One Step at a Time

I have developed far more bad eating/exercise habits than good ones this past year (or more). So I am trying to redevelop some better habits. Trying to change a lot of things at the same time simply doesn't work for me. So I'm trying to add or deduct one habit a week.

Week #1 - I added drinking 2 litres of water to my day. That was easy. Instead of grabbing a third and fourth cup of coffee, I grabbed a water bottle. I added that to my day and have continued on with that small step in the right direction.

Week #2 - I stopped buying potato chips. Not a big thing for many people. A huge thing for me. I look at a bag of chips and I start to salivate, my knees go weak and my resistance to the lure of whatever sale is on (and there is always a sale) is nil. So as easy as that sounds, it was not. I kept my resolve for 7 days. Then Kurt and I decided to buy snacks and watch a few movies on the weekend. The can of Pringles was shared by both of us for 2 evenings of movies (then I polished them off by myself Sunday morning). So considering my usual potato chip intake, this was not perfect ... but once the chips were gone, I didn't buy any more (and boy, have I been tempted!).

Week #3 - This week. I have added 20 minutes of exercise to my morning routine. I need to extend the time, but for this week I am content to just try to relearn the habit of getting up early and moving! I've succeeded 3 days in a row. I almost talked myself out of it this morning but I told myself that I could do 20 minutes. 20 minutes is easy.

I took away one more item from my diet this week. Soda pop. That should be easy. The big temptation is the pop that a person gets with a take-out meal combo. I crave pop every now and again (though it usually is hand in hand with a chip craving).

I gained all of these bad habits slowly but surely. My plan, in trying to regain some good eating habits. Gradually. One bad habit (replaced by one good habit) at a time.