Believe it or not, most reasons why we are so susceptible to weight gain or not, lie in our habits. We are all used to following certain routines, and develop habits that might work in favor of us or on the opposite spectrum against us. And here it starts: We need to observe what and why we are doing things in order to recognize what is a habit and to tell which are the ones that work in favor of us. In general habits are good, they give us security, we feel we move on safe grounds since we know what we do and when. Most of the good habits we have developed consciously, but what about the habits that are coming out of our subconscious? Are we able to tell them from the conscious ones? There are some good habits out there, like first thing in the morning after getting out of the bed doing a 5 min stretch/ exercise time, going for a 15 min walk after lunch every single day or eating a fruit after dinner. All those habits have in common to be developed on purpose and they don’t need any extra motivation to do them. But what about those that are built up somehow unconsciously and are ruining all your efforts to maintain a healthy weight and shape and how to overwrite them? In order to illustrate that I have chosen two very common habits and situations that you might be very familiar with. So let’s start!
Rewarding habit
Do you remember when you were a child and you did something good like weeding the kitchen garden, getting a good mark in school, cleaning the family car or whatever, you very likely got a reward like tv or game time or sometimes sweets and chocolate. So that means for some efforts you get rewarded. That is one of our basic habits we have rooted in us long before when humans still lived in caves. After hunting down prey sometimes for days or foraging, the reward came as food for plenty of days. With this inheritance it is easy to adapt to our times. I am pretty sure you know the situation of being exhausted when coming home after long working hours and needing something to wind down. Here is the habit, you reward yourself with a glass of wine, chocolate, or comfort food, sitting on your couch and not wanting to move again. The more that becomes a habit the more you are drawn into the weight gain circle.
Overwrite the habit: After long hours of sitting at the desk take a walk or bike ride without your phone to decompress your brain and free up your mind, or after physical working pour a glass of juice, sit on your couch and start to read a book, or listen to your favorite music to get a distance from work. Reward yourself with something different with the good feeling that you are about to develop a healthy habit.
Sitting habit
One of my favorite habits I would like to talk about is the constant sitting I observe so often. Sitting seems even more harmful to our health than smoking. Studies suggest that constant sitting for more than 6h a day might reduce life expectancy for men by 20% and even 40% for women. Sitting is a physical inactivity that reduces metabolism, reduces muscle mass and subsequently supports the weight gain process, not to talk about back pain and tiredness. This is a habit starting already from school where kids learnt to sit down during school classes. So it does not come as a surprise that mostly younger kids have the need to run around and to work out their school stress by exercise. With growing into an adult, we have learnt to sit for several hours at a desk, in a train, car, in an airplane or in front of a tv etc. In fact, we are meant to be active and move around except for sleeping hours. Instead, we use each possibility to sit down. Even after long working hours it is still tempting to sit in front of the tv or a video game with a bag of chips or sweet popcorn. If you feel that is what you experience, then be sure this unconscious habit can be overwritten.
Overwrite the habit: If you work at a desk, try to change your position as often as possible, work while standing and adjust the pc position. When you are waiting in a line, try not to sit down. Have a close look to the hours you spend in front of your tv or while gaming. Go for an evening walk with your partner or play a ball game with your kids or maybe the dog is waiting for its play time.
The good habits
Developing good habits is the key in your successful weight loss efforts. As soon as you have started to overwrite your weight gain habits you can add even more habits to bring you back on track. The best way is to start to be active on a regular basis. Make an exercise like walking, biking, swimming or whatever works best for you into a habit. That sounds easy in the beginning, however it might need some support to get into it. We from Fitness Comes To You can help you to identify your weight gaining habits and to work with you to develop new healthy habits. We like to see you successful on your weight loss journey. We will be with you until you are happy with your new habit.