Yet another way your phone can help you lose weight
July 21, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments
“How did I gain another pound – in, like, two days?”
You may’ve asked yourself this before. And then you may’ve also realized that it hasn’t been just a day. It’s been a whole week since cheat day morphed into cheat week – totally devoid of healthy eating or workouts alike. You didn’t mean to. (Do any of us, ever?) But, somehow, apathy allowed you to wormhole your way to the opposite side of the galaxy from fitness. What a bummer, too. ’cause now it’s the weekend – and you’re up another pound or two. And, while you shouldn’t be surprised that everything’s fitting too tight, you totally are.
And you’re also totally looking for ways to jar yourself outta this state.
Which is why I’m here to help.
Actually, this is a simple little tip I’ve employed for a great many other things in my life – from vitamin taking to tasks like getting gas. All you do – is set an alarm. Now, we’ve seen before about how your phone can motivate you. (By posting motivating screensaver images that inspire you to get off your azz and move – or just even to not order Papa John’s.) But, by setting an actual alarm that goes off at a specific time, something interesting happens. What you do, is you set it way ahead of time. Maybe it’s for 5 A.M. Or maybe it’s for a more realistic time for you to hit the gym. But, by doing it ahead of time, you don’t have to actually think about whether or not you wanna go. It was you who planned it out ahead of time, when you were mentally mapping your day. So, you can trust that you must have time to do it.
Okay. But, why’s this so effective?
Well, sure, sometimes we legitimately lose track of the time. And setting a clock to go off and remind us to drag ourselves out’ve the rabbit hole of taskmastering is fabulous. It can indeed be effective for that. The cool part, though, is how it gets you in gear – even if you opt not to go workout immediately. And how’s that? It’s this neat brain hack… Ever get a tornado warning or amber alert on your phone? Whatever you’re doing, you kinda stop and hit a cognitive pause on whatever your activity is ATM. Why? Something’s summoning your attention with a massive, attention demanding, annoying noise. Now, for the rest’ve the day, you’re scanning the skies for funnel clouds or the freeway for silver SUV’s that might be harboring IRL Liam Neeson’s abducted daughter. That’s the in background of your mind for the rest of the day now, ‘cause it’s totally staged a B&E into your brain by way of alarm.
Likewise, with a “GO WORKOUT” or “PICK UP VEGGIES TO GRILL FOR DINNER” alarm, you get a similar effect.
(And, hey, if self shaming motivates your morning self, go for it. You do you, boo…)
Whether you’re on a Youtube binge or eyeball deep in memes, an alarm has a magical effect. And the beauty of it is the same as the tornado or stolen kid alert. Because, even if you don’t hop in your Nikie gear right when your iPhone strikes GTFO-and-go-run o’ clock, you’ll be thinking of it every second after. You’ll glance at your sneakers or your gym pass or your scale like you usually do. But, suddenly, you’ll see all’ve that through a totally different filter. One that begs the question, “What’s the scale gonna read next Friday?” (In fact, that might not be a bad label for the alarm itself.) And, this’ll collectively mentally pester you until you finally decide to make time (instead’ve excuses) to hit the gym – and sweat until sweatpants aren’t “all that fits you right now”.
So, my fitness friends, set your alarms now – and don’t be alarmed by the scale later!