Monday, July 30, 2012

Healthier You Challenge Week 3: Be a Tweaker

Now that we're three weeks in, you can start to assess and modify your plans if necessary. How is it going so far? I've spoken with quite a few of you who are participating *silently* and I know that some are struggling with motivation or with fully completing your behavior challenges. Here is where we figure out what's working, what's not, and how you can tweak your plan to be more successful.

If you have done well, but not perfectly, you should still be proud of yourself. Is it easy to identify why you were not able to fully complete your challenge? Two weeks ago I skipped one day of strength training because I didn't do it first thing in the morning and told myself I'd do it "later". The problem was, that day and the next were packed minute by minute so there really was no way to get it in. This reinforced that I am much more consistent when I workout in the morning before my family gets up. So my plan last week was to be up at 5:30 M/W/F to lift weights. Unfortunately, I had to schedule two last minute early appointments so my plan was out the window. Because I learned from the previous week that I couldn't just promise myself I'd do it "later", I scheduled a specific time those evenings to do them. It worked and I felt so proud that I didn't let myself make excuses. If you can figure out what thwarted your efforts, try to brainstorm alternatives. Don't come up with just one, try to figure out a plan B, C, D, etc. If you can't stick to your plan, adjust your plan. If you are flexible in your thinking and can get right back up when you stumble, you'll stay on the right track in the long term.

Part of a behavior challenge is keeping track of your behaviors. I've been using the irunurun app (note: you don't have to have a smart phone, you can log in from your computer). I like it because they send me an e-mail reminding me to update my log. If I haven't done something, the reminder is a good nudge to get it done so I can mark it off. If you haven't been logging your challenges, that might be the first tweak to make. One of the participants told me that even though she was a little frustrated that she didn't do as well as she'd hoped the second week, she was able to see that she'd improved from the first week which encouraged her.

If you're struggling to get started, go back to the beginning and pick something easy to gain some momentum. I started with drinking water before my coffee because I knew I needed a "win" in the beginning. What is a small change you can make this week? Could you replace one calorie-laden drink with water? Could you move more even if you're not ready for a long, structured workout routine? Could you write down what you eat? Even if you don't measure portions or figure out calories, your eating will probably change by the sheer fact of having to write it down. Two of my personal training clients who've been struggling to do more than their workout with me once a week just agreed to join Weight Watchers (you know who you are and I WILL be waiting at the door!). So for them, just showing up, and signing up, will be a big move in the right direction. Maybe you're moving along fantastically and you're ready for a new challenge this week. But if you aren't where you'd hoped to be, change things up. You can make small tweaks to the challenges you've had the last two weeks or you can chuck them completely and start over again with a new challenge. You are in control and you make the choices that move you forward or hold you back. You will need to be flexible because there will always be obstacles. It's up to you whether they are roadblocks or detours.

How are you going to tweak this week?

8 comments:

  1. Hey Brooke--I like your post this week! My name is Liz, and I've been doing Brooke's Zumba class for the last few months. I moved from Ann Arbor, MI last summer. My challenge is I'll be going on vacation for three weeks, starting this Wed. We'll be in Ann Arbor for a week, Chicago/Indy for a week, and then we fly to Miami for a week. There's going to be lots of visiting with friends and family and LOTS of eating out. I'm not planning on making any huge changes over the next three weeks, but I do need to challenge myself to drink more water and to try to get at least 30 minutes of walking in every day. I think this is possible, except for my "traveling" days. You all have to remind me! I'm also going to try to drink water at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in between. I have a hard time drinking all the water that I should be drinking at home, but when I go on vacation, it's hard for me to remember. It shouldn't be too hard, since that's really all I drink, other than unsweetened iced tea. I'm spending the first day with a friend who's a "Weight Watcher." She weighs in on Thurs, and told her I would also go with her to weigh-in. Maybe, this will jump start my good eating habits for the rest of my vacation...I also asked the friends that I'll be staying with if they could buy some greek yogurt for me, so that I can have that for breakfast, with some fruit. I don't want to be stuck with garbage to eat...especially for breakfast. Here it goes!

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    1. That sounds like a great attitude to have for vacation. You can definitely enjoy yourself and still be reasonable. I will miss seeing you in class but hope to see you check in here.

      Have fun!!!

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    2. As one of the two personal training clients who've been struggling to do more than their workout with you once, thanks for the push and motivation to join Weight Watchers.

      I also really like using irunurun. I have been using it since before the challenge (this will be week 6) and last week was my worst week. But the great thing is that I think because of it I haven't given up on my goals. I know I had a bad week and now I have started out this week with a bang and am set on beating my previous week's score.

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    3. I like the healthy competition with yourself Vandra! I know you can do it! And thank YOU for introducing me to irunurun :)

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  2. I can see a difference in my body when I look in the mirror, it’s minor and it is a start that I am happy with. Every piece of my body is sore in a good way. My shoulder tendonitis has flared up but instead of using it as an excuse like I usually do, I have found something called a VitalWrap that pumps cold or hot water into a compression wrap, so I am “icing” the area nightly and still working out.
    I did have headaches Thursday and Friday night after work and skipped my workouts but I came back strong on the weekend.
    I also keep track of my exercise and food intake on my calendar. I use sparkpeople.com which takes forever but it shows how many calories I’ve burned with my height and weight and how many calories I’ve consumed.

    Tonight, I will confess that I will be eating at Paco’s in our old ‘hood  I will skip the chips and salsa and only drink 1-2 Margaritas… I will also do a double work out tomorrow to make up for my indiscretions tonight, and it will be worth it!

    I am also thinking of bringing tennis shoes to walk at lunch as the tweek to my week.

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    1. It sounds like you've already adjusted to overcome some obstacles and broken a few patterns from the past! I think you have the right idea about eating out. If your challenges are so strict that you can't live a life that makes you happy, you should re-evaluate your challenges. It sounds like you've already figured out how you will enjoy yourself reasonably and make it work with your overall challenge. Good for you!

      Walking at lunch will not only help you get in more activity, it will also make you more productive the rest of the day. Bonus!

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  3. Brooke- Quick shout out from here at IRUNURUN. GREAT WORK!! We love to read about special people encouraging others to live life with greater intention and to pursue the GREATNESS that lies in us all. Please let us know if there is anything else we can be doing for you or your followers. Run hard! -Travis Dommer, president at IRUNURUN

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    1. Hi Travis! Can you sell a little shock collar that will zing me when I don't follow through? ;)

      Thanks for making such a great app!

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