My AI Wellness Experiment: Day 18 - 21 Day Habit Building and Dealing with Fridge Staring

Well, I am on day 18 of my wellness journey, and I'm happy to report that I'm still standing – and 4.5 pounds lighter than when I started! Given that I had been away for the last week, I’m pleased that I came back down .5 lbs rather than up. It had been a test of wills given I encountered some social situations and experiences that really tested my will power and habits. 

The Numbers Game (And Why I'm Cautiously Optimistic) 

I’m finding that the high-protein approach has been a game-changer for managing my hunger. I’m discovering that when you eat actual food that keeps you satisfied, you don't spend half your day thinking about your next snack.  

The Great 21-Day Myth (Spoiler Alert: It's Complicated) 

As I got closer to the magical 21-day mark, I wanted to better understand whether it actually does take 21 days to form a habit so I posed this to my AI wellness coach. Turns out, it's about as accurate as saying all diets work if you just have enough willpower. 

The real story is a plastic surgeon in the 1960s noticed his patients took about 21 days to get used to their new faces after surgery, and somehow this morphed into the universal habit formation timeline. The actual research shows it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a habit, with an average of 66 days. So basically, I'm not magically cured of my old patterns just because I've made it to the three week mark. 

But what I am noticing is that some choices are becoming more automatic.

The Fridge-Staring Phenomenon  

But just when I think I’ve got things under control – I realize I don’t. I'll be cruising along, making good choices, feeling like I've got my act together, and then BAM – I'm standing in front of the open fridge like it holds the secrets to the universe. 

It's always the same scenario: I'm hungry, my brain is fried from making decisions all day, and suddenly I'm staring at everything in there thinking, "Surely there's something in here that counts as following my plan, right?  

This is decision fatigue. I’m learning that our willpower is like a muscle that gets tired, and by the time you're hangry and staring into the fridge abyss, my muscle is basically exhausted and I’ll retreat to what I’ve always done – not make great food choices. 

My Arsenal of Sanity-Saving Snacks 

I’m slowly learning that I need to arm myself with what I call my "fridge-staring survival kit." When my brain goes into "eat all the things" mode, I've got my go-to options ready: 

• Apple with almond butter  

• Brown rice cakes with peanut butter  

• Veggies and hummus  

These aren't groundbreaking choices, but they work because they hit that protein-fat combo that actually satisfies me instead of leaving me prowling around the kitchen 20 minutes later. 

The Autopilot vs. Intentional Choice Dance 

What I am finding really interesting about being on day 18 is that I'm in this weird in-between phase. Some of my new habits are starting to feel more automatic – I'm not meal planning with the obsessive detail I was in week one, but I'm still making choices based on my framework. It's like my brain has learned some of the new pathways but hasn't completely abandoned the old ones. 

The fridge-staring moments are proof of this. My intentional brain knows what I should eat, but my habit brain is still throwing tantrums about wanting the quick fix. It's exhausting some days, but I'm learning that this push-and-pull is normal. I'm literally rewiring years of patterns – of course it's not going to be smooth sailing every single moment. 

Key Learning 

So at day 18 I’m still fighting the good fight. Some days are easier than others, and some moments I want to throw my hands up and just eat ice cream with a spoon from the container. 

But the truth is, I'm starting to see that this isn't about perfection – it's about building a sustainable way of living that I can actually stick with. And if that means occasionally having a staring contest with my refrigerator while talking myself through my snack choices, well, at least I'm winning more of those battles than I was two and a half weeks ago. 

Breaking habits isn’t a matter of time, it’s a matter of commitment. 

Check out tomorrow's post where I learn what biohacking is.

Interested in reading all my experiences and conversations so far? Check them out here!