Behavior Change: Physical Exercise- Part II

The table below shows how the goals that were set at the beginning of the behavior change process were achieved over a period of six weeks. The information will be used to analyze the patterns that arose during this process. It will also determine if the process was a success or not. 

Table 2: Goal Attainment Scale 

Assessment 

I began with getting equipment such as training clothes and shoes, a fitness tracker, skipping rope, weights and a pedometer. Then I planned out a per week work out session for every day of the week apart from Sunday. I planned to jog every morning for thirty minutes, skip rope up to 300 after which I would engage in HIIT exercises or strength training using weights depending on the day. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I performed HIIT exercises, on Tuesday and Thursday, I did strength training using weights, and on Saturdays, I exercised by doing major house chores such as laundry and general cleaning. In the first week, the activities were moderate as my body was not used to working out but I was energetic. Sunday was set aside as rest day to allow recovery. The plan was to increase the intensity of my exercises every two weeks which is the recommended time that one should wait. 

The strategies I planned at the beginning were not effective on their own. My exercises were good but I had considered my nutrition when planning my program. I was feeling hungry after exercising and fixing this with unhealthy food such as leftover pizza, chocolate milk and cake. I realized that no matter how much I exercised, after two weeks, there was no change. I had to change my approach. During the second week, my body was feeling worn out from the rigorous exercise and I was beginning to give up as I did not even meet my weekly target of exercising for three days a week. 

I changed my approach by adding a diet plan during week three so to reduce the temptation of eating junk. I began to count my calories to ensure that combined with the ones I lost during exercise, I was meeting my targets. I also reduced my exercising days to four which were Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Although I still did house chores on Saturday, I did not combine them with a jog. 

Triggers are reminders that may subtly or overtly cause one to perform a behavior. I experienced triggers such as getting daily reminders from my fitness app at 6.30am to exercise. Another trigger was looking at my image in the mirror, which encouraged me to continue with my routine as I had begun noticing changes. Comments from my friends and family and the ability to climb the stairs without having to catch my breath were other triggers. 

My support system includes my parents and my friends and they played a part in my behavior change in the following ways. My mum helped me to compile a list of healthy foods and menus so that I would not be tempted to relapse back to my unhealthy diet. My friends motivated me by constantly telling me that the work out was working. One of my friends decided to go for a jog with me every morning after my second week failure as a form of moral support. I would not have succeeded without them. 

I experienced numerous obstacles during this period with the greatest being the cravings I had for fried foods. It was very hard for me to give up pizza, fries and soda particularly. During my first week, I experienced pain all over my body due to exercising and at times it made me contemplate giving up. However, I realized that each day I went exercising; I came back hurting a little less. In my second week, I almost gave up due to exhaustion and burn out so I would always find an excuse to skip the activity. 

There were apparent patterns in the process where at first I was very enthusiastic and I hit a high on the goal attainment scale by managing to exercise for six days straight. However, that pace was hard to maintain so the next week I slacked off. Fortunately, due to encouragement from my friends and family and after reorganizing my routine, I managed to rise steadily to manage four days of exercise per week. At this point, I hit a plateau and could easily maintain my routine which translates to the acquisition of new behavior. 

Below are week by week assessment of my the effectiveness of my strategies 

Week 1 

I was energetic and ready to push myself and since I did not miss a single day of exercise but Sunday, I was able to maintain this steadily. However, I was feeling more hunger due to the intense exercise and ate a lot of unhealthy carbohydrate based foods to satisfy myself. I experienced a lot of pains in various parts of my body such as my calves, thighs, abdomen, upper arms, neck and back as my body got used to the exercises. 

Week 2 

After my first break on Sunday of the first week, I was unable to start the second week with the same energy as the first one. I only exercised for two days and it was not even good exercise. I was about to give up and there were no changes due to my poor diet. I rescheduled my workout routine to include four days instead of six and established a healthy food menu that I could maintain in the long run. 

Week 3 

With the new workout routine, I was able to change my diet and work out for the minimum three days a week. It felt like I was starting again because my refusal to work out in week two had made my muscles rigid, making them sore all over again. I found the new routine easy to follow and felt good about eating healthier food. 

Week 4 

I continued with the same trend as week three, doing the same exercises and managed to only cover three days of exercise a week. It was however productive because my new diet meant that I was taking in reduced calories than my body needed so the changes had begun to show. 

Week 5 

I increased my routine to four days a week and the intensity of the workouts by one repetition each. For instance, if I was doing ten jumping jacks in three repetitions, I started to do 15 in four repetitions. It was not hard to adjust to this. 

Week 6 

I also managed to do four days a week with the same intensity as week five. It is not difficult to maintain this and the intensity of the workout would increase the following week. 

I have learned that changing behavior is difficult no matter how motivated one may be and no matter how much we try; there is no one size fits all when it comes to this. Everyone has their unique way of processing change and it is a matter of trial and error to find what works for you. For instance, there are people who manage to exercise every day of the week while others struggle with as little as three days. Change also has to be planned and monitored to determine its effectiveness. This helps one realize whether the strategies they are using are working and determine what can be done to change this. It is important to remember that for a new behavior to stick, one has to be able to maintain it without feeling strained. 

This experience impacts my clients and my practice by establishing three elements that are crucial for success when it comes to behavior change: Readiness to change which is enabled by one having the resources needed for the activity. Recognizing the barriers to change is important so that one can overcome them. Expecting relapses so that one can more readily avoid triggers for former behavior. Helping a client understand this will streamline the change process because people innately resist change even when they need it.