and Resistance exercise on your life. A few times a week.

    Eat what you enjoy. (Perhaps try to change your palate where appropriate to enjoy less salty and sweet by repeated exposure)

    Track food (it might just be a forever kind of thing)

    Have a support group of system around you to strengthen your life choices so you need less willpower for daily life.

    Create goals to keep focused and challenged. Boredom and lack of attention can cause stagnation and reversal of habits.

    Keep trying new forms of exercise. (See above, also, as you age you'll need different things. Making trying new things a habit makes it less difficult and turns it into something you just do.)

    Track weight as a common and normal practice. Take the sting out of it by making it commonplace.
  • theowlbox
    theowlbox Posts: 912 Member
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    Embrace the new lifestyle you created to lose weight and gain health. Make it enjoyable so that it's possible to maintain the behaviors. (Also from Bringham and Women's WCP)
  • theowlbox
    theowlbox Posts: 912 Member
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    Watched 2 Youtube videos on Self Discipline by Terry Crews (former NFL player, actor, and current Old Spice spokesman). Though he is not a neutral source for diet/exercise info, he has some great suggestions on behavior modification that have worked for him over many years of attending to his body for use as a tool in his career. Here are my notes.

    5 Steps to Self Discipline
    (Remember: discipline is not punishment. It's training. Remove the negative connotation. This is what athletes do (training) as opposed to thinking you are punishing yourself into changing.)

    1. Avoid temptation
    2. Eat healthfully and regularly. You are at your weakest when you are:
    H - hungry
    A - angry
    L - lonely
    D - dehydrated
    3. Don't wait for it to feel right. You are making new patterns and it will feel off even if it is correct.
    4. Schedule breaks, rewards and treats. Try to stay away from using what you have been working on as a treat, but you have to enjoy life, so plan a reward and relax. (You either plan it and handle it skillfully or you let the mood strike you and you have a higher liklihood of just indulging with no plan.)
    5. Forgive yourself and move on. Failure is temporary if you use the information as a learning opportunity and move on. Not if you take it as a loss. If you take it as a loss you are making it permanent. Practice forgetting the stuff you did and start over.

    (You can watch the videos in their entirety on his YouTube channel.)