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This page describes how to make lasting improvements in your lifestyle. For
example, it can help you exercise more, lose weight, keep to your low
carbohydrate or low fat diet, or make numerous other personal improvements. You make the resolution and we
help you get there in the short run and stay there for the long run. Interested?
The techniques we use is based on continuous quality improvement, a well know
method of improving organizations. We apply the concepts of continuous quality improvement to personal improvement and lifestyle change. In the end, you not only get to make important improvements in your lifestyle, you also get to learn more about
process
improvement. To get started,
listen to "Restructuring Your Life" and read the introduction to Thinking
Person Weight Loss & Exercise Program
book.
Read►
There are no guarantees. Your success will depend on a number of
factors, including how difficult the task is and how willing you are to modify
your environment. Success will also not happen overnight. It will
take several weeks and you would need to keep at it for a while. In
particular, you would need to actively engage in cycles of problem solving
to improve your lifestyle. But it is important to ask what has been the
experience of others with this approach:
- In randomized clinical trials, among sedentary Persons
Living with HIV patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease, the
system change intervention reduced daily carbohydrate intake and body
weight, but did not increase physical activity.
PubMed►
- In randomized trial, among adults with multiple sclerosis or
stroke, system change improved emotional well-being and healthy
behaviors, but not weight loss.
PubMed►
- System change and automated activity tracking increased daily
steps in older kidney recipients.
PubMed►
- System change improved medication adherence
for kidney transplant patients PubMed►
To make lasting changes in your life, follow these steps:
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Enroll
. Before you proceed, you need to be aware
of the information
we collect about you (e.g. did you succeed in getting to your
resolution) and the risks and benefits you face by participating in this
activity. Please print the form and physically sign and send it to
your instructor.
Consent► |
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Make a resolution.
Decide what is it that you want to accomplish and why. Some examples include improving diet, weight loss, increasing
exercise, improved fitness, more leisure time, and so on. If you are thinking of a diet change, please consult a clinician. When you are ready, let us help you start
you storyboard.
More► |
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Put together a team.
Even though the goal of lifestyle management focuses on you and
how you can make personal improvements, the solution is likely to involve "process
owners," people who live with you and who help you carry out daily
living activities. You can start by reading about how to organize
and maintain an improvement team in Chapter 4 of the book Thinking
Person Weight Loss & Exercise Program. When you are ready,
test if the person you have in mind is a process
owner
by completing Table 1 in Chapter 1 of the book
Thinking Person Weight Loss & Exercise Program.
Read► |
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Describe life processes. Take a scientific
approach to accomplishing your resolution. Start by understanding your
habits and events that trigger them. Make sure you are aware of
how you live and how various parts of your life are interconnected. You can learn
how to use lists and flow charts to describe your life style by reading Chapter 5,
and completing Table 3 and Figure 2 in Chapter 1 of the book
Thinking Person Weight Loss & Exercise Program.
See
examples of system changes introduced by others.
Read►
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List possible changes & change your environment. Make sure that you come up with more than one solution. Wait and do not rush into a decision. Select several solutions at once and bring
about multiple changes in your environment. Keep in mind that we
are looking for system solutions and not a renewed or increased
effort. We want you to succeed by changing your environment and not
your motivation. Read about system change in chapter 3
and check if your solutions are system changes by completing Table 4 in
the book
Thinking Person Weight Loss & Exercise Program.
Make sure that you include the scores for system change in your
personal improvement storyboard. Read► |
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Monitor progress. You need data to see if changes you
have introduced have led to improvement. Learn about data collection and analysis in Chapters 6 of
the book
Thinking Person Weight Loss & Exercise Program.
If you relapse to old habits, keep asking yourself what led to it and
what needs to change to reduce future relapses.
Make sure you include your control chart in the personal improvement
storyboard.
Read► |
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Engage in cycles of improvement. Plan for, do,
check and act again. Go through cycles
of changing your environment and checking to
see if it has led to better lifestyle. For
more details see
workbook in
Chapter 1 of the book Thinking Person Weight Loss & Exercise Program. Read► |
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Tell your story. As you go on, publicly report your progress to
your improvement team. Make storyboard about your progress.
At the end of the semester, hand in your narrated personal improvement
storyboard to the instructor. Storyboard► |
If your goal in personal improvement is to to lose weight and exercise more, you can find the workbook specially
helpful in getting there. It addresses lifestyle management step by step. It tells what you need
to do, when should you do it and why you should take specific steps.
It includes several forms and tools helpful in organizing your thoughts and actions.
Print out
the book
Thinking Person
Weight Loss & Exercise Program
or
order it through the publisher.
Print►
Buy►
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Elementary students lose weight,
learn more, if they stand in class
More►
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A computer analyst
solves back problems
by working while standing |
Before you set out to make your own journey, check some examples of how others
have gone through the same process:
Examples in Exercise and Activity
- See how kids joining a day care center affected mom's exercise time
Storyboard►
- See how a vacation trip changed exercise patterns
Storyboard►
- See how changing work shifts changed weight and exercise pattern
Storyboard►
- Exercise more by changing office location. Includes before and after control charts, system change, and more.
Storyboard►
- Exercise by walking the dog. Good example of Fishbone diagram and time between missed exercise days
Storyboard►
Another►
- Exercise more by moving the exercise room from basement to nearby
Storyboard►
- Run at work Storyboard►
- Exercise more and lose weight by setting a morning appointment with
your partner.
Storyboard►
- Exercise more through setting kids schedule. A good example of listing
daily routines and searching for environmental changes, includes control chart.
Storyboard►
- Exercise more by scheduling activities. Use of control chart led to 10
lbs. weight loss.
Storyboard►
- Exercise more by moving the television. Good example of list of routines and control chart.
Storyboard►
- Exercise more through redoing lunch routine. Includes list of routines and control chart.
Storyboard►
- See an example of how to improve use of treadmill through various cycles of interventions including moving of television, moving of exercise
equipment, change in eating out habits, and change in cooking patterns.
YouTube Storyboard►
- See a narrated example that includes making several systemic changes and using a control chart to track the impact on weight loss and exercise.
YouTube Storyboard►
Examples in Weight Loss and Diet
- See how shopping better led to less junk food. Good example of engagement of process owners.
Storyboard►
- Shifting weekend routines to week days led to 6 Lbs. weight loss
Storyboard►
- See an example in how process owners reduced dining out
Storyboard►
- Diary of how Mary lost weight through running
Read►
- Look at this, joining a car pool reduced junk food
Read►
- Increasing calcium consumption Storyboard►
- Reducing addiction to Pepsi Storyboard►
- Reduce coffee and dessert consumption Storyboard►
- Reducing junk food
Storyboard►
- Use of environment to maintain a low carbohydrate diet
Storyboard►
- Reorganizing commute time led to 10 Lbs. weight loss
Storyboard►
- Improvements in shopping and commute led to better body mass index
Storyboard►
- Aerobic class did not lead to weight loss
Storyboard►
- How to increase fruit and vegetable part of a diet through changing the environment
Storyboard►
- See an example in reducing junk food (includes list of routines, list of
possible solutions, rating of extent of system change, data collection, control chart analysis of the data)
YouTube Storyboard►
- See how moving a treadmill affected exercise pattern (includes data on an unsuccessful attempt.
YouTube Storyboard►
- Changing sleep patterns helped one person gain weight.
YouTube Storyboard►
- See an excellent example that includes all the elements of personal improvement. In this example process owner is
engaged, a list of routines is prepared, several options for change are proposed and scored in terms of how much of a systemic change they are, one
is implemented and data are collected to see if the change has led to improvement. The example solves late night binge eating by changing
the timing of various daily activities.
YouTube Storyboard►
Examples in Other Life Style Changes
- The workbook was used to develop a model of how stress occurs.
PubMed Abstract►
- Reduce television viewing by scheduling work
Storyboard►
- Better study habits
Storyboard►
- Reduce obsessive compulsive behavior Slides►
- Floss more often
by changing the environment
Storyboard►
- See an example in reducing the frequency of use of snooze button (example includes use of control charts as well as list of routines and
scores for systemic change)
YouTube Storyboard►
- See an example of increasing water intake. The example includes use of list of routines, scoring of systemic changes, data collection and
analysis of data through control charts
YouTube Storyboard►
- High school student's grades improved by changing his home environment.
YouTube Storyboard►
Use any of these to review the steps described in the workbook:
- Introduction to personal improvement
Slides►
- How to analyze and display your data
Slides►
This page describes how to improve your lifestyle. Improvement examples include but are not limited to: exercise, weight loss, diet, and other personal changes. This page is part of the
course on quality.
For more information contact
Farrokh Alemi, Ph.D. Copyright © 1996. Created on Friday, September
20, 1996. Most recent revision
01/19/2021.
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