Have you ever heard of an urge jar? Sounds familiar right, but how do we use one? Below I’ve highlighted some basic directions and consider investing in an urge jar if you want to evolve some healthy habits.
The best part about an urge jar is the emphasis on positive reinforcement. If you struggle with negative self-talk (who doesn’t!) this can help neutralize the way you speak to yourself as you learn to celebrate the small wins.
Urge Jar Directions & Props
There are 5 steps to using an urge jar:
- Get a glass jar (or plastic tub) and 100 cotton ball bag or you can also find a simple one from Amazon.
- Write out what you plan to eat the following week or day for your meals. You do not make this too strict and you want to make sure you include enough food and ingredients you enjoy. Make it realistic and you can also map out your workout you want to do for the day/week.
- When the day arrives, eat what you wrote on your plan.
- When an urge comes, learn to feel it without reacting. To start, set a timer for 10 minutes to allow for this process. If you let the urge come, and you feel it, you’ll see it’s freeing to let it pass. The urges can be as small as eating leftovers that were not written in your plan for the day or an urge can be talking yourself out of a workout. If you stick with your plan, work through, and feel the urge at face value, you get to add a marble/cotton ball to your jar. Keep up the good work! Takeaway: Put a cotton ball/marble in the jar every time you allow for an urge and overcome it.
- 100 marbles/cotton balls often relate to ~20lb weight loss.
