10 Crucial Steps Required for Sustainable Weight-Loss

It’s in the media pretty much everywhere you look these days …

We, as a nation, are struggling with sustainable weight-loss (and our health) more than ever before. Just look at a few recent obesity tidbits:

• In some parts of the country, 35 percent of the adult population is now considered obese. Obesity rates have been rising nationwide for years.
• Incidence of type 2 diabetes has nearly hit 10 percent and shows no signs of slowing down
• Obesity is directly linked to heart disease, cancer and many other “lifestyle” causes of death

I could go on and on, but you’ve likely seen these stats before, and I don’t need to stir up any more fear or guilt (the media often does a good job of that already!).

The truth is, you already know that maintaining a healthy weight is going to improve your life. You know that you’ll gain energy, your joints will thank you, you’ll put yourself on a path towards longer life, and you will experience numerous other benefits associated with keeping off those unwanted pounds.

This is old news.

But, despite all this commonplace knowledge, many of us still struggle to change.

Why?

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The Difference Between Weight-Loss and Healthy Living

I’ve worked as a health coach for more than 15 years and one important lesson I’ve learned is the tremendous difference between weight-loss and healthy living:

Weight-Loss: Many clients I’ve met are fixated on losing weight. They want the number on their bathroom scale to go down. That’s all.

This thinking can unfortunately lead them down a bumpy (and unhealthy) road. Yo-yo dieting, fanatical workout routines and dangerous supplements might help them reach their goal for a short period of time, but this success rarely lasts. In most cases, these people end up less healthy, more frustrated and carrying added weight than they did originally.

Using weight-loss as a barometer for “improved health” is a scary proposition.

Healthy Living: Other clients I meet also want to lose weight, but they know that they are more than just a number on the scale. They have a long-term goal of improving their health, and they understand that doing so just happens to have a pretty cool side effect: Losing weight!

Instead of turning to quick fixes to attain a short-term change, these people are willing to wait for something that’s lasting. They are willing to put in some work now for a much better future.

They are willing to build healthy life habits.

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The Least Sexy Sales Pitch Ever

I know that, “Let’s build some habits!” doesn’t sound very sexy. You won’t see many infomercials selling healthy habits (although I wish more did!). But, trust me when I say this …

If you really want sustainable weight-loss and to improve your health, lose weight, gain energy or simply feel better than you do right now, you must start building new habits.

What sort of habits? (Glad you asked!)

The infographic below outlines the 10 habits I help all of my clients build into their daily routines. These transformative habits are the only sure-fire way to achieve long-term weight-loss and vastly improved health.

Want to give them a try?

How to Use This 10-Step Plan for Sustainable Weight-Loss

The key to finding success with these 10 powerful habits is not taking on too much at once. Here’s the game plan I’d suggest you follow:

1. Read through all 10 habits
2. Pick one that would be EASIEST for you to implement
3. On your calendar (or even on a piece of paper), check off each day that you make your daily habit happen
4. Once you’ve succeeded in implementing your habit EVERY day for one week, choose a second habit to tackle
5. Repeat, repeat, repeat

In 10 weeks you will have all 10 of these habits mastered!

Now tell me something …

What do you think will happen to your health AND to that number on the scale once you master all 10 of these crucial habits?

(Yeah, I think we both know the answer to that question!)

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Infographic by makeyourbodywork.com

What will your first habit be? Want some support? Join the FBG’s and my new fitness challenge to do this together! —Dave

Dave Smith is a professional fitness and weight-loss coach who was chosen as “Canada’s Top Fitness Professional” in 2013. He shares awesome health and weight-loss tips through his blog and podcast that you can find at makeyourbodywork.com.