10 Ways That Habits Affect Weight Loss and Keep You Fat

Your awesome weight loss transformation goals can be stopped by habits you are unwilling to change. Of course, the ultimate goal is for you to have a healthy, lean body and not just weight loss.

Optimal health involves making lifestyle habit changes to improve your:

a. health
b. fitness
c. energy levels
d. quality of life

This takes hard work and many adjustments along the way.

Here are 10 Ways That Habits Affect Weight Loss and Keep You Fat:

1. The Attitude Habit

Negativity affects every thing you do in life. Always look for the best in every situation and get rid of the “negative vampires” in your life. Hang around positive people. We all need all the help we can get.

As it relates to health, an attitude such as, “I will do whatever it takes to have the best health and body,” will always lead to positive changes.

2. The Motivation Habit

Having the right motivation, or “compelling whys,” will help keep your attitude positive and motivated during the down times of weight loss transformation. Willpower alone won’t be enough to carry you through successfully.

Why do you want to lose weight? There could be many reasons but usually there is a primary compelling reason.

Some could include:

you got a bad health checkup from your doctor
you’re trying to fit into your “skinny clothes”
you don’t like the way you look naked in the mirror
getting in shape for a fitness competition
trying to be a role model for your kids
trying to reach your high school weight

Whatever “floats your boat” and gets you going will work. The main thing is to stay consistent over time with your workouts and eating plan.

3. The Sabotage Habit

Do you have limiting behaviors? Are you sabotaging your health, fat loss and weight loss efforts?

For example, if you are trying to break bad eating habits, why do you keep junk food and sugary foods in your kitchen pantry? If its there, you will eat it. You have to believe you can change and really want to change.

4. The Nutrition Habit

You need a meal plan you can maintain over time. Fad diets and starvation diets cannot be maintained. You quickly regain the weight when you begin to eat regularly.

The primary cause of weight gain is consistent calorie surpluses, or eating more daily calories than you burn. A slow metabolism is not the main cause of weight gain.

Add healthy foods to your menu that you like. You are more likely to stay with a menu loaded with foods you like. Replace the foods that are bad for you with whole, natural foods. This eliminates foods in a box or bag.

I don’t recommend any diet that omits one of the macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, fat). Your body’s metabolism needs all 3 macronutrients to work efficiently.

Control your hunger during the day so you don’t overeat when you do eat. Do this by eating small meals every 3-4 hours to keep your energy and metabolism active.

5. The Strength Training Habit

Regular strength training sessions are a must if you want to transform your body.

Fat loss is more important than weight loss.

When you continue to build muscle mass (your top fat-burning tool) and burn fat, your body will transform to lean and toned. This will also speed up your metabolism because your body has to work harder to maintain muscle mass. A faster metabolism helps you burn more calories during the day, during workouts and at rest.

6. The Active Lifestyle Habit

Adopt an active lifestyle. Walk as much as possible every day. The health-related benefits are numerous when you remain active on most days.

So, if you have a “sit-down” job, I would recommend that you move more. When you sit, your fat-burning enzymes basically shut down. When you stand during the day, those fat-burning enzymes go to work for you.

Try to stand as much as you can during the day and take walking breaks and lunches to activate your fat-burning enzymes. Any activity is good to go along with your regular workouts. All movement burns calories.

7. The Quick Weight Loss Habit

You can be skinny and still be fat and unhealthy. If you lose quick weight without exercise, your body has not changed to lean. And, this can lead to yo-yo weight loss and weight regain.

From a Mayo Clinic article by Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D., “Can you be considered obese if you have a normal body weight?” it states:

“Yes. You can have a normal weight, but if your body fat percentage is high enough, you may be considered obese — a situation known as normal weight obesity. Normal weight obesity means you may have the same serious health risks as does someone who’s obese. Obesity is defined as having an excessive amount of body fat — not as weighing too much.”

Katherine explains the dangers of depending on body mass index (BMI) to determine your risks for health related problems such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol level and metabolic syndrome.

8. The Weight Management Habit

Practice weight management. On the surface, it is a simple process—if you do it day in and day out. When you reach weight loss goals, you have to manage your new body to remain successful. In other words, keep working out and eating well!

According to Christopher Sciamanna, M.D., the problem comes with what you do after the diet. Sciamanna discovered this the hard way: After losing 30 pounds, he described his new, lower weight as “shockingly challenging” to maintain.

He and his colleagues at Penn State University’s Milton S. Hershey Medical Center decided to study weight loss maintenance.

Part of their study was to examine results found at the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR). For the past two decades, NWCR has focused on a single group of people. To qualify, they have to lose at least 30 pounds and keep the weight off for at least a year. The findings aren’t surprising. The participants were successful primarily because of the following habits:

Exercise at least an hour a day, almost every day
Follow a low-fat, low-sugar, low-calorie diet
Eat, more or less, the same foods all the time
Minimize TV watching
Eat breakfast

9. The Healthy Lifestyle Habit

Healthy lifestyle habits produce a healthier body. This is a no-brainer. If you get adequate nightly sleep, limit excessive stress, don’t smoke, limit excessive alcohol consumption, exercise regularly and eat healthy you will have a healthier body. Practice these type of healthy habits on most days.

Here’s a quick healthy habit you can do today: drink enough water. Your body is about two-thirds water. Drink water and unsweetened drinks (like tea) most of the time. It will help you eat less and help your body function better.

Drink about half your weight in water every day. So, if you weigh 160 pounds, drink 80 ounces of water each day.

Remember, certain foods contain large amounts of water. This counts toward your water intake. For instance watermelon is about 90% water and lettuce has about 95% water. Some meats contain as much as 70% water.

Water also helps your body flex muscles, remove wastes, cushion joints, carry nutrients and oxygen to your cells and helps convert food into energy (although water doesn’t provide energy).

You may be experiencing dehydration if you have dry lips/mouth, dizziness, headache, nausea or muscle cramps. When you exercise, drink about a cup of water every 15 minutes.

10. The Mind and Body Health Habit

You may need professional advice in certain areas of your life. Financial and mental health play a huge role in overall body health.

A personal trainer can help you visualize success and individualize your fat loss and nutrition program. Its hard to change your body all by yourself.

You may also need a full physical exam to show you where your health stands.

You can start taking positive steps today to improve your health and fitness. Don’t procrastinate!