I've written about sugar addiction and my various plans to try to tackle it. A couple years ago I had a pretty successful run for 2.5 months. I was exercising, putting good food in my body, keeping a strict limit on my sugar intake, tracking it all, and even losing weight. This wasn't my main focus, but it's an easier result to measure than "feel more energetic" or "be healthier."
When I slipped back into my old habits, I wasn't terribly upset. But the past year as I've tried several times to get that momentum back and nothing, not even pregnancy and breastfeeding, was enough to keep me motivated, I started to get disheartened.
I thought, "I only did it once because it was a challenge. Now I know I can and I never will again." "If even having a child and being a role model isn't enough motivation, what will be?" "When is it going to click?" "Why can't I get this?" "I guess I'm never going to do it."
BUT then I had an epiphany! (As I do.)
I didn't give up alcohol all at once. I toyed with the idea for YEARS. I tried it out first, with a 1 month abstinence challenge. Nothing really clicked. I just gradually pulled away from it and quit altogether when I was ready.
This is a huge mindset change. Instead of calling it, and myself, a failure every time I "fall off the bandwagon" I can see an overall pattern emerging.
I have spent more time pursuing healthy habits in the last few years than ever before in my life. I might not always make it that long, but the time in between healthy bursts is decreasing.
Maybe instead of trying and failing, it's similar to giving up alcohol. Maybe I'm slowly gearing up towards it.
Right now the idea of giving up sweets forever sounds awful. Incomprehensible.
But maybe one day it won't.
One of Gretchen Rubin's habit strategies was identity. I've been thinking of myself as a failure for not following through with good habits. But if I instead think of myself as a generally healthy person who occasionally backslides, this will help me return and gradually decrease the frequency and magnitude of backslides.
Like Gretchen said, our habits are very tied to our identities. So thinking, and knowing, that I'm a healthy person who occasionally needs help to get going, is going to be way more useful than kicking myself for being a failure who doesn't care enough.
I'm starting another "good burst" right now. I'm going to apply as many of Gretchen's strategies as I can to make this not an occasional thing, but the regular. (Primarily planned exceptions, paired activities, and accountability.)
For whatever reason, I see it as a scatter plot in my mind. A linear curve. All I see at one particular time is that particular data point, and on the chart they can look scattered and random, but the average is trending up.
Why the heavy focus on "giving up" sugar? Because I'm an abstainer. Gretchen says, "After the first bite, moderators want something less and less. Abstainers want it the same amount or more as they continue to eat."
So I'm not worried about the sugars in fruit, or putting a blanket rule on carbs. When I talk about giving up sugar what I really mean is giving up the foods that trigger cravings for me.
And, like I said, I'm not ready right now. But I now believe that I will be at some point, and until then I just need to keep working at it, little by little.
When I slipped back into my old habits, I wasn't terribly upset. But the past year as I've tried several times to get that momentum back and nothing, not even pregnancy and breastfeeding, was enough to keep me motivated, I started to get disheartened.
I thought, "I only did it once because it was a challenge. Now I know I can and I never will again." "If even having a child and being a role model isn't enough motivation, what will be?" "When is it going to click?" "Why can't I get this?" "I guess I'm never going to do it."
BUT then I had an epiphany! (As I do.)
I didn't give up alcohol all at once. I toyed with the idea for YEARS. I tried it out first, with a 1 month abstinence challenge. Nothing really clicked. I just gradually pulled away from it and quit altogether when I was ready.
This is a huge mindset change. Instead of calling it, and myself, a failure every time I "fall off the bandwagon" I can see an overall pattern emerging.
I have spent more time pursuing healthy habits in the last few years than ever before in my life. I might not always make it that long, but the time in between healthy bursts is decreasing.
Maybe instead of trying and failing, it's similar to giving up alcohol. Maybe I'm slowly gearing up towards it.
Right now the idea of giving up sweets forever sounds awful. Incomprehensible.
But maybe one day it won't.
One of Gretchen Rubin's habit strategies was identity. I've been thinking of myself as a failure for not following through with good habits. But if I instead think of myself as a generally healthy person who occasionally backslides, this will help me return and gradually decrease the frequency and magnitude of backslides.
Like Gretchen said, our habits are very tied to our identities. So thinking, and knowing, that I'm a healthy person who occasionally needs help to get going, is going to be way more useful than kicking myself for being a failure who doesn't care enough.
I'm starting another "good burst" right now. I'm going to apply as many of Gretchen's strategies as I can to make this not an occasional thing, but the regular. (Primarily planned exceptions, paired activities, and accountability.)
For whatever reason, I see it as a scatter plot in my mind. A linear curve. All I see at one particular time is that particular data point, and on the chart they can look scattered and random, but the average is trending up.
Why the heavy focus on "giving up" sugar? Because I'm an abstainer. Gretchen says, "After the first bite, moderators want something less and less. Abstainers want it the same amount or more as they continue to eat."
So I'm not worried about the sugars in fruit, or putting a blanket rule on carbs. When I talk about giving up sugar what I really mean is giving up the foods that trigger cravings for me.
And, like I said, I'm not ready right now. But I now believe that I will be at some point, and until then I just need to keep working at it, little by little.
Are you an abstainer or a moderator? How does your identity tie in to your habits?
