There’s that tiny season in between the holiday season (yea!) and tax season (boo!). It’s the 30 days when everyone starts (and ends) an exercise regimen and/or a diet–diet season  According to the Wall Street Journal, exercise routines–the stuff of New Year’s Resolutions–die around the third week of January.

The Internet abounds with suggestions on how to make the resolutions stick. My favorite so far is to get more exercise duds. Think pretty pink stretch fabric.

Think lumps. Yick.  I come from a long line of lumpy people. Good Slavic peasant stock. Great for fields. Not so great for writers. I’m also of an age where my body hurts in strange places for no particular reason. Exercise can be painful.

Oh, did I mention I crave comfort food?

But I’m not going to cave in. I’m not. Not! Not! Not!!!!

Changes Since Last Diet Season

I figure I’m not the only one in this rut. I decided to look at the positive this year. I did lose 10 pounds last year.  Thanks to my doctor, the wonderful Dr. Joey Banks, my blood pressure is back under control. Those were two major successes in 2015!  I’d love to know what your health successes were.

Since I have TONS of bad habits around health–except for smoking–that one never stuck–I figure any change I make is for the better, right?

So…I’m going to start with mindful eating, a tactic that I first read about in When Food Is Love by Geneen Roth.

Origins of Bad Eating Habits

When I was growing up, meals were to be gotten through, not enjoyed. My mother, raised by a high German family, tried to be more formal during meals. My father from a hard-scrabble family originally from the South, ate from pots before my mother could get it into bowls and on the table. When we finally did sit down, my father complained about something–the government, the emerging feminists, civil rights, or his family.

Not pleasant.

I’ve grown up to be an odd combination–I like my food set out in bowls when I have company–just ask my critique group! But I also have a tendency to bolt my food without tasting it, more focused on the book or magazine I’m reading than the taste of something.

I know I don’t have to continually repeat the patterns of my family of origin. I can make a change. I’ve proved that in a dozen different ways, but this is a stubborn problem. Still, I can tackle it. One change. I can make one change.

Slow down. Taste my food. Check my hunger level. Don’t beat myself up when I forget. There will always be another meal.

Do you have bad eating habits? Any strategies you’ve learned to help you change?

Moving Past Diet Season

Another tip I read was that there is strength in numbers.

We don’t have to be overweight to need to improve our health.  I’d love to hear from anyone who’d like to join me in the effort to make one healthy change that lasts beyond January 31st. Comment below and let’s start a discussion!