Jillian Michaels on bad habits......

Lisa J.
on 4/28/09 12:16 am - OK

I know we talk a lot about "we're not getting surgery on our brains"........so here's this article:

Get this: Research has shown that behaviors like what you eat and whether you exercise are deeply set into physical neural connections in your brain. All of your beliefs, your habits, everything making up your mental reality, is contained in physical neural-pathways. So in order to make real changes to your lifestyle and slim down, you've got to learn how to get in there and change your brain!

The first time you have an experience or learn something new, chances are a new pathway is created. Then the next time you have that experience, your brain will search to see if you have experienced it before. If you have, it'll follow the same pathway. The more often you have that experience or think that thought, the stronger that neural pathway holding that thought or behavior will become. This is how a thought or action becomes a habit.

By repeating a pattern, we strengthen the neural pathways being used for this behavior and essentially reinforce our propensity to be "stuck in a rut"—literally. Here's an example: Let's say that you have been binge eating late at night in your home off a certain set of plates and now you have decided you want to stop that behavior. But, every time you eat off those plates you have been hard-wired to overeat, making it exponentially more difficult to break that destructive habit.

You cannot rationally "think" these physical networks away. But you can change them in two ways:

1. You gradually force the pathway to weaken and atrophy over a period of time by not using it.

Every time you resist the urge to eat an extra cookie when you're upset, or use the ranch dressing at the salad bar, you're allowing those old patterns and pathways to die away so that you can slim down and get healthier. You can do this by pausing and thinking through your choice. Ask yourself what the consequences of that choice will be. That allows you to move from the impulsive part of your personality to the part of your brain that can reason before automatically reacting.

2. Override the old pathway by wiring in a new behavior.

Let's say you've been going to the same supermarket for years—and buying garbage foods that don't support your efforts to lose weight. Try a new supermarket! It seems strange, but simply being in a new location will help you not fall into old patterns of grabbing your same-old old junk food from the same old shelves. Then repeat. Something that will help create a strong neural pathway is repetition. It's not as complicated as the term "neural pathways" makes it sound: Just know that you actually can create physical changes in your brain, hard wiring yourself for success.

Okay, now what old habits are you going to break? And what will you replace them with?

Jillian Michaels is the author of the new book Master Your Metabolism and the motivation coach for the Body by Glamour shape-up program. She's helped dozens of people get slim and healthy as a trainer on "The Biggest Loser," and has helped thousands of others through her DVDs and books.

 
Lisa J
HW: 277   Day of Surgery: 234    CW: 161 Goal: 135 sounds good but....? Who knows!



HW/277   EVAL/260  PREOP/246  SURGERY DAY/243   CW/162 1/3/2011
(deactivated member)
on 4/28/09 1:31 am

I believe this is true-I tossed out both my recliners- because I used them when I had leg surgery and my lap band.  I feel like by getting them out of the house, I disabled that "sitting for comfort poor me" button and I move a lot more.

I still put my feet up, and I may even get another recliner one day-but getting the "old faithful" out of the house was a good step, at least for me.

My "new" habit is to go out to the pergola and rest on the chaise-but unlike a recliner in front of the TV-I can't do that for hours and hours.  Also-there is nothing out there but a couple of other chairs-my purpose for entering my "zen den" is simply to relax, mindfully. 

fleemore1
on 4/28/09 2:08 am - Harrah, OK
Thanks for sharing this article.  It is so true for me.  I did change the "plates" I eat on.  I bought some new pretty salad plates/coffee cups and bowls.  I saw no need to buy any "dinner size" plates.  My husband even eates from one most of the time.  A dinner size plate typically holds way to much food even for those who haven't had WLS.  I still have a lot of work to do on my brain but I am a work in process!!! 

This is the ride of my life.....what an amazing tool I now have!!!
Kim J.
on 4/28/09 2:26 am - Claremore, OK
Thanks for sharing that.  That was good information and it makes sense!

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." Erma Bombeck
  
19 lbs lost before surgery
9/3/09  Full TT, MR, BL, BA, Arm Reduction and Lipo 10-12 lbs skin/fat removed

Patiurple
on 4/28/09 6:03 am - Wheatland, OK
Like Deb I got rid of my big comfy recliner that I used for four of my 11 surgeries. And got rid of all my dishes that I had prior to wls. Plus i even went and bought smaller pots and pans...it was expensive to buyt them individually but well worth it
being healthy has its rewards....take the challenge and just do it
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