3 Habits That Helped Me Lose Weight

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Making the decision to lose weight is easy. However, taking the actions necessary to actually release the pounds is not. Even when you've made huge strides and your weight has dropped, keeping it off can be the biggest challenge of all.

I used to weigh 147lbs. This may not sound very heavy. However being 5ft, zero inches, my BMI reading was in the obese category and I hated the way I looked and felt. At the age of 41 I made a decision to release that weight for good. With all the things I tried during my weight loss journey, there were 3 habits that helped me lose weight and keep it off for good!

Now, I’ve had been on several weight lose journey’s. But of course, I always managed to put it back on (with interest). So, with this new found conviction, I had to find tools that I could utilise for the long term.

Half way through my journey, I found 3 habits that not only helped me lose weight but changed my whole lifestyle and created a brand new me.

“I made a conscious decision to not LOSE weight. I was finally going to RELEASE it – never for it to be found again!”

The 3 habits outlined below kickstarted my commitment to releasing the pounds, making it easier to take the actions I needed.

When I finally got down to my goal weight ratio, those same habits were so ingrained into my lifestyle that I continued doing them and the weight has not returned.

If you’re tired of trying every diet or magic pill that promises you the results you desire, start implementing the 3 habits below and set yourself up for success that lasts.

3 Habits That Helped Me Lose Weight - And Keep It Off

HABIT 1:

INTERMITANT FASTING

At the start of my quest to lose weight for good, I followed the reduction of calorie rule. Basically counting all my calories and then moving my body to use more calories than I consumed. It worked great for the first 3 weeks and I saw the weight dropping off. However, counting calories had taking over my life and I started to feel restricted in the way I was living – despite seeing the weight lose results.

When I discovered Intermittent fasting – it changed the game! I was able to basically eat what I wanted, as long I restricted the time of day I ate! Not only that, intermittent fasting has been shown to:

Balancing blood sugar and insulin levels
Reducing inflammation in the body
Cleaning and removing waste from cells
Enhancing the immune system
Improved sleep
Increasing growth hormones to help build muscle and increase energy levels

I have a whole blog post sharing the start of my intermittent fasting journey. And to this day, I still use the 16:8 rule.

Changing the way I ate compared to changing what I ate, was a huge factor in helping me lose weight and keep it off.

HABIT 2:

TRACKING

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I love a ‘tracker’. But what you may not know is my belief in how trackers can changed your behaviour, developed whilst I was on my weight lose journey.

Keeping yourself accountable is one of the hardest things we don’t do! As humans we’re very quick at pointing out what others have not done. But the hardest thing we have to conquer is keeping the promises we make to ourselves.

Using trackers are a great way to do this. During my weight lose journey I would track a variety of things. eg:

Days I worked out
How much sleep I got
How much steps I did for the day
How I was feeling
Vitamin intake
Water intake
Meditation sessions

Some things I would track for one week, other I would track for 30 days. There’s something about the satisfaction of ticking a box on my trackers that made me more accountable for the actions I took during the day. Soon enough, I was building daily routines to ensure I was facilitating the actions to receive my tick at the end of each day.

After a while, most of the things I was tracking became automatic and a part of my identity – They still are today!

Trackers helped me build habits. It’s these habits that have stopped me putting the weight I lost back on.

HABIT 3:

FUTURE JOURNALING

This may seem like an odd one and you may not have heard of ‘future journaling’ before. However, it’s the one secret habit that has helped me lose weight and keep it off.

You may be wondering how writing in a journal can help you lose weight. Well, let me let you into a little secret – your brain cannot actually tell the difference between what is real and what is not. (Controversial I know!). And because of that, I use journaling about my future as a way of tricking my brain to believing what I want has already occurred.

I’ve refined my scripting method for future journaling over the years. However, writing in detail, (using the present tense), about how I wanted my body to look, how I wanted to feel, how my clothes would fit, how my body could move, slowly created a real picture and belief in my mind of who I could become.

Sounds a bit ‘woo woo’? I agree! But it works! Future journaling is an intentional day dreaming exercise. By writing down your desires, you are setting an intention for yourself and putting that thought energy out to the universe. This in turn influences your behaviours and is one of the key habits I still use to not only to keep my weight from returning, but also create the energy for all my future dreams and goals.

There you have it – the 3 habits that helped me lose weight and keep it off. Now I know first hand the above is not going to magically wipe of those extra 20lbs, however, buiding them into the way you go about your own weight lose journey will give you so much leverage in the long term – creating habits that stick!

Let me know in the comments below which habit you think will have the biggest impact on your weight loss efforts. And also share any of your own tips or habits that can help other Brazen followers.