Overcoming Negativity On The Scale: How I’m Learning To Be Okay With My Body
A while ago, more specifically last Fall (2023), my doctor told me I’d need to lose 15-18 pounds to reverse my fatty liver and get back on track with my health. Mind you, I am a (beginner level) mountain climbing, BJJ lady that hikes 10 miles for fun on a regular basis. I eat well most of the time (or so I kept telling myself), and I frequent the gym several days a week. Which leads me to believe that A LOT of us humans out there have health issues we’d never know existed if it wasn’t for accidentally finding out. How scary is that? I have put in a ton of work on myself since then, but I’ve only dropped 7-9 pounds. Since I’ve been hovering around the same weight for a few months now, I did an experiment this week. Let me tell you about it. My Experiment For awhile I thought, there has got to be an easier way. How do the girls on Instagram and YouTube do so well? How do they ALWAYS look good and never have to worry about their weight fluctuating through daily life, let alone during hormone spikes, pregnancies, postpartum, and difficult times. …And then I remember that I’m just seeing what they want me to see. I’m here on this blog to be real with you. To be real with myself. I’m telling you flat out how I feel about everything in this universe not only so that you can know it’s not just you, but also to hold myself accountable. I’m not here to spend time highlighting the good and casting a shadow on the bad. I’m here to talk. So, let’s talk. Before my most recent trip out west, I did great with eating habits and exercise. (My version of great, of course. Remember to try not to compare yourself to others, as long as you’re one step ahead of yourself from yesterday, you are growing). I had cut out Red Bulls, (seriously, I’ve tried EVERY other brand. I hate them all.), I increased my protein, ate more salads and spent time consistently in the gym. In my opinion, a barrier was crossed. I had finally made it to the mindset of “I’ve got this.” When we returned, I was a little surprised but pleased to find out that my weight had stayed exactly the same. Even though we did a ton of hiking and activity, I still made sure to eat mindfully and space out my treats. (I may have had an occasional Red Bull and some skittles! Moderation, friends!) So, this past week, I ran an experiment. I indulged in what I was craving and didn’t hold back. I wanted to see just how quickly that weight could go back on. And I was grossly underestimating how fast it could happen. Related: Utilizing Garden Veggies To Save Money While Meal Prepping What I Learned and What My Body Told Me Monday, I had a cheesesteak. Half for lunch and half for dinner. I had soda multiple times throughout the week, a few energy drinks and an ice cream cone. I relished in having pizza for many meals, and focused less on balance and more what my body was saying it wanted instead of listening to my mind. I’ve averaged the same weight for around 3 months. In just 5 days, I gained SIX pounds back. Yes, 6. My mind was blown. I didn’t feel like I looked any different in the mirror, but I did feel significantly more fatigued and lethargic. And those feelings came BEFORE I weighed myself this morning. The whole reason I’m going through these points with you today is to say that I’m going to start focusing more on what my mind and body needs to stay healthy and less on indulging in whatever is easy. It’s easy to order pizza every night. It’s easy to swipe through the dinner options on DoorDash. But it’s hard to plan and shop and meal prep healthy breakfasts, lunches and dinners every week. It’s hard to keep up with finding healthy alternatives to your favorite snacks or recipes that don’t actually suck with newly found ingredients. Finding those alternatives have taken me literal years. One by one I’ve begun to replace my favorite meals and snacks with healthier options and more and more I began to realize that if I hadn’t started doing that when I did, that I may be having an even harder time losing the necessary weight. Why are the options so hard to find? Sure, there are a ton of replacement items stocking the shelves and coolers these days as opposed to 10 or even just 5 years ago. The hard thing for me though is that only a small percentage of those things have any flavor or nutrition to them. Learning nutrition and how to properly and mindfully indulge is still to this day something I struggle with. So, moving forward, I’m going to return to thinking before I eat and start accepting that this weight is okay. It’s my new normal. I have plans for change though and I want to bring you with me through that change. 5 Snack Ideas and 5 Exercise Options to Help You Be More Comfortable With Your Body Have you ever heard of “body recomposition?” This is when you focus more on a tape measure and less on a scale to provide proof of your efforts making the cut. Body recomposition focuses on implementing more strength training and less on counting calories. When I say this body is “my new normal,” I don’t mean I’m giving up on my goals. I’m simply readjusting how I focus on them, so that I can lean into a healthier mindset and eating habits. Even though I feel that I use the 80/20 rule effectively, there is always room for improvement. I want to begin emphasizing more on protein intake and less on removing certain foods. Although
Learning To Walk Through Struggle: Realizing My Journey Is My Own
Hey friends. I’m writing to you today from the beautiful state of Arizona. There are countless miles in front of me of flat land accompanied by serene mountains and plateaus in the far spaces. Today I faced one of the most challenging hikes of my life. It made me realize that no matter how much you prepare for something, it can still hit you like a ton of bricks and the only way out of the situation is to go straight through it. Hiking: A Journey of Growth This morning, my husband and I left our AirBnB tiny home to embark on a hike we’ve been looking forward to for years. After passing Humprey’s Peak endless times, we finally made a point to book something near it so that we quite frankly couldn’t pass it up again. Humphrey’s Peak is the highest point in Arizona, an ancient volcano with wilderness all over and lava rock strewn across the highest points. It’s an incredible trek, which I highly recommend if you ever get the chance. Right now in the evening, the skies are a pretty purple, blue, pink and orange fading into one another. It’s breathtaking. But this morning, it was chilly, cloudy, and cold. (If you do decide to do this hike, be sure to layer! We passed so many people in shorts and tank tops. The top was frigid and had winds so strong we nearly fell over). The start of the hike was a telltale sign of how the rest of the trek would go. It was straight uphill, unforgiving, and motivating all at the same time. I couldn’t wait to get to the top. By about halfway through, I was seriously struggling. For some reason I always crave grape bubblegum about this time, so I made sure to arm myself with some! This helped for a little while to keep my mind from hating the uphill, but eventually the annoyance returned. Hiking is something that is a personal journey. I learned this more than anything today. Let me explain how. –Habitual Growth: Looking Back And Moving Forward Facing Challenges in Hiking and in Life Once we passed a bunch of people (it’s surprisingly a busy trail!), we continued on to the top. I got increasingly annoyed as my husband so often treks ahead of me. Not often out of sight, just enough that I know I need to pick up the pace! To succeed, you have to struggle. In my opinion, this can be applied in so many areas of our lives. We as humans constantly look for a way out of difficult situations, quit early and make excuses, or say we’ll come back and try again. Why? I can’t give you the correct answer on this, as I believe it’s a personal journey that we all have to face. Sometimes, we decide to turn around. Other times, we push through. What have you done lately that you’ve needed to make a decision to push through? I’m clumsy. I always have been. I’ve done a little better in my adult life, but anytime I’m near a cliff edge, well, that shit gets sketchy. You need to be on high alert, knowing that any wrong move can send you spiraling downward into the jagged rocks and tall trees. Therefore, I often have to stop to see the sights separately, since I literally have to use all of my focus on the ground in front of me to ensure I don’t misstep. As we got closer to the top, all I could think about was the revolving thoughts going on inside my head. “Am I going to make it? I don’t think I can do this, I’m going to need to turn around…” Luckily, I am blessed with a supportive partner, and most of the time during hikes, he encourages me to keep going, tells me I’m doing great and pushes me to make it to the finish line. It’s not that he was doing less of this on purpose today, but more that he was on his own personal journey…and I didn’t even see that since I was too worried about my own. Oftentimes we can rely too heavily on the support around us, which in turn forces us to make decisions less and think on our own when the going gets rough. This is what happened today. Navigating Hardships: Finding Strength in Slowing Down Struggle is Real, On This Hike, In This Life Why is it easier to lash out onto others when we are in distress? Why is it that when we get uncomfortable as humans that we feel the need to act in a way that we typically wouldn’t if we weren’t struggling. The struggle is real. This is real. Life is real and the struggle is constantly within it. Without struggle we wouldn’t grow, without struggle we cannot form into a better version of ourselves, without struggle and failure and hardship, we cannot become stronger and more adapted to situations in which we need to be. Struggle is always present, in some way, shape or form. Its learning curve is a mystery to me but I thank the heavens for it on a regular basis as it’s helped to mold me into who I am today. I believe I have several areas of improvement to work on in this lifetime, but I am finally beginning to become more comfortable and confident in my abilities to do so. Through tough times and learning opportunities like today, I’ve realized that it takes situations like these to understand others better, or when it’s time to go inward and work on myself just a little more. — This week friend, I want you to do the same. I want you to go inward and realize 3 things that you could improve upon this week. These changes may not happen quickly, but jot them down and repeat them to yourself daily. Each
Navigating Hardships: Finding Strength in Slowing Down
Hey friends, Last week we talked about how working through personal problems is at best the one of the hardest things we as humans have to do…and we’re often doing that alone. It’s not easy, being you, and I just want you to understand that I’m here for you. I’m here providing an open book on my own struggles and want you to be in the know that we all have our moments of hardship and struggle. The thing is though, we can get through it. We can push past those hard times and come out stronger. I promise. Let me talk about how I’m getting through mine…can you relate? No Pain, No…Well Some Pain Last month, I had some exciting news. I can finally compete in my new favorite sport, BJJ. That took a backburner when I had to take some time off last year due to working too much, struggling with setting myself back on a mentally healthy path, and most recently, a work injury to my right wrist resulting in my first set of stitches ever. It sucked, and I was instantly angry knowing exactly what I’d just cost myself. Let me explain a few things to get you caught up to speed. I’ve been practicing BJJ now for nearly 2 years, several times a week with my best friend (aka the hubs). We’ve loved it since day 1 and he’s got to compete once already. I was super jealous because I, too, wanted to stand by him on that day. Unfortunately at that time, I just wasn’t ready yet. Hell, I don’t even know if I’m ready now. Probably not, but we’ll just roll with it, right? So as you can tell, this has been a want for some time. Once I finally pushed through getting myself back on a good mental track, once I finally stopped participating in the rat race before my personal growth and relationship with myself and my husband and BJJ, I was feeling more ready than ever. Then, I had a relapse. The Road Less Traveled: My Journey To Healthy Part 1 Oh What a Rush Not of alcohol, not of drugs, not of anything crazy…but of rushing. Rushing: aka – going too damn fast, running around without necessity, speeding tasks along where they didn’t need to be. You see, I was especially mad this time because this time, I knew better. I knew there was strength in slowing down. Yet this time, I had experienced the angst that rushing had caused me in the past. But I did it anyway. There I was, working my day job when the most ridiculous thing happened. It was 20 minutes until my shift was over, and 2 short hours before my private one-on-one class with my Coach’s coach. I was so excited to learn from him especially since he only comes to town once a year. Before I knew it, my (dominant) wrist was bleeding heavily. I ran up the hall to my manager’s office and said I needed something to stop the bleeding. I’d broken a plate against a counter and caused the need for 6 stitches within the hour. It was when it felt like I was holding a ton of bricks that I knew I would not be participating in class or much of anything else fun at least for a few weeks. As the super active person that I am, I was in pure dread. Irritation above all else, since again, I knew better. Finding Strength in Slowing Down I used to rush around all the time, until I continued to get bumps and bruises that I didn’t recall happening. Do you ever have that problem? Most people I talk to do. Crazy, right? The fact that we move so fast sometimes without really being present that things like literally hurting ourselves just go by the wayside. We need to do better, friends. How often do you have these moments in life? Are they frequent? Not so much? Maybe not at all? What were you doing when those moments occurred? Were you really present at that moment? Like, 100%?? It’s doubtful. For 4-6 weeks I was in and out of MedExpress, annoyed on walks or hikes because my wrist was out of commission. No strength training, no BJJ, no pushups, pullups, opening of doors the wrong way or pushing myself up from a chair without shooting pain. Talk about frustrating. Sure, there are several of you out there that may have had similar or maybe even worse experiences, and I feel for you, truly. The good part through all of this is that we have a choice. We always have a choice. The Role of Self Reflection in Personal Growth Discovering Power in Embracing a Slower Pace How did it make you feel? How did you or are you dealing with this current struggle? Are you pushing past it and finding new ways to function? Or are you pouting on your couch? (A little of this is of course absolutely okay!) But I strongly suggest you get back out there and get after it. Through my own experience, I learned to improve my ways of doing things. I learned to slow down more like I had in the past, and also how to use my elbow in BJJ instead of relying on my hand. I’ve opened doors now with my forearm (which is technically healthier anyway!), and I’ve worked hard to start strength training again with more oomph than I have ever before. I’ve come to realize that with age comes increasingly more determination, even if you have a harder time physically doing something. Do you feel the same? I run faster, train harder and work more slowly. I pay attention to others talking, listen to stories people tell, and try to spend less time worrying. I’m grateful for my working legs, my healing wrist, and my ability to still compete in something at 32 years
Why I Chose Courage & It’s Endless Reservations
To be courageous is so many things within itself. Let’s talk about those feelings and reservations that come along with building confidence in yourself and the courageousness that comes in behind it for the win. A Call to the Sea Many months ago I had this longing, urging, pulling feeling to go to the ocean. Or, so I thought. Ocean, ocean, ocean was all that I could think about. I wanted to book the next flight to Fort Lauderdale and drag my husband along with me. (Despite all of our actual commitments and responsibilities. Screw those, I thought. The time is now for us to embrace this nature of heading to the coastline and leaving the rest behind. Long ago that’s exactly what I thought I would do. Leave all and everything behind me and head to the coast. I didn’t care which one, I figured I’d start out in Florida somewhere. It was where I was born, after all. I thought about how I’d sail with crazy sailboaters and see all the seagulls up close. I thought about how I’d wait on celebrities from my bar/grill on the shoreline and who I’d meet and the stories I’d hear about. Then something changed. I met the man of my dreams by literal chance during one of the last days I was contemplating this all. He encouraged me to keep my roots and not be a gypsy wandering around the countryside. However, those feelings still reside deep down. (I’m sure many of you may feel the same!) Many days I ponder about how many places I could see or where I could still end up. The bright part of my life though now is that I have an amazing partner to share those feelings and experiences with, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Resetting for Self Growth To take the step into settling down instead of branching out took a ton of courage on my end. I’m not sure about him, since I’ve never really sat down and asked about that. I didn’t really think of these things until recently, when I was having a sense of self identity crisis. Courage is knowing who you are and who you’ve become, and realizing the difference in who you used to be and how far you’ve grown. I needed a really hard hit to my soul to understand that. So, I finally went to the beach. Today I woke up and called into my day job. I took a nap, and woke up with beach vibes on my mind. This is the freedom that I long for and want you all to have, the feeling that nothing in the world matters more than your self-growth, and the knowingness that you, all by yourself, can accomplish those things. Since I’m nowhere close to an actual beach with an ocean, I decided to opt for the next best thing. It’s where I went as a child, it’s where I went last year when my favorite dog passed away, and it’s where I am right here and now. It’s only a lake, but I can see far and wide and I’m not able to see the other side, which makes it feel 90% like the ocean. It’s beautiful, serene, peaceful, and exactly what I needed. I needed the smell of the water and the feel of the wind and the sound of the seagulls from my younger years. I’ve been craving the touch of the sand and the softness of laying down on it before dipping my legs into the lukewarm water. I needed these moments in sync with one another. More Habitual Balance: Practicing Gratitude in 2023 Why I Chose Courage Today I think it’s hard to overcome the realization that you’re at a self-growth crossroads. I’ve been more tuned into it this year than I ever have before, and I chalk that up to a plethora of things. The fact the my spouse is super supportive of my goals and journey, knowing that I am on a different path than his, releasing expectations that we should be following the same one. The fact that I had several health issues that I didn’t realize were even going to pop up at all, let alone in my early thirties. The fact that I’ve waited in some areas of life until I have the chance to be at my best and most accomplished in knowing my true self. But here I am, learning, absorbing, and just being. Every single day. This trip is approximately 2 hours for me, and by doing so today, I’ve decided that I will make this trip at least once every other week, if not every week. Treating myself to lunch and to relishing in the nature that surrounds me, in all seasons. It’s hard to get to know yourself, but I feel like so many of us struggle with it. We seek others approval on nearly everything, and never give ourselves the opportunity to really understand our own beings. Why? Why I Chose Courage Over All of Them I had the word “Courage” tattooed on me several years ago. Right on my wrist so that I could always look down and it and be reminded to keep pushing through the hard things. It has helped me a lot since then, especially during our hike up Angel’s Landing in Zion. It reminded me to breathe, to embrace, to feel all of my surroundings and be entirely present in my situation. Now, I’m not saying everyone needs to go out and get a tattoo, after all, it’s not for everyone. But, it is for me, and it’s helped me a lot. I went back and forth with my endless decision making between words that were similar. Want to know why I chose Courage over all of them? Courage takes perseverance. Perseverance takes patience, and patience takes strength. They’re all related, and they were all options. However, courage is what was needed
Working Through Self Expectations & Limitations
Not long ago I realized something important to my personal growth. It came with both a sense of accomplishment and also a sense of relief. However, it didn’t fail to come with some reservations about how I lived my life up until this point. Was I keeping expectations that were realistic? Or did they continue to fail me over the years as I continued to rely on them to keep showing up? Let’s talk about the real expectations that we hold, why that is, and ways to start being in a better mindset. Let’s take a look at working through self expectations and limitations. When Self Expectations are Too High When you hold high expectations for yourself, it tends to put a damper on nearly everything and everyone around you. Nothing seems quite good enough, even when you or others have the best of intentions. That can suck the life out of your mindset as well as your relationships, so why is it something that we’re all so good at? Maybe you don’t feel up to par in a specific sport or activity that you used to crush in the good old days. Or perhaps it’s more internal, the parts of you that you know can be performing better and more effectively, but you just can’t quite find the right workout routine, the right nutrition regimen, or the best stretching routine. Whatever it is, it’s eating away at you. I know first hand how you feel. This is because high expectations is something I’ve dealt with forever and still is something that I’m working through as an adult! So, don’t discount your shit, my friend. Find ways to mend the inner bitterness and work around the eagerness to hear that “good job” or “you go girl.” You may be waiting for a while… Share the Love External validation is something we all crave in one way or another. Most times we do it without even noticing it. I’m asking you right here, right now, to start taking stock in noticing. Start rushing to your inner aid and realizing that what we seek is just another way to get let down. We’ll talk more in the next section about what it is exactly that you’re missing and how you can gain more of it as you grow. Did your spouse tell you that you looked beautiful today? When you first met? On your birthday? Here’s another question… Did they tell you thanks for picking up the kids, or maybe did the dishes without you asking? Are they providing companionship and conquering the world with you as a life partner? Sometimes we can overlook these everyday mundane things and lose focus on the fact that we didn’t get called pretty today. The point is that we all need to lose focus of the high expectations of hunting for new gains and start understanding new ways to grasp a little bit of gratitude through even the toughest of situations. We’re all in this growth cycle together, so we may as well trust each other in wanting to make the best of it. Related: Need help with Gratitude? Working through Self-Confidence In my opinion, confidence comes in three forms. Over-confidence, under-confidence, and just right. Just right is clearly the option we’re shooting for here. Let’s talk more about each one, shall we? Under-confidence is something most of us probably suffer from. It sucks, but it’s the real deal. We can exude awesomeness for days but extroverted introverts such as myself then just come home drained and crash for more days. To gain real confidence in yourself and others can take years and even decades. And just so you know, that is completely normal and okay. Keep doing it. Gaining this new skill takes practice and learning, as does any skill. By obtaining and utilizing this new skill in your everyday interactions, you can start to piece together what expectations you can let go of, and what ones are actually relevant to your life and to the lives around you. However, when we are over-confident, we tend to exude a different kind of awesomeness…the annoying kind. No one appreciates hearing all about your trials and tribulations day in and day out, especially when it keeps playing on repeat for months and even years. Touch base with yourself on where you are in your journey and why you keep worrying so much about confidence being your number one go-to. Try meditating or find a way to talk to your inner self and see what you can work on to really hone in on new limitations to set for yourself when you’re around others. Finding Balance in Self Expectations Although we humans find it hard to believe, finding the right amount of confidence can be incredibly helpful for balancing out the amount of expectations and limitations that we set for ourselves and for those around us. Challenge yourself to be less judgmental and more understanding of how people come across within their conversations to you. Do you have a personal story that relates? Please feel free to share in the comment section a high expectation that you held for either yourself or your loved ones that you’re working on shedding or have shed in the past. Being human is hard. Learning about our feelings and not feeling bad about learning about them is a weird thing in itself. Don’t set unnecessary expectations for learning, but please don’t limit yourself either on what your true potential can be. You can continue to grow in every second of every day, and I one hundred percent encourage you to keep doing so. Thank you for reading today’s post Working Through Self Expectations and Limitations! See my last post Practicing Gratitude in 2023. Check out our sister site Rooted in Reselling
Introducing Habitual Balance
Out of Balance As I sat down today to write the first blog post of Habitual Balance, I leaned back and closed my eyes. I sat there, waiting for the thought bubbles to come floating in. Nothing. I opened my eyes, sat up straight, really focused, and still…nothing. Then, I had a first time experience. It was the one and only thought bubble that floated on in. “Run,” it said. This was the first time ever that I closed my laptop, set down my phone, and put on my shoes. I didn’t think about the weather. I didn’t consider changing. Nor did I try and wrassle my dogs into harnesses or dread going because well running really isn’t all that fun. I just got up, and hit go. It was on this run that those thought bubbles started floating back in. I immediately thought about how I didn’t have paper or my phone to jot down ideas in, because we humans must always rely on technology instead of the human brain that thought up computers in the first place. Here I am now, releasing the thoughts during my run without pen and paper present, with my phone still put away, and only in the company of the furry friends next to me. Amazing, what we can actually do when we set intentions and put our minds to something, isn’t it? Intentional Accomplishment Did you know that if you only run 1.33 miles 3x per week, that equates to 208 miles per year? That’s where I’m currently at in my running journey. I used to hate it, but I’ve begun to love it for 100 other reasons other than actually running. Running isn’t beneficial to me because it’s boring and monotonous. Sure, trimming those love handles is something I’m here for, but not until I ran through the Grand Canyon did I feel a sheer sense of accomplishment and wonder of “holy shit I’m running through the Grand Canyon.” That hit hard. Now I run because it’s instilled a new love in me. Not of running, but of accomplishment. If I’m feeling down, sleepy, lacking ideas, I run. And somehow within those short 1.33 miles or approximately 10-15 minutes, I’m feeling 110% better. Why do we stare at our screens for hours upon hours before coming to the realization that we are in fact human and crave nature to recharge our batteries? Habitual Balance … we’re in this together That’s what this blog post, and Habitual Balance as a whole is all about. The simple realization that we are all humans living this life together. The realization that we need to fuel our bodies correctly with wonderful food and feed our brains with healthy information that we can grow from. Within these posts, you’ll find a hefty supply of nourishment for both your brain and body, by way of healthy and easy to understand meal ideas, recommendations to tried-and-true supplements, understandings of which time management tools work best for you, and new ways of working out that you have never considered before that work even better than your boring old run. So get ready to learn a whole lot about yourself, and how you can improve your situations and your life. You really can make these small steps to open new worlds if only you have the mindset and patience with yourself to do so. During my run, I passed an elderly couple. This couple was doing simple yard work, but I thought about if they may have been runners in their lifetime. Or maybe they still were? After doing the previous math in my head, this got me thinking on a whole other level. Were they married for decades? Were they newlyweds? Were they even married? Would my husband and I be doing the same thing 20, 30, 40 years from now, watching a young woman pass and wonder why she chose to run that day? I also passed 3 young boys that were yelling for their grandma after playing some football in the front yard. Which prompted me to realize that recently in particular, all I’ve been thinking about is my lack of time. I constantly think about how I have less and less time to grow, to think, to create, to envision, to prosper, to just be. And then I thought, I’m not ready to be a grandma. And then another thought…I’m not even a mother yet! I really do, have plenty of time to be just, me. I’m still a little amazed at how 1.33 miles every so often can add up so quickly when you look at the big picture. It’s hard to move forward. It’s hard to forge ahead, but it must be done. Whether you are putting the groceries away, doing endless dishes, working a job you don’t enjoy, you must forge ahead. From our sister site: Maintaining Mental Health is Mentally Exhausting You must keep going Each and every day, every minute counts that you put towards working on your dream. Your dream could be as little as stretching for 5 minutes once a day, or as big as conquering the presidential race of 2040. Working on something that you love even as little as 30 seconds every day can add up more than you imagined it would by the time you’re ready to spread your wings. That’s where forming habits come in Creating a new habit is substantially harder to do than to talk about. And replacing a bad habit with a good one is even harder than that. Sticking to a routine, a schedule, a planner can be daunting to go at it all at once, and chances are you’ll fail in the long run. Habitual Balance has been created to assist you in your journey to a better you. How do you get there? By creating habits that are sustainable, obtainable, and healthy. These habits can be newly formed or put in place to repurpose time slots of unhealthy habits