“You develop a habit through repetition”

According to dictionary.com a habit is “an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary”.

It is said that it takes a minimum of 2 weeks to develop a new habit. So if you’re wanting to develop a new habit you must perform it in the same manner every day for 14 consecutive days for it to become embedded in your subconscious so the behavior becomes automatic. If you use triggers (positive or negative) to reinforce the behavior, coupled with a replacement then it’s even more likely to stick long-term.

Let’s think about this for a minute – so all it takes is 14 days of doing something the right way, to reprogram myself. Think about the addiction of biting your nails. If you 14 days, you wore a rubber band around your wrist. And every time you went to bite your nails, you stopped and flicked the rubber band (negative trigger), and then every day you went without biting your nails you did something nice for yourself (gave yourself a foot treatment or massage, or a manicure or pedicure), do you think after 14 days of this behavior you’d be less likely to automatically bite your nails?

So how would this work with diet and exercise?

Start small, and make incremental changes: don’t go for a radical change that your body will rebel against and that is impossible to sustain. Aim to adjust your lifestyle food program on a small scale – cut out sugar, cut back from 3 to 1 coffees a day, or cut back food intake if you’re over eating (subscribe to a home delivered diet plan or use diet software to track your food or calorie intake, both will help re educate you).

The same goes for exercise, start by increasing your exercise duration or intensity slightly. Take the stairs where possible instead of the lift. Don’t go for the closest car park to the shops or mall. Get off a stop earlier on your way to work and walk the rest of the way. Increasing your activity several times through the day will have a compound effect and will be far less noticeable than trying to pack in a 1 hour fitness class that you end up missing because it all seems too hard.

Keep gradually turning these incremental diet and exercise changes up over the next 14 days, rewarding yourself when you stick to it (with something other than food or alcohol), and you’ll find yourself spiraling upwards to greater health and vitality. What have you got to lose? And think what you will gain in the process.

Start to create new habits that support your wellness by visiting our Exercise Tools and Tips or Diet Tools and Tips pages now.