Our human brains have 5 million thoughts a day (approximately😉) about everything from what to wear, what to eat, to what to tell our boss about why we were late to work. We’re constantly making choices.

In order to be as efficient as possible, your brain will repeat the same thoughts over and over.

That’s how habits get created — you do or think something a couple of times and your brain creates a neural pathway for it.

Once your brain adopts a thought pattern, it likes to repeat it over and over again because it doesn’t take much effort to repeat something. If you have a weight loss goal, it’s important to stop and reflect on your habitual thoughts and ask yourself…

What habits (or habitual thoughts) should you STOP for faster weight loss results?

It’s time to identity what habits you need to change to set yourself up for success, even when your brain is on default mode!

Sources:

• https://healthtransformer.co/the-neuroscience-of-behavior-change-bcb567fa83c1
• https://human-memory.net/neural-pathways/

5 Habits To Stop For Faster Weight Loss

If you’re not quite sure whether your habits are helping you or hindering you, keep reading. 

Today I’m sharing the top 5 habits to stop for faster weight loss. 

Down for that? Then let’s dive in…

#1 – Stop leaving your results up to chance.

A goal without an action plan, isn’t a goal, it’s just a dream — and unfortunately, Disney lied. Dreams (without a a plan of action) don’t come true. It’s time to stop wishing for a new result and start working for it.

That means sitting down and writing out a plan. Don’t just keep it up there, floating around in your head. You need to get crystal clear on the action steps you are going to take and then make a commitment to them. 

Often, we fear committing to a plan because we don’t know which plan is the right plan. Don’t get sucked into the black hole of nutrition research. This is just productive feeling procrastination. An imperfect plan will get you a lot closer to your goal weight than no plan at all.

Plus, if you aren’t doing the fundamentals — eating mostly whole foods, only eating when hungry, getting 7-9 hours of sleep each night, and drinking plenty of water — you’ve got enough to work on right there. 

Once you master those, then you can give yourself permission to get into the weeds of nutrition research. But until then, just make a clearly defined plan of action and then get to work.

#2 – Stop putting off getting started.

If you’re waiting around for the timing to be right, you’re going to be waiting for forever. 

You’ll never feel totally ready. Life is messy. As soon as one area of life starts to chill out, some new challenge always pops up. That doesn’t mean you can’t prioritize your health now.

No matter what struggles you’re walking through, you can always find examples of others who have walked through something similar and didn’t put their health on the back-burner.

Not to mention, by doing the four fundamentals mentioned before (eating whole foods, eating only when hungry, getting enough sleep, and drinking enough water), not only will you move towards your goal weight, but you’ll inevitably be better equipped to handle life’s challenges.

If you don’t do these four fundamentals, you’ll be exhausted, stressed, fatigued, foggy-headed…essentially, not showing up for your life as the best version of you.

That said, you might as well get started now — your future self will be so grateful you started before you were ready!

#3 – Stop comparing your progress to others.

Stop comparing your chapter 1 to someone else’s chapter 10! These days, this is SO easy to do because of all the perfect bodies we see on social media.

Before you compare your body, your diet or your workout regime to someone else’s, remember that YOU are the main character of your story.

Your journey isn’t going to look just like anyone else’s. Plus, you never know what’s really going on behind the scenes in someone else’s story either.

Looks can be deceiving. Even though someone is thin, it doesn’t mean they are healthy. Even is someone is physically healthy, it doesn’t mean they are mentally and emotionally healthy.

That’s why it’s totally pointless to compare yourself to others — everyone is dealing with their own struggles, whether you know about it or not.

The only person you should be comparing yourself to is the person you were yesterday.

…and P.S. this same thing goes for comparing your current weight loss results to your previous weight loss results! Your body is always changing. It doesn’t mean that something is broken if you don’t lose weight at the exact same speed that you did when you were younger.

#4 – Stop trying to do too much, too soon.

I’ve said it a million times, but let me say it again for the people in the back: You can’t change your whole life all at once!

The people who start working out, running, going to bed earlier, meal prepping, drinking a gallon of water, and cutting out sugar all at one time are the ones who end up quitting 10 days later.

The best way to create a long-term lifestyle change is to focus on one habit at a time.

Start with the thing that seems most doable for you right now. Commit to doing it daily until it becomes a habit. Then, move on to the next one.

Small changes compound over time to create massive results. Going too big, too soon leads to burnout.

Don’t let your perfectionism creep in and convince you that it has to be extreme in order to work. If anything, the opposite is true! 

When you immediately go into an extreme “calorie deficit” your metabolism gets trained to adapt to that new lower level of intake. Then, you’ll either be plateaued at your current weight or you’ll have to do something even more extreme to keep losing.

The best approach for long-term success is always to take it slow and just focus on the next, doable change.

Sources:

• https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-go-on-an-extreme-diet
• https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/rapid-weight-loss-dangers#3.-You-might-be-losing-muscle,-instead-of-fat

#5 – Stop saying you can’t afford it.

If find yourself saying you can’t afford *whatever you think you need to lose weight*, it’s time to give that thought up. It’s never helpful to think you can’t afford it.

When you choose to believe that you can’t afford it, your essentially forfeiting your decision making power to things outside of your control.

At the end of the day, it’s not that you can’t afford the thing (healthy food, workout program, health coaching, etc.), it’s just that it’s not your highest priority right now — and that’s ok!

Maybe you’re highest priority is paying off your student loan debt, paying for childcare, saving for a new car, or paying your rent. None of this is bad! But you need to reframe your money mindset.

There are always ways to get the resources and help you need if you’re willing to find them. If you really to afford something start to think more helpful thoughts like, “How can I afford it?”.

Maybe you find a side job to make some extra cash, cut back on some other unneccessary expenses, heck — you could put it on your credit card if you really needed to! No matter what, defaulting to “I can’t afford it” is never helpful.

If you really want to afford something, be resourceful! You’ve figured out how to afford everything you needed for so far in life, so you know you can do it again.

On the other hand, if you’re not that interested in figuring it out, stop thinking, “I can’t afford it” and start thinking, “That’s not my highest priority”. That thought will feel so much more empowering! It reminds you that YOU are always the one in control of your choices and your life.

One final note…

If you’ve been stuck in any of these 5 habits, there’s not anything wrong with you. If anything, it means you’re normal and have a normal human brain.

You’re brain is being as efficient as possible by defaulting to the thought-patterns its familiar with. That said, you don’t have to continue with this default thinking. In order to achieve a new result, you’ll need to adopt a new way of thinking.

It doesn’t feel natural to re-direct your brain and teach yourself to think and act differently, but it’s totally worth the effort. It’s worth it because you’ll stop feeling powerless and out of control. 

You’ll learn to accept full responsibility for your results, which is the best! When you take ownership of your action, that means YOU get to control your outcomes — you don’t have to wait around on your circumstances to change.

When you create new thought patterns intentionally, you can achieve more than you ever thought possible — plus, enjoy your life along the way. Creating new thought patterns to help you reach your health goals is something I teach my clients in my coaching practice.

If you want to learn how to create new neural pathways and re-wire your brain for faster weight loss results, join me by scheduling your free consultation today.