Making Your Healthy Plans STICK!

Do you wonder why you a make a definite plan to exercise more, eat better, sleep more, pray more, stop smoking, lose weight, or take your vitamins and then don’t do it?

The American Heart Association (AHA) recently researched this topic and found specific habits and strategies that helped people make their healthy plans stick. They also found that developing a healthier lifestyle (healthy diet, regular physical activity, and losing weight/getting to a better weight) can increase an average Americans’ life expectancy by SEVEN YEARS!

Set Smart Specific Goals
People who set definite goals are much more likely to adhere to them. Just deciding to lose weight or lower your cholesterol are too general, but deciding to lose 1 pound per week or eating more healthy fruits and vegetables are much more realistic and attainable. Goals that focus on specific behaviors (such as exercising 30 minutes three times a week or setting out your daily vitamins for the upcoming week or eating a healthy fruit or vegetable with each meal or drinking 2 glasses of water with each meal, or praying every am for 3-5 minutes before you get out of bed) are even better because you are more in control of them and can see your progress.

How can Dr. Lisa/Northside Family Care/Eric help? See us to identify your own needs and specific goals. We work together with you to set smart goals and focus on what you can do.

Monitor Your Progress
After you have your specific goals, you need to know how well you are doing. Monitoring yourself increases your awareness and progress toward your goals. This can be as easy as writing down your foods or workouts in a journal or electronically. Your frequency in doing this really matters – you need to track often. Monitoring is very important and a proven key to healthy lifestyle behavior change. The AHA states that studies show when people track their food, they lose TWICE as much weight as those who don’t self-monitor their food intake.

How can Dr. Lisa and Eric help? We can review your journals and tracking, and help give you ideas on any adjustments you need to make. We are also working to develop some trackers for your use.

Find Support
The AHA found that people who had more frequent and longer contact with others (doctors, trainers, support groups) had more success in changing and maintaining their healthy lifestyle habits. This contact can be in person, telephone, or email/Internet and helps the person to be accountable and adhere to their program.

How can Dr. Lisa and Eric help? We can see you in person to discuss and support your efforts, and help you identify other areas of best support for you. We are working on some ideas to support you by telephone or electronically.

Get Feedback
Feedback is very important to help you understand your current level of performance and set further realistic goals to improve. People who receive feedback more often are reinforced and more successful in adopting their habits.

How can Dr. Lisa and Eric help? When you see and consult us with your trackers, we can give you feedback to congratulate what you are doing and help make suggestions on what to improve or change.

Believe in Yourself
Confidence in yourself and your own ability to reach your goals, will help you achieve your healthy lifestyle habits. Programs that help your confidence and belief in yourself and in your abilities achieve much more lasting benefits and results. How can you boost your confidence? By far the most effective way is by achieving a short and simple goal.

How can Dr. Lisa and Eric help? We will help you set your at first short and simple goals and tracking to help you build confidence and momentum to continue for the long term. The first goals can be very short and simple – like exercising each day for 10 minutes, drink 1 glass of water each morning, eat a healthy vegetable each dinner, or thank God each morning before you get out of bed.

Learn From Others
When you watch or observe someone performing a healthy behavior that relates to your own goals, they are modeling to you that these things work and that you can do them too (like exercising, choosing/cooking healthy foods, drinking water before each meal, moving past a slip-up). Programs that include modeling have higher success rates of long term healthy lifestyle behavior change. This modeling can be done in person, via videos, or even through discussions.

How can Dr. Lisa and Eric help? We can do this in person by meeting with us, and we do it in our blogs here – in videos and discussions. We will continue to do even more!

Accept Setbacks
It is normal to occasionally miss or deviate episodically from doing the goal behavior, like miss some exercise times, or meals with a healthy fruit or vegetable, or a week with a pound weight loss, or tracking. A person being aware that this is normal and expected can actually help prevent relapse or episodes of not doing the goal or giving up a goal. Instead of expecting perfection all the time, programs that teach people that setbacks are normal and can be overcome will result in greater success!

How can Dr. Lisa and Eric help? No one can be perfect. We recommend working to at least an 80/20 rule, where you follow your outlined goals most of the time, but allow for occasional indulgences and rest days too. We can give you resources, tips, and tactics to help you plan for possible setbacks and recover from them.