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Awareness: The Key to Successful Change

By Gay Riley

Assume you have made a conscious and committed decision to lose body fat and to live a more active healthy life. How are you planning to accomplish that goal? There is no magic solution as of yet.

Are you aware of your current food and lifestyle habits and how those daily habits affect your energy balance (the energy consumed and the energy expended)?

Awareness of lifestyle habits that affect your energy balance is the first step towards your achieving your goal. The second step is to know what to change and what will work for you.

The most important habits related to energy-balance are:

1. Your food intake. What, when, where, how much, and why you eat,
2. Your daily activity level or calories expended. Your spontaneous daily activity such as taking the stairs and your exercise.
3. Your relationship with food (how you use food to cope with stress, emotions, boredom, entertainment, etc.).

Isn't it more realistic to change the bad habits than to adopt all new habits? Restrictive diets that do not include the foods you like and rigorous exercise when you have been sedentary are usually short term at best. Gradual consistent changes in personal lifestyle habits is easier to sustain and more permanent for long term success.

How do I become more aware of current habits?
Ask yourself the following questions and collect some data regarding your lifestyle habits before you start a new diet and exercise program.

1. How many calories do I consume in a day?
2. How many calories do I expend in a day?
3. What is my typical pattern of eating? How many times a day do I put caloric food or drink in my mouth?
4. What are the 5 foods and typical portion sizes I eat most often?
5. How many times a week do I eat breakfast? What is my most commonly eaten breakfast food?
6. Who do I usually eat with?
7. Do I eat fast or slow? How long does it take for me to eat a meal?
8. How many meals do I eat out per week? And what places?
9. How often do I skip meals?
10. Do I eat for reasons other than hunger? What are the other reasons I eat other than hunger? What circumstances or events cause me to eat (or overeat) not related to hunger?
11. What do I spend most of my time doing during the day?
12. How many hours per day do I watch TV or videos?
13. How many hours per day do I spend at the computer?
14. How many hours per day do I stand?
15. How many hours per day do I spend socializing with friends and family?
16. Is my house clean? Do I clean my own house, do my own yardwork, chores, etc.?
17. How many hours of recreational activity do I participate in each week and what is that activity?
18. How many hours of aerobic exercise do I participate in every week?
19. How much water do I drink in a day?
20. Do I eat better during the week or on the weekend? Why?

Now that I have answered these questions, how do I make changes?

• An example of a change that you might make would be obvious in question 1 and 2. I eat 3200 calories a day and I expend 2300 calories a day. You would obviously need to reduce your calories to 500 calories below your calories expended to lose 1 pound of body fat a week (no less). Expend more calories if you want to lose up to 2 pounds per week. It is recommended that you expend around 2000 calories from exercise a week to lose body fat.
• Another example would be question 5. If one of your 5 foods or drinks most frequently consumed was cola drink and you drink 4 cans a day. You could reduce your calories by 450 per day by drinking 1 can a day.

By asking yourself these questions, you will be more aware of your habits and begin to understand what sensible and realistic changes you can make to lose body fat and live a leaner, healthier lifestyle.