The habits of successful weight loss

Making changes for life

The route to permanent weight loss is to make actual changes.

I've found that when most people want to lose weight, they decide to go on a restrictive diet. This type of dieting calls for many changes at once -- and although most people are able to stick with this for a short while, they usually find they can't sustain it.

Unfortunately, the feeling of failure creeps in and leaves us feeling worse than when we started to lose weight. I've found that many people who follow restrictive diets lose some self-esteem each time they feel they've failed. They have not failed, it's the system of restrictive dieting that's failed.

Permanent weight loss requires changes and these changes need to stay with you for the rest of your life. So what's the point of even starting to follow a diet plan which you know will be difficult to sustain forever? I encourage you to make changes which will be easy to maintain. Start with small steps and build on them.

Successful weight loss comes from actions you take on a daily basis. Developing healthy habits is the way to lose weight. It will be slower and it will take time, but the results will last -- which is really what everyone wants.

Shaping personal habits

Your weight loss will be achieved through your personal habits. These habits can be changed and supplemented. I encourage you this week to add one daily habit which will move you towards your goal of health and weight loss. This habit needs to become an integral part of your life, which eventually happens naturally. You won't need to think about it or make yourself do it. You'll just do it.

Let's take a look at a habit we all do, probably without conscious thought or questioning it: Brushing your teeth. Do you consider each morning whether you want to brush your teeth or not? Do you ask yourself whether you enjoy doing it? Is it exciting or unusual? Probably not! From an early age you developed the habit of cleaning your teeth and you've carried on ever since.

It's this type of habit that you need to adopt when eating healthily and exercising. No excuses, just get on and do it.

Change one habit at a time

Instead of tackling each different habit you have regarding eating and exercising, choose one to concentrate on. Keep doing it every day until it's such a habit that it comes naturally. Then you can add or change another habit. When you've incorporated a habit into your life so that it becomes totally natural, you'll find it's easier to continue with it for the rest of your life. You'll never need to start a restrictive diet again. How would that feel?

Which single habit are you going to add to your day? Perhaps, you could...

• Choose a piece of fruit instead of cookies with your morning coffee
• Take a walk
• Adopt a new exercise class or routine
• Eat breakfast
• Stop eating when you're full, even if there's still food left on your plate

Choose for yourself the one habit that you feel will be of benefit in your life, and commit to doing it every day for the next 40 days. This will give you a good chance of developing the habit and maintaining it. You can make such changes to your habits, and I encourage you to get started. Your successful weight loss will come about because of what you do each and every day.