Changing habits for the better

Often, it is good to find out what has worked for others. For example, when it comes to diet, a high proportion of people are able to reduce weight - for a while. People who are successful in the long term at losing and maintaining weight loss, gain social support, change their diet to reduce their intake of calories, eat smaller meals more frequently, for example five small meals per day, and stay on an exercise program.

What’s the good, though, of knowing about diet and physical activity, if we can’t change our habits? Prochaska has developed a useful, validated model of change. Whether we can change successfully at any time depends in part on what stage of change we have reached. The model involves six stages of behavioral change: 1) Pre-contemplation, where we think that there really isn’t a problem; 2) Contemplation, where we are aware there’s a problem, and we’re thinking of changing. 3) Preparation, where we are preparing to take action; 4) Action, where we are actively doing something about the problem; 5) Maintenance, where we have changed our behavior successfully and working to avoid relapsing into our old ways; and 6) Termination, where it is no longer necessary to work on our behavior. He, and others, have investigated the kinds of interventions that work at each stage. For more on this topic see the book "Changing for Good" written by Prochaska, Norcross and DiClemente. This model of change has been successfully applied across a wide variety of problems, including dieting, giving up smoking, and addiction. If we know someone who is in the pre-contemplation stage, the best strategies for maintaining a weekly exercise schedule will not be helpful. If we are preparing to take action, then information about the best approaches and what has worked for others is useful.

For more on this topic go to the posting More on changing habits.