When it comes to weight loss, habits can make or break us. By nature, humans are creatures of habit. Habits help us to conserve energy by not having to think so intently about every little thing we do – if it’s a habit, we hardly have to focus on it at all. That makes our daily lives move along much more smoothly, since much of what we do are everyday tasks.
But when it comes to weight loss and other lifestyle improvements, habits can cause big problems for us. Like when we try to cut back on junk food but still find ourselves reaching for it a dozen times a day. Or when we try to force ourselves to stick to a new fitness plan and keep “forgetting” to lace up our running shoes and get to the gym.
The reason why forming new habits is usually hard is because we are trying to jar our brains out of a “rut”. We are thinking in a new way, and trying to act in a new way, and we feel out of sorts because of it.
As difficult as it may be, you can break unhealthy habits and form new ones more easily if you keep these three things in mind: (more…)