Weight loss can feel difficult, but really, it’s a science. The losing weight and burning fat parts will come if you eat the right foods that your body needs, get the supplements in to support digestion, the water, and if move your body enough so that you’re burning calories.

But honestly, that’s the easy part of losing weight. The more challenging part comes with mindset, the choices we make even in the difficult times, and the remembering to do all the things. How many times have you crawled into bed and thought, “wow, I haven’t had any water today…or I forgot my supplements AGAIN!”.

Forming the habits that go along with weight loss are just as important as what’s on your fork. Weight loss is about so much more than the science. Alot of weight loss is in your head, what you’re thinking, how you’re talking to yourself, what excites you, and most important, the reason WHY you want to lose weight.

I run a challenge called “Lose One Pound a Week Challenge”, we work on habits just like these. It takes years to develop habits, good and bad ones! And often, we might not even realize wer’re doing something until it comes time to do a challenge, or have a conversation with a doctor, or nutritionist, or we step on the scale and wonder how we’re suddenly 10 pounds heavier. 

What we do every day, all those little habits- good and bad- matter. And, the more you practice them, the more they just become part of your routine. So, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to get the good habits in place, so you don’t even have to think about them anymore?

Like, think of that drive you do to the same place every day. Maybe it’s to your kid’s school, or maybe to the office….you do it so often that you don’t even think about it anymore. You arrive at your destination and have no recollection of how you got there. You didn’t notice anything new along the way, you didn’t have to pay attention to where you had to turn because your brain just knew what to do.

You see, your brain has so much to do with weight loss. When you have the healthy habits that I’m about to share,  on autopilot, it makes losing or maintaining your weight so much less stressful. We sometimes overthink weight loss and overcomplicate it. We think there’s so much we need to do or think about and when we have a bad day, or we forget something, and the scale stops moving in the direction we want it to, we think it’s too hard and we give up.

We say things like, “I’m not cut out for this”, “I’m just meant to be overweight, it’s the way I’m built”, or “ I always fail, I’m not trying this again”

My job as a Holistic Nutritionist and weight loss coach is to remind you that It doesn’t have to be hard. Simplify and streamline weight loss with a daily routine, a system. And it will make it feel so much easier.

When you don’t have a system in place, and you decide to just wing it, that’s when things fall apart. That’s when weight loss can feel hard. When you don’t have a plan, and you’re hungry, you’re going to make choices that are different from what you REALLY need. It can feel confusing, overwhelming, and unsupportive. 

When you DO have a plan, you can get the groceries you need for those meals, you can prep a few things to save time, and you don’t have to think about it or make choices. It’s right there…your plan tells you what to do next and it takes so much stress off your plate (pardon the pun)

These 5 habits that I’m about to share are pulled directly from our Lose One Pound a Week Challenge. I send reminders to complete these tasks to your phone every day or week for 5 weeks to really get them feeling like they’re part of your daily routine. These are the habits that really make a difference when it comes to streamlining weight loss. These ones matter!

Ok, so number 1:

Reflect on your goal. Every day, you have to reflect on what you’re aiming for so that you can get the proper steps in place to get there! Ask yourself,  What is the goal and what do I have to do today to make it happen? In the “Lose One Pound a week challenge”, the goal is to lose one pound over the course of the week. But, it’s the habits you do, the choices you strategically make every day that will compound and lead to the 1 pound weight loss. So, every day, reflect on the goal and that will help remind you of what you need to do today in order to meet the goal.

Number 2:

Meal plan. Even if you have a program that you’re following…My clients use the Metabolic Balance plan, you still need to write out a loose plan of what you’re going to prep, cook, and eat this week based on what you’ve got going on. Like events, meetings, travel, dates…all the things that go on. Life doesn’t stop when you’re trying to lose 1 pound a week. Plan around them, plan for them. Write out your weekly meal plan to give yourself some direction. Sure, you might stray from it when something comes up, or a friend invites you for an impromptu dinner. But, in those moments, you make the next best choice for yourself. Just because you eat off plan doesn’t mean you’re throwing it all away. The plan you write out is your roadmap, and sometimes theres a fork in the road. You can still take a different path, with your goal in mind, and make the next best choice.

Number 3:

Drink your water. If your weight loss stalls, take inventory of how much water you’ve been drinking. It can be hard to remember! If you’re doing the Lose One Pound a Week challenge with me, you’ll get daily reminders to drink your water. Otherwise, set up a system for yourself. But water is a non-negotiable when it comes to losing weight, so add it to your habit routine today.

Number 4: You must move to burn calories if you are not into dieting and starving to lose weight. A minimum of 30 minutes a day, add in some weight training throughout the week, and you’ll see results. I schedule my fitness right in to my own weekly plan, and I send it out as part of the tasks to complete in the challenge. Here’s the thing about exercise…you have to try new things so that you can find exercises you LOVe to do. You don’t want exercise to feel like a chore and you don’t want to dread it. Even it you’re walking outside for 30 minutes a day, put on a playlist of your fave tunes, or find a podcast you love, (ahem, this one’s a good one to subscribe to!), and make it fun for yourself.

And number 5: A really important habit to get into the groove with, is to track your progress. 

You have to measure how you’re doing. Maybe it’s a weekly weigh in, maybe it’s taking measurements with a tape measure around your waist and hips, maybe you’re guaging your progress by the way your fave jeans fit…whatever it is, you need to determine if what you are currently doing is working or not. Tweak it as you go, challenge yourself next week to make the needle move more, announce it to the world so someone can check in on you and celebrate your achievements. I have my clients check in with me on zoom every week, and in the Lose One Pound a Week challenge, my members submit a progress report. It’s just 3 questions but it’s enough to see how things went this week and what do you need to tweak to make losing another pound happen?

So, I hope you found thse 5 tips helpful. Try incorporating them into your weekly routine, or consider joining the challenge. Registration closes Saturday, April 15 and we start Monday April 17.I’ve put the link in the show notes for you.

If you missed this one, head over to nutritionforweightloss.ca/challenges to get in on the next one.

Until then, thanks for being a part of our community and taking the steps to improve your health!  Most of all, have patience with yourself! Good habits take time 🙂