So You Were Inspired By revitalize. Here's How To Turn That Into A Habit

If you're still trying to process all the valuable lessons you learned at this year's revitalize, we don't blame you. The fresh mountain air of Dove Mountain was enough to push the reset button for many of us, and the thought-provoking talks inspired us endlessly. Sadly, every weekend can't be like revitalize—but you can take the valuable nutrition lessons you learned from Lisa Hayim, R.D., and apply them to your life starting today, and you can even start doing the heart-pumping workout you did with TMAC fitness founder Todd McCullough on your own.

You've probably heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. While that's a great start, it's not entirely correct—recent research1 out of University College London conducted habit-related experiments on 96 people over a 12-week period. They found that on average, it took 66 days for a habit to start feeling automatic.

In his extensive research into habit formation, Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, noticed a peculiar habit of his own. Every day around the same time, he would go to the cafeteria at the same time to buy a cookie. He soon realized that the cookie wasn't actually what he was craving—he was craving social interaction with his co-workers. In Duhigg's case, the cue was boredom, the routine was going to the cafeteria to buy a cookie and chat with his colleagues around the cash register, and the reward was the cookie. Because rewards are very powerful, he decided to change the reward—interacting with his colleagues.

"What you choose to do instead of buying a cookie isn’t important," he explains on his blog. "The point is to test different hypotheses to determine which craving is driving your routine. Are you craving the cookie itself or a break from work? If it’s the cookie, is it because you’re hungry? (In which case the apple should work just as well.) Or is it because you want the burst of energy the cookie provides? (And so the coffee should suffice.) Or, are you wandering up to the cafeteria as an excuse to socialize, and the cookie is just a convenient excuse? (If so, walking to someone’s desk and gossiping for a few minutes should satisfy the urge.)"