I find the principles of radical acceptance, help me with my own head obstacles. I also make a bargain with myself to do 10 minutes of exercise on my exercise app I can quit and do more or just keep doing it after 10 minutes

It all adds up.

Most importantly for me is to log food as soon as I eat it and to do a mindful assessment prior to eating something. Why do I want it? Do I need it for my health To fuel my body? If it's a treat, can I budget it and and enjoy it wisely every bite at a time mindfully.

I'm just sharing please take what you like and leave the rest. Thank you for your helpful comments and encouragement.👏🏼🌷

@Michaela_LaGata I really like the exercise snack idea.

@themedalist , next week is going to be the challenging one for me as well. It’s my granddaughter’s graduation and party. We will have out of town visitors, and I’m hosting a special church event. I’m really going to have to work all my magic to get the yoga in.

@TerriRichardson112 and @Michaela_LaGata unlike the two of you I’m relatively new to yoga. In fact, I started it for a monthly challenge in this group and it stuck! I have never attended an in-person class. One of these days I hope to.

June plan: I decided to re-establish my daily weight recording (and reflection)…
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Thanks @77tes - you were right.
Everything is moving in the right direction!

Thanks for the Beginner Yoga link. I might go move it a try! 💜

Potted Bio - 2024 Moving forward …… I am a person who values the health and fitness of my body, mind, and spirit

Habits keep me going when motivation flags.

This month I will …..
June Focus:
Flexibility - working on body flexibility .
In June I am …..
… being mindful of the flexibility of my body
To help me do this I am …..
… doing 15+ minutes of flexibility exercise daily
yoga/Tai chi/Pilates/Qigong
🧘‍♀️ 🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️
🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️

📌Consolidating Solid Habits
🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴
🪴🪴🪴

Daily Solid Habits:
(Developed over time) YOU are worth the effort!

🧝🏻‍♀️Terri 🕊️

@MadisonMolly2017 and all

I relate to what you said about weighing yourself --if not daily then more than once a week (for me).

I have to get over my aversion to weighing myself . I know from my training that it's just one measure of fitness and doesn't reflect total health. But I agree with my doctors that I do need to monitor so I'm getting back into it. And I don't look at ups and downs as a failure. I just look at trends, over time and review.

I invested in a really good scale and I have a way to incorporate this into a morning routine. ✅

Yesterday I treated myself to a couple new tops to wear with Capri or long pants for those Afternoon /evening summer outings. Just add some jewelry and I'm good to go for business casual.

June 11 and 12 done!

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June 13 - from now on my week is going to get tricky

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June 14 🙌 me! I did my yoga in the morning. Week 2 of June done! But I already checked out tomorrow’s routine and it’s getting longer. 😬

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Motivation
Just wanted to share my personal view. I hope there’s a useful nugget here. And I’d also love to know how people do self talk etc to maintain their motivation.

For me, the key to habit maintenance is the following borrowed from behavioral health science. It is a head game first and foremost.

Responsibility means the ability to respond, so how am I going to increase my ability to engage with my health issue,( to respond) and maintain healthy habits?

Contemplation
How much of a concern do I have about the health issue and the need to address it more effectively? (significance).
This is a huge readiness factor that’s necessary before we can truly engage and maintain healthy habits. Just how important is it to us to address this issue and make a change?

Intention
What goals do I have that are reasonable, actionable and time limited to achieve a better state of health? Specificity is really important here and small steps matter.
Having goal visualization is often helpful for motivation. How will I know if I achieved my goal ? it’s best to have operational or intermediary / smaller goals towards a larger goal.
Likewise reflecting on the alternative of doing nothing or doing something that is ineffective and the health consequences of that are often helpful as well, (e.g.poor blood sugar control).
Our monthly intentions on our discussion boards are really useful.(Thanks)

Motivation
Logging progress and even the lack thereof is useful information and feedback . Avoiding all or nothing thinking is very important here. Any progress is good so keep the goal visualization (and consequences of doing nothing) in mind.

It also helps to have short mantras for motivation. Many of these are based on cognitive behavioral change principles, and I have to say that the best practices in athletic coaching and also military training have some inspirational quotes. Moderate with self compassion, however. One I like is, “I don’t have to like it. I just have to do it.” It’s immature to think that everything I do has to have instant rewards or be pleasurable. Life isn’t like that.

Use positive self talk. Many athletes do this. I try to review my own best mantras and goals at the beginning and end of the day.

Self reflection
Fail Forward, learn from a mistakes. Change behavior by changing *thinking* about it. Adjust goals to be more realistic and cherish small victories

Be gentle with ourselves, this is a journey, not a marathon. Allow time for the body to adjust to even small tweaks in our health behavior.

One thing that works for a lot of people is engaging with mindfulness and more intentional, deliberate breathing while doing a health behavior task or just dismissing urges to skip a workout or over-indulge in unnecessary food (it’s just mouth hunger. I am going to get enough to eat today and will eat again soon enough.) Then concentrate on another activity or necessary task and continue pushing through the day.

Social influence and support
Yes, we are accountable to ourselves. If we’re not motivated sufficiently, there’s nothing that anybody can do for us to make us do the work of healthy habits. However, we are also designed to be social creatures for our own protection. So positive social influence and support can help us initiate and maintain health behaviors if we have a safe and supportive community. It’s also great to take personal pride in achieving goals, even if they are small actual steps, rather than the bigger outcome goal.

I personally love seeing people move forward with their goals, and I feel inspired by it.
Thank you for being here. Onward. 🤗😽🌷

June 15 was my granddaughter’s high school graduation, and I didn’t get my yoga routine done.

June 16 was a special church event, but I did get to that yoga routine, and it felt very good!

@Michaela_LaGata , there’s so much I’d like to say about your post, maybe tomorrow.

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👩‍🎓 🧘

Happy new week Monday in the states and Tuesday and other parts of a globe. My friends and I always greet the new week with a collective text to say "new week new chances to live our best life".🤗☘️🌸

My students love the ADHD and time management adapted Pomodoro method of setting your phone or a timer for 25 minutes and only do that thing (Or related things) you have to do for 25 minutes.
Then take a little water break or breathing break, stretching whatever

If it's really hard to jumpstart an unwanted but necessary task or project set a timer for 10 minutes and tell yourself you can quit after that but don't work on it for any longer than 25 minutes then a tiny break and then get back to it if you're able to. These task icebreakers allow us to do more for longer than we expected. They help manage that sense of overwhelm when there's just too many piles or projects to tackle. This is also good for mild to moderate depression, anxiety, etc., which can inhibit action. My monitor for this is "I can stand anything for 25 minutes."

I liked what you said about self talk @Michaela_LaGata . I think it’s really important to NOT call yourself names like fat or lazy, say you have an ugly nose or ugly hair, etc. If you wouldn’t listen to that kind of talk about your child, friend, or dog, DON’T say it of yourself.

June 17 done

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Potted Bio - 2024 Moving forward …… I am a person who values the health and fitness of my body, mind, and spirit

Habits keep me going when motivation flags.

This month I will …..
June Focus:
Flexibility - working on body flexibility .
In June I am …..
… being mindful of the flexibility of my body
To help me do this I am …..
… doing 15+ minutes of flexibility exercise daily
yoga/Tai chi/Pilates/Qigong
🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️
🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️
🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️

📌Consolidating Solid Habits
🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴
🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴🪴
🪴🪴🪴

Daily Solid Habits:
(Developed over time) YOU are worth the effort!

🧝🏻‍♀️Terri 🕊️

@Michaela_LaGata I’m using similar tactics. Always good to get a different perspective on ideas.

@MadisonMolly2017 , back to heading in the right direction! Visiting with family usually means feasting, and that’s important and if it means a minor blip, that’s fine. If it’s an excuse to throw everything to the winds, that’s a problem.

@TerriRichardson112 , that flexibility to your flexibility practice is clearly working for you.

June 18 done

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👩‍🎓 🧘🧘🧘

77tes wrote: »

@MadisonMolly2017 , back to heading in the right direction! Visiting with family usually means feasting, and that’s important and if it means a minor blip, that’s fine. If it’s an excuse to throw everything to the winds, that’s a problem.

I agree. Thank you. A lot of stress- COVID on the rise & I’m immuno- compromised. 1st grandchild due Sept overseas. I’m very scared AND I love my son & he really really wants us there late Oct./Nov
I’m scared. Very tough decision. I don’t want long COVID.

I need to figure this out & move on.