85/15

Nutritionally I have a few bad habits. I tend to follow my self purported 85/15 rule. Choose healthy diet/good behavior alternatives 85% of the time; allow yourself for treats 15 percent of the time. I could be better and "fall off the wagon" occasionally but, the rule keeps me in check. This concept plays into my behavior modification hypothesis.

The baddest of my bad habits is caffeine intake, particularly coffee intake. So bad that back when my wife and I were operating our gym an evening client would observe my falsified evening energy and jokingly suggest decaf to me on a regular basis. In those days I would crash hard in the afternoon and crash harder when I returned home from the gym in the evening, usually it was lights out by 9PM. Call me Mr. Excitement.

Our lives were altered when we changed cities and business direction. A positive change for our family and our career. I am thankful that Gwen (my wife) met new people within our new community. While at an evening house party she noticed an interesting concept in coffee consumption (see photo). Not a new product by any means but a product that would be perfect to tame the caffeinated beast that she lived with. Immediately she purchased our new coffeemaker.

The Keurig brews one cup at a time using individual coffee/tea/cocoa servings. At first this was difficult, I continued my excessive consumption, drinking an average of 5 servings per day. I realized that although excessive, the 5 cups per day was about 1/2 of my previous consumption; this should give you an idea of exactly how much this caf-fiend was drinking.

As our caffeine budget continued to expand (individualized cup brewing is not cheap) I was reminded that my caffeine habit wasn't improving (although cut in half it was still too much). We decided to limit consumption to two cups per day. I further hamstrung this modification by limiting myself to 1 cup of coffee and 1 cup of tea/decaf/cocoa.

Since this extensive action of behavior modification my workouts are better, I have more energy throughout the day (no more naps-can't afford to now), and I am more relaxed. You see, to be successful using the 85/15 concept of behavior modification you must modify your 15 percent. Remember, your 15 percent is usually the things in your lifestyle that you enjoy the most (or you think you enjoy) when compared to other alternatives. It is easy for most of us to overdo our 15 percent; whether it be bad food, recreation time, television viewing, and yes coffee consumption.

Behavior modification.