5 Science-backed Weight Loss Habits to Keep For Life

Hey Angels and Alphas,

If you want to successfully lose weight (and then keep it off,) you don’t have to make drastic lifestyle changes. The science shows the complete opposite!

In fact, using small strategies such as drinking more water, increasing step counts, hitting the gym a few times a week, and adding more healthy foods to your menu will be what makes the difference between you and where you want to be.

The reality, though, is that weight loss is not linear. You’re guaranteed to experience setbacks from time to time.

And if you’re going to stay on track with your weight loss, here are 5 things you can start (or always return to) when you need a little help. They will serve as your “just do this checklist” for weight loss for the rest of your life – that’s a promise.

  1. MAKE A SCHEDULE / ROUTINE

Your first step here is to make healthy eating habits more automatic. And how do you do this? By setting up a regular meal schedule.

Your body expects to be fed at specific points throughout the day. That’s when your metabolism will start to pick up and process your food. When your body can expect to be fueled regularly, it knows it does not need to save and store everything you are putting inside your body.

Regular eating habits will keep your blood sugar and hormones balanced, as well as regulating your metabolism and helping you shed pounds. This can be as simple as scheduling when you plan to eat, or it can go further to dedicating a day to preparing meals for the rest of the week.

Some days, life just gets crazy. We all know this. Maybe you’re running from one place to another or juggling a dozen deadlines. Sometimes, your eating habits just slip. But if you always have that routine to fall back on, those days won’t matter much because you can just jump back into the healthy routine that you’ve established, and it will all be okay.

  1. REFRAME YOUR MINDSET

If you want to get your weight loss or fitness on track, the only serious change you need to make is to your mindset.

Weight loss is not going to be one big thing you do, but a series of small things that add up over time. In other words, your focus should be on chipping away at those little habits or tweaking them so they work for you in a new way.

You might decide to have a glass of wine once a week instead of every other night or ditch Pizza Fridays and stick to a salad. But bringing it all together, those are not big changes but a series of small, incremental changes that you get used to effortlessly.

  1. FOCUS ON YOURSELF

Everyone has their own list of tasks they need to accomplish for the day, and sometimes that list gets pretty long. Many people have a lot of “shoulds” in terms of what they’re doing that serve as obstacles on the way to their progress.

Many of those “shoulds” revolve around what you have to do for other people. And while it’s amazing to take care of the people you love, you have to take a second and realize you are your number one priority.

Think about whether there’s a way to let go of some of your responsibilities (or pass them onto someone else.) Or, when you’re faced with a choice, start choosing yourself. When you start doing this, doors will start opening for you, you’ll free a lot of time for yourself, and you’ll be a much more capable person when it comes to actually helping those around you.

  1. GET MORE SLEEP

There’s an unwritten rule in the weight loss world, and it goes like this: you probably need to sleep more. Research found that people who are on calorie-restricted diets who don’t get the necessary 7-8 hours every night don’t lose as much fat as people who get enough sleep every night.

When there’s just not enough time in a day to rest and revitalize, it’s so much more difficult for your body to align to your weight loss goal. Not to mention, lack of sleep influences the hormones that govern your appetite… and you know how that ends up going!

  1. EMBRACE YOUR PLATEAUS

Maybe you’ve lost some weight, but you’re feeling at a standstill right now. But this doesn’t mean your efforts are for nothing or that you won’t reach the goal you desire.

Plateaus are an amazing thing. They show you how your body has adjusted to a new level of being.

Smaller little dips in weight are better than big ones because they mean the change is likely to be permanent. Stay consistent with all of the new healthy habits you’re trying to develop, even if the number on the scale isn’t moving as much as it used to – those new habits will pay off and you will see another dip. That’s a promise.