Habit Transformation

[JKG]

17/01/27, Friday

Eating only three meals and nothing in between - Streak 7

Programming my Subconscious Mind - Streak 7

• 1
• Green smoothie
• 2
• Vegetable soup - 2 plates
• Salad
• 3
• Fruit salad
• Salad

Not a normal day. And its hard to write this on my phone.

[JKG]

17/01/28, Saturday

Eating only three meals and nothing in between - Streak 8
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 8

• 1 (7:30am)
  • 1 banana, 2 apples
• 2 (1:30pm) - in a vegan, Japanese restaurant
  • Miso-soup
  • vegetables with rice
• 3 (6pm)
  • potatoes with kidney beens and onions
  • fruit with oat meal
  • fruit cake

I was very hungry in the evening.

Edited January 29, 2017 by quantum

[JKG]

17/01/29, Sunday

Eating only three meals and nothing in between - Streak 9
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 9

• 1 (9am)
  • oat meal with fruit and spelt milk - 3 bowls
• 2 (1:30pm) - in a typically German restaurant
  • pumpkin soup with potatoes and bread (very salty)
• 3 (6pm)
  • fruit plate
  • nuts and seeds

[JKG]

17/01/30, Monday

Eating only three meals and nothing in between - Streak 10
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 10

• 1 (7am)
  • oat meal with banana and persimmon
• 2 (3pm)
  • salad
  • green smoothie
  • nuts and seeds
• 3 (7pm)
  • potatoes with brussle sprouts
  • cucumber, grapes, carrot

What I noticed

• I need to look that I don't trick myself and forget how I tricked myself in the past. To make this clear again: No more than 5 cashews, 2 Brazil nuts and no raisins (outside of an oat meal).
• I ate breakfast and felt bad as usually
• I ate the breakfast to make myself not eating between lunch and dinner to not waste so much time. It worked and wasn't hard to not eat in the afternoon.

What I will do tomorrow

• not eat in the afternoon
• eating no oatmeal in the morning, fruit would be allowed

Did I challenge myself too much? No. Now I also have no strong desire to eat.

Visualizing in the morning when I am still tired and laying down in bed is not a good idea at all. I will drift away and almost fall back asleep. I will do it when I am alert in an upright position.

[JKG]

17/01/31, Tuesday

Eating only three meals and nothing in between - Streak 11
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 11

• 1 (9am)
  • green smoothie
• 2 (2pm)
  • salad
  • fruit plate
  • 1/2 avocado
  • apples with beet root
  • nuts and seeds
• 3 (6pm)
  • rice with Chinese cabbage and soy (2.5 plates)

What I noticed

• Even though I ate breakfast I felt starving as if I didn't eat breakfast. Maybe because I was running in the morning
• I felt full after lunch
• not eating in the afternoon was alight. I had a desire to eat at some times but it was okay.
• I meditated until 15 minutes before dinner. So the first plate of dinner I ate relatively slowly and mindfully.

What I will do tomorrow

• eating a bit less for lunch to not feel so full

Did I challenge myself too much? No, it was alight.

I am trying out a new morning routine which I want to implement after finishing these two habits. It will probably consist of getting up directly, a cold shower, meditation and some movement. I felt much better than usually. Now that I have a new school schedule three times a week school will  only start at 10am.

Visualization is much better and effective when I am alert.

[JKG]

17/02/01, Wednesday

Eating only three meals and nothing in between - Streak 12
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 12

• 1 (9am)
  • fruit plate
• 2 (1pm)
  • big salad
  • apple with beet root
  • 1/2 avocado
  • nuts and seeds
• 3 (7pm)
  • soup with potato, celery, beans... (3 plates)
  • little carrot dessert (a gift)

What I noticed

• I ate relatively light at lunch
• Before lunch I had a strong feeling of hunger
• It was a bit harder to not eat after school because lunch was mostly digested already
• I now feel very full after 3 plates of soup. It hurts a little bit but I have experienced worse

What I will do tomorrow

• not eating after school. That will be hard because I have to eat lunch at school and I cannot bring so much with me

Did I challenge myself too much? Its alight... I feel like I slowly get ready to tackle the next habit.

Should I firstly finish the 21 Streak? Or would I challenge myself too much with the new habit? I guess I could now write down what the new habit will be about and try to start implementing it slowly.

The main habit will be about waking up at 5:30 (thats normal for me), immediately get out of bed, without spending time on my phone (except for turning the alarm off). Then I will go to the toilet, clean up my room, take a cold shower (3 minutes or more) and start meditating (the duration depends on how much time I have in the morning). I guess I should be ready with the shower at 6am and therefore have enough time to meditate properly. The challenge will be getting up directly, not being on my phone, and the cold shower (normally I do it very quickly). I will take a waterproof timer with me into the shower.

I will add other stuff like stretching, visualization, reading inspirational quotes, reviewing my values... when it will become easier. I will try this out tomorrow and look how it goes.

 

[JKG]

17/02/02, Thursday

Eating only three meals and nothing in between - Streak 13
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 13

• 1 (7am)
  • green smoothie
• 2 (2pm)
  • porridge (apple, banana, different kinds of grains)
• 3 (6:30pm)
  • rest of yesterdays soup
  • sauerkraut and potatoes (2.5 plates)
  • nuts, seeds, raisins

What I noticed

• I craved food especially an hour before the meals. In physics class I was often thinking about eating lunch
• I ate a lot for dinner
• yesterday evening I already thought about eating breakfast this morning. I am often thinking about food when I hold back

What I will do tomorrow

• not eating in the afternoon

Did I challenge myself too much? It was alight. The morning routine didn't effect my will-power for the other habits.

The morning went better than I thought. I just didn't get up directly, but stayed in bed until 5:34. The reason was probably that I didn't have to go to the toilet as usually. And the battery of my timer was empty so I couldn't time the time in the shower. It was longer than usual but I guess less than 3 minutes. I felt the positive effect. I was awake for meditation!

[JKG]

17/02/03, Friday

Eating only three meals and nothing in between - Streak 14
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 14
Morning Routine (getting up directly, cold shower (3min), sitting (30 minutes)) - Streak 1

• 1 (7am)
  • buckwheat porridge
• 2 (1pm)
  • salad
  • green smoothie
  • nuts and seeds
• 3 (6:30 pm)
  • lentils, celery, vegetables, scrambled eggs (2 plates)
  • apple puree

What I noticed

• I was hungry in the morning
• I was hungry before lunch
• I wasn't hungry before dinner
• I didn't crave food after lunch at all
• I don't crave food after dinner at all
• this eating stuff is working really well

What I will do tomorrow

• not eating breakfast
• not eating in the afternoon

Did I challenge myself too much? Not at all.

The few minutes before getting into the cold shower are worse than the cold shower itself. I was thinking about that I would have to stay in there for three minutes. But it was fine.

[JKG]

17/02/04, Saturday

Eating only three meals and nothing in between - Streak 15
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 15
Morning Routine (getting up directly, cold shower (3min), sitting (30 minutes)) - Streak 2

• 1 (1pm)
  • fruit plate
  • salad
  • couscous raisin stuff
  • nuts and seeds
• 2 (6pm)
  • walnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews
  • raisins
  • lychees
• 3 (6:30pm)
  • lentils, beans, celery, coconut milk (2 plates)
  • grapes, persimmon

What I noticed

• it was harder to not eat in the morning than in the past. I couldn't concentrate properly anymore before lunch
• I was snacking but that was okay because it was like a meal
• I had absolutely no need to eat in the afternoon

What I will do tomorrow

• intermittent fasting

Did I challenge myself too much? No.

The minutes before the cold shower in the morning are horrible mentally. The ego resists so much and doesn't want to do it.

I was so productive in the morning. I was ready with the morning routine at 6:45 and started to read, study... I already had so much stuff done when my family just woke up. That felt great.

[JKG]

17/02/05, Sunday

Eating only three meals, deciding before the meal what to eat, nothing more - Streak 0
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 16
Morning Routine (getting up directly, cold shower (3min), sitting (30 minutes)) - Streak 3

• 1 (12am)
  • fruit plate
  • apple with beet root
  • buckwheat porridge
  • nuts and seeds
• glass of soy milk
• 2 (4pm)
  • fruit plate
  • cashews and Brazil nuts
• 3 (7pm)
  • lentils, potatoes, celery (2 plates)
  • hand of raisins

I will extend these questions to my other habits, not just the eating habit:

What I noticed

• visualization is key, so powerful!
• the minutes before the cold shower were easier than yesterday, but still hard. I have this thought in mind like "oh shit, in a few minutes you have to stand in this horrible cold shower. I am glad that I am still in the warm now. Poor me in the future."
• I could concentrate before lunch properly anymore
• I am tricking myself with this eating habit. If I want to snack a few minutes after the meal I will say to myself that it could shill count as the meal. This has to stop
• homeostasis is kicking in
• I am eating way too many nuts. They are healthy but not in that extend.
• I wasn't hungry at all before dinner. I wouldn't had to eat dinner, but I did anyways...

What I will do tomorrow

• 3 meals, no snacking
• eating a really green smoothie

Did I challenge myself to much? No.

I will add the section "Did I trick myself?" I noticed that I wasn't totally honest to myself with the eating habit. But I didn't write it here down to not break the streak. This is not the purpose of this journal, to trick myself. I have to be brutally honest with myself. Otherwise homeostasis will destroy all this progress.

[JKG]

17/02/06, Monday

Eating only three meals, deciding before the meal what to eat, nothing more - Streak 1
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 17
Morning Routine (getting up directly, cold shower (3min), sitting (30 minutes)) - Streak 4

• 1 (7am)
  • green smoothie
• 2 (2pm)
  • salad
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 6 cashews, 2 brazil nuts, 5 walnut halfs, sunflower seeds
• 3 (6pm)
  • lentils, sweet potato, celery (2 plates)
  • pear, pomegranate , 2 lychees

What I noticed

• I had absolutely no hunger in the morning. Still I "had" to eat breakfast because I already got the kale out of the freezer
• I ate for my standard very little at lunch
• I ate without distraction lunch, on my couch, relatively mindfully and practiced a bit of gratitude. Thats probably the reason why I ate less. And I didn't feel hunger afterwards or a big desire to eat more.
• The cold shower was much colder this morning and my skin at the end felt a bit numb. It was harder to stay inside.
• It wasn't that hard to get into the shower.

Did I trick myself? A little bit. At first I said to myself that I could eat some fruit before dinner. I didn't ate the lychees before dinner but then afterwards. I will look out for this tomorrow.

Did I challenge myself too much? No. It was alright.

What I will do tomorrow

• Look if I really want to eat breakfast. If I still feel full I won't.
• Eating less fruit.

[JKG]

17/02/07, Tuesday

Eating only three meals, deciding before the meal what to eat, nothing more - Streak 2
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 18
Morning Routine (getting up directly, cold shower (3min), sitting (30 minutes)) - Streak 5

• 1 (9am)
  • fruit plate
• 2 (2pm)
  • oatmeal
• 3 (6pm)
  • potato, carrot, turnip soup (2 plates)
  • cucumber
  • 3 brazil nuts, 10 cashews, sunflower seeds, walnuts

What I noticed

• after school I wanted to eat, but I could handle it through meditating
• after "official" dinner I ate the fats. I cracked walnuts and ate a few too much but not as much as usually. But I allowed it me, kind of.
• I showered for 4 minutes in the morning. The water wasn't as cold as yesterday. I noticed that if I turn on the water more it will faster become colder.

Did I trick myself? Maybe a little bit with the walnuts. And an hour before dinner I tasted and looked if the vegetables were ready.

Did I challenge myself too much? No.

What I will do tomorrow

• taking a cold shower after school
• writing down what I want to eat exactly before eating or preparing the food in a meditative state

 

[tyy]

@quantum I am also following a cold shower challenge and just wanted to say good job getting it done during the morning! I have not done it first thing yet, I've been having mine at night time.

[JKG]

56 minutes ago, tyy said:

@quantum I am also following a cold shower challenge and just wanted to say good job getting it done during the morning! I have not done it first thing yet, I've been having mine at night time.

It is good in the morning to make you really awake. It is a great start into zu day. You have already accomplished something.

[JKG]

17/02/08, Wednesday

Eating only three meals, deciding before the meal what to eat, nothing more - Streak 3
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 19
Morning Routine (getting up directly, cold shower (3min), sitting (30 minutes)) - Streak 6

• 1 (9am)
  • fruit
  • porridge
    buckwheat, oats, a "paleo" mix of other (pseudo) grains
    rice-coconut milk, banana, mango, coconut puree
• 2 (1pm)
  • salad
  • smoothie
  • 1/2 avocado
• 3 (7pm)
  • potatoes, red cabbage, scrambled eggs (2 plates)
  • dried mango, about 10 walnut halfs, 10 cashews, 2 brazil nuts, 2 almonds

What I noticed

• I was still full from the porridge before lunch. Still I made myself the smoothie so that I wouldn't have to "suffer" so much while waiting for dinner.
• I didn't had to "suffer" for dinner at all. I wouldn't have needed dinner at all. Nor the smoothie
• The porridge was very tasty.
• I ate lunch mindfully, sitting on the floor, without distraction and tried to really taste the food. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes the monkey mind came up. It took me 20 minutes to eat the lunch. More than usually.
• I tried to act mindfully and slower in the lunch break. Afterwards I felt very happy, relaxed and good.
• I had three cold showers today. It becomes easier to take the final step into the water.
• I tried out eating the almonds. In the past I thought I am a bit allergic to them because I get then slight pain in the throat. I will see what happens.
• I was very happy after the visualization. I love my vision.
• I almost slept in.
• I forgot writing down what I wanted to eat.

Did I trick myself? Maybe a bit. I ate 10 cashews instead of 5.

Did I challenge myself too much? No.

What I will do tomorrow

• prepare the nuts in the morning
• write down what I want to eat before preparing the food! If I don't do it, I will reset the streak! Really! Honestly!

[JKG]

17/02/09, Thursday

Eating only three meals, deciding before the meal what to eat, nothing more - Streak 0
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 20
Morning Routine (getting up directly, cold shower (3min), sitting (30 minutes)) - Streak 7

• 1 (7am)
  • fruit plate
  • smaller oat meal
• 2 (2pm)
  • red cabbage with orange salad
  • oat meal
• 3 (6pm)
  • too many nuts, seeds, raisins and dried apricots
  • fruit plate
• 4 (7pm)
  • potatoes with red cabbage and and pointed cabbage (2 plates)

What I noticed

• I forgot to write down what I wanted to eat. So it was certain that my streak was broken. So I ate more than usual.
• I ate an oat meal for breakfast because I wanted to. Afterwards I felt bad
• After school I just ate. Ate so much.
• And now after dinner I am so full. I never want to eat again.

Did I trick myself? I almost did when I noticed that I forgot to write it down.

What I will do tomorrow

• I will lay an paper on my desk, so that I am reminded to write it down tomorrow morning in a meditative state.

I saw that I tricked myself a little bit every day with the eating habit. I will not allow any excuses anymore. 100% commitment. I will be done with this habit and have reached a streak of 21 days on March 2nd! I will. 100%ly. Otherwise... I will show a picture of my face here. I don't want to do that. So that will be a real motivation.Really! 100%ly. I will reach this streak. No problem!

[JKG]

17/02/10, Friday

Eating only three meals, deciding before the meal what to eat, nothing more - Streak 1
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 21
Morning Routine (getting up directly, cold shower (3min), sitting (30 minutes)) - Streak 8

• 1 (2pm)
  • salad
  • smoothie
• 2 (6pm)
  • red cabbage with orange salad
  • lentils, topinambur, sweet potato, celery (2 plates)
  • nuts and seeds and dried mango

What I noticed

• In the morning I was so full from yesterday and didn't even wanted to think about food

Did I trick myself? I ate a little bit more than I wrote down in the morning. But that was because my mother bought some new foods that would become bad otherwise. I slowed down and questioned if it was okay. So it was okay.

What I will do tomorrow

• the same as today!

I have accomplished the 21 streak with my visualization habit!!! I will keep tracking it until I have reached 90 days. Now I can implement another little habit. It will be working on my dorsiflexion. I will do a 10 minute practice each day at some point in the morning, maybe after the visualization. I need to get more ankle mobility when I start working on my movements again.

[Gabriel Antonio]

Gabriel's Analysis [warning: lots of golden nuggets]

MORNING ROUTINE

6 hours ago, quantum said:

Morning Routine (getting up directly, cold shower (3min), sitting (30 minutes)) - Streak 8

This has been my routine also.

Getting up directly

Sometimes I take a few minutes to get off bed (2 or 3 minutes), but then I realize: "This shit won't bring me happiness. Plus, if I take a nap in the afternoon, it will be 10x better than sleeping in.

Cold shower

I take shorter showers than you. I feel like just the first moment of shock is enough to wake me up as long as I go through the hardest part: my back!

Side note: One thing I like to do is meditate sitting on a plastic bench while the cold water pours onto my head chakra. At first I was terrified by that, but it feels really purifying. You don't have to turn the water all the through. There is function on my shower that is to concentrate the water so that there is a massage effect. I do that. Let the water hit you. It's sort of a SDS.

But... in the morning, I start dancing and shaking my body as hard as I can to say good-bye to laziness.

Side note: I start singing a song for children that says "Good-bye laziness. Good-bye smell of sweat!" as soon as I jump into the water. The song goes on saying the parts of the body that you're washing. It's like a mindfulness song because you get aware of your body. It is Portuguese but it's fun and short: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JovcPhnys2Q

Interesting question: do you wash your ears? what about your feet and ankles? butthole? I still forget about them from time to time.

 

Sitting

I always do 60 minutes. HAHAHA! I AM BETTER THAN YOU!!!

Side note: It's really crazy how I used to be accustomed to eating breakfast as soon as I woke up. Now that I have gotten used to this routine; I now am miraculously skipping breakfast sometimes (maybe I was inspired by you. I loved the thing you did the other day about seeing if the number of the timer was even or odd. Extremely random. I love it.).

___________________________________________________________________________________

FOOD

6 hours ago, quantum said:

bought some new foods that would become bad otherwise

Warning: this is a trap!! [but you already know that].

My family has this habit of eating so that we don't "waste food." I have extricated myself of this mentality. I eat only when the food is nurturing me. I pay extremely closed attention of my thoughts, as they are the gauge of my practice of eating.

6 hours ago, quantum said:

deciding before the meal what to eat

The way to go! The worst thing you can do is "see what to what is in the fridge." You will go for the bait, the french fries. I always meditate before eating, even if it is 1 minute (you know how powerful even a short sitting can be, don't you? :))

_______________________________________________________

VISUALIZATION

Visualization is boring. I simply can't stand making effort to do things. I prefer the comfort of Do Nothing. Let my mind go loose. Yay!

As far as reprogramming the subconscious, I use:

affirmations - they're less effective than visualizations, but they are more versatile. I can practice as I am writing, as I am walking.

setting an intention for the day and repeating it three times - extremely powerful.

[JKG]

I was sick. I've had a pretty bad fever and so obviously couldn't continue with the waking up early and cold shower habit. The eating habit also didn't worked out. Sometimes I ate 5 little portions, sometimes only 2. Maybe it was all just because of homeostasis

I feel better now and will start again. I don't feel as good that I would be able to start with the morning routine. But the eating stuff would be okay. So its about eating only breakfast, lunch and dinner again. But I will add mindful eating without additional stimulation like watching videos. That would cause just that I will go taking more food from the kitchen. But when I "have" to eat while doing nothing, I rather want to finish eating to do something different. That will cause that I will not prepare so much food. -> "Eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, without additional stimulation"

I've kind of continued with the programming the subconscious mind habit. Just one or two times I didn't do it. But that still means that I have to reset the streak. But that isn't so bad. I already have build this habit.
What I've noticed is that if I don't do this habit in the morning, it is more likely that I will forget it. So I will try to do it in the morning.

[JKG]

17/02/17, Friday

Eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, without additional stimulation - Streak 1
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 0

17/02/18, Saturday

Eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, without additional stimulation - Streak 2
Programming my Subconscious Mind (30min) - Streak 0