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