Habits
Much of what we do is unconscious, and habitual, as we have been taking the same action over and over for years. If we want to change the results we have in our life, we first need to become aware of what we are currently doing, as that is what is creating our current results.
My clients come to me with the goal of wanting to lose weight and so one of the first things we do is uncover their current habits and behaviours around food and eating.
We look the reasons they turn to food, at different points in the day. We surface it all so we can get a baseline of what we are currently doing, as with all things, change is not sustainable if you don’t first identify and address what is causing you to weigh more than you want.
Too often this step is missed, we attack weight loss by just following a diet, or exercise program without first understanding what is causing us to be overweight. But actually understanding what we are currently doing is critical in designing the actions that we need to take in order to create different results.
Why this is so important is that our brain doesn’t like change. It wants to keep us safe and it thinks what is known is safe. What’s more our brain likes to be efficient and so the more you do things, the more unconscious it feels. Most of us don’t have to think about how we walk, as it is something that we have repeated over and over and so now is unconscious. Likewise for many of us, much of our eating has become unconscious. We have developed patterns over time, such as eating when we feel tired, that we often don’t even realise have become habitual.
When creating change, what is important to understand is that our brain wants us to stay unconscious, so that we keep repeating the old familiar patterns over and over, because what is known is safe and one of our brains primary goals, is to keep us safe.
So if we want to start achieving our goals, we need to understand this about our brain, so that we can start deliberately and consciously choosing different actions that help get us to our goal. At first this may feel uncomfortable, because we are taking new actions, however our brain is a brilliant thing, and so as we take these new actions over and over, it then will want to maintain your new status quo, which means soon enough it will become your new normal. The key is allowing a little discomfort in the short term and a lot of self love, whilst you change patterns, to new ones that support the results you want.
Below are a few questions to help you start to uncover some of your patterns around food.
What are the different reasons you eat throughout the day? (Habit, hunger, pleasure, joy, overwhelm, boredom)
Do the reasons differ depending on the time or day of the week? If so how?
For each of the reasons you outlined for when you eat, decide which reason you like, and which you would like to change and work with just one.
Identify what feeling you are trying to either feel, or avoid and think of something else you could do in that moment to still give yourself what you are after, but in another way.
Each day write down how you are going to take a different action, set yourself up for success by making it as easy as possible for you to take the new action and then go about your day, until you get to that point in the day.
Notice the resistance your brain might offer, let it know everything is ok and then take your new action. Once you have done that, really acknowledge yourself, be proud and then repeat each day.
Change is created in the small steps we consistently take. Over time, these steps will create a new status quo.
