8 Habits For Weight Loss Success

What are habits?

According to James Clear, a well-respected author on habits, “Habits are the small decisions you make and actions you perform every day”. Duke University has said that habits account for 40 per cent of our behaviours on any given day.

Our decisions and our actions (often made up of habits) lead to our results. Therefore, you could say that our habits are a pretty big influence on the results we have in our lives. For example, how much you weigh, your health levels, how strong you are, how much money you have saved, how much sleep you get, the amount of physical activity you get in a week and so on. If you are on a weight loss journey and want to feel better in your skin, it will be important to tweak some of your current habits for weight loss success.

Habits are well-rehearsed patterns that we often perform without thinking. For example, the way you brush your teeth, the order in which you get ready in the morning or the way you drive or walk to work or school each day. It is a habit to walk the same way. But let’s imagine a road gets permanently closed and you have to go a different way. It feels a little bit uncomfortable to travel a different way. It’s not that it is difficult, it just feels different. It feels uncomfortable. And that is OK. Your brain will adjust. It will get used to the change it just takes time before that route becomes the new norm.

Being redirected is more of an unintentional habit, but when you are losing weight and want to adopt new lifelong habits you will need to be intentional, not hopeful. You will need to not only adopt new habits but a new mindset. See below for great habits to adopt to release weight and feel amazing.

8 Good Habits for Weight Loss Success

Reduce flour and sugar in your diet
Stay hydrated – at least 1.8 litres of water each day
Eating more fibre to full you up for longer
Practice allowing emotions and not eating to avoid them (this is an advanced skill)
Breathing deeply. Breathing is a great way to centre yourself and reduce stress. It sounds easy, right? I have incorporated this habit into my day, and I have noticed a difference in the clarity of my thoughts, my stress levels and in turn my productivity. A great thought I attach to this is ‘slow down, don’t be in a hurry’.
Practising intentional thoughts
Practising some self-compassion and self-gratification
Getting between 7-9 hours of sleep a night

While these are all great habits for weight loss success, there are some steps that you can take to ensure these habits stick around and continue to make change without your brain thinking this is too hard and giving up.

How do we improve the success of habits?

Don’t change everything at once

I am a firm believer in making small changes that you can make for the rest of your life. Do one thing well and then switch your attention to another thing. When you follow through on one habit, you are showing yourself that you are capable of something new. It feels good. This will generate motivation to continue adopting new habits. It will feel uncomfortable in the beginning because your brain will not like having to use energy to think a different way. It’s a bit like starting a new job and your brain having to use a lot of energy to learn all the new things, which often leaves you exhausted. So just start with one thing and get good at that.

Adopt a positive mindset to keep taking action

How you choose to think about these changes will determine whether you continue with the habit. Actively practice thoughts that will motivate you. It can be as simple as I can do this. Steer clear of I am not sure this will work, as this generates feelings of hesitation or caution which do not drive action.

Add a reward to make it more attractive

We all like rewards and are more likely to do things because of them. If you are on a weight loss journey your brain may be rewarded by ticks on a chart or swiping your phone to say that you have achieved your goal for that day. Be careful of using food or alcohol as a reward, as these may be the habits you are trying to break for long term weight loss. Other rewards could be, a massage, a bath, transferring some money into a saving account, shouting yourself to an experience of some kind.

Make it obvious

Visual cues or alarms are a great reminder to perform your habit. Apps on your phone, exercise clothes laid out on your bed, visible tick charts, affirmations or photos can be great visual cues. I have downloaded the Habitify App which flashes up to remind me to take a deep breath. I also use a food planner which is displayed on my fridge. I love swiping or ticking to say that I have completed my goals. I do remember when it used to feel uncomfortable, but it didn’t last long when I realised it felt good to do these things.

Consistency, not perfection

If you don’t complete the goal, don’t use it to beat yourself up. Just keep going. Habits take time to become consistent. There is nothing wrong with you.

So don’t be in a hurry to change everything. Instead, slowly create habits for weight loss success. This is a far more loving approach and one where your brain won’t offer you as much resistance to the change.

If you are looking to change your habits and are interested in finding out more about the step by step approach in my Stop Overeating Program, then schedule a call HERE or drop me an email at rebecca@rebeccagoodacre.com and we can have a FREE no-obligation chat about your challenges and see if Weight Coaching is the answer to stop you worrying about your weight and help you start feeling motivated and confident in your skin and around food.

Have a beautiful day