Topic : Breaking Unhealthy Habits

I loved what you said about asking your self Am I Hungry?  The answer for that for me would usually be no, or even I don't know.  That even sounds silly to me, that a grown woman doesn't even know when she is hungry.  I think that is because I never let myself get to that point.  I eat for every OTHER reason.  Reward to myself has become a big reason and I didn't even realize it.   I've been reading Dr. Phil a lot over the last few days and I've made some big changes in my head.  I ask myself now,  do I really need that  (what ever food is in my mind at the moment)  the answer is usually no.  I've decided to reward myself in other ways.  New clothes will be a much better reward that a stack of cookies after dinner.  I've had a good few days with food.  No snacks or junk for 4 days now.  I know this doesn't sound like much, but to me its huge.  I can picture myself  6-7 mo. down the road, and I like what I see.  This is the best reward I can give myself.

Falling down and picking yourself up is the only way you are going to adapt new behaviors.  Old habits are so hard to break ....  cuase something always challenges you to see if you are serious.   

  

If you stop for whatever reasons, just say OKAY and pick yourself up and continue to BEHAVE IN YOUR NEW BEHAVIOR/HABITS.  It does work.  It does get easier. 

Hi, everyone, my name is ShaVaughnya and I'm new to the message boards. I'm 21 and I am unfortunately weighing in at 241. I recently had a baby but I gained a lot of the weight after my son was born three months ago. I picked up Dr. Phil's ultimate weight loss solutions and I love it but as we've all come to realize - bad habits die hard. I think at this point I need to do some re-evaluated. Honestly, I've gained the last 8 lbs since I've started reading the book- which is confusing and frustrating me. I have done the whole raid your house thing but I'vecome to realize I have no idea what is healthy or not because I come from a family of longtime junk food eaters. I buy the whole wheat bread and I eat a lot of raw vegetables and whatnot but it seems i still go wrong. I've begun to impliment little things into my day such as not going without a meal and using the stairs as opposed to the elevator. I realize that there is no way that I'm expending as many calories as I'm taking in and so I want to join a gym -Curves, actually, but finances may make that a little hard. I need some new menu options because I love my carbs and I know it's goin straight to my gut but I don't know very many substitutes and I get so tired of eating raw brocolli eveyr day. I need to be taking in 1600 calories or less and i'm not sure if i'm using those calories correctly. I'm drinking only diet soda, only whole grain wheat breads -if i eat breads at all, but my meal preparation is all wrong and i know it. Even the way I prepare my foods, the things I cook them in and so forth. I've began using my daughter's plates (she's almost 2) to control my portion size but what's a portion size if you're eating junk, right? maybe you guys cna help me out with this. Honestly, i'm beginning to feel despair. Like the book said, i've thrown away all my too big clothes, but now i'm bursting out of the seams so i'm gonna have to break down and buy new ones especially since i wear 'scrubs' all day 4 days a week. i'm embarassed to step back on my scale because two pounds are always added. i think i need to start all over again and this time do like Dr. Phil says and "Get real". I've never had a problem losing weight before. My freshmen year of college I was 237 and I got down to 165 (my then weight goal) in less than 4 moths. I realize that was exercise and I need to get back to it.

I committed to Dr. Phil's weight loss challenge back on 11/18/03 and have been slowly doing what it takes to live a healthier life style.  I too grew up with no one I knew of knowing or caring about eating right. I have 2 diabetic sistes who have problems sticking to a healthy diet plan too. 

  

Breaking habits is really horrible isn't it?  I know that I've been dealing with it now for over 2 years and I can tell you that even if you go at a slow rate, you will get there!   

  

I've read and re-read the book now about 4 times (maybe 5).  I typed up a new table of contents that included all the steps. I don't need to read it again, just the Keys & Steps to know what it is I need to do. 

  

I did it one step at a time.  I started with Keys 1 & 2 which was the hardest for me.  I turned to Self Matters (another of his books) to help me learn to listen to what I was saying and then challenge my faulty thinking.  I also discovered early on that I needed to deal with my triggers which always got me eating.  I used Self Matters to help me deal with how I handled life.  It took me from February 04 to September 05 to finally get to the point where I could turn the cognitive behavioral technqiues on me to lose weight.  It's hard learning to become your very best friend. 

  

Once I finished Self Matters and practiced it on a long time goal of over 30 years (sewing), I returned to the book for the 3rd time and started with Chapter 2 - goals. I knew I had to learn how to do goal work.  Then I re-read Keys 1 & 2 again.  And began to practice all the other keys.  I have been derailed so many times times that it's become a habit now to pick myself up and start over again once I work out what happened to derail me and make a plan for the next time to handle it. 

  

It's all about habits.  And at the end of Chapter 3 of Self Matters, Dr. Phil wrote:  Next year at this time, where will I be?  Will I have made changes to my life or will it just be deterioating?  I figure the little changes I have made have made my life different and I can see the changes which makes it all the more powerful.  

  

Be kind to yourself.  It's all about habits you know. 

I have just completed going to see a hynotherapist for three sessions, and I do have to admit it has really helped me as far as not wanting to sit around and eat snacks, and also I do not have the craving any longer for sugar and sweets... The weight is not dropping off quickly ....I think because I am not able to exercise due to health reasons, but even without exercise, I am still losing a pound or two a week which is very encouraging. Perhaps this would help others by giving it a try. I now  leave food on my plate and feel full before I am finish eating... and I don't think about what I am going to have for my next meal. I find myself more interested in looking for things to keep me busy... I first went to the internet and did some research on this before i decided to try it, and I am glad now that I made that step. Insurance companies (most of them) will not pay for this so all of it is out-of-pocket-expense. But I looked at it this way, the money i used for the hypnotherapist would have been spent on sweets and foods I really was not hungry for, but for foods I used to feed myself emotionally... hope some of you find yourself benefiting from this as I have should you decide to give it a try... Diets? oh y es, you name it and I have tried it. My matabolism has bottomed out now at my age of 51, and there is no exercise to speak of due to the health reasons... so I am finally finding myself with a little bit of sunshine in my days that i felt I have not had in a very long time...

I know how that is ... a couple of years ago I experienced pain in my feet and discovered I had flat feet and need to wear inserts.  I was amazed that I couldn't find any exercise I could do that didn't involve my feet.   So I've been collecting videos and articles about it.  I purchased one video that allows me to sit in a recliner and exercise that I can use if my pinch nerve ever comes back.  Then I have another one for seniors that allows me to sit in a chair to do hand weights. 

  

I don't understand how you can say your metabolism has bottomed out. I'm 53 and it's still working for me.  It may be slower than when I was younger; however, I know that it's working because I've finally gotten over my fear of doing hand weights.  I just couldn't get it and figured I was stupid -- turns out they just have 4-5 different names for just 1 movement and here I was thinking I was too stupid.   DUH!!! 

  

I don't have $ to do the hypotist -- I figure that it would really work for me because I know that my mind believes it's eventually going to happen to me ... at least it's sooner than later for you. 

  

Take care and have a good weekend! 

  

By taking photos of all the things that your eat you change the part of the brain that you eat with.  The area of the brain that you end up using has non of the unhealthy eating habits.  Use one of the small digital cameras that holds lots of photos.  It is the fine motor skils of taking the picture of the food that nixes the use of your old eating habits.   

  

I have been using this method (1000's of photos) for the last 2 and 1/2 years and am down 100 lbs.   There is a inventer in Japan that has been taking photos of all the food that he eats for the last 35 years.   

  

Only in the last 2 or 3 years has this method become usefull because of the smaller digital cameras.   

  

Doctor Phil. I think breaking unhealthy habit is good unless you with a girls then you are in trouble with your Dad or your Mom at home. Good luck.  Friend Your. Russell

 I've never heard about this and would like more info. Is there a website or book or something you could direct me to? Thanx.

  

Dr Yoshiro NakaMats 77 of Japan has been taking photos of what he eats for 35 years.   He is looking into how food helps the brain.     

  

Jeff Hawkins has a book "On Intelligence"  that goes into how the brain works and talks about how habits can be undone.  His book is still in bookstores and there is a website about Jeff's book and his work http://www.onintelligence.org/.   Jeff goes into how the habit of getting into your house can be undone by someone moving the location on the door of the lock.  As you try to put your key into the lock you note that the lock has been moved.  At this point going into the house is now using a different part of the brain - not the part where the old getting into the house habit is located.  

  

This same effect takes place when you take a photo of what you are about to eat.  The taking of the photo gives a mismatch of the old eating habit and a different part of the brain takes over the eating process.  The process is a cascading effect - the longer you use it the more you start thinking about good food and good eating habits.  You start to shop for food better. Eat at better times and eat better foods.  You start to eat less after the very 1st photo.   

  

It is like riding a bike - you never forget the old bad eating habits.  So should you stop taking photos you will go back to your old bad eating habits and the weight will start to come back on.