I pick which habits to add in or remove from my life based on what is bothering/annoying me the most.

For those of you who don’t know, for the month of NOvember, I dropped three habits that I deemed the most detrimental to reaching my goals.

I found this exercise to be so useful that I decided that each month I was going to either drop a bad habit or introduce a good habit that I have been dragging my feet on practicing.

I will go over December’s goal in a bit. 

First, I want to tell you about my experience with dropping three bad habits for the month of NOvember.

Snacking Between Meals

This was a biggie for me as I tended to snack between lunch and supper on a regular basis which did NOT help with weight loss.

For the most part, I stuck to this goal of not snacking between meals and I felt great.

But there were a few instances throughout the month, particularly on weekends, where I did snack and ate more in general.

I can honestly say that when I snacked, I didn’t feel good. I felt bloated and overfull, a feeling which never used to bother me, now does.

Going forward, I’m going to continue to lay off of snacking between meals.

Since weekends are the hardest for me to not snack, I am going to have to come up with some sort of plan to help with this. 

Staying busy and scheduled work during the week, but the time at home on weekends with a kitchen nearby is a test of my willpower. 

In order to stay successful with this goal, I will have to strengthen my willpower and figure it out.

Once I have a successful game plan for those times when my willpower is weakened, I will let you know!

Skipping Workouts

I set a goal for the month of November to do 10 minutes of kettlebell exercises every day.

And guess what? I actually did it!

I find 10 minutes to be a reasonable amount of time that is fairly easy to fit into my day. I prefer to work out in the morning, but if I forget, finding time in the evening is not very difficult.

It helps that I love kettlebell exercises, so there was no dread involved when I thought about having to do them.

I also love the muscles I am developing by doing strength exercises daily.

I absolutely plan on continuing my daily 10-minute kettlebell exercises into December.

The Green Stuff

I abstained from the recreational green stuff for the whole month of November. WOOHOO! Prior to November, I found myself using it too much as a way to numb my feelings and not deal with issues head-on. 

Having not had one single puff all month, I feel more productive, clear-headed, and maybe most importantly facing my problems instead of numbing them away.

Again, I am going to continue abstaining from the green stuff and fill my time with more productive endeavors instead.

Summary

Overall, in November, I felt better, was way more productive than I have been in a long time, and am actually dealing with my problems instead of avoiding them.

I actually lost 8 pounds this month! and considering from August 23 (when I started to record daily weigh-ins) to October 31, I lost a grand total of 6 pounds, which I kept losing and gaining back. I am pretty happy with my November results.

This practice of setting habits that align with my goals is awesome and I see so much improvement already that it is no question that I am not only going to continue with these habits but add more in one month at a time for the foreseeable future.

December Habits

I pick which habits to add to or remove from my life based on what is bothering/annoying me the most. This month, it’s my weight and overall health, as well as trying to develop a healthier mindset.

I actually set two goals for the month of December, they are:

No Sugar

YIKES! This one is going to test me every minute of every day. I know it. That’s why I have been avoiding it for a long time. 

Last year when I lost a bunch of weight and didn’t know what to do after to keep it off, some wise person on TikTok recommended a book called The Obesity Code. 

So I did some research and thought it looked like a good book based on science and not anecdotal evidence, and I ordered a copy through Amazon. 

Weelllllll, as you may have guessed, I did not follow that book, and instead ate large amounts of cookies and other processed junk just to gain all the weight back plus some.

FUN.

One of the main points of the book is to eliminate added sugar in your diet to avoid insulin spikes which can lead to insulin resistance. The key to reducing these insulin spikes is to, you guessed it, cut out sugar from your diet. 

As well as sugar, I am including sweeteners too, because I use those heavily throughout the day and I know damn well that they are not good for you.

Since I found myself snacking in November mostly on sweet, baked goods, I know that this is an issue for me and I am hell-bent on addressing it right now. 

I’m sick of what I’m doing and want to change.

Dropping sugar from my diet during December probably isn’t going to make things easier, but fuck it, let’s do this.

Daily Statement of Purpose

I have been listening to a summary of Think and Grow Rich, narrated by Earl Nightingale on audible for the last month or so when I am out on my walks.

One of the big things that are recommended is, in the morning and nighttime to read a statement of purpose. In this statement of purpose is your goal you want to achieve, the time limit you want to achieve it in, and what you are going to do to achieve it. After you read your statement of purpose, you’re supposed to visualize your life as you want it, not as it is now.

I have struggled with a disciplined visualization practice, so by committing to this for the month of December, I hope to develop a strong practice that I continue forever.

These are my goals for the month of December, what are yours?

For a sneak peak of my 2023 goals, check out this article.

Keep going, keep going, keep going….