Personal Improvement Project Does Changing My Environment Lead to a Significant Decrease in Abstaining from Snacking? S.N. HSCI 586 Fall 2004 Dr. Alemi

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Problem? Too much time at home alone, not enough activities to stay busy Too much time at home alone, not enough activities to stay busy Leads to mindless and unnecessary snacking Leads to mindless and unnecessary snacking Led to weight gain over seven month period Led to weight gain over seven month period

Solution? Change my environment in order to not have so much time home alone Change my environment in order to not have so much time home aloneHOW?? --Evaluate daily routines --Look for opportunities for improvement or change --Change environment to not have so much time home alone --Evaluate Daily Routine: Follow….

ACTIVITY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE IMPACT? WHY IF NEGATIVE? Daily Monday- Friday (mornings) wake up approx 6:30am negative: often hit snooze button many times, wake up late, late for work floss teeth, brush teethpositive showerpositive make coffeepositive do makeup and hairpositive get dressedpositive have breakfast and coffeepositive drive to workpositive have lunchpositive

ACTIVITY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE IMPACT? WHY IF NEGATIVE? Monday after lunchleave work at 3pmpositive have snack in car 4pmpositive go to classpositive class until 7:10positive go homepositive have dinnerpositive watch TV negative: often snack while watching TV, don't even like watching TV except for certain shows (not Mondays) go to bed 10pmpositive

ACTIVITY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE IMPACT? WHY IF NEGATIVE? Tuesday after lunchleave work at 3pmpositive have snack in car 4pmpositive go to classpositive class until 7:10positive go to ache meeting until 8ishpositive go homepositive have dinnerpositive watch TV negative: often snack while watching TV, like only 8:30 show go to bed 10pmpositive

ACTIVITY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE IMPACT? WHY IF NEGATIVE? Wednesday after lunchhave snack at work 4pmpositive leave work approx 6pmpositive go homepositive have dinnerpositive watch TV negative: often snack while watching TV go to bed 9pmpositive

ACTIVITY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE IMPACT? WHY IF NEGATIVE? Thursday after lunch get dressed for gym at workpositive leave work 6:15pmpositive gym until 8pmpositive get home 8:30pmpositive have dinnerpositive watch TV negative: often snack while watching TV, only like one 1/2 hour show on Thursdays go to bed 9:30/10pmpositive

ACTIVITY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE IMPACT? WHY IF NEGATIVE? Friday after lunchsnack at work 4pmpositive try to leave work 5pmpositive happy hour turns into late night negative: intentions to go home early never work out - end up eating out instead at home later than I normally would. But I enjoy spending time with friends, going out on a Friday after a long work/school week go home late negative: go to bed too late to want to wake up in morning and be fresh

ACTIVITY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE IMPACT? WHY IF NEGATIVE? Saturdaywake up 9:45ampositive go to gym classpositive have breakfastpositive showerpositive do school work in house negative: often snack while working on computer at home do errandspositive go out at night turns into late night negative: often eat while I'm out things I wouldn't otherwise eat at home and more of it. But I enjoy spending time with different friends, going out and being social.

ACTIVITY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE IMPACT? WHY IF NEGATIVE? Sundaywake up 10:05ampositive go to gym classpositive have lunchpositive watch football at home or at friend's housenegative: often snack in front of TV do school work at home negative: often snack while working on computer at home errandspositive go out to dinner with friendspositive home early, bed earlypositive

ACTIVITY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE IMPACT? WHY IF NEGATIVE? WeeklyTrader Joe's negative: buy peanut butter or nuts - eat too many nuts and too much peanut butter. get gaspositive pick up housepositive iron clothespositive laundrypositive make lunches for week at workpositive

Necessary to Change Routines: --Left home after dinner, socialize with friend --Took snack in car on way to class to lessen the urge to snack before dinner --Create activities to replace with at-home down time: ran errands weekday evenings I used to run on weekends --Changed environment rather than change myself

Data Collection for Evidence Collected data on snacking from beginning of observation period (every day: snacked or didn’t snack) Collected data on snacking from beginning of observation period (every day: snacked or didn’t snack) Pre-intervention period (10 days) and post- intervention period (82 days) documented Pre-intervention period (10 days) and post- intervention period (82 days) documented Time-between chart used to document chances of snacking – 92 Data Points total over the course of the semester Time-between chart used to document chances of snacking – 92 Data Points total over the course of the semester

Results from Time-Between Chart

Conclusion Changing environment lead to improvement in habits (decrease in snacking), though additional environmental changes should be made to create a more significant difference Changing environment lead to improvement in habits (decrease in snacking), though additional environmental changes should be made to create a more significant difference Lost approximately 6 pounds over the course of the semester Lost approximately 6 pounds over the course of the semester Personal improvement can happen with little to no conscious effort as long as environment is changed Personal improvement can happen with little to no conscious effort as long as environment is changed Periods of abstaining from snacking were longer after intervention Periods of abstaining from snacking were longer after intervention I should continue to change my environment possibly introducing other factors to continue to abstain from snacking I should continue to change my environment possibly introducing other factors to continue to abstain from snacking