Focus for a moment on your posture

It seems silly, right? At that point, your fat cells will stop expanding, and, eventually, they will even start shrinking as your body starts using insulin more efficiently. You'll lose weight, regain your body's true shape, and feel more energized, sexy, and alive. Balancing your insulin helps your body to balance other hormones as well--including testosterone, which also helps you feel sexy, sensual, and womanly. So how do you balance your insulin and restore insulin sensitivity? Basically, you want to build muscle instead of fat, because muscle cells have many more insulin receptors. And how do you build muscle? Through exercise plus a diet with the right amounts of protein and healthy fats, as you'll see in the 28-day plan. To balance your insulin, you also want to reduce your carb intake and focus on low-glycemic carbs that are less likely to produce high blood sugar. As you eat fewer sweets and high-glycemic carbs, your body will use up some of that stored sugar in your fat cells, shrinking them. Eventually, you will have more muscle, less fat, and balanced insulin levels. We knew we could bring meaning and connection to a care community, where staffing and daily routines provided infrastructure for creativity. But bringing meaning and connection to people in their homes would be a bigger lift. We'd need to figure out how to deliver the spark and how to gather it back. To connect each person to a larger purpose, we would have to figure out how to build on the person's responses and then once again share our response back. And every single person we tried to engage could easily say no. A stranger at my door or on my phone? Asking me to be creative? I would probably say no if it were me. But the urgency for us to try to create this distribution system for meaningful engagement was profound.

More older people than ever are living alone. Like it would never work? Just by doing push-ups every time he used the bathroom every day, Fogg lost five pounds, and then ten, and then twenty, all in the course of a few months. It really works. So, what does that mean for you? How could engaging in this mental model and trying it out help you achieve more self-discipline? Firstly, if you create a tiny habit and persist in doing it for several weeks or months, you'll reap the results of the goal you've set. You'll lose the pounds, or write the article, or kick your caffeine addiction. What else? Creating a tiny habit and sticking with it will also give you practice in developing and staying with new habits that are good for you. Part of self-discipline is determining habits whose end results will benefit you in the long run and then having the perseverance to continue to work on those habits. I know this is difficult to take in because we tend to be so frightened of fat, but the true secret to weight loss for many of us is not reducing fat. It's reducing carbs while making sure to consume enough protein and healthy fats to balance our hormones, build muscle, support brain function, and maintain our energy. It's also making sure that at least half of our plate is filled with brightly colored vegetables. Of course, you have to eat both fat and protein in moderation. If you overconsume either one, you'll gain weight. But a healthy balance of carbs, fats, and protein is ultimately your best recipe for health. This way, your body uses up its stored sugar, your cells reactivate their insulin receptors, and you finally have nice, balanced insulin levels. As a result, you will restore harmony to your hormonal symphony. Shanti was a web designer in her late 20s who came to see me with irregular periods, debilitating PMS symptoms, and weight gain that was frustrating her to no end.

I don't eat that much, and I exercise every day, she told me. And social isolation, research tells us, is the health risk equivalent of fifteen cigarettes a day. 1 So many people claim to want to stay in their own homes as they age. But when that means living alone, the physical and psychological costs can be tremendous, both for individuals and for communities. Consider the 1995 heat wave in Chicago: 739 people died of heat-related causes--most of them older adults, living alone. In Milwaukee that same summer, 154 people died of heat-related causes. The telephone reassurance system we were partnering with on this project was created in part to ensure this never happened again. As lead artists, Maureen and I introduced our team to the drivers, who were polite but barely looked up as they rhythmically sorted and checked and packed. We tried to be helpful. Can I carry anything? No, I got it. In the meantime, you will be gaining a heightened sense of self-worth and motivation to succeed. You'll start to realize that your success (or your failure) is your responsibility. It's up to you if you accomplish your goal or not. It's not luck or fate that are responsible for your success. It's your work ethic and your perseverance that carry you to the finish line. You have to want it! Choose a behavior you're able to do. Choose a trigger, or call to action, for your behavior that happens every day anyway, so it's easier for you to do the behavior Choose a small enough behavior

Invite a friend to share your journey or make their own tiny habit alongside you Yet I keep gaining weight! It's making me crazy! Shanti was also frustrated by a persistent case of acne and by hair that had started to grow on her face and breasts. I noticed that the weight Shanti was complaining about seemed to have concentrated around her waist, so that it was almost as wide as her hips. Together with the other symptoms she described, this was the classic profile of polycystic ovarian syndrome, a condition usually set off by insulin resistance and marked by high levels of testosterone. Of course, I had to test Shanti's hormone levels to be sure, and the results confirmed my suspicions. Shanti's readings showed insulin resistance, while her sex hormone levels indicated high levels of testosterone and an imbalanced ratio of luteinizing hormone to follicle-stimulating hormone, two hormones crucial to regulating the menstrual cycle. I'm always excited when people come to me with this particular problem because I know I can help them quickly. I suggested to Shanti that she take a medical food like Ultrameal 360, or chromium, while following my 28-day plan; this would balance her blood sugar and help restore healthy insulin sensitivity. We quickly learned that what was really helpful was stepping back and letting the drivers get into the flow of loading a hundred meals into their cars. I was to ride along with Mr. John Robertson, who went by Johnny. He had a warm smile and serious demeanor. I asked whether I should ride with him in his truck or follow behind in my car. You can follow behind me, he said matter-of-factly. In Milwaukee, Meals on Wheels drivers are paid, not volunteers, although the pay is really just enough to offset the cost of gas. He would cross multiple lanes of traffic to make a turn that would shorten the route by thirty seconds. I thought I knew the neighborhood.

But he knew every alley, every shortcut. Celebrate! You're on your way! Revisit the goals you set as you began reading this article. Are any of them related to a lack of self-discipline? How could you use the Eisenhower Matrix or the Tiny Habits Method to rectify them? Keeping these two mental models in mind as you go through your week will help build disciplines that will make you a happier and more successful person. However, these are only two of many mental models out there that exist to build self-discipline habits. Do some research of your own to find new mental models that could help you on this journey, too. Remember that self-discipline can manifest itself in all corners of your life. When you drag yourself out of bed in the morning instead of pressing snooze on the alarm again, you're practicing good self-discipline. Once her insulin levels were balanced, her other hormone levels would fall into place and her symptoms would clear right up. Shanti didn't like the idea of giving up desserts, white rice, and her morning oatmeal with brown sugar, but she loved the idea of losing weight, having easy periods, clearing her skin, and losing the unwanted hair growth. So she threw herself into the 28-day plan with enthusiasm--and was rewarded with quick results. After a month, her symptoms had eased considerably and within three months, they were all gone. You'll probably need to follow this plan for life, I told her on her last visit. Otherwise, the insulin resistance will return, triggering your symptoms all over again. But as long as you eat the right balance of proteins, carbs, and healthy fats, you can look forward to regular periods and a smooth transition into menopause. Shanti's experience is a typical example of how many seemingly unrelated symptoms--acne, weight gain, hair growth, irregular periods, and PMS symptoms--can all stem from the same hormonal imbalance. It's also a beautiful illustration of the power of diet, supplements, and lifestyle to balance hormones and restore health.