I came to the program about seven and a half years ago
I was very, very sick and had two aneurysms. I had to have brain surgery and came out of that alive, which is very rare, and knew that I needed to do something different in my health. I lost 65 pounds* and felt pretty amazing.
I really dove deep into the Habits of Health for myself, but honestly, it was more about my children. If I just look at this one bad thing and how I can break it out, or if I can work on this habit, then it’s really going to change the dynamic and the trajectory of my family and that was really, really important to me.
It started off for me with just saying, “We’re going to take one meal a day and start there.” Each kid would get to pick a healthy recipe. We’d go to the grocery store and pick out all kinds of different things that were in that recipe. Then we’d come home and gather and make the recipes and have fun together as a family. Food became more about the time we spent together than what we were actually creating to eat, because really, we’re just creating memories. What we did was spent time together, and I think that was probably the key Habit of Health that has lived on in my children.
Fast forward, my son came home from college at Christmas time and was like, “Mom, I want a waffle iron. I miss those cauliflower crust pizzas, and I know I could make those in the dorm.” So it’s fun that that’s still living on in my children.
*In a clinical study, the group on the Optimal Weight 5 & 1 Plan® lost 10x more weight than the self-directed group. Average weight loss on the Optimal Weight 5 & 1 Plan is 12 pounds.
Food became more about the time we spent together than what we were actually creating to eat.
Taking one baby step at a time, one habit at a time really works
What I love about Habits of Motion is it doesn’t have to look like a box gym. We have a challenge to see who can do the most pushups, who can do the most sit-ups. I think that if you make healthy motion more like a recess or play time, you’re more likely to engage in it. In the last year, my husband and I have taken that habit of healthy motion to a next level and are really chasing after ultrahealth. We’re having recess and we’re playing, but we’re taking the time to carve out the body of our dreams and using the Habits of Healthy Fueling to build that body instead of just haphazardly hitting the gym and hoping that it all works out. I think that the key to healthy motion is you can ride along with healthy movement as long as you want and really create that functionality. But if your desire is to take your health to a greater level, all you have to do is fine-tune those habits.
I think that if you make healthy motion more like a recess or play time, you’re more likely to engage in it.
What makes it most sustainable for us is that we don’t take every habit and overhaul our whole life. I had a lifetime of bad habits that needed to be cleaned up, but if I had just overhauled my life in one fell swoop, it wouldn’t have stuck. But because I took it one baby step at a time, one habit at a time, that’s really what’s caused us to stick to this. Having people around me was probably a big portion of staying on track, because I want to inspire them. Long-term health is possible, but it is only possible through choosing healthy habits, and it’s one habit at a time.