12 Bad Habits

So today I decided to spend a little time researching habits and how to break them. I mean that seems to be the big thing here… I have habits, and I need to break them. How simple is that, right? Not as simple as it may seem… apparently there is a lot to breaking a habit… I have these little tidbits…

The wiki on how to break habits

Some people say that it takes 30 days to form a pattern and 90 days to form a habit, so plan on giving this a good chance.

An About page on breaking habits

The first step in breaking a bad habit is to look at why you find this action so compelling. In other words, what’s the payoff for doing this seemingly negative thing? Since you’ve already classified this as a “bad” habit you may be tempted to say there isn’t one.

So basically what I am reading is this… Figure out why you love the habit so much and spend a lot of time getting rid of the habit.  Well, I think I am doing both of these things successfully.  I mean I spent a long time deciding what habit would be first.  I wanted one that would make a big impact on my life, but would be relatively easy so that I could be successful.  And, I think that I picked well.  So far it has been a tough habit to break, but one that I really do think is possible.

So what I learned today… I guess something I already knew… hard work and perseverence pay off in the long run

Okay, it is definitely the flu, and that is making it so much harder.  You see, my sick food is potato chips, and I am trying to make the baked lays work… but they just don’t seem to be hacking it.  But, I can’t stay sick forever, right?  So, I will just keep plugging away one day at a time.  I have to say though, this is way easier than trying to like give up all good foods, or something else like that.  Aalready I am just feeling SO much better.  I guess for me it’s just that I am too big of a wimp to give up tons of stuff at one time.  It’s important to remember that I didn’t get all these bad habits in a day, so it isn’t going to take me a day to get rid of them either!  So, with that in mind.  I still haven’t had any fried food, and I am still going strong!  AND so…. another day bites the dust…

That’s right… I am still going strong. I am actually quite surprised at how much fried food just pops up in everything I have been eating all this time. Of course… that could explain quite a bit of the extra weight I have been putting on as of late… I mean… it is like hidden with tortilla strips here, or onion rings there… I mean what has MADE it so popular anyway? I guess it is cheap to do, and let’s face it, tastes pretty good.

But… I have managed to special order or just avoid all the fried foods on menus, and I have made it five whole days fried food free! I am fairly sure I am fighting off the flu, but other than that… I actually do feel a little better, and seem to be retaining less water. My guess is that isn’t actually the fried food, but the salt that goes on it.

So, five days fried food free, and feelin’ fine! (uhhh except for the flu)

So, I am definitely needing the get to the grocery store. I know this will help me in my whole no fried foods thing, but I am thinking I might have something like the flu… This does not make me happy, because you need to be at your top notch best in order to have the willpower to change things about yourself. But, fortunately I am feeling so crappy that I don’t even want to eat… so that seems to be working out for itself

I do have the first week of the monthly meal planner all planned out though, Hopefully I can figure out how to upload it here so you can take a look at it I will see what I can do soon.

Oh my gosh… I actually made a youtube video of myself! Be nice!

So, I said I wouldn’t do it… but I have totally been sitting here thinking about other bad habits I could break, and so far…I have a few that I might try to break over the next few months…

• No more soda (courtesy of a twitter friend)
• In bed by midnight (this is a scary one, but I know I need to do it!)
• Drink my daily water (maybe I could do this one WITH no more soda…)
• Quit playing World of Warcraft (yeah this gives me the shakes just thinking about it!)
• Stop ignoring the laundry

Wow… those are some tall items! I am kinda scared just thinking about them! What are some habits that you guys want to break this year? Maybe I will get some more ideas!

So, my husband and I were out with the daughter today, and we were like hmmm…. let’s have mexican food… and my mind shoots to enchiladas and rice and I think to myself, okay we’re good… I totally forget about the big ol BOWL of chips they bring ya!

Wow, chips are like everywhere ya know… my husband is cutting down and dieting as well… so he had no problem with me sending them right back. That was harder than I thought it would be! But that just a test of willpower, and it totally went okay… so far… I am kickin ass and takin names!

And I don’t even WANT fried food. Like, I woke up totally cool. I think one of the biggest things I am going to be able to do to facilitate this no fried food thing is to not eat out. When I really think about it, when was the last time I whipped up some french fries at home? uhhhh…. I can’t even sort of remember… but I eat them… pretty much every time I go out I eat french fries… so I will spend today getting my monthly meal planner back in order.

What is the monthly meal planner you ask? Well, it is this: I have mapped out the menu in a simple word document that basically has everything we are going to eat for the week, all the ingredients on a shopping list, and then any recipes for anything that I think might need a recipe to make. I put it all in a binder with page protectors, and bam… I have each week with five meals (I’m not superwoman… we eat out at least twice!) and my family has home cooked meals pretty much all week. I even have a little folder for each week stuck in the binder where I keep extra copies of the shopping lists so I can just grab them and go when I am in a hurry. This works out so great, and I have had so many people in the grocery store comment on my lists!

I only have three weeks worth of meals so far, and I want five… I feel like if we haven’t eaten something in five weeks, then surely we would be okay to eat it again… but I don’t like to cook, or at least won’t cook everything on my three weeks yet… like I want them perfect I want to open up the recipe to whatever week we are in and be like bam…. I am cooking any of these five things tonight and I totally want to. So today, I plan on working and spending a little time prepping the list and just refining it.

I kind of feel like that is part of the whole stay at home thing… to try to make sure my family eats healthy meals… the other thing I would like to see in my list is at least one crock pot meal a week. I think the crock pot is AWESOME and if I could include it in my life at least once a week, then I think that would make my life that much easier… so I plan to try to move and mix things around and get to using that crock pot more… because dude… you SO can’t fry things in the crock pot, right?

Well, first day, and I think I just made it! I went the whole day skipping out on all things fried… and other than the fritos…. it wasn’t so bad. I think that’s part of this whole becoming a better person thing though… I am better than the fritos. I don’t NEED fritos, and there are all sorts of other kinds of junk food and yuminess that will make me happy, huh?

So, I made it, first day of my new plan is done and DONE. And, I am happier for it… I really am, I am proud that I accomplished something, and that I was able to do it all on my own! And so… one day down… 364 to go until all the habits are gone!

Okay, so seriously, the Fritos are totally mocking me in every way shape and form… ugh it is driving me up the WALL! My kid has brought them to me like three times today… and I keep saying, “Oh one little Frito wouldn’t hurt, would it?” But… I know that it would… this is about breaking habits… no one said it would be easy! So I will break this habit… I hope that eventually breaking habits starts to come a little easier to me!

Someone asked me if I was planning on all my habits having to do with food, and the answer is no. I am not sure what habits I want to break… I think they will reveal themselves to me when it is time for me to break them! I just know that my plan can work for me.

I am now kind of wishing I had started this journey with someone else, but I can do this on my own… it will just take a little more willpower. Willpower is not something I have a lot of, but maybe that is part of this whole habit thing… maybe I am supposed to learn willpower with all of this!

So… to the fritos… DAMN you… I am having nothing to do with your Fritos…. in fact… I think I will be throwing you in the trash… Fritos are good for no one!~