21 days to create a habit

brianengland
brianengland Posts: 12 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
For anyone who questions the value of logging your food and exercise, it's important to remember that it takes 21 days to develop a habit. Habits are very hard to break. Posting and logging not only creates a record for analyzing our behaviors...but it also changes our behaviors and creates habits in the real world. Having a bad week doesn't mean you're off the rails. Jump back on the logging horse before your habits change.

Replies

  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    So if I do crack for 20 days I'm, like, fine? Good to know!
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    I always believed it was 3 months, not 3 weeks.
  • candykay0605
    candykay0605 Posts: 1,019 Member
    I have heard that before, its hard to change a habit ")
  • Kotuliak
    Kotuliak Posts: 259 Member
    For more details about how habits are formed and how they can be changed, read Charles Duhigg - The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business - http://www.amazon.com/dp/081298160X . It's an interesting read.
  • Jasmunr
    Jasmunr Posts: 147 Member
    EvgeniZyntx wrote: »
    So if I do crack for 20 days I'm, like, fine? Good to know!

    A habit and an addiction are two different things.

    In an addiction the drug is either a antagonist or agonist blocking or mimicking neurotransmitters. Alcohol for example mimics gaba receptors. So if you drink too much your body believes it's making too much gaba and stops production. So if you stop drinking your body gets sick.

    A habit is something entirely different. It can occasionally involve endorphins but it is not an addiction.
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    Can logging really count as a habit? Habits tend to be defined as things you do subconsciously and automatically, rather than things you have to think about. Things that you don't even realise you're doing until someone or something points it out. For example, I always subconsciously hit ctrl+s at the end of every sentence when writing something in Word, which gets incredibly annoying when I'm just writing something quick that I don't intend on saving because the save as box is constantly interrupting me.

    It seems hard to subconsciously/automatically log your food. I guess the desire to log or the feeling that you've not done something if you don't log might be there, but I don't think the act of logging itself can ever truly become a habit. I also say this because I logged everything religiously for 2 years, and it was only too easy to stop logging when I stopped counting calories lol
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
    Motivation is important in the formation and maintenance of habit. I did a massive cleaning and pitching of stuff from my house with the intention of putting away every dish and item of clothing when I was finished with it. I made it about 6 weeks before I started sliding.
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