Personal Improvement Project

A. R.

HSCI 708

Dr. Alemi

Process to Improve

• I want to change my current dietary and exercise habits to in order to try and lose 10 pounds– Measures: Weighing myself

Minutes of exercise• Team members

– Husband – Son

Extent of the Problem

• Over the course of the last three years gained ten pounds

• Trained for three marathons and the longer runs made a more irregular exercise routine

• Calories consumed exceeded calories burned

• Running in the dark made me nervous• Ate a lot of the junk foods my husband ate.

Steps towards Improvement

• Flowcharted weekday and workday routines

• Completed cause and effect diagram for possible solutions

• Selected solutions

• Currently gathering data

Weekday Process

Alarm goes off

Is it Mon, Tues, Thurs?

No

Yes

Get up at 4:15 a.m. to run and exercise?

No

Yes

Run and exercise. Shower and get dressed.

Drink slim fast for breakfast. Feed the dog.

A

Sleep until 5:00 a.m.

Exercise? NoSleep until 5:15 a.m.

Shower and get dressed.

Yes

Go to work.

A

Get Coffee and Biscotti.

Work meetings etc. Drink H20

Snack?

No

Yes Eat too many calories and getupset with myself

Drink slim fast and eat yogurt for lunch with one candy barDrink H20

B

B

Continue working, drink H20

Snack?Eat too many calories. Get upset with myself.

Yes

No

Leave work

Is it Tuesday or Thursday?

Yes

Go to Class or the grocery store before home.

Pick up son and go home.

C

No

C

Eat snack of a snack pak pudding and put dog out. Help with homework.

Fix dinner of Chicken breasts and vegables except Tuesday and Thursday, have lean cusine.

Snack? Yes

No

Eat too many calories and get upset with myself

Study and help son with his homework.

Go to bed

Weekend Process

Alarm goes off

Is it Sat? No

Yes

Get up at 7:00, Run 10 miles and exercise?

Yes

Run and exercise.

Go for Caffe Mocha at Starbucks

A

Sleep in

Shower and get dressed.No

Come home shower and change.

A

Run Errands, clean house, study, etc. No set schedule

Snack?

No

Yes Eat too many calories and getupset with myself

Drink slim fast Drink H20

B

B

Continue with daily activities. Drink H20

Snack?Eat too many calories. Get upset with myself.

Yes

No

Go to dinner or fix whatever the family wants on Sat and Sun

Eat too much? Yes

Consume too many calories and get upset with myself

.Watch sports or movie have friends over.

Go to bed.

Lose Weight

Materials

Methods

Environment People

Run 4 days/week

limit eatingout

Limit junkfood

bought

Run with afriend

Husband andson support

Adjustexercise time

Adjust workschedule to

allowexercise

Fix healthymeals

Use weights withexercise

use reflectiveclothes and

pepper spraywhen running

CAUSE AND EFFECT DIAGRAM OF POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

walk stairs atwork

weight

UCL=150.5

CL=148.4

LCL=146.3

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35

day

weig

ht/lb

s

Data Points

UCL

A

B

Average

B

A

LCL

Weight and Exercise

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011 12131415 161718 192021 22232425 262728 293031 323334 3536

Day

Min

utes

of E

xerc

ise

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

wei

ght/l

bs

exercise weight Linear (weight)

Selected Solutions

• Bought reflective clothing and pepper spray for running in the dark

• Keeping a journal of what I am eating

• Walking the stairs at work

• Not buying junk food that I will eat

• Fixing healthier meals during the week

Analysis

• Have been successful so far with journal, walking stairs and fixing healthier meals

• Have had two periods with guests that kept me from exercising and ate I more than I should have

• Been able to keep to a regular routine lately

• Will continue with current solutions selected

Continued Analysis

• Changed exercise routine in October to afternoons due to schedule at home. This has allowed me to exercise more regularly.

• Still doing other selected solutions

• Will graph progress again at the of course and see If there has been continued progress

Weight/Exercise Chart

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 91011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041

Min

utes

of E

xerc

ise

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

Wei

ght

exercise time weight Linear (weight)

weight

UCL=150.9

CL=148.6

LCL=146.4

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41

number of days

wei

ght

Data Points

UCL

A

B

Average

B

A

LCL

Final Analysis

• My weight stayed fairly constant. This could be due to my muscle mass and age

• This period of time is from Oct 8-Nov 24• The days I did not exercise were rest days• When I started running in the afternoon I could

run more consistently during the week• I went to see a dietician about what I eat I am

currently making modifications to my diet

Final Analysis

• I am going to continue to run in the afternoon and continue with my current full exercise regime

• I am going to modify my diet to see if it will help it has already made a slight difference as seen as the red at the end of the control chart on my weight

• I am going to continue doing both of these things and hopefully in a few months I will reach my goal