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The fresh start effect

lars.yencken.org

41–50 of 53 posts

Re: The fresh start effect

#41
post #2

> Were we just cynically capitalising on people's New Year's resolutions, all of which are bound to fail? Or was there something more to it? It can be both

If the demand for their services is cyclical, it’s rational to plan around the peak of that cycle.

Re: The fresh start effect

#42
post #9
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thinking that goes into things like new years resolutions is also part of a greater ideology though. That in itself dismisses fundamental changes for unrealistic scenarios. That you don't need good housing, working conditions or health care because with this one business, diet or lifestyle trick you will beat the odds. In many countries the majority now are overweight or obese in their sixties. Despite more knowl…

The stereotypical buy-a-gym-membership-use-it-once resolution doesn't encompass the whole of the thing. Another line of thinking that goes into things like New Years' resolutions is the idea that significant change can only be intentionally and effectively made in a long series of tiny steps. The OP discusses the dual of this idea but misses the main thing: > The reality is that if you are going to do something that'…

>buy-a-gym-membership-use-it-once resolution d

I've kinda got a hypothesis on this... see in the cold of winter, going to the gym is a great idea. But as spring comes around, you want to be outside - maybe even hiking, biking, etc, IE: being physically active. Then the kids are home all summer and you get distracted with family activities. Then the kids go back to school but you are out of routine going to the gym and it takes a while to get back into the pattern.

My point is, I think we all jump to this idea that the person who stops going to the gym is being lazy, whereas I think a lot of it has to do with patterns of behavior and "externalities."

Re: The fresh start effect

#43
post #10
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thinking that goes into things like new years resolutions is also part of a greater ideology though. That in itself dismisses fundamental changes for unrealistic scenarios. That you don't need good housing, working conditions or health care because with this one business, diet or lifestyle trick you will beat the odds. In many countries the majority now are overweight or obese in their sixties. Despite more knowl…

And yet, success is higher when others support and reinforce. So don't use statistics as an excuse to be a dick.

+1. Using statistics about a population to make determinations about a specific outcome is often fallacious anyway. “70% of businesses fail” might sound like it is a bad idea to start one, but of course every business succeeds or fails on its own specific merits.

Re: The fresh start effect

#44
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that matters is that they keep trying. I tried to establish a workout routine for years and it didn’t ever stick … until it did. I’ve worked out 3-5x per week since 2016 and have benefitted immensely, and have successfully helped others do the same.

What did you differently to make it stick?

Each year I tried different things, not in any particularly strategic fashion. I think the biggest was moving it to be the first thing I did in the morning. And also using a predefined workout so I didn’t have to think about. Then following Tony Horton’s advice of “even when you’re not feeling it, just press play.”

There were so many days I didn’t want to but just pressed play and figured I’d get 10 minutes in. But I knew it I just decided to do the whole workout.

Eventually moved off of P90x and mixed in a variety of predefined and made up workout to keep it interesting. But now I don’t feel on my game if I didn’t get a chance to workout in the morning, so it’s become a pretty strong habit.

Re: The fresh start effect

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that matters is that they keep trying. I tried to establish a workout routine for years and it didn’t ever stick … until it did. I’ve worked out 3-5x per week since 2016 and have benefitted immensely, and have successfully helped others do the same.

Same here, without the "successfully helped others". Care to elaborate a bit on that?

Close friends and family would more/less say “you’re in good shape, I want to do that,” and I’d basically tell them my story and how I made it happen. Tell them how good I feel most days, have confidence, etc.

Most people don’t start, some do but don’t stick with it, a minority make it to that point where they see what I was saying and make it a habit long term habit.

Re: The fresh start effect

#46
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you differently to make it stick?

My guess is, he did not do anything different, he just finally managed to establish a routine. There are thousands of reasons out of your control that can help or block you. Mostly it is other people, though. One stupid person at the gym might be a reason to not go this day ... and that was it for the routine, as the next day, there is something else vs. looking forward to meet nice people again at the gym and having…

True. And disruption to a routine can be fatal to the habit. Switch places to live, new SO, new school, kids, life events, etc.

Thankfully I don’t have any known disruption events on the horizon. But for little things, like when I have to fly at 6am I get up at 3/3:30 to get a quick (and intense) mile in around the neighborhood. And I workout in hotel rooms, etc.

Re: The fresh start effect

#47
post #38
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"because with this one business, diet, or lifestyle trick you will beat the odds." stares awkwardly at the Bottle of Ozempic in the corner

I don't really know about Ozempic in detail, but from my viewpoint it is two-sided. On the one hand it doesn't solve the fundamental problem. On the other it does, presumably, make it easier. Therefor you don't have to beat the odds. Compared to most other ways of losing weight which makes things harder while not addressing gaining weight in the long run.

With all due respect, your opinion is misinformed.

Re: The fresh start effect

#48
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mega PR hack: bring up and dismiss the question before the reader can make any assumptions

Author here. It's in some ways well and good to be sceptical of the health and wellness industry, including gyms and software companies like Lifesum. Note that they're my ex employer. I have good feelings for the place and own some shares, but I have no special need to do PR for them. I want to agree with something you didn't quite spell out: the incentives are not really properly aligned in this kind of industry. Yo…

Thanks for your reply! I must admit that my comment was very much a cheeky one and in no way harboured any real criticism. In a world where literally every aspect of our being and behaviour is being exploited for some corporations financial gain (social media, life insurance, hft), a health app trying to take advantage of New Year’s resolutions does not at all deserve any judgement. In fact it’s almost refreshing. It’s cool to hear about those advancements in the US health system too, and it’s nice to see that you’re genuinely behind the product. I hope this post helped you guys out :)

Re: The fresh start effect

#49

Interesting, even more interesting is the linked article about the age distribution of marathon finishers: https://runrepeat.com/12-percent-more-likely-to-run-a-marath... I can confirm this "milestone age", by looking at some relatives who started running and participating in marathons at an older age.

The most interesting part of that for me was the illustration of how much mothers miss out on fully partaking in society. I hope the fathers of my generation and the next can do better to bridge this gap.

Reading that article doesn’t seem to claim that mothers are missing out on fully partaking in society.

They actually claim that they focus more on family, less focus on self, also adopting more spiritual pursuits…whatever that means.

Without reading too much into it, let’s not deemphasize family rearing importance to society in order to emphasize the need to fill some equality gap. The source of which could be complicated [1][2]

[1] https://www.neonarrative.us/p/no-matter-how-much-parenting-d...

[2] https://ifstudies.org/blog/equal-not-identical-in-sharing-fa...

Re: The fresh start effect

#50
post #18

Hey, I just switched from Noom to Lifesum a few months ago, interesting to come across it here!

How was the transition? I just got on Noom for a 2nd stint

I don't think you can learn much from my transition, I was on a Noom lifetime subscription, which they ended up dismanteling a few years back. They kept removing features and not adding newly released features to my subscription, so the comparison doesn't make a ton of sense.

All in all, happy with Lifesum though! The database is _excellent_ for The Netherlands, which means that barcode scanning just works (something I barely even tried with Noom anymore), and syncing with Fitbit works well, too (as long as you set your base metabolism to 0 in Lifesum).

I especially love the "compare products" feature, where you scan a couple of barcodes and the app tells you which product is the 'better' option and why it chose that one.

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