Forming New Diet Habits

I saw a meme recently that said “Don’t Blame The Holidays, You Were Fat In August” on it. This got me thinking about overall habits versus special days. My thoughts took me two places. The first is that we definitely should not feel like special occasions such as birthdays, holidays, or vacations and the indulgences that come with them are a source of stress. If they are, then our everyday habits are probably the real culprits that we should look at. The second was a question: how long does it actually take to form a new habit?

The first thought is something I have written about before (Don’t Fear The Turkey) but it is worth repeating. Special occasions like Holidays represent a relatively small percentage of the year. If you take a two week vacation, have a handful of birthdays (let’s say 7) and 3 weeks of holiday season that equals 6 weeks out of a 52 week year, or about 11% of the total. In other words, if you have good habits during your normal weeks then you would have good habits 89% of the time. Given that number, I think it is totally acceptable to eat and drink whatever you want with no regrets a few weeks out of the year without feeling guilty. What’s important is how your diet is the other 89% of the time.

This leads me to the second point of how long it takes to form a new habit. I looked this up and at first, found a number that has become fairly well known in popular culture – 21 days. The wisdom goes, if you can repeat something 21 consecutive days you will form a new habit. Here’s the rub though. No sooner had I seen that number than I discovered several articles refuting it. (See below) Apparently, one recent study found that there was a great deal of variation between individuals with some people forming habits in around 20 days and others needing as many as 66 days. The good news though, is that same study also refuted the idea that the days have to be consecutive. The authors claim that there was no observed loss of momentum from missing a day so when trying to form a new positive habit, perfection is not a necessity.

So to tie it all together, I think a common thread here is that the idea of perfection, especially when it comes to diet, is a distraction. There are times of the year when there will be so many temptations that you can’t possibly avoid them, and when you try, you only make yourself miserable by feeling guilty about this perceived failure. Remember that there is a huge portion of the year that is not a holiday, vacation, or birthday that you can focus on having good habits. At the same time, keep in mind that you can turn good, healthy decisions into pretty solid habits even if you aren’t perfect everyday. It may take some time, so stick with it, but whenever you feel like you aren’t doing enough, remember that 1 day, or even 1 week, does not mean that the whole year is down the drain.

The Guardian – Change Your Life Habit 28 Day Rule

Psychology Today – Stop Expecting To Change Your Habit In 21 Days

Brainpickings.org – How Long It Takes To Form A New Habit

PHOTO – Don’t Blame The Holidays, Post Memes – License