How To Change A Habit That’s Stopping Your Weight loss

When on a journey to improve our health, change our lifestyle and lose some weight we can sometimes get blocked by one or two habits or patterns of behaviour that keep setting us back.

This could be snacking on rubbish food in the evening, having wine as soon as it gets to 7pm or snoozing the alarm instead of getting up and out to the gym.

Habits by definition are:

‘A regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up’

If our goal is weight loss however, we might need to give them up if said habit is constantly preventing us from being in a calorie deficit.

If this is you, and you know you have a few habits holding you back here are a few tips to help you break the pattern and progress!

1.IDENTIFY THE TRIGGER

Habits tend to be caused or triggered by something. The first step is identifying what this trigger as then we know what puts the habit in motion. Do you notice you drink wine or eat chocolate whenever you’re stressed? Or perhaps snack every time you sit down to watch TV? Start to observe and take notes of what happens when your habit occurs.

2.INTERRUPT THE PATTERN

Next we can disrupt the habit by changing up the normal sequence of events. Reading a book in the evening instead of watching TV could then stop you snacking and putting your alarms on the other side of the room so you have to get up to turn it off then gets you up for the gym. Or placing your wine or chocolate in a different location with harder access such as locked cupboards, making getting them more challenging and interrupting your normal response.

3.REPLACE THE BEHAVIOUR

We can also give ourselves alternative behaviours so that we are still meeting our needs. After all, if we are stressed we can’t simply take away our coping mechanism of alcohol or chocolate as soon enough we will go back to it when stress gets too high. If we swap it for something that is more aligned with our goals however like going for a walk with a podcast, or calling a friend as soon as we feel stressed ,we still give ourselves what we need but can also hit our goals.

4.THINK ABOUT HOW YOU WILL FEEL AFTER

It’s all too easy to succumb to instant gratification like staying in bed because its warm and cozy in the moment, or having dessert as it instantly tastes good and lifts your mood! However try tuning into how you will feel after a behaviour as a very powerful tool in helping you change it. If you are used to snacking on sweet foods every evening for example,  before you go to do it, stop and think about the aftermath of potentially being disappointed that you are over your calories, feeling slightly sick because you’ve had too much, feeling bloated and sluggish, and the frustration the next morning that your weight hasn’t come down. Likewise, think about how good you will feel and all the positives that come with the alternative behaviour.

5.KEEP IT SIMPLE

Make your changes one at a time and keep the new behaviour as simple as possible. If we try and change multiple habits at once we usually end up getting overwhelmed and therfore changing none of them! Change is hard and takes energy so set yourself up for success by changing one thing at a time and making your new behaviour as simple as possible to apply.

I hope this has helped you on your journey for change!

Please email me any questions to lizzie@onepercentclub.info

Lizzie 

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