Behaviour Change: Diary of a 30 day body-weight exercise challenge

The Problem

Ahhhhhgh.....thoses scales were just not moving. I had gained half a stone last Christmas that I had not been able to shift the way I normally could. But it wasn't just that my clothes were tighter but that my body had changed shaped. I'd lost my muscle tone, flexibility and strength. And I had found that I was now storing weight around my middle area, which i had never previously done. For some time now, I was aware that my new working pattern of home working was having a significant impact on my physiology. I simply was not moving as much during the day as I had previously done. A pattern that many people can relate to and part of the emerging weight-gain picture that we have seen over the last few years as the “WFH” culture takes hold. Enough was enough, it was time for me to take action and stop the rot.

Working Patterns

The pandemic years have changed all of our working patterns and lifestyle.  Many of us are now working fully or partially from home….. and with that comes different challenges.  Without my hour commute into central London, I was now able to exercise most mornings before starting work – a luxury that I’d simply never had time to do previously. But the rest of my day was far more sedentary than if I was working in an office.  Back then, my hour commute into work usually involved walking to the tube station, standing on the tube, walking up tube escalators and then office stairs. I was constantly moving around in the office.  Often walking for an hour in my lunch break. And then I would repeat the hour commute home before going for a run or other exercise for an hour. When I totted it all up, I reckon I was moving for around 4-5 hours each day before I did any other structured exercise.  Now, my home-working pattern of 45 mins exercise most mornings and a 30 mins walk at lunch time was falling way too short of what I previously did.  Was this the cause of my inability to lose that extra half stone with ease?

The Ageing Process

As we age, we naturally start to lose muscle mass – a condition called sarcopenia.  As muscles burn fat, the more we lose muscle mass, the more difficult it is for us to burn fat. And then for mid-age women, like me, there is the added havoc of the hormonal changes that ensue in mid-life and cause a redistribution of fat, esepcially around that middle area. We all tend to accept this as a natural part of the ageing process. Yet when you delve into the sarcopenia research another picture emerges. This great 2016 reserach paper explored sarcopenia in the contect of reduced activity as we age and the widespread inactivity in the elderly, which it suggests contributes to age-related muscle loss. The study concluded that resistance exercise training........especially where of higher intensity (like the Betty Rocker challenge that I describe below)........produced profound enhancements of muscle mass and strength and suggested that such exercise should be the first line of treatment for sarcopenia.

The 30 Day Body-Weight Exercise Challenge

And so in mid-August, I decided to embark upon on a 30 day body-weight exercise challenge to see if I could replicate the study results. My goal was to tone up, become stronger and more flexible and lose that half stone. As it happened, I had a wedding to attend mid-September where I would see many people from my past that I had not seen in a long time. Like most people, I wanted to look my best……..and to get back into a specific dress. So I now had a goal too.  I specifically chose a HIIT (high intensity interval training) type of workout that used my own body weight to work multiple muscle groups. Think squats, lunges, burpees, press-ups, sit ups, etc.  Much to my delight, it transpired that the trainer (Betty Rocker) was well versed in multiple different exercise disciplines……everything from cardio, Tabata, isometrics, pyramids, yoga, Pilates and stretching.  Every day was different.

The Good Experience 

The exercise challenge was for 15 minutes per day only. That seemed so easy, and I thought that I was going to breeze right through without a problem.  I started with high enthusiasm and motivation determined to get my body back into shape within just 30 days.  Each day I looked forward to that day’s video dropping into my inbox and doing the day’s challenge.  I had noticed from the start that my body was much more stiff and inflexible than I had realised but the exercises weren’t too challenging for me. Within 3 days I had lost half an inch from my waist and hips. That spurred me on even further. Now I was impatient to do more. I could see I was getting results quickly.

The Struggles and Challenges

However, by the time that I got to Day 14 my body was starting to feel tired. And by Day 20 I was exhausted and not completing my exercises properly and I was craving sugar and food in general. My motivation had gone right down.  3 weeks of solid exercise of just 15 minutes per day had exhausted me. Yet I had some good results – by then I had lost 2 inches from my waist  and back and 1.5 inches from my hips.  For someone who loved exercise, my mojo had gone out the window. When I woke up Day 21, I just couldn’t face it. My body was craving a rest and mentally I felt I didn’t have the energy to think properly.  So I made the decision not to exercise that day. It felt like a failure – I didn’t want to not complete the full challenge…. I could have done it…...but at what cost?.  My motivation was on the floor.

The "Aha" Moments

As I struggled through work on Day 21, I felt so tired.  And then something miraculous happened…….my new free sample of Arella collagen products arrived……all nicely packaged in new packaging.  Within 10 minutes of taking a collagen sachet my energy rebounded back astonishingly quickly and I felt normal again.  And then I realised what part of the problem was…….I had not been having enough protein in my diet.  I’d eaten my normal diet which always contained some form of protein with each meal. But I’d made the mistake of not increasing my protein content………athletes require twice as much protein as the average sedentary individual……..to contend with the extra amounts required to build muscle.  That was an ‘aha’ moment.

Day 21 also brought me another couple of “aha’ moments. Firstly, I started to realise that I didn't enjoy exercsing in my home - I prefer exercising outside in the fresh air - and I missed my running. And secondly,  I began to realise that the programme design wasn't working effectively for me……it wasn’t a fault with my willpower or motivation......it was the lack of rest or recovery in the programme. It’s  actually during the rest periods when the muscles heal and grow.  As we became stronger during the exercise programme, the intensity got greater and greater and the easier days were becoming few and far between. In the early stages, there were stretching exercises or easy type rest days. But as we progressed, it was mainly just hard exercise. A better designed programme for me would have included more rest or easier days between hard days to allow time for my body to recover.  And so I decided to build in my own rest days. 

The Goals

I gave myself another rest day on Day 22. And then was right back to it Day 23 when my motivation had returned.  Day 23 was also the day that I was travelling up north for the wedding celebrations. So I knew my motivation was back. I was away for 4 days and I managed to continue with my exercise programme for 3 out of those 4 days……except the last day. After a 12 hour wedding party that didn’t finish until the early hours of the next morning and then a trip back to London early afternoon, I just couldn’t face it.  And this was when I began to experience the biggest challenges.  My motivation had started to wain as I now had accomplished my goal….well kind of……the original dress that I wanted to get back into and wear for the wedding wasn’t worn……the zip had broken……so I ended up wearing something less figure-hugging that ironically didn’t need the weight loss or toning!

The Results

On my return to London I had a horrendously busy week, working 12-hour days for the whole week. And that’s when my motivation went right out of the window as I just didn’t have the energy.  I felt disappointed as I really wanted to do the full 30 day challenge on successive days to see what results I could achieve.  Despite the setbacks, I finished off the rest of the challenge on days when I was able to.  And I still had mainatined my impressive 2 inch fat loss around my waist and back and 1.5 inches from my hips.  My body shape had undoubtedly changed. I was far more toned around my core, stronger and more flexible…..all key goals…..but I hadn't lost a single pound of weight. I looked much better but was still the same weight.  A common occurrence that happens when people turn to exercise for weight loss. Muscle is simply more compact than fat. So as you lose fat, you gain muscle mass which occupies less space. Hence you look slimmer but are still the same weight. Because muscle is more metabolically active than fat, over time the greater muscle mass increases the speed at which you burn fat. And so with more application the weight should start to come off.  

The Learnings

As most of my goals were achieved with this challenge, I am chalking that up to a success and using it as a “kick start” to now fully get back into a more balanced exercise programme where I expect to now lose some weight. But what I found most fascinating about this challenge were the behavioural change aspects that came to the fore. As good as this exercise programme was, I realised that the basic design needed tweaking to fit into my life……it simply didn’t factor into the equation enough rest days allowing for recovery. A more tailored programme would account for that and overcome it. I learned so much from this expericence. Not least that you have to adapt exercise programmes to suit you (just as you would with a diet). Environment counts. And so does lisetning to your body and giving yourself enough rest and recovery. Had I done all of my exercises outside and built in my own rest days to suit me and my external circumstances, I think I would have breezed through this as I had first anticipated.

The Behaviour Change

This leads nicely into the science of behaviour change that can be applied across the board to any habit, pattern or behaviour that you wish to change.  After extensive research in his Behaviour Design Lab at Standford Univeristy,. BJ Fogg describes in his best-selling book Tiny Habiits this very simple equation he devised that covers any aspect of behaviour change:

Behaviour = Motivation | Ability | Prompt

B=MAP

When one of these elements is missing or changes then change doesn’t happen.  Using my exercise challenge as an example: 

·       Motivation – very high.  I love exercise, already did it on a weekly basis and I had a goal. 

·       Ability – this is the ease or difficulty rating. 15 mins per day seemed really easy initially.

·       Prompt – as soon as I got out of bed I did the exercise. So the prompt was constant.

But what happened during the challenge was that the ability element changed – things got a lot more difficult as my body got very tired without any rest days. As that started to reduce my energy levels, I started to overeat to compensate to try to raise my energy levels……..and then my motivation went right down. The challenge had managed to turn a very enthusiastic exerciser into someone who became so unmotivated to do the programme that as soon as my goal was reached that I almost stopped. And therein lay the problem.  Had Betty designed more rest and recovery days into the programme (and hence made the ability element of the equation easier) that would not have happened and my motivation level would have remained relatively high. Having grown up with track athletics and following many different training programmes, rest days were always built into the programme.  Even as a child, I knew the importance of such rest days to improve athletic performance.  But here I really saw the impact on behaviour change too.

Conclusion

Changing behaviour patterns is never easy for most people, whether that be around exercise, eating patterns or other behaviours. But when you understand the behaviour change equation, it becomes easier to figure out which element of that equation that you need to modify to effect change. Making successful lasting changes is never just about willpower……as most people think. Instead, it’s all about how you design those changes that you wish to make.