1-11-12 happy brain
I'm happy that Ann has a goal to get more healthy. I couldn't imagine my life without her and I want her around as we age!  We can do this together.~Judy

Healthy Habits 2012

My turn to chime in on getting healthy. Yes, 2012 is my year to be more active and unlike Newt Gingrich, I plan on losing the baggage I’ve packed on over the last 10 years. Sorry no pics here, but I’m sure there is an error or two in my writing.

I was thinking how to do this, Molly has a challenge to walk via miles and now minutes. She has done and excellent job in 2011 w/ her activity and pounds. Sue is swimming and walking, string bean Judy is shedding the pounds that I hope to lose … haha. New habits, well it reminded me of a class that I took in college, 1984, developing new habits.

In a nutshell, the new habit was wearing my seat belt. Back in the 80’s, did everyone wear seat belts? I devised a plan that I would use the radio button as my reminder switch. I would turn on the radio after I buckled up and when I unbuckled, turned it off. If I found myself without the tunes on, more than likely, my seat belt wasn’t fasten. I gave myself 30 days and for the most part, it worked. I was driving my little blue Subaru Bratt at the time, oh how I loved that mini-truck. I remembered from the class and from nursing school, it takes 30 days to develop a new habit.

So for 2012, my new habit is to be more active and eat smarter/healthier, which in turn, I should shed some pounds. That got me thinking of the keys to developing a habit. Here are a few key points that I found on the web with some adjustments.  

>30 days, focusing on small change instead of large ones.

 >Using a trigger to help condition the new pattern.

>Use the KISS method, keep it simple stupid!

> Write/log down the commitment to the habit.

>Use check points/milestones along the journey, readjust as needed.

 >Make a public commitment, post changes somewhere.

Goal - create the habit to increase my physical activity, walking and eating are the keys to success. 

Activity – daily walking then after 2 months, group activity, hopefully Zumba.

Trigger – my radio which is set to NPR. Can’t listen unless I have walked.

Since I spend more time at work that I would like to admit, the details:

>Arrive at work 7 am, 30 min walk before 8:00

 >Drink water/ice tea before my am coffee

>Oatmeal for breakfast, take a multi-vitamin

>5 min walk at 10:30

>30 min walk at 12:30

>15 min walk at 3:00

 >Limit my sugar intake, wont’ be that hard 

>Limit pop/soda to, no more than 2 x per month

I’m off and running, started the walking on January 5^th, adjusting my food intake on a daily basis, ginned up for Get Health America and Molly’s challenge and have put the walking time on my outlook calendar at work. As for pop/soda, I’ve only had 2-3 diet coke’s since my December 1, 2011.

And today is January 11^th, happy birthday to my little brother who is turning a big milestone this year.  Let’s all make 2012 a good year.

Chat Later

That Girl, Ann Marie