Week 8 - Evaluation

This final week was by far the best. I almost feel like I cheated because I was at home playing video games so much that I didn't even eat out at all. This is almost a complete 180 from my baseline behavior. I went from eating out almost everyday of the week to not eating out at all this week. Overall my program worked pretty well. I think I have a lot of thanks to give to the timing since Modern Warfare two was released and gave me just a little extra motivation. I think that the awareness was almost solely responsible for the change. Even though I wanted to play video games really bad, the truth of the matter is that I was just thinking a lot more about eating out and making a conscience decision not to do it. I already knew how unhealthy it was for me and I think that this pushed me even more to keep away from the drive through. I think that for this to be long term I am just going to have to keep reminding myself that eating out is not a good idea. I think that the video game punishment will eventually fall by the wayside since my desire to play generally declines when the novelty of the game wears off. I think that the most challenging part of this assignment was actually keeping up with my own punishment weeks when I did eat out. If I wanted to play games it was difficult to tell myself that I couldn't when I know I would only be responsible to myself. I think that this however was the most valuable aspect as well since I did stay honest with myself. I feel like this has made me feel a little more responsible for my own health and accomplished. It was interesting that I had the desire to cheat even when I knew that I would only be cheating myself but now looking back on it I am very glad that I didn't. I think that operant conditioning can be effective in most cases. I think that some behavior changes may be very difficult to make using operant conditioning but I think that it is obviously a very powerful thing and with the right situation can provide very real and consequential rewards. Overall I had a very good time completing this assignment and I feel like I have changed for the better and I hope that I can keep it up!

Week Seven

Real progress has been made. My desire to play Modern Warfare two has overcome my desire to eat fast food. I have not eaten out at all this week since I didn't want to miss out on any video game time. I don't feel any healthier or anything but I do feel pretty accomplished. The only thing that I am worried about is whether or not this progress will keep up once I have beaten the COD. Well none the less my program seems to be working pretty well and I hope that I can keep it up!

Week Six - progress

This week was a tough one for me. As some of you may or may not know Call of Duty Modern Warfare Two launched 11-10 at midnight. In anticipation for the launch I was planning on playing the original Modern Warfare daily to get in some good practice time. I thought that this would keep me from eating out but I just could not help myself! I wasn't even able to play the new COD because I ate out yesterday! Today was my first day playing it and I felt like I was going to explode with it sitting on my kitchen counter yesterday. So anyways I once again ate out three times this week which is still less than before I started but not an improvement from last week. None the less I feel like I am making progress because I am thinking before I eat out and my girlfriend has been on my case about it constantly which has become another form of punishment. Lets hope I can keep the fast food out of my tummy so I can plant myself in front of the TV for some quality COD time.

Week five - progress

During the past week I have only eaten fast good three times! That may still seem like a lot but it is a major improvement for me. Each time that I ate out I didn't allow myself to play xbox. I feel like the punishment isn't as effective as the idea of it. I am more Inclined to not eat out because I want to have the ability to play rather than be upset that I ate out and now cannot. Overall I feel like punishment has mainly made me think before I eat out. Circumstances this week may have also limited my fast food consumption so I guess I will just have to see how next week goes.

Doin work

I have decided to implement negative punishment to help battle my fast food addiction. Every time I eat fast food I will not play xbox for that day.
I think that this method will be most effective since I will not be able to do something which I enjoy every time that I choose to eat out. This will be an immediate consequence and help to influence my choices even more. It will be very simple to implement and I am sure that my girlfriend and sister will make sure I don't play if I do eat out.

Where I'm At (Week 3)

Here is how often I have eaten fast food in the past week.

Monday - Ate In'N'Out at around 1100PM
Tuesday - Ate Carls Junior before having to tutor
Wednesday - Only ate at home
Thursday - Ate Legends in the morning and had Del Taco at night
Friday - Went out to eat but I am not going to count that as fast food
Saturday - Ate Mc Donalds in the morning and Legends in the afternoon
Sunday - Ate Legends at night

As you can see I have a problem. I usually get a salad at Legends so maybe that is not too bad.

I think that I generally eat out because it is easier than finding something to eat at home and convenient if I am already out. Another reason that I eat out is that when I have friends over or I am at a friends we almost always decide going out to get food would be a good idea. I think that fast food is rewarding because it tastes good and is generally pretty cheap.

I think that changing my outlook towards fast food might help me change this behavior long term. I think this could be done by just simply realizing that I could save money and be healthier if I just didn't eat out as much.

Supersize Me!

I would like to try and eat fast food less. I estimate that I eat at a fast food place about three times a week. I think that eating this bad food less would help me feel healthier and have overall better health. I think eating out once a week would be a reasonable goal. My schedule is the main reason that I eat fast food, but some obvious alternatives would be packing a lunch or waiting until I get home to eat.

So I would like to reduce my fast food visits to once a week.

Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Steven Johnson, this is my second year at Mt. Sac. I plan on transferring to ULV this spring and majoring in biology. I would like to go on to medical school and hopefully provide medical aid wherever needed. I work at Chilis Bar and Grill in Montclair. I also tutor at Easter Academy in Upland. I have lived in Upland my entire life and graduated from Upland High in '08. Some of my hobbies include: water polo, soccer, dancing, computers, video games, and paintball. I also have another blog @ http://stevenejohnson.blogspot.com/ feel free to follow me there as well!

This blog will be used to post updates for my Psych 1A class regarding my behavior change.