22
LIVINGLIVING
Now I have one can a day and really
enjoy it. I did it slowly so that it was
achievable and I was not under too
much pressure.
Environmental prompting
For example, to increase your fruit
and veg portions in your day maybe
buy more of it and sticking a note on
the fridge door to remind you to use
it up. Or, in another example, in order
to be more hydrated, have a large, full
bottle of water by your desk every
morning. Environment can impact on
us all - be careful about unhealthy
environments, for example, where
packets of biscuits are available on
tabletops or in jars; put them out of
sight and/or out of reach.
Rewards
You can reward yourself with treats,
for example, have a 'treat meal' at the
weekend, where you have a favourite
dinner that might involve chips or
pizza (or something similar), but eat
healthily the rest of the week. It's
important to choose a reward that
motivates you, then you're much
more likely to succeed.
Maintain
Some days will not do our new
behaviours, even for some weeks -
that's okay, life happens. But then
allow yourself to refocus on starting
afresh. Don't put too much pressure
on changing too quickly (have I said
that already?), but put things in place
that help you to get where you want
to be.
FAQs
Being a behaviour analyst goes
beyond typical personal training
when changing health behaviour. The
simplest advice is just to move more,
and to eat more healthily. You can
build these up over time with little
changes to your movement and diet.
Part of behaviour analysis is to
take a good look at the environment
that you are in. For example, do you
eat what the rest of the family eats?
Maybe you need to prepare your meal
separately and have it ready so that
you can reach your own goal. You can
still eat with them, just eat what you
need for your personal health needs.
If you feel you are deskbound,
what can you do? Set an alarm every
one or two hours and go up and down
the stairs three or four times. You
may be able to be more active at the
weekend if it's not possible to be so
in the week. But question, is anything
I can do before work? Fit little things
in. It all adds up to positive change.
What about using an app there's
an app for everything on either phone
or watch perhaps one of those will
motivate you will certainly be able to
track you! Maintaining habits leads
to achieving goals, it takes 21 days
for something to become a habit, set
reminders to achieve small things,
might you be someone who benefits
from having a gym buddy, someone to
be answerable to even?
Think of your future self, do you
want to lose weight? Goals help - you
can even have mini-goals set over
a couple of months and then move
onto another mini goal. Listen to your
body, stress isn't good for you, bodies
don't distinguish between physical or
emotional stress, it's just stress. That
can lead to your motivation dropping.
What are your values? Is it an
overall health gain, do you specifically
want to lose weight, or do you want
to build up your strength? What is
do-able at the moment? Fat loss
and building muscle takes time and
you need to create a calorie deficit,
give it time to see change, and
be consistent.
Ask yourself, what is important
to me? Write down three things. Set
three goals relating to each of these.
Think, how I can move towards these,
then give it a go!
www.vhhealthcoaching.co.uk