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DAY 1: Drink! Drink! Drink!

“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – John C. Maxwell

Welcome to DAY 1 of the Healthy Habits Overhaul!  I’m so glad you’re here.  For the next 31 days I will be sharing a daily challenge that I’m hoping you (as well as myself) will turn into a habit.  We will either be adding something brand new, upgrading an existing habit or deleting something that is no longer serving our highest health.  My hope is that you will try each challenge for at least the day it’s posted. (Or swap with another day that week, if the timing of it is off for you).  Ideally, I’d like for you to continue each challenge through the rest of the month, so that at the end of these 31 days you will have compiled an arsenal of healthy habits and be ready to take control of your health.

It should come as no surprise that the first challenge is WATER!! Water is life.  We can’t live without it.  We know this, but a lot of us (ahem, looking at myself here) don’t drink nearly enough of it.  In the spirit of transparency, this has always been one of my biggest obstacles in the past… another reason it’s #1 on the list.  A year ago, most days, the only water I got was what I made my coffee with .  I basically drank coffee until it was time to switch to wine with maybe a LaCroix thrown in there somewhere so I could tell myself I’d had some water.  I’m sure (ahem,  hoping)that a lot of you can relate.  But we are going to change that in the next 31 days!! Yessssss!

I could list a ton of benefits of drinking water, but no one needs convincing. (But in case you do, this is for you).  We all know it’s good for our skin, that it flushes toxins out of our body AND helps with hangovers. I will say that I never knew being well hydrated could boost your immune system.  I mean it makes total sense, but it was never something I considered when my doctor asked me how much water I drank. Speaking of how much, lets all take a minute to figure out how much water we individually need each day. Most experts say about half your body weight in ounces is ideal, but this really depends on your activity level and how much water you’re getting from your food.  I weigh {somewhere around} 150 pounds, half of that is 75.  So I aim for 75 ounces each day, more when I’m outside a lot and/or exercising. Figure out a good goal for you and go with it.  (You could always go with good ole standby of 8 glasses/day, which equals 64 ounces).

Now, if  you read my post from yesterday (Anatomy of a Habit) you know that we need to create a cue or a trigger to help this habit take root.   Think about what might help trigger you to drink something.  For me, a cute water bottle is key!  I have a 25 ounce stainless steel bottle that I love. Not only is it pretty, but I know if I fill it up three times I’ve met my 75 ounce goal for the day.  {Score}  Another cue that I use is keeping a 16 ounce water bottle by my bed at night.  Before I eat or drink anything in the morning, I make sure I have emptied this water bottle. We’ve gone at least 7 and maybe up to 10 hours (if you’re a lucky duck) without drinking anything, so as soon as you pee, its essential to start hydrating!! Another tip:  I know several people who drink 16 ounces of water before they eat any snacks or meals.  I think this is a great idea because sometimes we think we’re hungry when really we are dehydrated.  Doing this can also keep us from overeating because we’ve put something in our tummies before we start munching! Yay!

So cheers *clinking my water bottle to yours* to water and all it’s wonderful benefits!  I know in 31 days you’re gonna thank me!

Light and Love,

♥ k

 

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Anatomy of a Habit

“We are what we repeatedly do.” – Aristotle

We are creatures of habit.  Our daily habits are directed by our beliefs: we are what we think and what we do. Daily. A large part of what we do every day isn’t as a result of a conscious decision. It’s a habit. 40 percent, in fact. (Our brains likes this because it makes the job of being the brain sooo much easier).  Where you are in life today is largely a result of actions you don’t even think about anymore.  Let that sink in a minute…

Now, the good news is we CAN take control of our life by changing our habits.  Depending on who you ask, a habit can take anywhere from 21-66 days to take root in the brain. So we’ve got three weeks to three months to make it a no-brainer (pun intended, of course).

A group of researchers at MIT discovered the process which is the basis for every habit’s formation. If we are going to change our habits, we have to understand how they get created.  Every habit is formed by a three step process:

1. Cue.  The trigger that tells your brain which habit to use.

2. Routine. The behavior (or emotion) that gets triggered.

3. Reward.  How the brain decides if the process is worth it.

An example:  You get finally get the kids to bed *sigh* and want to release the day’s stress (cue).  You grab bottle of wine (routine).  You feel calm and relaxed (reward).

The cue and the reward are the big pushers in this process.  So if we want to change the routine we are going to make sure the new habit gives our brain the same reward feeling. Otherwise, the brain will see it as too hard and instead reinforce the old habit we are wanting to change.  NOT what we want. If the reward is to feel calm and relaxed, we’ve got to think of something else that can give us that feeling when we are stressed at the end of our day.  Maybe we can exchange the bottle of wine for reading a book (something fiction, please) or watching something on Netflix.  Over time, our brains will start to replace the routine of grabbing that bottle of wine with grabbing the latest must-have novel.  This is what I like to call an UPGRADE to an existing habit.

The same concept works when we are trying to ADD a habit “from scratch”. We’ve got to figure out the cue, routine and reward for the habit in order to make sure it cements in our brains.  Willpower is needed to DELETE a habit. It might be the hardest of all in the Add-Delete-Upgrade scenario, but it is possible  Willpower is a muscle, not a skill.  The more we exercise our willpower the easier it becomes to use it (just like our actual muscles, willpower gets stronger).

Like I said at the beginning of this (looooong) post, our beliefs direct our habits.  We first need to believe we can make the changes we want, then we will create action, which results in making the changes a reality!

If you want to know more about habits, check out the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

I’m so looking forward to starting the 31 day Healthy Habit Overhaul tomorrow!! I’ll be posting over on Instagram every day with the daily habit as well as how I’m making it happen in my own life  See ya there!

Light and Love,

♥k