Habits vs. Routine

Last week, at my Weight Watchers meeting, a person in our meeting made a statement along the lines of "Well, that's just my new routine."  My leader stopped and looked at her and then asked, "What is the difference between habits and routines?"

I'll admit it, I was a bit stumped.  I mean, I know that there is a difference (there had to be, or she wouldn't have asked the question, right??), but in truth I couldn't think of a meaningful difference.

After a bit of what can only be described as wrong answers from the members, our leader helped us with the difference - at least as she saw it.

Routines have to do with time - they're what you do every morning, afternoon, or evening.  They're the bowl of Cheerios you have for breakfast because you know that they're only X number of points.  They're the five mile run you take every morning so you feel better.  They're the bag of carrots that you have each afternoon to stave off hunger.

But habits?  Well, habits are a broader way that you actually live - and they really don't have a lot to do with fixed time frames or specifics.

For instance, your routine may be the bowl of Cheerios, but your habit may be to work whole grains into breakfast.  The end result is the same, but the habits are more likely to get you to change who you really are. And when you actually change your habits, you start to change yourself.  If you're the Cheerios eating skinny lady, what do you do when you visit other people or go out to breakfast and there are no Cheerios in sight?  Your routine is gone and you're more likely to throw the whole eating healthy thing out the window.

BUT if your habit is to have whole grains at every breakfast, you'd shrug off the Cheerios-free morning and choose something that was equally as hearty.

Can we lose weight by changing our routines alone? You betcha'.  I'd be willing to wager that this is how most of us have lost the weight - time and time again.  You get motivation and you change your lifestyle.  You throw out all the junk food and dive right into a great new eating plan or exercise regime.

But if we only change our routines, it's probably harder to have the will power to stay on the track that we've laid out for ourselves.

In order for all of us to live the healthiest that we can, we must be willing to change our habits - not just our routines.

This subtle difference made me change the way that I looked at my own life, especially as it pertains to my weight loss.

I have a few habits that I'd like to change - like sleeping in as late as I can every day of the week, brooding by myself when I feel particularly blue, and worrying about things that are outside of my control.

But I have a few habits that I'm kind of proud of too - like working in a veggie at every meal, trying a new food when it's presented to me (pertaining to veggies or fruits that I'm unfamiliar with), and working on getting more fiber into my daily intake.

I think the habits were formed by routines that I had put in place.  I used to not want veggies, but the points values when I added them made things lower - and therefore it was worth the veggies.  After years of this, I noticed that my body felt better when I ate more veggies.  And (gasp!) when I didn't eat as many, I kind of missed how my body ran.  So now I look for ways to make my body feel better - at least in terms of fuel.

It's a small distinction, really.  But it's helped me be more aware of the choices I make and the reason why I make them.  Sometimes they're out of habits and sometimes they're out of routine.  Neither is bad, per se.  It's just another thing that I'm noticing and felt like it was worthy of sharing.

To track or not to track

Studies show that you are significantly more successful in your weight loss efforts when you write down everything that you eat. In case you want to read more about it, you can read a few articles here.

So if writing everything that you eat down (or tracking) is one of the tools for success, why do we resist so much?

Tracking all of what we eat was the subject at last night's Weight Watchers meeting. I know that a lot of you don't utilize Weight Watchers, but I think that the message of this post is the same regardless of what system you use.

It's probably my least favorite topic. In fact, when someone even mentions the word, I inwardly (and sometimes outwardly) roll my eyes.

A part of me feels like it's this kiss-up answer that we give to the leader. Anytime she asks a question about how to get back on track, how to get motivated again, or how to kick-start the weight loss, someone mentions tracking. It's like the universal right answer - and a part of me feels like it's lame that tracking is the magic pill that we all need to master in order to lose weight.

So go figure - I struggle with tracking.

When I first started my weight loss in July of 2008, I tracked religiously. I almost never went to bed without having tracked - and even if I went over my points, at least I KNEW how it happened and where the gain came from.

I tracked for 20 solid weeks. And then, when I switched from the weekly coupons to the monthly e-pass, I stopped.

So I guess I've figured out that even though it might be easier and more convenient to track online or on my iPhone, I do better at tracking when I write it down.

Last night, during the meeting, our leader read this little poem with an adaptation of "10 Little Indians." The poem counted down Weight Watchers members instead of Indians and listed all the reasons why when people don't track, they're not successful.

At one point during the meeting, she mentioned that she was horrible at tracking and that she doesn't track her food intake now. I've heard her say this before, and honestly, I think I took it as an excuse for me to not track. Then she said that it took her 2 years to lose her weight and that if she were better at tracking, perhaps it wouldn't have taken her so long.

I don't know if it was that statement or if it was hearing ten ways that not tracking isn't helpful to weight loss, but I left the meeting with a renewed resolve to track. The repetition and dwelling on this subject resonated with me somehow and I guess I started opening my eyes to how tracking isn't just lame, it's necessary.

It's easy for us to sit around and whine about how the pounds aren't coming off, to say that everything is SOOO hard when it comes to losing weight, or even to complain that "nothing works." But how can we know if anything works if we're not documenting what we're doing? Aren't we worth taking the extra few minutes to double check points values?

I try to practice mindful eating and the fact that I've kept the weight that I have lost off as much as I have is proof that I'm getting better about being contentious in my eating. But I know that I can really lock into what is going on when I at least document the facts.

If I really want to accomplish my goals this year, tracking is likely going to have to be a tool that I learn to use - at least until I can monitor my progress in other ways.

It's almost as if I'm a baby and I've been thinking to myself, "Why bother learning how to crawl? Years from now, I'll only be walking or running - I shouldn't HAVE to learn this!" What I think it's easy to lose sight of is that the crawling prepares us for the walking and running. Similarly, tracking prepares us for being able to judge, accurately, how much we're eating. When we get better at judging our intake of calories, we can get better at figuring out how much exercise we need to shed excess pounds.

My goal is not to track for the rest of my life. But I guess that I've come to terms with that it's necessary if I want to continue losing weight. I've gotten pretty good at judging how many calories (or points) I can eat each week to stay within a five pound range...heck, that's what I've done for almost the past 9 months.

To move forward in my weight loss, I must bite the bullet and realize that I need to recalibrate - through tracking - how much I am able to eat while losing weight.

Tracking is STILL not my favorite subject. It's never going to be something that I'm going to leap with happiness to do. But I do plenty of things in my life that I don't want to do. I mean, I get up each morning and go to work when I'd rather sleep an extra hour. I even get a yearly PAP smear and I think we can all agree that that appointment isn't much fun.

I guess I've figured out that I don't have to love it to appreciate it and recognize it's benefits.

And so - today - I'm choosing to track.