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 Programbook.
Listen►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. You can see a
summary of their experiences to date. More►
To make lasting changes in your life, follow these steps:
Enroll
. Before you proceed, you need to be aware
of theinformation
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 by facsimile to 703 993 1953.
Consent►
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 your storyboard.
More►
To think through your resolution, use Figure 1 in Chapter 1 in the book:
Thinking Person Weight Loss & Exercise Program.
Read►
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►
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.
Seeexamples of system changes introduced by others. Read►
Examples►
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►
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►
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►
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►
See guide on how to post narrated videos to the web.
Video►SWF►You
Tube►
Once done with making the change and monitoring your progress, please
tell us if it worked for you?
More►
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 outthe book
Thinking Person
Weight Loss & Exercise Programor
order it through the publisher.
Print►
Buy►
The workbook has been around for a while now, as a consequence many different versions are on the web. The latest version focuses
on diet and exercise and is part of the above
book. If this is not helpful, check the
original workbook. You can read the workbook in
other languages. You can also read a published version.
Original►Arabic►
Swedish►
Chinese►
Abstract►
Full
text►
See how changing
work shifts
changed weight and exercise patterns.
Exercise more by change of office location.Includes before and after control charts, system change, and more.
Exercise more by walking the dog. Good example of Fish Bone diagram and time between missed exercise days. Sharing the walking of the dog led to twice weekly exercise when there was none before.
Exercise more by running
with the dog and lunch time
errands Includes Fishbone diagram, control charts and ecological
approach that led to near doubling of exercise and 10 Lb weight loss. Another example of
"The dog made me do it" Includes good analysis of life routines, a
Fish Bone diagram of solutions, selection of walking the dog
as key solution and a control chart showing improvement in miles ran.
Exercise more through kids schedule Good example of listing daily routines and searching for environmental changes, includes control chart and plans to continue. Not as successful as expected.
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.
See a narrated example that includes making several systemic changes and
using a control chart to track the impact on weight loss and exercise:
See examples in weight loss and diet
See how
shopping better led to
less junk food
. Includes analysis of daily routines, engagement of process owner, and a control chart of before
and after data.
See anexample in weight loss over 42 weeks through several environmental
changes. It includes step by step description of what was done as well as the data from what was accomplished.
Increasing Calcium Consumption Includes faculty comments, a
good example of fish bone diagram and two cycles of improvement, data charted
(no control limits)
Reducing junk food Includes time-in-between chart,
process chart of the problem, and changes in
personal systems. See also
diet modification
. Includes flow chart, ecological approach to diet and time-in-between chart. Led to 10 pound weight loss.
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):
For another example see how moving a treadmill affected exercise
pattern (includes data on an unsuccessful attempt):
For another example see how changing sleep
patterns helped one person gain weight:
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.
See examples in other life style changes
Clean house faster The frequency of accumulation of clutter
was reduced. Includes analysis of routines, purchase of new equipment,
re-arrangement of shredder, changes in schedule and more.
Save money and reduce ATM use The frequency of ATM use was
reduced. Includes organization of improvement team, list of possible
solutions, scoring of options (systemic change or personal effort), and a
control chart.
Get to work on time. Number
of occasions of delay in arriving to work was reduced. The personal
improvement includes a flow chart of current events that cause the delay, a
list of motivation based options and environment change options, scoring of
extent of systemic change, data collected over the course of the semester,
and a control chart analysis of the data.
Stress reductionThe workbook was used to develop a model of how
stress occurs. Regression analysis was used to link various factors leading to stress
Increasingflossing. Includes time-in-between charts and changing the environment by putting reminders around
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)
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:
See an example of improving a high school
student's grades by changing his home environment:
Effect of Atkin's diet on patients with diabetesShort term use of the Atkins' diet resulted in weight loss and improvement in glycemic and lipid control in patients
with DM and was well tolerated." Library membership is required for downloading this article.
For more information on treatment, diet
and other aspect of diabetes,
click
here.
This page on life style management is also available tailored to the needs of
diabetes
patients.
Roberts HV & Sergesketter "Quality
is Personal" is an extraordinarily useful approach to improving everyday work (and
life).Roberts is on the faculty of the University of Chicago School of Business, where for years
he has used CQI to improve education.This book is a straightforward guide to using CQI to clear off your desk, keep your family
happier, make your life easier.
For abstracts of recent papers on continuous personal improvement
click here
Efficacy and safety of
low carbohydrate diets Authors reviewed the literature and found that no conclusive evidence for or against the safety of low-carbohydrate diets. They found that weight loss while using low-carbohydrate diets was principally associated
with decreased caloric intake and increased diet duration.
Enroll
. Before you proceed, you need to be aware
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