Go Small or Go Home!

Both Becky and Sally had physicals three months ago.

Both Becky and Sally were told:

1. “Your blood-sugar levels are in the prediabetic range and rising.”
2. “You’re about 40 pounds overweight.”

Both Becky and Sally were told to “eat better and exercise more”.

In this article, I’m going to break down their efforts to exercise more. The ideas I present to you also apply to efforts to eat better and to all efforts to make lifestyle improvements.

Back to Becky.

Becky went home and declared to her husband, “Starting Monday, I’m going to run three miles every day! Go big or go home, right?”

And Sally.

Sally went home and had a conversation with a friend of hers about starting to exercise. At the end of their conversation, Becky decided, “I’m going to walk for 30 minutes twice next week then go from there. That seems like a good place to start.”

Fast-forward to today:

1. Becky has lowered her blood-sugar levels by two percent. She’s still prediabetic.
2. Sally has lowered her blood-sugar levels by 22 percent. She’s no longer prediabetic.

Hmm.

How are they doing with weight loss?

1. Becky has lost three pounds.
2. Sally has lost 14 pounds.

Hmm.

To get to the bottom of this, let’s retrace Becky’s and Sally’s steps (pun intended).

Go-Big Becky

In the first month, Becky ran four times a week. Since she hadn’t been exercising much at all, many people would consider that impressive. But that’s not how Becky felt about it. She was down on herself for only running four times a week and not following through on what she said she’d do. She felt like a failure.

Going into the second month, Becky doubled down. She recommitted to running every day. “Go big or go home!” she kept saying to herself. She ended up running twice a week, and she felt even worse. She kept asking herself, “Why can’t I just suck it up and run every day? What’s wrong with me?”

In the third month, Becky quit running. She hasn’t exercised for three weeks.

Go-Small Sally

In the first month, Sally started out walking twice a week. After the first two weeks, she felt great about what she was doing. She hadn’t exercised at all since the birth of her second child three years prior. She was proud she’d been able to carve out time to walk three times a week two weeks in a row. She decided to add another walk on the weekend. She also started doing a few minutes of running during one walk each week.

In the second month, Sally started out walking four times a week. By the end of the month, she was walking five times a week. She also gradually increased how much she was running. By the end of the month, about two-thirds of each of her workouts was spent walking and about one-third was spent running. She was amazed by herself. At that point, she was consistently exercising five times a week, and she was running—something she hadn’t done since high school.

In the third month, Sally continued to gradually ramp things up because she was feeling so good. By the end of the month, Sally was exercising six days a week. Monday through Friday, she was exercising for 40 minutes (20 minutes of walking and 20 minutes of running) a day. And she turned her weekend walk into a hike up a small local mountain. She feels great physically, emotionally, and mentally; she feels great about how she took on something challenging and succeeded; she feels great about lowering her blood-sugar levels; she feels great about losing weight; and she feels great about the fact that what she’s doing feels sustainable.

Self-Efficacy

What happened?

When you attempt to take too big of a step, you’re left flailing.

You crankily say to yourself, “I knew I couldn’t do this. What’s wrong with me? I guess I failed again.”

You’re no better off than you were before, and you have less confidence in your ability to improve.

That’s demoralizing.

When you take a small step and succeed, you excitedly say to yourself, “Look at me! I’m really doing this! I’ve totally got this!”

This makes you want to take another small step. And another and another and another.

Before you know it, you’ve formed a new positive habit that’s enriching your life in wonderful ways, and your confidence in your ability to improve is better than ever!

That feels spectacular!

That’s why it’s important to:

Go small or go home!

About Jason Gootman
Jason Gootman is a Mayo Clinic Certified Wellness Coach and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach as well as a certified nutritionist and certified exercise physiologist. Jason helps people reverse and prevent type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other ailments with evidence-based approaches to nutrition, exercise, stress reduction, holistic wellness, and, most importantly, lasting behavior improvement and positive habit formation. As part of this work, Jason often helps people lose weight and keep it off, in part by helping them overcome the common challenges of yo-yo dieting and emotional eating. Jason helps people go from knowing what to do and having good intentions to consistently taking great care of themselves in ways that help them add years to their lives and life to their years.