How to create the healthy habits that you need to finally lose the weight
If you’ve tried, and tried, and tried to lose weight but haven’t been successful, then there is probably one thing standing in your way. Your habits. Habits can make or break our goals! Bad habits will prevent us from making the changes we need in order to accomplish our goals. Meanwhile, good habits can help us get there faster!
Today, I’m going to talk to you about how you can create new habits that will help you reach your goals faster! Some of these tips may require you to change how you think about yourself in order to create the habits you want. But as you’ll see when you implement these strategies, changing how you think may be the best habit change of all.
Envision the healthy life you want
If you’re ready to create a new you, a you who is healthy, then you have to be able to see that version of yourself. If you don’t have a clear vision of who or what you’re working towards, then you cannot get there.
“A goal is achieved twice, once in the mind and once in the physical world.”
This means that if you want to achieve your goal in the physical world, then you have to believe you can achieve it in your mind. Even the slightest shred of doubt can prevent you from really achieving your goals.
In order to do this, I want you to close your eyes and imagine yourself as if you’ve already accomplished your goal. What does your life look like? Answer the following questions to really help yourself imagine what life looks like once you’ve accomplished your goal.
What is different now that you’ve accomplished your goal?
How do you feel about yourself?
What do your relationships look like?
Do you have more energy?
How has your attitude towards yourself changed?
How do you show up for yourself?
How do you show up for others?
How do you feel now that you’ve accomplished your goal? (Peaceful, productive, adventurous, excited)
What does a day in your new life look like?
Write down what your new life looks like. It’s important that we really be able to visualize this life.
Professional athletes use this visualization technique all the time! They picture what it will look and feel like to win a game, or qualify for a team. They think of what moves or skills they’ll use to get there. They play images and scenarios in their head so that when they’re in the moment, they have something to draw on to help them push through.
Just like a professional athlete, you need to be able to remember how you feel now so that you can draw upon that feeling when things get tough.
Map out your goal
Goal setting is incredibly important because we need to know what we’re working towards. However, the problem with setting goals, is that we are usually taught to set outcome-driven goals and outcome-driven goals are really hard to manage.
“What you can measure, you can manage.”
In order to accomplish your goal, it has to be measurable and therefore, manageable.
For instance, if you want to lose weight you know you need to eat healthy and exercise. And you can do those things, but you can’t control when or where you burn fat. It’s something that the body does without consulting you!
Instead of setting outcome goals, find goals that are behavior-driven. With behavior-driven goals, you can actually control the results! For instance, if you want to eat healthier, you can set a goal to choose your protein option for each meal first. That’s totally controllable! Then you could add eating 2 servings of veggies at each meal. You can control those goals because they are behaviors you can do, not just hope for!
When you’re setting your goal, it’s a great idea to plan out the small steps you can take so that you’re not overwhelmed by these bigger behavioral changes. If eating veggies is totally new to you, then you can take small steps by adding a serving of veggies to one meal a day. Once you’ve accomplished that goal you can set a new, bigger goal, adding a serving of veggies to two meals a day, and so on.
Become the person you want to be
Finally, if you want to achieve this new goal, you have to create a habit of believing in yourself. The way we talk and think about ourselves is instrumental in shaping who we are.
“What the mind believes the body achieves”
Our minds are incredibly powerful. What we think in our minds manifests in our lives. This has been scientifically proven!
There is a part of your brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) which acts as a filter. When you decide to focus on one thing it shows you more of that thing.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
For example, if one or two bad things happen to you and you say “bad things always happen to me”, you will find more and more reasons that life is out to get you. Your brain is actually filtering those situations to prove you right!
If you want to change how you see yourself, then you have to think differently. In the book Atomic Habits By James Clear, he gives an example of two people who are trying to stop smoking.
When offered a cigarette, the first person responds, “No thank you, I’m trying to quit.” The second person when offered the cigarette says, “No thanks, I’m not a smoker.”
Do you see the difference in the two answers? The second person changed how they saw themselves by saying that they weren't a smoker. They had already become the person they wanted to be. The first person still saw themselves as a smoker, even though they were trying to quit. They still saw themselves as someone who was broken, or needed to fix something. It seems so small, but it actually makes a big difference!
When we tell ourselves that we can’t do something, our brains will help us accomplish that. We need to tell ourselves that we can accomplish our goals so that our brains will look for ways to make that true.
These may seem like small changes to make in your habits, but they are incredibly powerful. If you can adjust your habits you can change your life! If you want to be healthier, then imagine a healthy life for yourself. Set behavioral goals that will get you to that point and finally tell yourself that you are a healthy person! You’ll start to see new evidence of your healthy life when you do these things.
If you need some extra help along the way, then I am here for you! You can always schedule a free discovery call with me and I can help encourage and guide you along the path to a healthier life.
Save to Pinterest!