How long did it take before your healthier life changes became habit?

Literally overnight but I’ve always been like that. I just tell myself “this is how it’s gonna be” and that’s how it is.

ebony__ wrote: »

Whether it be your exercise routine or eating or what ever changes you(‘ve) set out to make became completely natural to you rather than a battle with your will power or self motivation (if that makes sense). I’ve read the 21day rule is more an absolute minimum than a rule and 66 days is a better average and there’s no ‘one size fits all’

Instant change has never worked for me. I started as a person who gained a lot of weight. I am not trying to become a person with less weight I am trying to become a person that would have never gained it. I make small changes over time so for me the answer will be however long it takes me to get to maintenance and all the adjustments I have to make when I get there to be successful.

Because I make small changes normal is never too far behind and so willpower and heavy doses of motivation are not needed as often. New habits form pretty easy because I keep building on them. It is like walking. I am not trying to walk the amount that I would like to walk when I have all my weight off I am just trying to walk more. I get accustomed to whatever I am doing then I push myself to do more.

It is one of the reasons I am not in any major hurry to get my weight off. Losing weight can't be my primary goal or I risk just regaining it. I have to change my habits and my mindset.

I don't think there's a pat answer. Or, the answer is anything from "instantly" to "never".

I'm pretty old (63). Over time, I've had any number of healthy habits that I no longer have. For example, at various times in my life, I had a regular daily yoga practice, and at different times I carried on with that for several months to well over a year. For about 8 years, I practiced a chinese martial art several times a week. I no longer do either of those things (for now, anyway ).

But I've been vegetarian for 45 years (some people would consider that a "healthy habit"; I just consider it a habit ). I've been an on-water rower, training several times a week, sometimes even competing, for 16+ years. I've been going to spin classes, usually twice a week, for probably at least a decade. And now I've been at a healthy weight for nearly 4 years, after decades of obesity (yes, I was obese while rowing and spinning, for quite a few years).

Other things I pick up and drop, over and over. Strength training is one. I know it's best for me to do it, but I don't find it all that fun, so I'm off and on with it, realistically.

Some habits are just an instant, easy fit. They don't take much motivation or willpower, and fit quite flexibility into our lives, even as life changes. Others are natural and easy for a while, but then circumstances change. Some are so important that we can use that scarce willpower and motivation to keep doing them, even when it's a bit of a force-fit in our lives.

I feel like I have a limited storehouse of willpower, and from time to time I need it for things that have little to do with health or weight management. The more I can come up with a routine that fits really well in my life, that's so enjoyable or beneficial that it's quite self-sustaining (ideally even through periods of stress and life change), the more likely those habits are to stick. So, in my case, part of success is trying to game my personal quirks and preferences to put as many good things as possible in that "seductively easy" category, and save up willpower for things that are harder (or for emergency stressors in my life).

If I were trying to turn that into advice for someone else to think about, I guess the advice would be to find ways, as much as possible, to make good habits easy and enjoyable, rather than thinking in terms of "how long do I have to force myself to do something in order for it to become habit".

Some of making things easy and enjoyable is about attitude and self-definition. (If I start by thinking "I hate exercise but I must exercise", I'm not setting myself up for success, vs. thinking "I need to try some exercise options until I find one I really enjoy, though I'm maybe just not there yet.")

Some of it is being willing to experiment to see what's easy and enjoyable (like trying different alternative ways of eating to see what best keeps me most happy, energetic, full, and satisified).

Some of it is learning/practicing skills or traits that will be helpful in this realm (and others), and building my confidence in using those (I'm talking things like patience, or ability to break a big goal into small steps and chip away at it).

I'm not sure that's useful to anyone else, but that's kind of how I think about it.

Best wishes! :drinker:

Speaking only for myself, that 21 days seems more like the honeymoon period, when motivation is still extremely high and there's euphoria about how easy this all is, so much easier than expected. Weight is still falling off in sheets, exercise is fun, life is changing for the better, perhaps there's been an initial compliment from a friend that I look thinner, etc.

By day 21 there's no reality check yet, or at least wasn't for me. E.g. Hitting a plateau. Pulling a muscle and not being able to work out for a while. Ending up in a bar with friends and saying F it, I need some fried mozzarella sticks. Etc. That stuff does happen and that's when you find out if you have "habits" or just easily-derailed enthusiasm.

I think it was around 3 months before I was so ensconsed in my measure, eat, log, weigh in, get on exercise machine routine that it had truly become a routine. By then I had had a few unexpected mega gorge fests in the rear view mirror and had learned how to deal better with them. I could walk into a 7-11 to get a banana and not look longingly at the candy aisle. I could go out to eat with people and not overeat at all, not even be tempted, because I was on plan and was happy being on plan and just didn't want to go off plan, not even for an hour. That hadn't happened by day 21, not by a long shot.

As far as it becoming "natural" to me, no, at first I was trying to do too many things at once. Eat healthy. Eat less. Eat this, don't eat that. It was successful (weight was lost) but tiresome. It was in the 2nd month that I realized that, while my regimen was working, I was getting irritated with the tedium. Finally I decided that the problem was, the food was too healthy and the tedium was mostly about not getting the sugar and saturated fat I wanted LOL I lightened up on the whole "healthy eating" thing and focused almost exclusively on weight loss. Voila, the tedium evaporated and I was happy to be on plan at all times. Not necessarily advising that for other people, I'm just noting that for me, having one thing and only one thing to worry about - not exceeding my MFP calorie target - helped me get centered and ready to do this long term. I've never looked back since, and haven't had an off-meal since, either.

Overnight but I'm probably an outlier in this regard.

On the night 7th January 2018 I had a bit of an epiphany. For whatever reason in that moment I decided that I'd had enough of being the weight I was and being the sort of person that weight as much as I did so I decided then and there that it wasn't me anymore and when I woke up the next day it wasn't.

From that point on I just *was* a person who's behaviour was that of someone who didn't have a weight problem and I've been that person for over 18 months now. The only thing left to do is to wait for my body to catch up.

As I said, my case certainly doesn't appear to be typical but it seems to be the way my brain works as this isn't the first time I've had a life changing defining moment like this. What it does say, to me at least, is that we all have the ability to decide who we're going to be at any point in time.

I'd like to add that by far the most profound healthy life change I made was to accept that I'm a fallible human being. Previously I held myself to impossible standards when trying to do something about my weight. Anything short of perfection was failure and slipping in adherence even once was unacceptable.

The most healthy thing I ever did was to give myself a break and let myself be a normal human being who does normal things. Eating myself into a food coma on Christmas day? Enjoying some sweets while watching a movie at the cinema? Having a slice of birthday cake? All things 'normal' people do and all perfectly OK for me to do as well.

I don't think anything has helped me lose the weight I've lost more than allowing myself to be 'normal' and do 'normal' things. Trying to be perfect made losing weight so difficult and arduous and for the most part made me pretty miserable. However, just accepting that being 'good enough' is all that's required has made losing weight comparatively far less stressful and, on the whole pretty easy.