“Once I lose this weight, I’ll never gain it back!” Sound familiar?
Unfortunately, these are famous last words for many dieters. It takes more than determination and willpower to make that declaration stick.
When a group of dieters were asked what contributed to them regaining, their answers had a common theme. Nearly all of them said, “I slipped back into my old habits.”
Certainly, healthy eating and exercise will be part of your long-term plan. But you also need to figure out how to protect yourself from the old habits that got you into trouble in the first place.
Habits are Sneaky!
In the beginning, you may not even realize it’s happening. Maybe you were doing great with your diet plan, then you had a hard week at your job. On Friday afternoon, you joined your friends for happy hour.
After a couple of drinks, you unconsciously reached your hand toward the nachos and fried mozzarella sticks. “That’s it,” you said. “No more of this.” But the next week, you couldn’t resist going along with the group and you overate again.
Maybe the same thing happened with your exercise plan. You had been walking every day after work until it rained five days in a row. Once the rainy weather stopped, you just couldn’t seem to get your walking routine started again.
Even though you are so determined not to slip back into your old habits, somehow real life can get in the way of your plans. Before long, you’re so far off the road that you can’t find your way back to the way you want to live.
Catch them early
What are some of your old habits that easily get you into trouble? Is it buying chips or ice cream again after you’d banned them from your house? Perhaps a couple of glasses of wine before dinner?
Maybe you spend more time in the break room where you can’t resist the doughnuts and other goodies. Or you slide back into using food to cope with your emotional needs such as stress or depression.
Take out a piece of paper and make a list of all the old habits that you know cause problems for your weight-loss plan. Identifying those habits is the first step toward managing them. And maybe you’ll be able to stop some of the actions that are getting you into trouble.
Where are my healthy ones?
Here’s a funny thing—in the same way that it’s easy to slip back into old habits, you can also slip away from your good ones. For example, how many times have you resolved to floss your teeth every day? Have you been able to make that into a habit? Personally, I’ve had to re-create that one every couple of months!
Once you build new habits, you need to make them so strong that you can’t imagine life without them. One of the best ways to do this is through repetition–doing the habit over and over until it feels permanent.
A couple years ago, my neighbor invited me to join her when she walked her dog every morning. Heading out the door at 6:00 am didn’t sound real fun, but I decided it would help me stick with my own exercise goals.
The dog loves to run, so we kept a brisk pace during most of the 45-minute trek. After two years of walking with my friend nearly every day, it became a habit! In fact, when she was busy or out of town, I usually got up early and headed out for a walk by myself.
When you stick with habits long enough, they can become second nature, like grabbing your purse and locking the door when you leave home. And once your healthy patterns reach the point of being routine, managing your weight will become a lot easier.
Create new habits
I suggest you write a list called “New Habits in My Life.” Include some of the things you’re already doing such as eating breakfast every day, not skipping meals and carrying a water bottle with you.
Then add a few challenging ones. For example, develop new habits around what you stock in your cupboards or refrigerator. If you vow to not have potato chips in your house, replace them with a supply of light popcorn or pretzels. With your favorite foods, determine what is a healthy portion, then build a habit around not exceeding that amount.
Pick some harder ones
Now take this a step further and create a set of habits that you can use every year to manage holidays, birthdays or vacations. Remember, repetition will eventually make these habits routine enough that you’ll do them without even thinking about it.
Keep track of the new habits you create, then refer to your list often to see how well you’re doing. Build them stronger through repetition, then make these wonderful habits part of your life forever.