To Lose Weight Start a Habit Not Just a Diet

Though the statistics vary, you probably don't need research to know most people that start a diet ultimately don't stick with it. If you are interested in the research, somewhere around 20% quit within the first 7 days, and by 3 months, 4 out of 5 people have quit.

There are plenty of different reasons for this, but what's more important is finding a way to solve it. If you think about it, it's a bit strange that people see a much higher success rate making changes in most every other area of their lifestyle, hobbies, or at their jobs. Why is weight loss any different?

What if we looked at dieting and weight loss as just another good habit that can be formed and a bad habit that can be broken like any other?

If you've struggled with sticking to a diet, here are a couple of excellent reads about building better habits and breaking the cycle, with stories of real success.

Change Outcomes by Doing Small Things Everyday

In just a year, a writer over on BufferOpen successfully read five times more, learned a new language, and became a morning person (that's probably the most impressive of them all). How? The distance between where you are and where you want to go is sometimes too daunting. Start small and repeat a very tiny habit daily. She, for example:

• Read just one page per night
• Did a 5-minute french lesson every morning
• Only focused on one habit at a time
• Removed barriers
• Stacked new routines onto existing habits

Imagine applying that approach to weight loss and dieting. Instead of trying to completely change our eating habits to lose a lot of weight quickly, what if we made small changes over time that were doable and would stick beyond the end of the diet?

There's a lot more on how she did it. Read it all over at How I Became a Morning Person, Read 5x More Books and Learned a New Language in a Year on bufferopen

Habit Loops: How Habits Form and How They Change