By How to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones
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Evidence Based
“It seems so easy for her to eat healthy all the time, I wish I could stick to that kind of diet.”
“I wish I had the work ethic to show up to the gym every day like that guy.”
“Why is it so easy for other people to stay lean even through the holidays?”
Chances are good you’ve had one of these thoughts or know someone who has.
And once you understand the relatively simple levers you need to pull to get in shape—controlling your calorie intake, lifting weights, eating enough protein, and so forth—it’s making yourself pull these levers every day that leads to long-term progress.
So why is it so hard to actually do these things?
Why do we get up early to go to the gym for a few weeks before succumbing to the temptation to hit the snooze button?
Why do we eat more home-cooked meals of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats for a month or two, only to fall back into the habit of getting takeout multiple times per week?
Well, the unfortunate answer is this is simply our genetic hardwiring in action.
We seek instant gratification, the path of least resistance, and quick fixes, because these are generally the easiest ways to get what we want in the moment, even if they’re counter to our long-term goals.
This is why it’s much easier to grab that donut on the way back to your desk, bite into it and receive immediate feelings of delicious happiness than it is to eat the carrots and celery you packed as a snack.
The daily discipline required to exercise more and eat better may not pay obvious dividends until months down the road.
So, if our lazy human tendencies are constantly trying to pull us off the straight and narrow path, how do we work around them?
When you ask people who consistently live a healthy lifestyle how they stay motivated to eat healthy and workout, it’s likely they’ll respond with something along the lines of, “I don’t really have to think about it anymore, I just do it! It’s part of my life.”
Good for them, you might be thinking, but how can you rewire your habits so you can stick to healthy behaviors?
That’s what you’re going to learn in this podcast.
The truth is you don’t have to rely on willpower, discipline, and self-denial to force yourself to eat healthy or work out regularly.
Instead, the major key to changing your lifestyle is to first change your habits, and this is much simpler than you may realize.
Let’s get started.
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Timestamps:
6:03 – What is a habit?
16:40 – How do you get good at creating habits?
Mentioned on the show:
Legion VIP One-on-One Coaching
What did you think of this episode? Have anything else to share? Let me know in the comments below!
+ Scientific References
- Lally P, Van Jaarsveld CHM, Potts HWW, Wardle J. How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. doi:10.1002/ejsp.674
- Krogholm KS, Bredsdorff L, Alinia S, Christensen T, Rasmussen SE, Dragsted LO. Free fruit at workplace intervention increases total fruit intake: A validation study using 24 h dietary recall and urinary flavonoid excretion. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2010;64(10):1222-1228. doi:10.1038/ejcn.2010.130
- Goto K, Waite A, Wolff C, Chan K, Giovanni M. Do Environmental Interventions Impact Elementary School Students’ Lunchtime Milk Selection? Appl Econ Perspect Policy. 2013;35(2):360-376. doi:10.1093/aepp/ppt004
- Milkman KL, Minson JA, Volpp KGM. Holding the hunger games hostage at the Gym: An evaluation of temptation bundling. Manage Sci. 2014;60(2):283-299. doi:10.1287/mnsc.2013.1784
- Bélanger-Gravel A, Godin G, Amireault S. A meta-analytic review of the effect of implementation intentions on physical activity. Health Psychol Rev. 2013;7(1):23-54. doi:10.1080/17437199.2011.560095
- Adriaanse MA, Vinkers CDW, De Ridder DTD, Hox JJ, De Wit JBF. Do implementation intentions help to eat a healthy diet? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the empirical evidence. Appetite. 2011;56(1):183-193. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2010.10.012
- Gollwitzer PM, Sheeran P. Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: A Meta-analysis of Effects and Processes. Adv Exp Soc Psychol. 2006;38:69-119. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1
- Ostendorf DM, Caldwell AE, Creasy SA, et al. Physical Activity Energy Expenditure and Total Daily Energy Expenditure in Successful Weight Loss Maintainers. Obesity. 2019;27(3):496-504. doi:10.1002/oby.22373
- Soini S, Mustajoki P, Eriksson JG. Weight loss methods and changes in eating habits among successful weight losers. Ann Med. 2016;48(1-2):76-82. doi:10.3109/07853890.2015.1136428
- Neal DT, Wood W, Labrecque JS, Lally P. How do habits guide behavior? Perceived and actual triggers of habits in daily life. J Exp Soc Psychol. 2012;48(2):492-498. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.10.011
- Wood W, Quinn JM, Kashy DA. Habits in everyday life: Thought, emotion, and action. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2002;83(6):1281-1297. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1281
- Schwabe L, Wolf OT. Stress prompts habit behavior in humans. J Neurosci. 2009;29(22):7191-7198. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0979-09.2009
- Dickinson A. Actions and Habits: The Development of Behavioural Autonomy. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci. 1985;308(1135):67-78. doi:10.1098/rstb.1985.0010
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