Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I saw this image on Pinterest today and it kind of pissed me off…

It reads:

It takes 21 days. 21 days of healthy eating and working out and it will become a habit.

All I could think when I saw this was:

LIARS!!

I have been eating healthy and moderately working out every day for almost a year and it’s STILL not a habit. If I don’t diligently write down the phrase, “Walk dog 20 minutes” on my to-do list every day, I will blow off my workout. The only thing that’s even close to a habit is writing that phrase on my to-do list.

If I didn’t have my Fitbit vibrating my wrist every two and a half hours, I would FORGET TO EAT. That sounds like a great problem to have until an hour and a half later when I am bingeing on whatever food is nearby. It’s vitally important that I don’t skip those meals, but I definitely would if I didn’t have my Fitbit warning me. The closest thing to a habit I have about eating is to make sure I wear and charge my Fitbit.

I have an eating disorder. Sadly, I will ALWAYS have an eating disorder. Twenty-one days won’t cure it. A lifetime won’t cure it. I will have to watch myself carefully for the rest of my life and a little yellow image telling me that I can create new habits in a mere twenty-one days just sets me up for failure.

Don’t believe the hype. It might be easier for you after twenty-one days, but you won’t have any magic habits to make your life better. You can’t depend on that. If you do, it will only set you up for failure.