Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Considering the Alternative...



One of the tremendous upsides of choosing some kind of healthy lifestyle change, even if it's not THE best choice, is that you are NOT choosing a plethora of other bad behaviors.

Consider a person who is obese that decides to walk for one hour a day every single day, working at a leisurely pace, stopping and resting during that hour as often as needed. If you were to survey internet fitness gurus, no doubt many of them would scream and curse about how 'YOU CAN'T OUTRUN A DONUT!' or 'THAT WON'T EVEN BURN ENOUGH CALORIES TO MATTER!'. They are missing the point completely - this is exactly what is meant by 'replacement behaviors'. By choosing to spend an hour walking, they are also choosing to NOT sit on a couch for an hour internet surfing and eating chips.

Choosing a positive behavior and following through, even when it may not be the best option available, can be the first step toward building positive habits that will lead to more constructive and even better decisions down the road.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

You always increase awareness with the titles you've recommended over the years. It is good you are back to voicing your insight.

Boris said...

Thank you Vincente. I really appreciate that.

Unknown said...

Is "Check your Gauge Using Replacement Behaviors to Make Good Choices" is a title of a book?

Boris said...

Maybe - I just grabbed an image that showed up w. a search of "replacement behaviors". Normally, I'd probably be able to suggest a book here - "The Power of Habit" by Duhigg is good