Make exercise a habit with positive memories

An exercise memory

I’ve been reading The Baby Boomer Diet by Donna Gates and came to something I really enjoyed and wanted to talk about and expand upon.

It’s the idea of food memories. At midlife, you have decades of food memories already. Most likely, some of them do not involve the healthiest fare.

It takes a while, Gates says, to create new food memories.  But it’s doable. And then you’ll feel greater comfort with a newer, healthier style of eating. (Gates is talking about adding things like cultured coconut water, cultured vegetables and green drinks to your diet.)

Honestly, I love that notion about establishing new food memories and have found it to be so true.

There’ve been times—and still are—where I don’t see how on earth I can do without something. And times that an old food memory calls me back. Like that recent “cheeseburger” moment I had.

Luckily, the more recent “good” food memories drown out the old “bad” food memories.

Your habits—the “stuff” of memories

I’ve developed some habits over the years that have stuck, like eating lots of vegetables and having a big salad each and every day.

If I have a day where I eat fewer vegetables, I eat more the following day. If it’s been a while (like, a day) since I’ve had a salad (it doesn’t happen often, but it happens), I “feel it.” And I feel a sense of relief, almost, when I finally have a salad.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized—

You develop exercise memories, too!

I don’t feel good if I go too long (more than a few days) without lifting weights. That’s partly because I’ve been doing it religiously for the last two decades. And partly because my body seems to crave the motion and the effort.

And I don’t feel good if I skip cardio for too long.

Now, I don’t LOVE cardio. And if there’s one part of my program “to go,” cardio is it. But if I go too many days without getting on the treadmill, say, I miss it. There’s a bit more anxiety there, and a slowness on my feet.

In my head? Maybe. But, interestingly, the anxiety and sluggishness disappear once I start adding cardio sessions back to my gym routine.

I also do stretching, but this sometimes gets “lost” if I’m time-crunched, I confess.

What happens then is, I’m stiffer in the morning when I wake up. I have less range of motion when I’m exercising. And I have limited flexibility in general, really.

I end up telling myself: “You need to get back to stretching!”

So what I want to pass on to you is…

Give healthy eating and exercise some time.

Allow yourself to appreciate your newer, healthier way of doing things. Notice the positives.

Notice how you feel when you eat well. Do you think more clearly? Feel less bloated? Feel lighter on your feet?

Notice how you feel when you exercise. Do you feel stronger? More energetic? Do all your “parts” just move more easily?

Taking note of how good you feel helps tremendously in establishing better habits, which then turn into positive memories.

And, pretty soon, you’ve got that “lifestyle” thing going. (You know, how they always say you’ve got to “make it a lifestyle.”)

That’s when the “bad habits” begin to lose their luster. And that piece of cake you’d fantasized about just didn’t seem “worth the calories.”

You ate it? Don’t waste your time regretting. Just get back to your new good habits.

Skipped your workout? Don’t feel guilty. Realize you’re in a good place! (You’ve come to need regular exercise!)

• What do your “food memories” compel you to eat?
• Do you have “exercise memories” that make you NEED to exercise? 
• Is there some type of exercise you tend to skip? How does that make you feel?