Good Morning. Kicking bad habits and starting good ones

Do you have tried and true methods of kicking bad habits and starting good ones? Please share how you go about it.

I'm a "tracker". I set goals and establish things I can check off a list that will get me where I want to go. The first 2 years post-op, I kept a diet diary on paper. I could carry around my diary page for the day and check things off as I accomplished them. My diet diary page included meds, vitamins, fluids, exercises, food and space to record carb and protein values. All-in-one and portable. I have a copy in Word and Excel if anyone would like to see how I constructed my page. Kept them all in a 4" loose leaf binder. I can go back and see what I did my first 1 week, 1st year, etc. 

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--gina
  

I'd love to see how you did your tracking Gina,  I'll PM you my email address.

 that sounds really good   organized Gina !  It really makes sense to record things too   so U can go back and see what U actually WERE doing ... Im so guilty of having the BOTTLES  of various supplemental  vitamins but hardly ever  remembering to TAKE them  GRRR ...

funny the ones i never miss are the ones im convinced help keep me thin ...  the others i can neglect    as  if my overall HEALTH  didn't matter  ? !  particularly  poor iron gets forgotten .... the hair vitamins ... the calcium often... 

For me, if I get off track about things, I pick one thing to fix and fix that and then move on to the next one.

For tracking, I do it all electronically. I tracked my food online and then I'd download the info into excel so I could keep a summary, one file for each month.

My best successful start that works great for me is restarting exercise in a very user - friendly way .

I put my exercise equipment - shoes, walkman, bras , shorts , jacket ..etc ... in a designated place the night before .

When i get up I gasup ( 2 protein chai teas ) - then sunscreen , braid my hair and and away we go.... ...

I havea VERY limited goal so employment / a busy schedule cant be my excuse not to go . ( about a mile and a half one way ) . I can WALK if I feel like it or jog or lope or a mix of the two . If Im really feeling rebellious , I can even walk back along the avenue and SHOP .

The point is I go to my designated destination . I get past the hard first 1/4 mile . I start to enjoy myself . MOST of the time I will have switched to longer more scenic route by the river which is about 4 1/2 miles total ...

But I give myself ABSOLUTE permission to turn around and come home if im not having fun.... thats the key ,....

so its ALWAYS a POSITIVE experience , not Ava beating herself up . Trust me it makes all the difference in the WORLD . I look forward to my runs and my blades !! Over time I have associated exercise with FUN , with relaxation and mental peace .... not WEIGHT LOSS .

Im not POUNDING my self esteem as I pound the pavement anymore ...

I dont know if I have kicked any bad habits?
I do know I have a severe sweet tooth and have learned to substitute it with SF stuff (popsicles) but I was disciplined before surgery, I was already on a strict low carb, high protein diet about 2 years before I even started the process for surgery. I lost from 220 to 190 and could not get any further, I made sure I put back on to over 200 to be sure I qualified ( I was scared I wouldnt qualify) So believe it or not, I am not sure.

my bad habit kicked is no more soda!! Never used to drink water just diet soda after diet soda..expensive and full of sodium! Soo glad I hate soda now...I can't believe I used to find it thirst quenching now its like yuck..

I have a bad habit that I would like to kick. How do people quit the night time grazing??

I have other great habits, like, I journal everything that I eat, I exercise 4-6 times/week, and I weigh everyday. Also, so far, I have stayed away from sweets, breads, and chips. I;m in maintenance now, so I will continue to do those things, so that I remain mindful of what is going into my mouth.

Gail

Reading that you still don't eat sweets, breads, and chips was music to my ears!!!  Stay away from them as long as you can because once you allow them into your daily menus it will be a constant battle fighting them off.

Thanks, Roz. I can't have those things in the house or I will graze on them. I started eating popcorn, but stopped it, after about 2 weeks. Bread, I just don't have room for it, after I eat the healthy things, and luckily, I don't crave it. Sweets, I just don't dare to go there, but I also don't really crave them any longer. My daily indulgence is a Skinny Vanilla Latte, just nonfat milk and sugar-free syrup. I totally agree, about not having sweets, breads, and chips in our daily menus. That is how I became obese.