Step-By-Step Process to Break the Old Habits That are Keeping You Overweight

When you set out to lose weight, it is easy to get disheartened by how difficult it seems to break old habits. Old habits die hard because they are serving a purpose; they protect you from the unknown world of change.

But when extra weight starts to interfere with your health or happiness it becomes necessary to change the habits that no longer serve you. Fortunately here is a step-by-step process that will allow you to break these old habits.

1. Become Curious Not Crazed.

The first step to successfully changing a habit is to allow it time to happen. If you are like most people you want change to happen overnight, and when it doesn't, it can make you feel crazed and you can end up accusing yourself of lacking willpower and being lazy. But this self-abuse actually delays your ability to change.

The alternative to getting crazed is to get curious. Becoming curious as to why you are hanging on to old habits speeds the change process because it feeds the brain what it wants - a question to answer. The brain is a problem-solving organ, by asking yourself, in a purely non-judgmental way why you are continuing an old habit you allow the brain to search for and find the answer. In contrast, when you get mad at yourself for continuing an old habit your brain shuts down and doesn't search for an answer because you have already provided one -- you lack willpower and you're lazy.

Learning how to pose honest and caring questions to yourself opens the door to changing old habits. Take a look at this example:

Curious: I wonder why I feel a need to eat sugar in the afternoon?

Crazed: I can't believe I ate all that junk, I will never lose this weight.

Can you see how the curious sentence opens you up to finding a solution while the crazed sentence closes you down?

2. Stop Telling Yourself "Rational Lies"

John Assaraf who you might know from the popular movie The Secret has a saying, "Rationalizing is telling yourself 'rational lies'". Rationalizing is a form of story-telling that you practice on yourself to avoid change.

If you struggle with weight loss you are probably guilty of doing some rationalizing. Even if you know that a habit is leading to results you don't want, your fear of living without the habit causes you to make up stories as to why it is unwise to change.

For instance if you recognize that eating sugar in the afternoon is contributing to your weight problem, yet it is something you look forward to, you might rationalize your sugar habit by telling yourself, "I need it for a quick energy boost." This rationalization might allow you to feel okay about your decision but if your goal is to lose weight then you need to get real with yourself.

3. Experiment with New Ways of Being

When you adopt a curious nature and stop rationalizing your behavior you naturally start to see some new actions you can take to replace the old habits, my advice is to experiment with these new ways of being before committing to them.

For instance, if you have decided to get real about your afternoon sugar habit you might decide that you want to replace the sugar with a salad. Before you commit to this new plan, experiment with it. Try it out for a few days and note how well it fits into your life and how satisfying it is. This way if an experiment doesn't work out then the experiment failed. If you commit to change and it doesn't work out, then you are more likely to feel that you failed.

4. Commit

Now you are ready to commit to a new habit. Once you have gone through the experimentation and found a solution that satisfies you, you are ready to commit. Write down in one sentence what you now do.

Example: I take a 10 minute walking break every day at 2 pm to clear my mind and give myself an energy boost.

5. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

You are almost there! There is a common theory that a new habit can be created in 21 days. I always saw this as flawed because it implies that simply doing a different action for 21 days will create permanent change. What I have found is that you must first change the thought behind the habit and this comes with repetition.

For the next 21 days repeat your commitment phrase to yourself every chance you get. If you are stopped at a traffic light, waiting in line, looking for a snack, whatever you are doing, repeat it over and over again. I suggest repeating the statement 21 times each day for 21 days.

This step-by-step process is more involved than just wishing a habit would change but unlike wishing, this process holds the promise of success. Old habits can change and you can stick to a healthy eating and living plan, so take the time to go through this process of change because you are worth it.

If you have tried diet and exercise but have had difficulty sticking with your plan then you will benefit from my FREE e-report Think and Grow Thin!

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