- Small changes help you lose weight
- Weight loss isn’t about willpower
- Learn how to lose weight and keep it off
A diet helps you lose weight short term. Habits help you lose weight long term.
A few years ago I was out with friends who were discussing how to lose weight. Both were eating hamburgers with cheese and bacon and a side of French fries and gravy. They were discussing brown rice and why it’s better than white. And how they’d eat brown rice as soon as they started their diets. They were getting totally lost in the details. And intimidated to begin.
By then I was starting to pay attention to how complicated we make weight loss. Like how we think we have to give up things we love to lose weight. I was beginning to see the old me in other people. Frustration built inside me as I recognized the barriers the diet industry creates to make us believe we have to revamp our lives to lose weight. For instance, they make us think we need to follow their strict programs.
But you don’t have to change EVERYTHING you’re doing to lose weight. Small changes make a HUGE difference.
I wanted to write this post to say: Don’t focus on starting your diet tomorrow! Put your energy into one small change you can make TODAY. Eat your fries, gravy and hamburger with cheese, but hold the bacon. (Or make another small change.) Then a surprising thing will happen …
Lose weight by making small changes
Many people think they have to change everything they’re doing to lose weight. This belief makes it hard to get started.
Why?
The thought of stopping what we usually do and beginning new eating and exercise routines can be daunting. So we say we’ll start tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow.
Tomorrow …
All those tomorrow’s add up. Before you know it weeks, months and years have passed. But it doesn’t have to happen this way. Instead, try making one small change TODAY!
Do something today your future self will thank you for.
– Unknown
Small changes make it easier to get started.
Lose weight by making small changes to what you’re already doing
When you try to lose weight by overhauling all your existing routines, you’re just guessing what you need to do. You’re taking a stab in the dark. When you take a giant leap from what you normally do, it’s easy to make unnecessary changes that set you up to fail.
For example, when I was trying to lose weight I immediately cut out anything that had a trace of fat. But only eating low-fat food always left me feeling hungry. After days of over-exercising and being preoccupied by hunger, I’d end up binging. And the destructive domino-effect continued from there; all stemming from my decision to make a dramatic change, rather than a small change.
Besides, cutting out fat makes it harder to lose weight!
10 years after I completely cut fat out of my diet, I discovered I didn’t have to go to such extremes to lose weight. Had I just made small changes a decade earlier, I would have reached a healthy weight with only a few adjustments to what I was already doing.
For instance, consider adapting what you normally do by:
- ordering a medium drink instead of large
- getting off at one bus stop earlier and walking the rest of the way
- adding a missing food group to your snack to make it more balanced
- taking one flight of stairs and then catching the elevator
- putting a quick, homemade, full-fat dressing on your salad (oil and vinegar!) instead of the no-fat, artificially-flavoured and chemical-packed dressing from a store
Don’t make a lot of small changes all at once. Just think of one modification you can make to your eating routine and one small adjustment you can make to your exercise routine. When a change feels normal, build on it!
It could take a few days, weeks or longer before you get used to the change. When it feels second nature, make another healthy tweak.
By reintroducing fat back into my meals and snacks slowly, I realized I can be a healthy weight and:
Special thanks to these cooperative avocados
- eat dessert
- drink 2% milk (now I drink whole milk)
- put butter on my toast instead of eating it dry
- eat the white of an egg and the yolk (whether it’s boiled, scrambled or fried)
- not blot my pizza with a paper towel before eating it
- eat avocado
- use mayonnaise when I make a tuna sandwich
- have a cookie as a snack along with an apple and coffee
Incorporating fat back into my food choices helped me break a self-destructive cycle and keeps me full so I can focus on life beyond food.
Small changes make the next change obvious
Let’s say you want to start exercising. Begin by taking a 5 minute walk a couple times a week. Once you get used to that, develop it. Adding a few more minutes to your walk makes sense. Little improvements make your next choice clear. They also build momentum.
When you start experiencing the amazing benefits of exercise, such as sleeping better, having more energy and enjoying the time alone with your thoughts, it’s easier to get motivated. You start looking forward to moving your body.
Whether a problem is big or small, it doesn’t need a big solution. Small changes spark big changes.
Small changes to what you regularly do:
- feel natural
- make the next step obvious
- build momentum
As you work toward healthy eating and exercise habits by modifying what you’re already doing, you’ll find you naturally lose weight. And if something you adapt doesn’t work, don’t worry! Small changes allow you to learn through trial and error so you keep moving in the right direction.
Small changes help you figure out what works for you.
Lose weight with small changes, then it’s easier to create lasting change
Habits aren’t changed with the flick of a switch.
Big changes are guesses and often unnecessary. And they’re a shock your system and hard to keep up long term. That’s why most people who go on a diet gain the weight back (and often more). Then they diet again and the cycle continues.
Losing weight and keeping it off isn’t about being disciplined. Imagine if you had to walk around denying yourself what you want for your entire life. Losing weight for the long term is about building habits. Then healthy choices are easy. Once I understood this truth, it was a lot easier to stop focusing on starting my perfect diet tomorrow and start making one small change today.
Habits are a big deal because about 40% to 45% of what we do every day sort of feels like a decision, but it’s actually habit.
-Charles Duhigg, journalist
People who are a healthy weight don’t have more willpower than you. They’ve simply built healthy habits.
Find your new normal
Modify what you’re doing.
Give yourself the chance to get used to the change.
Then make another small adjustment.
Slowly adapting what you’re already doing makes change natural.
Then healthy choices become easy.
Soon you’ll lose weight and have a routine you can stick to.
Instead of being preoccupied by hunger, guilt and uncertainty,
You can focus on life and everything you care about.
After 10 years of planning a dramatic change for tomorrow, I started making little adjustments to what I was already doing. I went from thinking about hunger and weight loss 100% of the time (including having terrible nightmares about over-eating, after days of eating very little) to not thinking about food or weight at all. Set your mind free. Lose weight by making tiny modifications to your present choices. Then you’ll build healthy habits.
Small changes make it easier to get started, lose weight and keep it off.
Build healthy eating and exercise habits. A healthy weight will follow.
Last week I wrote about diet pop and how it’s packed with chemicals that confuse your body and mind. I explained how artificial sweeteners make you store fat, burn fewer calories and eat more. Rather than waiting for the perfect day to quit drinking diet soda, try substituting just one of your diet pops TODAY with a healthier beverage. When this choice feels normal, substitute another zero calorie cola. Transition unhealthy habits into healthy habits. Then the change feels second nature. Soon you’ll cut down your consumption and not miss it at all!
Shock to your System by Tegan and Sara
Dont’ try to lose weight by shocking your system!
Click here for a great article that explains why dieting (big changes to the lifestyle you’re accustomed to) doesn’t work. And why focusing on sustainable choices through tiny adjustments helps you lose weight long term.
These kinds of meals and snacks unlocked my HAPPY weight 21+ years ago (I lost 30 pounds without dieting!)
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These kinds of meals and snacks unlocked my HAPPY weight 21+ years ago (I lost 30 pounds without dieting!)
You'll also be subscribed to my newsletter. Don’t like it? Unsubscribe in one click
Sharing what I learned makes the 10 years I STRUGGLED worth it
What is one thing you can do today that will bring your closer to your goal?
This is so encouraging! Thanks Kelly.
It took me a long time to stop thinking “dramatic change.” But once I understood why slow and steady works (because it builds lasting habits) it was easier to try a new approach. And because small changes are rewarding I wanted to stick with this method.
useful information! thanks
Thanks Andrew! Taking baby steps can seem frustrating when you’re an ambitious go-getter… but reaching and maintaining a healthy weight naturally is all about working SMARTER, not harder 🙂
This is a very good post. Most people look at weight loss as a project when starting instead of looking at healthy living as a lifestyle habit.
Thanks Maku! And I completely agree. I loved the idea of a project and it got me caught in the starve-binge-purge cycle for 10 years. Once I focused on a healthy lifestyle I reached my H 🙂 PPY weight and eating became a non-issue.
This is THE BEST weight-loss blog. I’ve been trying out your suggestions and they work! Finally some really, really good info that’s not only helped me lose weight but I see so many improvements in other parts of my life because I’ve stopped obsessing over everything I eat. Thank you Kelly!
Kris, I’m so happy to hear that you’re experiencing all the benefits of building healthy habits one small step at a time. Amazing! xo