Hi everyone, my name is Jenine I go by Jj. I am in nursing school here in Salt Lake City Utah,  and I have a group of 10 nursing students who are desperatly trying to loose weight and change our lifestyles. It has really been a challenging thing especially when we are in school and need to stay awake. We just want to ask anyone out there if they have any ideas or anything we could do to loose this our weight, become healthy and be mothers. I am so excited for this opportunity to become a nurse and to walk our talk. Thank you for your help and ideas.


Sincerely,

   Jj

Habits are very hard to break. When we choose healthy new habits, our mind wants to go into a fight or flight syndrome. I am learning if we begin with changes so small, they almost seem ridiculous to us, it will bypass the part of our brain that controls the fight or flight, and we have tricked our brain.

When I talk about small changes, I mean really small. Take for instance, you want to start exercising and you know the guidlines for optimal health is 30 minutes 5 x per week. That is overwhelming to a beginner. What could you promise to do daily for the first week to get started on this change. Could you stand in front of your TV and march in place for a minute every day for the next week?

Anyway, this concept starts with something that small, and builds. This is such an interesting concept, it brings on permanent change. And it works for anything. People want to quit smoking? Say you smoke a pack per day, and just can't put it down. Start with smoking all but the last cigarette in he pack each day for a week. Then, the next week, smoke all but two of the cigarettes.

The steps seem very small to begin with, but they add up, and start snowballing, and you end up with PERMANENT change. This is what we want... I am going to be writing a more in depth article about this. This method has been going on since world war 1, and the idea started in this country. However, we nixed the idea, but guess which country used it and is still using it in business and personal... Japan.  Yep, you know how much more technically advanced they are. Well, they applied this.

What ONE thing to you want to change. Message me, and let's see if you can come up with a plan, then be accountable to me and let me know what you are doing, and how it is going...

Joyce,

My mom's two favorite sayings are "everything in moderation" and Rome wasn't built in one day".

Everything you wrote about taking the little steps that get you a long way in the end are soo encouraging and helpful.

Thank you,

Thanks Gitano! I happen to love this forum, because I started it...  My duties on my contract nursing job are ending, and I am looking forward to getting back in full swing here to add insight on these topics. You are a great moderator! Thanks for pointing me to this post, since I hadn't been on in a couple of days.

You had great ideas and comments to her question. Change is not easy, and I am learning more and more why change is hard. But, I am learning how to change all that (pun intended)

I think it's great that Jj and her class mates want to get healthier and get that weight off. As nurses, I think being examples for health is so vital to bringing changes to the masses (one person at a time)

I am learning about Kaizen steps in school. These steps are so small when trying to make changes, they are almost laughable. They are laughable. What happens is you bypass the fight or flight syndrome when making very very small steps toward a goal. That way, you don't feel the resistance involved, and it is so much easier then to increase the steps, and make lasting change. So the question is:

What small step are you going to take to day to walk toward lasting change?