Day Nine: when does it become habit?

The American Journal of Psychology defines habit in this way: "A habit, from the standpoint of psychology, is a more or less fixed way of thinking, willing, or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience." Old habits are hard to break and new habits are hard to form because the behavioural patterns we repeat are imprinted in our neural pathways, but it is possible to form new habits through repetition.

Deliberately starting any new lifestyle is a conscious attempt to make new habits. What I am finding interesting is noticing my existing habits as I start to change them. One in particular is the tendency to pick bits of food from my children's plates as I am preparing or clearing them away. On a fast day I have to police this habit rigorously, and it is so ingrained that sometimes the food is in my hand before I remember and stop myself. The fun part is that stopping myself has now started to replace the old habit. I find myself doing it on non-fast days too. I can then make a conscious decision as to whether to put the food in my mouth or not. Sometimes I still do, but it is with thought, not an automatic action. I firmly believe that it is small changes like this which support the overall goals and help the strategy to work.

Today I am fasting at home with my children (they are not fasting, obviously) and finding it a breeze. I have spoken to a few different people about the fasting strategy this week, and the common reaction from all of them has been - "Isn't that hard? Don't you feel faint? I couldn't do that." And yes sometimes it is hard, and sometimes I do feel unwell. But it is getting easier. Today I ate a yoghurt in the morning, and by the time I got to lunch the chicken salad I had planned seemed too much. I ate a plate of raw veg and a dollop of houmous - all weighed out to the last gram - and felt fine. I was a bit peckish this afternoon so ate a banana. I'm sure I cruise through to my dinnertime omelette. And honestly, however hard it is on any one day, I know I can eat tomorrow. It is becoming normal for me.

Motivation comes in different places. On Friday I was out shopping with Dream and we noticed a clothes shop I hadn't seen before. I was entranced by the clothes in the window and uncharacteristically went in to look. My usual clothes shopping experience is pretty hellish, and regular shops like this one generally don't go over a size 16, which is depressing for a 20/22 girl. I figured I could take a look at what I might be able to wear a bit further down the road.

Delightfully their range went up to a size 18 and with Dream's encouragement I tried a few things on. I ended up spending rather a lot of money... Even better, Dream slipped into a size 16 for the first time in a long while. I'm looking forward to wearing a smart new dress to work this week - although I do need to invest in some new tights first!

http://www.mistral-online.com/