Don't break that habit!

No, the title is not a mistake, and yes, we know it sounds backwards.  Usually someone is trying to break a habit.  In this case, however, we want you to stick with your exercise habit. 

As my cousin would say, "We are right in the Epcot Center of the eating season.".   (She meant epicenter, and she might have had one too many martinis).  Regardless, many of you are trying to successfully navigate a time of year that is filled with parties, cocktails, food, family, and stress.  The best way to find your way through to the New Year without that holiday 5 or 10 is to stick to the exercise habit you have already established.  Staying consistent with your fitness program will help you avoid the weight gain and will help relieve the additional stress that can come from dealing with added social, financial, and family obligations.

Many of you have probably heard that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit.  A recent study by Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts, & Wardle challenged the validity of that claim.  They conducted a rigorous study of habit formation in which their participants performed a self-chosen health-promoting dietary or activity behaviour (e.g. drinking a glass of water) in response to a once-daily cue (e.g. after breakfast), and gave daily self-reports of how automatic the behavior felt. Participants were tracked for 84 days. Automaticity typically developed a distinct pattern: initial repetitions of the behavior led to quite large increases in automaticity, but these increases then reduced in size the more often the behavior was repeated, until automaticity plateaued. Assuming that the point at which automaticity is highest, is also the point when the habit has formed, it took, on average, 66 days for the habit to form.

For our Metabolic Warriors who have been with us for one to two years, you have developed a great fitness habit.  For our newer Warriors, many of you began your training the last week of October.  That means you are over 40 days into developing a healthy fitness habit.  Stay strong with your routine and by the end of December you will have surpassed your 66 days.  Then you can begin the New Year in the envious position of not having to be one of the majority of people who set a resolution to begin a workout program...  and then fail within one or two weeks. 

Remember, if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you.  You have taken on the challenge and we are seeing great changes!