As the holidays approach and 2022 is around the corner, let’s talk about some habit hacks for health and happiness. I love the topic of habits because this is life’s hack to reach our goals with little effort or energy. If we repeat a behavior enough, it becomes a habit and then, we don’t even pay attention to what we do. So, let’s automate! This is the success of Happy Food clients.
Healthy Habit Hacks Start With Awareness
If we are completely unaware of our habits, then we don’t know what to change. Start tracking your day. I’m sure on any given day, you have habits that are keepers and ones that you would really like to avoid.
Write them down so you can clearly see what needs to change. For example, showering in the morning, brushing teeth after breakfast are ones we keep (by the way, you established these habits via repeatedly doing them and now they are no brainers). Maybe you find that you check your email in bed in the morning or that you grab some chocolate at 3 pm. These are habits that steer you away from health, weight loss, and happiness. Now that you are aware, you can set habit goals.
Habit Hacks for Health and Weight Loss
When I start working with someone, I see why successful weight loss has been so difficult. We don’t make our wanted habits easy, attractive, satisfying, or obvious. For instance, we aim for 1 hour at the gym 4 times a week to start (not easy), we heavily restrict our diet (not attractive), we have junk food all over our house that we want to avoid (not obvious), and we end up miserable (not satisfying at all). Hence, weight loss and health is so exhausting and practically impossible.
Instead, focus on making cues for your habits obvious like knowing exactly where and when you’ll exercise. Make things easy by having very little friction such as having fruits right on your kitchen table for easy access. Make it attractive by joining groups where your goal is the norm. Who you engage with makes a huge difference in your success. Make it fun! For heaven sake, don’t go to the gym if you hate it. I hate it! I’d rather play beach volleyball. That’s my fun, so then it’s super easy to prioritize. What’s your thing? Find what you love to do and it feels easy with almost no friction.
More on Habit Hacks
Self control is short lived. This is not a long term strategy, yet so many of us want to rely on discipline. Focusing on discipline is a losing battle. Focus on making it small, fun, easy, and full of immediate rewards so that you will repeat it. Once you repeat, it becomes a habit. And once a habit, life is easy.
Lastly, pick habits that favor your strengths and interests. It can’t be too hard or too easy. Too hard, we give up. Too easy, we get bored. If my beach volleyball opponent is too good, I lose steam. If they are beginners, I’m completely bored. Just right, we feel accomplished and find room for growth.
You will have to keep adjusting your goals, being aware, and enjoy the benefits of investing in habit building. This is a lot so please get support.
Support is the key to success.
Habit hacks for health and happiness is a lot to change all at once and can feel overwhelming. Humans are hardwired to need support both personally and professionally. Get a free 30-minute phone consultation. See if this is the right match for you by addressing natural weight loss, cravings, emotional eating, balanced diet, disease prevention, nutrition, and getting to the root cause of what’s keeping you stuck. Demystify all the internet noise and get clarity. See what others are saying on Google and Yelp.
For more articles, read https://happyfoodhealth.com/blog
~ Samantha Hua, Online Nutrition Coach & Holistic Health Coach, San Diego, CA
