Real client email exchange: Tuning your dial versus on/off switch

Sawyer Paull-Baird

Hello everyone!

I wanted to share an email exchange I had with a client of mine (who I will keep anonymous) that I thought would likely be helpful to others going through similar things.. After all, whether we have a toddler or not, we all get super busy from time to time and our nutrition or exercise may fall off the radar a bit.

The "dial" versus "on/off switch" analogy is a great one, and taking things this step further and actually writing down what your different dial settings are (100%, 75%, 50%, 25% etc.) can be a great exercise!

Take a read below, and feel free to comment letting us know if this resonates with you, or if you have similar strategies.

In health,
Sawyer

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Client:

"Hey Sawyer!

Sorry for the lack of an update last week! I have been doing well but slammed into a couple of challenges towards the end of last week: 1) We are on our first family vacation this week in (city name omitted), and I got a little overwhelmed with packing/planning for flying with our toddler. She does not travel light for such a tiny person! And 2) (Baby name omitted) generously passed on her cold to both (husband) and I right about the time we left town. So here we are on vacation until Friday, feeling a bit under the weather and VERY sleep deprived (it turns out toddlers don't really embrace the whole relaxation part of vacation as much as we would have hoped!). I didn't plan to food log just while we were on vacation, but I definitely fell off that wagon a little prematurely at the end of last week. 😬 My plan is to return to it this weekend when we get back!

Thank you so much for keeping tabs on me! Have a great day!"

Me:

"Hey (Name)-

Sounds like a bit of a roller coaster there for a second (as I'm sure it often is with a toddler haha).. Understandable that the logging might fall off a bit. Let's just do the best you can to jump back into it when you're back in town next week.

Also.. surely this won't be the last time something like this happens... things get crazy and nutrition isn't quite as locked in as you'd like it to be. I wonder.. if food logging and hitting your calorie and protein goals is like, your "100% effort", what does 75%, 50%, 25% look like?

Sometimes it can be helpful to write this down, visualizing what each scenario looks like, asking yourself "what actions am I taking at 75%? etc., so that when "life happens".. you can go: "okay, time for my 50% plan" or whatever you want to call it. This way you can dial things up and down, versus having an "on/off" switch.

Does that make sense?

Certainly not something you'd necessarily do on vacation haha, but, just food for thought and a potentially nice exercise to help you plan for future occurrences of "life happens" .

Sawyer"

Chris Early

Nice!!! I really love this strategy. I actually haven't used this type of strategy before and I feel like this is very helpful, especially from an awareness perspective. Knowing where you are at in life/circumstances and what you are able to do during that time (50-80% ect). I think it's also important to note, not to get upset or discouraged with yourself if you are doing 60% or whatever the percentage is. It's so hard to be at 100% ALL the time. Remember, progress is progress, whether it's a little or a lot.

 

Jill Calvin

I had a similar conversation with another member yesterday about learning that exercise and healthy eating don’t have to be “all or nothing” activities. If, for whatever reason, we don’t exercise for a week or have a day (or two, or three) of not sticking to nutrition goals, the typical response for both of us has always been to give up completely. We (only half) jokingly talked about practicing “falling off the wagon” and then getting back on track to learn it’s possible. Sawyer, how would you apply the 100/75/50-25 concept to exercise?

Sawyer Paull-Baird

Hi @Calvin, Jill , thanks for commenting and sharing your story!  It's great to hear you are talking about this, as it is such an important topic. All-or-nothing thinking can be so detrimental to successful behavior change or maintenance.. probably top 2-3 mindset related problems that gets in the way of positive behavior change, at least in my experience.
In regards to how this can be related to exercise, I will answer that using a hypothetical example, of someone who "fell off the wagon" and hasn't been to the gym in a week or two, and is feeling dejected and upset with themselves.  
I think there are a few layers to this...

1) Be kind to yourself..
Don't beat yourself up over it... and don't expect perfection.. Be positive and optimistic that you will still meet your goals despite this setback.  This is a separate conversation, but optimism has a TON of research behind it on being super important to successful behavior change.. and optimism CAN be learned.

2) Reflect on the experience
Being kind to yourself doesn't mean you don't learn from the situation and try to improve next time..  I think sometimes we can mistake self-compassion with something that borders enablement..  We say: "oh be easy on yourself, life happens and you're not perfect".. That's 100% true! BUT, if we stop there without thinking about how we can do better next time, even if it is only incrementally better, this positive mindset can actually turn into one that enables behaviors that might stop us from reaching our goals.  So, YES, be kind to yourself, don't say mean things about yourself in your head, BUT, think about how you an do better next time.

3) Come up with your dial setting based on reflection
Maybe getting to the gym your normal three times per week isn't going to happen when the kids get sick,  car breaks down, work demands an extra 20 hours this week etc.. If that's the case, what IS realistic?  The goal should be for the answer to never be "nothing".  Some possibilities include:
- doing a short  workout at home even if its just 10 minutes long and body-weight only, a few times that week. Your coach can help you create this workout if you need some help.
- going for a brisk walk or jog or bike-ride
- analyzing your schedule and finding an alternative time you can come in, even if it's just once or twice that week.
After thinking this over, you have the fallback plan that you can go to if things get crazy.  Thus, you'e not really hopping on and off the horse, you're just adjusting your horses speed.

You know what I mean?

So, I guess.. this isn't all that different from the nutritional philosophy.  I think most of the above still applies, regardless of the goal.. it could be eating better, exercising more reading more etc.
Hope that answers your question .

Heather Quinlan

I love this mentality, Sawyer!  It kind of reminds me of ABC goal setting, which is something I've used before (for both health related goals and just life stuff in general).  I like the idea of looking at it from a % perspective.  It also makes me wonder... if I was to set the dial to 50% for something, would I then realize I could actually give a little more?  On the same hand, 50% (even 25%) is better than turning the dial off completely.  But for times when the dial is turned off completely... make that choice and realize it's OK!  I remember when I went on my first cruise, I told myself that I was going to workout every morning and eat sensibly.  Then I got on the boat and had some cocktails. lol #cruiserookie So the second time I went on a cruise a few years later, I knew what to expect and I was OK with enjoying myself.... which I did!  And I actually didn't go totally overboard (no pun intended) with food and drinks.  Crazy how our mindset changes things!  Thanks for sharing this with us!  

Sawyer Paull-Baird

Thanks Heather!  Great insight.  I agree with your point re: giving yourself permission to turn the dial to zero at times.  If you only go on vacation once or twice per year, turning that dial to zero is not going to be all too impactful on your health in the long run.  Now, if you travel all of the time, you likely would have to pick and choose your spots.  Got to enjoy your vacations and life though!  This article here is one I enjoy and share quite often about the benefits of "overindulgence" and how to seperate useful versus not-so-useful indulgence.  Seems relevant here.

Emma Sheffert

Hi All! I wanted to jump on this thread and share an email that I got from a client that is along the same lines of this. I loved the way she talked about how she views her nutrition and rates it.

"Hi Emma,

I have actually been doing the percentage thing most days based on the articles you sent me a few weeks ago! Except instead of percentages I give myself a score of 1-10. 1 being a very "relaxed" day of eating and exercising, like going out to eat for a special occasion. Where a 10 day would be exercising at AFS, followed healthy eating at every meal... Something like that. Most of my weekdays end up being around a 7 or 8 while most of my weekends being around a 3. Some nights I will write a little sticky note to myself for in the morning that says "Make it a 10 today" and that seems to really keep me focused and I feel really accomplished when I do it. I have actually gotten myself back on track again over the last week. I think I was doing exactly what that email exchange was saying...got crazy busy and let myself get down on myself because I was only able to maintain a 3 or 4 for more days in a row than I would have liked. If I can throw in a few 10s every once in awhile I feel much more focused."

I hope this approach is another helpful way for someone to give their day a "rating" and maybe not work towards a perfect 10, but an 7-9 range.