This post addresses a question that I am asked more than any other topic viz. Is there an easy way to get started on the path to making the changes necessary to improve one’s health? The summary of the conversation is often along the lines of “I like your posts and would like to do them but I am quite lazy / not disciplined / get overwhelmed by the changes being suggested. Any simple way to get started?”
This is actually a very practical question and deserves a more thoughtful answer than just a “if you make up your mind, you will be able to start doing strength training 3 times a week for 30 minutes a day”. I decided to look at the behaviors of about 12 individuals who I know personally that have successfully improved their health parameters after having struggled with it for a while. Here is what I found was common to most of their transformation journeys:
- Long Term Life Goals vs. Short Term Parameter Goals: Quantitative short term goals around parameters, such as weight, cholesterol levels, etc. sound good but are often not very useful. I observed that while many of them started with a goal like - I want to drop my weight 20 lbs in 3 months - that attempt wasn’t very successful. For some they worked their butts off getting there but once they got there, they lost purpose in continuing with such a grueling schedule; leading to regressing to their old habits and soon their old markers. Instead, when they changed their goal to something they would enjoy doing for the long term but that could potentially start seeing some short term success as well, they found it more sustainable. E.g. One of them said she wanted to be able to pick up her grandchild in her arms while another said he wanted to play soccer with his daughters, a third expressed an interest in being able to hike again like he used to twenty years ago while a fourth wanted to eventually stop taking insulin shots. These are goals that they were able to see some early success as they got started and then eventually when they achieved their goals, the feeling of joy in that activity was so high, they didn’t want it to stop. The ongoing reward was something that motivated them to keep going.
- Make Small Incremental and Sustainable Changes: Most of us love routine, love comfort and hate change, especially if it is inconvenient. For that reason, the previous point is a necessary but not sufficient condition to inculcating the right habits. We also need the changes to be made in an incremental manner that doesn’t feel like effort. One of the participants viewed going for a walk after a meal to be really hard to implement, so he decided to check his physical mailbox outside his home after his dinner every night. This meant a one minute walk to and back to do this. By timing the activity to happen after a meal, it got him started on the habit of walking. Over time, he increased that one minute walk to two minutes by going another 50 steps. In about 21 days, he was at a 10 minute walk every day after dinner. In my case, I moved some of my Zoom calls from video to audio, thereby allowing me to walk while talking. The fun thing about walking while I am on a call is that time passes much faster because I am so distracted by the conversation that I forget that I have walked a long time. Just make sure you aren’t walking on the open roads where distracted walking may not be very safe. Small, incremental changes are the way to get going.
- Discipline Requires Energy: This was something that has been an a-ha moment for me. I tend to make my worst decisions or have the worst adherence towards my goals when I am low in my energy levels. On the other hand, I have found that if I decide to tackle my hardest problems of the day in the morning when my energy levels are at their highest, my success rate is often the best. I found this to be true for most people. We tend to give up on things, or decide to admit we are not capable of something when we don’t have the energy levels to do the work it takes. So the question then is: What are the couple of things we can do to increase our energy levels in order to facilitate better commitment to our tasks? Doing things earlier in the day is a good start but there are limited hours in the morning; instead if we can find a way to have high energy levels for a longer part of the day, we can be committed to many more of our decisions. I suggest you start by addressing just 2 things: your sleep cycle and your eating window.
- On sleep cycle, there is enough research that suggests having the same sleep start time and sleep end time is more critical than the amount of sleep time. While the latter is important, the former is way more impactful. If your typical bedtime is 1030 pm, then try and stick to it as much as possible day-to-day. Similarly, if your time to wake up is 6 am, then stick to that as much as possible. For days you have social events that prevent you from sleeping at 10:30 pm, still try to stick to your 6 am wake up time and then get back to the 10:30 pm bedtime the next day. Please note that this only works if you can get back on track the next day, otherwise you will build up a lot of sleep debt over time which isn’t a good thing. Within a week or two, you will find your energy levels being much better.
- On the eating window, stick to eating in the same period of time daily e.g. first meal at 9 am and last meal at 7 pm. Ideally, stick to eating when there is still sunlight so your eating window matches your circadian rhythm; the benefits of this have been well documented in lots of sleep studies from Dr. Matthew Walker at Berkeley. Within that, don’t overeat, have a reasonable amount of fiber and protein in your diet and have desserts at the end of the meal.
As always, I hope you find these tips helpful and I am keen to hear from you if they do.