Friday, July 15, 2011

Small Changes, Big Results

When I first started my job at Health Alliance, this was the name of a children’s newsletter I did for a healthy lifestyles program for kids. It was one of my favorite projects to work on and the name of it keeps ringing in my head lately as I think about small changes.
Not eating potato chips was the first small change I decided to make as a step toward bettering my health. So far, so good and it’s even led to another small change – incorporating exercise back into my life.
I’m at week 2 of my potato chip experiment today. I’ve lost two pounds. I’ve started, slowly, getting back into a routine at the gym on my lunch breaks. I’ve started taking 15 minute walks at work when I can. But I’ve found myself being overwhelmed with guilt at times. My trips to the gym don’t feel long enough. I should be doing more. I’ve cut out potato chips, but I should cut other things from my diet, too. I feel the changes I want to make spiraling down on me, and I’m beating myself up for not living up to the health standards I want to yet.
That’s when I remember the whole purpose of the Small Changes, Big Results program. It’s all about making small changes in your life and how it can have big results. I know from experience that trying too much at once will only backfire and put me back at square one. If I jump into the deep end on this without really knowing how to swim, I’m going to drown.
 I also realize that subconsciously, I’m missing potato chips more than I realize. The other night I had a dream I was in the car eating potato chips and didn’t even realize I was eating them until I was halfway through with the bag. I think week 3 might see some withdrawal symptoms, so my goal for this next week is to find some healthy replacement snacks that won’t make me miss chips so much. I value my sleep way too much to have it interrupted by guilty dreams.

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