Will power...is it never ending?

I started reading a book by Chip and Dan Heath (yes, they are brothers) titled "Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard." I'm only half-way through it, but it's been such an interesting book that I wanted to share some of the information from it with you guys. Why?

Because losing weight IS a big change! You got the way you are because of the habits in your life. And changing the way you look will not happen unless you change the way you behave. Understanding how your brain works will only help you understand what your brain is doing in those moments of weakness.

So back to the topic for this email. Will power. What is it? Basically it's an attempt by your logical/rational brain to keep the emotional brain from doing something that it wants to. In the book "Switch" the authors make the analogy of an elephant and the rider. The emotional brain in us is like an elephant. It's big, it's strong, but it can be controlled...to a certain extent. The rider is analogous to the rational logical brain. Basically the rider guides the elephant along a directed path. But here's where things get interesting.

You see the elephant - our emotional brain - can take over in a hurry, especially if the rider - our logical brain - isn't directing it where to go. If we let the elephant just go where it wants, it's going to cause problems. Not just because it's unpredictable, but because it's so stinkin' strong! However, the rider usually doesn't have much of a problem directing the elephant. The elephant will go where the rider takes it as long as the path is clear and the elephant knows what to expect. And this is where we get back to my point about will power. You see, will power comes from our rational brain/the rider.

The rider can only keep the elephant doing something it doesn't want to do for so long. If the rider becomes exhausted, the elephant will run wild. We see this a lot in our culture in that many people are emotional eaters. The rider has lost control and the elephant is running wild.

Bringing this back around to our eating habits and changing our behavior, will power is a limited commodity. It cannot and will not last you for very long. This is why people who struggle with emotional eating, can't say "well I only keep these cookies in my house as a special treat." Because their will power to not eat them will eventually run out, the elephant will run wild and they'll eat the entire box of cookies and then come back to reality in this sugar coated daze. It's the same reason that when your stomach is grumbling and you haven't eaten all day, you'll eat just about anything in sight: the rider is asleep and the elephant is running loose!

To really change behavior, you have to start small. Big changes will "spook the elephant." At that point, no matter how logical the benefit of the habit is, the person will not engage in changing the behavior. Your goals must appeal to both the logical brain and the emotional brain. This is why in the last blog post I sent you, I suggested you send yourself a postcard from the future. This stimulates the elephant to move. The path is clear: come to the Hi-5 FitCamp and start with a simple habit like eating from smaller plates.

If you do what you've always done...

"It's time for change."

We've heard a lot of that in the past year. Usually it comes from the political arena, but it also comes from many other venues. Granted not all change results in success.

But change for the sake of change is far too short sighted. If something is successful, why would you change it?

Most of us are unsuccessful with our current eating habits. In the case of most of our eating habits, change is something that needs to occur.  It is not change for the sake of change. Instead it is change for the sake of eating healthier and altering the way we look and feel. There is good change and bad change though. But most of us know the difference.

Let me give you a quick example of bad change. I usually eat pretty well - 4-6 meals per day, shredded wheat for breakfast, granola-blueberry parfait for snack, tuna salad for lunch, chicken-risotto-asparagus for dinner.

But Sunday night my wife and her friends husband decided to have a pizza cook off. All 4 pizza's were winners. But I was a big loser. I changed my eating habit and managed to put away 9 or 10 slices of pizza. What happened? I paid dearly. My stomach hurt for the next 36 hours, Monday was rough day for me as  I walked around nauseated, constantly feeling as if I were one bad scent away from having to rush to the bathroom.

What would good change have looked like? 1 slice of each pizza and a large salad that we also brought.

But here is my final point:

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got. 

Your diet is the perfect example. If you keep eating the way you've always eaten, you'll continue to look the way you've always looked. You have to change things up. Your body is the way it is, because you do the things you do. 

So change things. If you "aren't a breakfast person," try to become a breakfast person. If you eat breakfast at 7 then don't eat again until dinner, mix in a couple of snacks. If your dinner plate is usually 1/2 covered with grains/pasta and only 25% green, switch it to 50% green and 25% grains/pasta. Take small steps, branch out from the norm and see how your body responds. 

We are at the start of a new Hi-5 FitCamp. Make a change for the next 4 weeks. Stop eating bread/grains/pasta at dinner, eat an apple each workday, cut out all soda/latte's/energy drinks for the next month. These are changes that will have a positive outcome. Your body will respond favorably to them


But I wouldn't recommend eating 10 slices of pizza... Your body will NOT respond favorably to that.

The One Change You NEED to Make!!

Research shows us that people can only focus on a few things at any given time. At any given time this is anywhere between 4 and 7 things. Once another stimulus is presented everything starts to become a blur.

However, research also shows us that when we have fewer stimuli to focus on, the quality of the task goes up. This is pretty much why driving while talking on the phone has been outlawed.

So what I want you to do is take JUST ONE GOAL and do it to your fullest extent. Make just one major change give it your all for the next 3 weeks. Whether it is nutrition, exercise, sleep, relational or work, just give it everything and don't worry about anything else.

Do one thing and do it well. If it's kicking soda, cutting out ice cream, cutting out red meat, increasing exercise intensity or just getting to be8 hours of sleep a night, make every effort to make A SINGLE SOLITARY change and stick to it.