Behavior Change Project Part 4 Choose a Behavior to Change PDF

Preview

Summary

essay...

Description

Behavior Change Project Part 4: Choose a Behavior to Change For this assignment, you will choose a health risk behavior you would like to change and attempt to change it. Some examples of behaviors that a person may want to change include eating or exercise habits, alcohol or drug use, sexual behaviors that put them at risk for an STI or an unwanted pregnancy, or tobacco use or exposure. It could also be a change related to how a person handles their finances or an aspect of their spirituality. The goal of this assignment is to be mindful of how you change a behavior to enhance your own personal health and well-being. The assignment should be interesting, fun, challenging, and all about you! For this part of the Behavior Change Project, you will examine your current health habits, identify a behavior you would like to change, and create a plan to change that behavior. In the last two parts of the Behavior Change Project, you will work on changing a behavior and examining your experience of your behavior change attempt. You should spend a minimum of six weeks working on your behavior change. You will be graded on your behavior change attempt, including your behavior change plan, and the description of the experience you have with attempting to change a behavior. You will not be graded on your success or lack of success. Instructions: You will identify a behavior you want to change and create a plan you will follow in your attempt to change your behavior.

1. What behavior would you like to change? Why? (6 points) I want to change my exercise habits. I have been on a diet plan for almost 2 months now, and while I have lost 15 lbs of weight, I feel a big portion of that is muscle mass. I want to exercise to rebuild muscle, burn fat, and reduce my body fat composition a. Which Dimension of Wellness (i.e., physical, emotional, intellectual, interpersonal, cultural, spiritual, environmental, financial, and occupational) does this behavior fit into? Explain how the behavior fits into the dimension of wellness. (7 points) The behavior fits mainly into physical dimension of wellness. It affects how healthy my body is, as well as making me stronger and more fit. It also has to do with emotional and interpersonal behavior, however, since my new body will look more attractive and give me more confidence to talk to anyone while also reducing the first look judgement people naturally give to others. b. Did you expect that you needed improvement on this dimension of wellness? Why or why not? (7 points) I have known that I have needed to improve on the physical dimension of wellness for many years now. I am overweight and have been for at least the past 4 years, where before I played football and was fit. I have been wanting to make this change for a long time now.

c. What the risks to change this behavior? (7 points) One risk is the risk of injury. Whenever working out, there is always a risk of misusing equipment and injuring the self. Also, since working out is literally tearing muscle tissue, overexerting can easily occur. Another risk is dropping this behavior after I accomplish my goal: if I lose all this body fat and become lean, then go back to my previous lifestyle, I gain the weight back 100 times faster than I lost it. d. What are the barriers to change this behavior? (7 points) For me the largest barrier is distractions. As an avid gamer, I like to spend anytime I am not studying on gaming for relaxation. My roommates are all gamers, so they rope me into playing hours with them. This takes up any time I could have to work out every day, so this is a barrier I have to face in order to change. 2. Develop an action plan. a. Identify your goal. (7 points) I am currently sitting at 180 lbs, with a 19.3% body fat composition. My goal by the end of the project is to reach 172 lbs with a body fat composition of 17.3%. b. Identify at least three objectives that will help you achieve your goal. Remember, objectives should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-specific). (8 points) 1. To continue a diet of maximum 1500 calories on days I do not work out, 1800 on days that I do. 2. To commit 45 minutes to strength training every Monday and Friday before 6 PM 3. To commit 60 minutes of cardiovascular training every Wednesday and Sunday before 4 PM c. What resources can help you achieve your objectives and goal? (7 points) I utilize a calorie, macronutrient, and weight counter every day, so having the resource is incredibly important to tracking my day to day progress. I have just recently purchased a body fat caliper, so that will track my progress weekly of what percentage of body fat I have burned. d. Do you need to modify your environment? Why or why not? (6 points) One idea I had was to create 2 separate user accounts on my computer. One would have access to everything on my computer (all programs and games), and the other would only have access to the internet. I do not use much social media or entertainment watching on my desktop computer, so the only temptation is games. On the second account, I would not be able to play until I met my objective and switched accounts.

e. How will you involve any friends or family? (6 points) I think I will involve my roommates into my workout routine. The hardest part about the will to work out is leaving all my friends that are playing games behind to commit time elsewhere. If they are with me, then they will push me to work my hardest just as I push them.

f. How will you keep track of your behavior change (e.g., a log or journal)? (6 points) My main way of tracking my physical changes is through my calorie counter, which will track my progress weight and body fat-wise. I will start utilizing my deskpad calendar to track which days I need to go to the gym, which days I followed this, and which days I failed. g. How will you reward yourself for staying on track? (6 points) How I have rewarded myself in the past for hitting my goals is by splurging on some new piece of technology or a new game. When I first hit 180 (a 15lb. loss) I bought myself 2 games that had come out that week, so I treated myself in that sense. Seeing the physical changes in the mirror in it of itself is another reward, and it boosts my self-confidence. h. If you start to fall off track of achieving your goal, how will you get yourself back on track? (6 points) If I find I cannot get myself to the gym on my specified days or I have started to fall off track, I will change up the days and times that I will go. Instead of the days where I have little to no class, I will change the times to days that I have class, so that instead of driving home, I drive directly to the gym. Leaving home when comfortable and lazy is a lot harder than making a pit stop at the gym for 45 minutes, then being able to laze the rest of the night. i. How you will measure and evaluate your success for each objective and the overall goal? (7 points) My results will all be measure numerically. If I hit my times at the gym, stay under my calorie limits, and notice at least 2lbs of weight loss and at least a .30% body fat loss per week, I will know that I am on track to my goal.

3. Identify a start date, a mid-point date where you will evaluate your plan and make any adjustments or get back on track, and an end date (i.e., what are the due dates for parts 5 and 6 of the Behavior Change Project—put them in your calendar to stay on track!). (7 points) My start date for the calorie restrictions is 11/3, while my start date for the workout routine will be 11/6. This will give me exactly 7 and a half weeks to reach my goals. My mid-point date will align with part 5 of the project on 12/1, and the final date for recording my progress for the sake of this project will be on 12/21. While this is my final date, this will not be the last day I follow my routine and continue to track my progress.

Begin to implement your behavior change action plan – you will write about your experience of changing a behavior in the next two parts of this project, but you should start the implementation of your plan before or when you turn in this part. It would be a good idea to keep a log or a journal as you go through your attempt to change your behavior. Things to include in the log include the challenges you encounter, any feeling associated with the experience (good or bad), other people’s reactions to your attempt at changing a behavior, and any experiences of relapse....