We know we should be eating a balanced diet, staying hydrated, being active, managing our stress, and getting enough sleep. You may actually be checking these boxes on occasion, but we also know consistency is key.
So, how can we make healthy habits stick? Dr. Cederquist and Nicole RD share 10 effective strategies to build and sustain lifelong habits!
Dr. Cederquist: Congratulations on continuing to take action inside of your health and wellness journey by watching this course each and every session.
Nicole: Yes, it's so great that you continue to show up for yourself day after day and we're thrilled you're joining us each week. Last week we discussed motivation and so today we found it only appropriate to discuss habits because when motivation disappears, habits are what are going to keep us going longer term. But the question often remains: how do we make those habits stick?
Dr. Cederquist: I know I have often started the New Year trying to fit in a positive habit and a good example in my case is meditating daily for 10 minutes. I've read so many medical studies about the benefits of meditation. I mean they're countless you know so it's like I should be doing this but I find that I start, and that my motivation slowly starts to wane over a short period of time.
Dr. Cederquist: And what really happens is what happens to a lot of us. I find it hard to stick to this new healthy habit and again have lots of other healthy habits, but I'm trying to add new ones and sometimes it's hard.
Dr. Cederquist: So, how do we make this new healthy habit stick? We want to share 10 strategies that have worked for so many of our patients and hope they provide some value to you.
Nicole: Yeah, so strategy number one: commit to your habit for at least three weeks. And strategy two, this means doing it every single day and staying consistent with it. “Don't break the chain” is really key.
Nicole: And thirdly, keep it simple and small so make a promise to yourself to stick to something that is ridiculously easy. When we keep a promise to ourselves how do we feel, Dr. Cederquist? We feel pretty good, right?
Dr. Cederquist: We feel great!
Nicole: Yes, we feel awesome! And we want to build off of that feeling, so don't start at doing a hundred crunches a day as an example. But maybe just commit to doing five crunches a day and focus on just establishing the habit or the task or routine first; not increasing the effort to the maximum before it becomes a normal or natural part of your day.
Dr. Cederquist: Yeah, so in my case I could meditate for a minute a day. I could do that; I definitely could do that! And I love that “don't break the chain” because I am somebody who's like, “Oh you know I want to close the rings on my iWatch; I don't want to break the chain!” that works for me—don't break the chain. A minute? I can do a minute, you know?
Nicole: Yes, if we can't find a minute within our day then there's something wrong! Just one minute commitment and making it really small and realistic.
Dr. Cederquist: And sometimes it's all we do have is a minute, you know? So we don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot by like trying to have so much change. You know, change is hard! Our bodies resist it; our brains resist change.
Dr. Cederquist: So strategy number four is having reminders. Mark it on a calendar, set a reminder on your phone, schedule it in, and take it as seriously as you would a work meeting. I know we had so many patients where we had to schedule them to like putting your phone that you were going to have a protein snack, or to eat your lunch, or drink water. You know, some of us are super busy! And having that thing like, “Okay, it's not set in stone yet—I need that reminder.” It helps!
Nicole: Absolutely! I know I'm old school calendar on the refrigerator type of person and if it's not on the calendar, it doesn't happen. So you should see my calendar right now; it looks a little crazy when you look at it.
Dr. Cederquist: It's so huge you're trying to find minutes in there!
Nicole: Right! But it's like even simple things like scheduling that walk and writing it on my calendar type of thing is really important so.
Dr. Cederquist: Yes, absolutely! The fifth strategy that really is helpful is having accountability. Maybe there's a friend, coach, or somebody in the bistroMD Facebook community that can hold you accountable or do it with you.
Dr. Cederquist: Many of us really find that accountability is key. We are less likely to do something when it's only us involved but knowing somebody else is going to hold us to account you know, “Did you do your medication today or this week?” is what really makes us do it. We can become so used to disappointing ourselves, but we don't want to disappoint others.
Nicole: Yeah, I think this is why I sign up for exercise classes. Like I just can't trust myself to do it by myself at home but signing up for a class if I were to miss a class, it tends to be like the instructor or someone else in the class that's like, “Hey, we saw that you were missing last week. Where were you?” kind of thing—there's a little accountability there more so than trying to do it at home by myself.
Dr. Cederquist: Absolutely. Strategy number six is the concept of coupling. So coupling essentially means pairing an activity that you may not be as fond of or you feel like you need to start with an activity you really enjoy.
Dr. Cederquist: So, let's say you're wanting to start exercising but you really enjoy having your quiet evenings at home watching TV. Consider coupling watching TV with an activity such as peddling on a stationary bike or doing floor exercises to get your activity in. We found pairing the habit you want to build with something else you enjoy makes it a lot easier to stick with.
Nicole: And similar to coupling strategy, number seven is that you can attach a new habit to an already established habit or routine. So, for instance, I have this habit or routine every night of of course brushing my teeth and flossing, and over time I've added this whole skincare routine at night with double cleansing and moisturizing.
Nicole: And more recently, I added some breath work or meditation. And because I've been doing it consistently for a period of time, it's really become the most anticipated part of my day that I truly enjoy. Just that kind of wind down after putting the kids to bed type of thing, like I can't race fast enough to this routine in the evening!
Dr. Cederquist: So it's really like your wind-down routine like getting into a bit of your own self-care, which as a working mom it's like you're on for everybody like all day—like I know about that, you know? So I think that's wonderful, Nicole! It's truly an effective strategy.
Dr. Cederquist: But the thing about it is it also helped get away from like the decisions that we're making all the time. Like one of the things about habits, which is why it helps when motivation fades, is like trying to decide to do something is exhausting! It takes so much brain power.
Dr. Cederquist: “Am I going to go to the gym today?” “When am I going to fit my workout in?” “When am I this/that?” versus like you create these habits that mean Monday, Wednesday, Friday it's this. Or, I always fill my water bottle, I drink it down by this point, flossing, whatever it is that just frees you.
Dr. Cederquist: And sometimes we'll have people who say like, “Oh, I don't want to be so rigid! I want flexibility,” and all that but from a lot of reading I've really found that people agree with this assessment that habits free you. You are able to do these things that you probably should do but you don't have to spend the time thinking about it. Do it, and then you have much more time to be able to think about things that you want to do and use your free time that way versus like trying to decide if you're going to do something or not.
Nicole: Yeah, I love that because decision fatigue is a real thing, and so it is freeing! It's like you don't even think about it—it just becomes a normal part of your day and routine.
Dr. Cederquist: Yes, I remember reading something that talked about the decisions for eating— like how we make thousands of decisions about eating. Like every day or something and you do this, are you avoiding this, you're adding that.
Dr. Cederquist: It is one of the things that is so helpful with bistroMD with weight loss is like a lot of these decisions are made if you're using the meals. And then getting used to the portion sizes and all these other things. You're again freeing up your mind for other things.
Dr. Cederquist: A lot of us are really, really busy with our lives, you know? So if you're trying to change a habit you know, rather than you add a habit, then we have the strategy of replacement or finding a substitute so we try to not categorize habits as good or bad, you know?
Dr. Cederquist: It's sort of just like do these habits work for you or do they not work for you inside what you have said is important to you? Like you know, “I want to lose weight; I want to be healthier; I want more time with my kids; I want to be rested; I want to be better at whatever it is.” Whatever it is that's important to us, does our habit work towards that or does it work against it? And then we want to try to really solidify the ones that work for us.
Dr. Cederquist: So say you have a habit where you enjoy something sweet or pick-me-up at 3:00 p.m. each day. Instead of grabbing a sweet sugary snack that you've been having each afternoon, consider finding a healthier replacement. A protein bar would be a great option because it's still sweet while providing you with the protein to stabilize your blood sugar and energy throughout the day.
Nicole: And strategy number nine, change your environment. So we've kind of touched upon this a little bit before in previous lessons. But, for example, instead of watching TV every night, which always leads to snacking, go for a walk instead or join an exercise class at that hour instead.
Nicole: And lastly, you should also prepare for bumps in the road and have a backup plan. Sometimes things like stress, boredom, fatigue, or even fear can trigger old habits. So knowing your triggers can help you become more aware and just have a heightened awareness to take a different action when feeling that way.
Nicole: So, for example, I know an old habit of mine when I'm feeling really stressed and overwhelmed: there's this old habit of watching tv series, episode after episode, at night which always led to like snacking and a little bit of that stress eating. And, over time, I've really seen the pattern of when I'm feeling that way, how I reacted to the situation, and this habit that became created.
Nicole: And to change that, I had to really have a heightened awareness of what was happening and what I was doing. But also, a heightened awareness to be intentional in taking a different action that when I am feeling stressed and overwhelmed, I have to really be intentional in doing something different in the evenings that helps me in managing those stress levels.
Dr. Cederquist: Yeah no that's definitely great, Nicole! I love that because it is that I need to do something different, I need to restructure what's happening in the evening, or reaching for the glass of wine, or whatever it is that has become a habit that doesn't work for you in the long term, to be able to just look at it and say, “Oh, look what I'm doing. Oh okay, yeah I enjoy a glass of wine, but am I drinking it because I enjoy it or is it like because of these other things that I've associated with it?” you know. And, to be able to really think and choose if appropriate.
Dr. Cederquist: A different action that's it like you know, you're not forcing that you can't do things—choosing actions that work for you versus choosing actions that don't, and then learning. And, you know, going back to like the “trial and success.”
Dr. Cederquist: You know, we don't need to beat ourselves up! So, keep working at establishing those new habits consistency and persistence always pays off. Before you know it, it'll become second nature keep at it, and don't let the bumps in the road stop you!