Steps to a fitter lifestyle– Part 4 - Make Eating better and eliminating negative self talk a habit

Here are the steps I believe is needed to start your body transformation….

1)     Get your mind ready 

2)     Start tracking your food

3)     Work on your mindset

4)     Make it a habit

5)     Integrate exercise

6)     Accept that set backs are a part of the journey  

7)     Stay consistent

So we started getting your mind ready in Step 1 with establishing your goals and your why.  Then we went into the importance of tracking your food and how to do it, then working on our mindset.  

Now it’s time to make it a habit.  A habit is a usual way of behaving, something done often in a regular and repeated way, especially one that is hard to give up.  

We’ve probably adopted some bad habits that resulted in undesirable results – so let’s work on building habits more in line with our goals and/or work on eliminating habits that sabotage our efforts. 

So you did “your why” – you know what your goals are, why you want to achieve them, and how it’ll make you feel once you get them.  You’ve covered action steps needed and brainstormed on ways to overcome potential, foreseeable roadblocks. Have you encountered any yet?  Have you worked through them or fell backwards temporarily?   You started tracking your calories – are you being consistent?  If not, here is one habit we can work on.  Have you worked on your limiting beliefs and worked on disproving and/or finding more serving beliefs? If not, here is another area that can be improved upon.  

Making tracking a habit (even if not 100% perfect) will get you closer to your goal.  Eating at maintenance will at least cause no more gain.  Eating at a deficit on most days – will add up and in the long run you will lose weight as a result.  

They say to help integrate a habit – anchor it to an existing habit.  What is you start inputting your meals for the day when you drink your morning coffee?  Or after dinner before cleaning up, take the extra few minutes to log your meals.  Think about what current habit you could anchor consistent tracking. 

Working on your mindset is so so so so so so so important – this is the foundation of success in life. PERIOD.  EXPLANATION POINT!  But, and I hate saying “but” – it takes work to eliminate limiting beliefs.  I’m not saying it’s not possible – but pointing out that believing one thought for 20 years and then doing the mindset work once and expecting it to disappear is not going to happen.  When you are able to weaken or destroy those subconscious thoughts that have been in your way, your weight loss journey will be that much easier and results we more likely to be sustainable. 

So how can you make mindset work a habit?  Again, anchor to an existing habit.   Brush your teeth and say affirmations.  Get ready for bed and instead of watching tv, journal for 5 minutes.  Work on your belief work during lunch.  

If you slipped a little, pick yourself up and start again.  You only fail if you quit.  Instead of making the stumble mean anything – look at it neutrally – as an outside observer.  What caused the stumble?  What can I adjust so that does not happen again?  The more you learn about yourself the better you will be. 

Stay tuned for next step – integrating exercise