How to Break Bad Habits to Lose Weight

by Kay Ireland

While you might love to blame your lack of weight loss on your busy schedule, your bad knees or your poor metabolism, the truth is that it's likely your bad habits that sabotage your success time and time again. After all, habits are those actions which you do without even thinking, from mindless snacking to curling up with the remote when you should be exercising. By kicking your bad habits to the curb, you have less standing between you and a healthy lifestyle.

1

Clean out your cupboards and replace all of the processed, high-calorie and low-nutrition foods with healthier options. If you don't have the option in front of you, you're less likely to crave unhealthy foods, making reaching for fruits, vegetables and whole grains a regular habit. Brian Wansink, Ph.D., director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab calls this a "see-food diet" -- if you see it, you'll want it. Break the habit by letting yourself see healthier options.

2

Plan ahead to avoid temptation and make better choices even easier. If you head to work without a lunch in hand, you're more likely to fall into the old habit of buying fast food. Instead, taking the time to plan around your temptations, like bringing a healthy lunch with you, can make it easier to pass on the high-calorie stuff.

3

Make yourself accountable to someone else. If you're the only one who knows about your weight loss goals, it's easier to skip a workout or nosh on unhealthy foods. By getting a workout buddy, telling others about your goals and tracking your diet and exercise efforts, you become more accountable and more likely to follow your healthy plans.

4

Replace your old bad habits with better habits, suggests the NIH Office of Communications. It's the same idea as people who combat smoking cravings with exercise -- those new, better habits become the substitute for the bad ones. Instead of spending Friday night on the couch, watch your favorite shows while on the elliptical machine, or swap your usual beer and pizza date night for a test drive at a restaurant that offers healthier fare. These new traditions might take you out of your comfort zone, but they can become new healthy habits to replace your old cravings.

5

Get specific about your habits and what you'd like to stop, suggests social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson. If your bad habit is watching too much TV, does that mean you're not going to watch any TV, or will you set limits? Or, if your bad habit is noshing on fast food, you can decide to allow yourself a smaller portion a couple times per month or cut it out of your diet completely. You get to decide the degree of breaking the bad habit, but you need to set specific goals.