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create a new habit in 6 steps

Habits make our lives easier. They make things automatic and free us from the decision fatigue that hits us near the end of the day. However, you probably already know how hard it is to create a new habit. The old ones are so deeply ingrained.

It should be simple—there really are only 3 steps involved. Trigger, behavior, reward. With some things it really is that easy. Walk into the bathroom, brush your teeth, enjoy the reward of fresh minty breath. Unfortunately, other habits are not so easy to implement.

Habits around food can be the hardest! That’s where we bring in the big guns: habit stacking. Throw every trick you’ve got at it. There are lots of things you can do, but here are some of the most powerful tools I have found for creating better habits around food:

1. Put it in front of your face. If you want to drink more water, fill your water bottle and take it with you everywhere. If you want to eat according to a plan, print it out and post it on your fridge. If you want to eat more veggies, wash them, cut them up, and put them in clear glass containers front and center in your fridge.

2. Remove all temptation. If it’s in your house, chances are that you or someone you love will eat it at some point. Don’t buy it! If the rest of your family is still eating things that are not on your plan, put them in a different cabinet or hide them at the bottom of the fridge or freezer. Then don’t open that cabinet! That is not your food. If it helps, put sticky notes on things labelling them as someone else’s food. (My daughter already does this with her Girl Scout cookies!)

I guarantee you, if it’s in your house it will call to you in a moment of weakness—emotional or physical—and you will have to fight the urge. Make it easier on yourself. Studies have shown that something as simple as putting a lid on a candy jar will make it less likely that you will eat it.

3. Monitor your progress. I do not recommend that you weigh yourself or track your food every day for the rest of your life. I do, however, think that a little monitoring goes a long way in bringing awareness to what you are really consuming and how it affects your body each day. Think of it as training wheels. When you feel comfortable with a new habit you can ease off on the monitoring. Until then, track your food with an app or a journal, track habits on a calendar, weigh yourself once or twice a week, take your measurements, take selfies, or do whatever else works for you.

4. Create a plan. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Right? I’m not talking about making a goal here. I’m talking about making a very specific plan. When? Where? How? How often? How will you set yourself up for success? Block out time in your schedule for grocery shopping. Then block out time for meal prepping. Set things up for breakfast and lunch the night before. Five minutes the night before can make a huge difference in how things work out the next day.

5. Do it in the morning. Every morning we have a clean slate. We also have a limited amount of time and usually a very specific schedule we have to follow—shower, breakfast, school, work, etc. If you can attach a new habit to something you already do in the morning, it’s more likely to happen. Throughout the day we are often faced with unexpected things we must deal with, and our best intentions are forgotten. Do some squats or lunges while you brush your teeth. Fill your lunchbox or make your breakfast while the coffee is brewing. Do a few stretches while you wait for your kids to get in the car—or better yet, focus on your breathing. 😊 Get up a half hour earlier and go for a walk or lift some weights. Yes, you might need to go to bed earlier, but getting your blood pumping in the morning makes you feel so much more alert during the day.

6. Find a community, challenge, or coaching. We all need a little support in our lives, especially when we’re trying to do something that may be hard for us. If your family supports your new habits, great! But often they are on their own journey and while they may welcome small changes, they aren’t all that happy about big ones. (I tried to make our whole family go vegetarian for many years. I have to say, they are much happier on a low-carb diet than they ever were as vegetarians!)

Find a friend you can talk to about your new habits. Find an online group (like Low-Carb Ladies). Join a challenge that will keep you accountable. Find a coach who can help you make a plan and work through the issues that come up. If you’ve tried the same things over and over again, this might just be the missing link that helps you put it all together.

And oh yeah, don’t forget about the celebration! Give yourself a high five or fist pump for every little step forward. Eat extra protein at lunch? High five! Take a walk after dinner? High five! Drink a vodka soda instead of a heavy beer? Skip dessert? Walk through the staff lounge without grabbing a cookie? Woot, woot, woot! You got this, girlfriend!

For more ideas check out Gretchen Rubin’s books and her awesome podcast for more ideas. And if you haven’t read Atomic Habits by James Clear, Tiny Habits by B.J. Fogg, or The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, then head to the library or Amazon right now.


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