5 Steps to better habits.
Still sticking to your New Years’ resolution? Only 25% of people stay committed to their goals after 30 days. Only 8% accomplish them.
Because here’s the thing. Breaking old habits and forming new ones is HARD. That said, there is solid research on how habits are formed and what we can do to be more successful in our efforts.
Here are some science-backed strategies for making habits stick:
Set a goal. The more specific you can be, the better.
Choose one simple action that will get you to your goal. Make sure this is an action you can repeat every day.
Plan when and where you will do this simple action. Choose a time and place you will encounter every day of the week. This will be the trigger for your new habit.
Every time you encounter the time and place trigger, do the action.
Within 10 weeks, you should find you are doing the new action automatically and without even thinking.
Here’s a quick example. Your goal is to exercise every day. You choose an action to put on your shoes and walk around the block every day. Your trigger is washing your face in the morning. So, every morning you wake up and wash your face and then put on your shoes and walk around the block.
Trigger → Action → Habit
Some people also find it helpful to keep track of how many times they engage in their new habit. Grab any calendar and just put an X on every day you do the habit. Aim to X off every day!
Tell me in the comments, what are your habit hacks?
Weight loss isn't willpower
Whether you vowed to follow a low-carb diet or exercise more, the most popular theme of New Years’ Resolutions is weight loss. That’s amazing, but…
Most people who lose weight gain it back.
The statistics on this are pretty grim. A comprehensive review of 29 long-term weight loss studies found that more than half of all weight lost is gained back within 2 years. By 5 years, more than 80% of lost weight is regained.
👉 Even though there are a lot of ways to successfully lose weight, the real trick is keeping it off 👈
Here is a non-exhaustive list of reasons that it’s hard to maintain weight loss:
Ultra-processed foods trick you into eating more
Mass availability of sugary foods cause insulin resistance
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals mess with your metabolism
Jobs require you be sedentary most of the time
Here’s something I think a lot of people get wrong. The reason that it’s hard to maintain weight loss is NOT a lack of willpower. Much more often it’s because your metabolism is broken.
Here’s my approach when it comes to weight loss and weight management:
Test. If you have routine labs run that say everything is “normal,” I’d like to take a second look. Subtle patterns can give us clues into your metabolism. Plus, we need to look beyond routine tests to discover what might be the root cause of a broken metabolism.
Assess. I’m going to look at what’s in your current diet (and what’s not) that might be keeping you stuck. I’m going to look at other things in your life that might be interfering with weight loss—from stress to sleep issues to exposures to toxins or everyday endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
Recommend. No single diet will solve everyone’s weight loss problems. One person may need to do a liver detox, and another person may need support for thyroid function. I’ll combine all the best tools to address what’s holding you back from a healthy weight.
Sound complicated? That’s why I’m here. Most people can’t figure out the nuances of weight loss alone. We need to look at the whole person and consider everything that’s affecting your metabolism. Click here over to my website to book your initial appointment.
Here’s how much exercise you need.
It shouldn’t be news to anybody that sitting for long periods is bad for your health.
Unfortunately, if you have a job that requires you to be at a desk or computer for long hours, sitting is hard to avoid. But the question remains–how much exercise do you need to counteract the effects of sitting?
It may be less than you thought!
A new study looked at the activity levels of more than 44,000 middle-aged and older men and women. On average, people spent almost 10 hours per day sedentary and only 16 minutes per day doing moderate-to-vigorous activity. Yikes!
Not surprisingly, the people who were the most sedentary and the least active were the most likely to die prematurely. What might surprise you was this:
As little as 11 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous activity was enough to offset the risk of being sedentary for as many as 8.5 hours per day.
Those who sat for longer than 8.5 hours per day needed more exercise to combat the risk, but even those who sat the longest could balance out their risk with 30-40 minutes of daily exercise.
Movement should be a part of your everyday routine. Put down the phone. Tie up your shoes. And get out the door.
What’s your favourite way to get moving?