How to change a Bad Habit: 5 Steps!

Usually formed from a very young age and after a while very hard to break if you don't consciously try. The good news is that you can change habits. Here are some handy tips...

1. Environment.

If you have food in your house that is bad for then you will eat it if it stays! You must stop what you are doing right now and go and throw away everything that is not going to be nice to your body! Just bin it and then take the bin out! It is vital that your home is free from the toxic junk food that is making you fat! You can’t control the shops stock but you can control your own! 

2. Sleep. 

Sleeping is something most people love! But too much makes you feel lazy and unmotivated. Get yourself to bed earlier in the night and help stop those cravings from kicking in! If you are asleep you are not snacking on harmful food! It can help you l by regulating hormones that affect your appetite and reducing your cravings for high calorie foods, lower your blood pressure and to keep your heart healthy. Your ability to fight infection can be strengthened by an extra production of protein molecules that your body produces while you sleep. Just to mention a few of the numerous benefits of sleep.

3. Redefine ‘Treats'. 

When you think treats are things like chocolate and other junk food you will invariably end up 'rewarding' yourself with it for doing something good like going to the gym 5 days in a row! We know that it is bad for us so why would we want to hurt our body after it just did all that good work? It makes more sense to reward it with a healthy salmon salad surely!

So lets change junk food to Punishment food and healthy food to Treat food! Repeat after Me: ”salad is great" I can’t wait to eat some salmon" I really fancy some nice fresh cashew nuts”! It may feel silly and you may not even believe it when you say it but if you say it often enough you will start to. The great thing about this is you will start to think less about the old food you used to crave!

4. Planning! 

This is quite an important! You need to be able to get access to your meals quickly and easily wherever you are, following a varied healthy diet plan is a great way to try new healthy meals and it will retrain your body to crave the new healthy food rather than the bad stuff. Spend one evening a week preparing as many of your meals for the upcoming week as you can. Freeze what you can and keep them all in Tupperware tubs ready to rock! As they say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

5. Accountability and Little Victories!

Anything sounds scary if you look at the whole picture! I once rowed 33,000 k.m on a rower (the length of the English channel). At first it seemed like a daunting task, but when i broke it into sections and got to each one, I got closer to the overall target! I did this by breaking it into 11 3k.m challenges! I would hit the first one, then go "victory!" then I would tackle the next and the next until I got to the end! Its the same with weight loss! Get yourself small weekly targets and feel fantastic when you hit them! I mean SCREAM "VICTORY!" with your whole heart! It will keep you going! The accountability comes in the form of a great friend!

That one person who will tell you to keep going no matter what excuse you come up with! They are going to be the one who owns the scales! You can meet up with them once a week, set targets and then get together on target day and see if you have smashed it! Its important to have someone to push you and share with you in the victories you achieve! It will keep you wanting more!

So there you have it! In my experience to change your body you first must change your mind from a "fat head" to and "fit head" I hope these little tips help you on your way!

Healthy Regards,

Adam White