How many days does it take to break a habit?

A post from the internet: I always hear the statistic that it takes six weeks to make or break a habit. That may be true in cases like turning off the porch light in the morning, but I haven't had the same success in life when it came to overcoming various destructive habits of mine.

Often I gut it out through those six weeks only to either give up, or quit that habit but replace it with something just as bad. I likened the experience to a stress-ball. I squeeze it really hard in my hand, and it may even squeeze through my fingers. Did the material in the stress ball disappear? Nope. What happens when I release the ball? It all goes back right where it was before.

Compulsive and/or destructive habits seem to work in the same way. Why does it seem that every time we identify a bad behavior in our life and work to chop it down, that another takes it's place almost immediately?

That is because we are attacking the evidence that there is a problem, not the problem itself. Identifying the root issue takes time, but it is well worth it. When I say "time", I'm talking about anywhere from a year or more.

That's correct – to truly break the root cause of your destructive habits or addictions will take at least one year. Don't despair though, because that can and will be a very good thing.

I am seven months post op and there are still some days when my eyes do not listen to my brain. For me I think food and eating is no different than anyones, addictive habits, mine was just legal and more acceptable to society. But honestly is it? I wake up each morning and remind myself that this is a journey and I did not wake up Fat one morning but did this to my self one forkful at a time. I am trying so hard to break old habits and develop healthy ones. My scales have not moved for several weeks now, this happens to me every time I drop into a new set of numbers. I know hat I need to do is exercise, I sometimes wish that people would tell me I was fat instead of "You look great!" I need the push to make me do what I know I need to do. Today I went to see my family doctor, we discussed my BP meds, I take 3. My BP was 128/80 for me this is awesome. I used to be consistently 140-150/90-100 on meds and over 200 without. We discussed reducing my meds, I told her I would like to drop 20 more pounds before we do this. I think part of me just wanted to make sure I was going to be successful. Kinda like been here before but didn't stay. So to all of us our their trying to develop new habits and change old ones, Good Luck!