Stress is a big factor when it comes to setting new habits (and breaking old ones), if your stress levels are high, your chances of breaking old habits (and forming new ones) are low!
Lack of sleep is also a determining factor, both increase your production of cortisol, which is bad for your health (i’m not talking about short bursts, i’m talking about consistently high levels)!
Find your marker (or cue), Steven Bartlett did a fantastic podcast about Making and Breaking Habits (click here for the podcast) and he talks about needed a cue for positive habits as the brain is wired to recognise a cue before launching a habit .
E.G. if you go shopping at the same place and automatically reach for chocolate when you get to the till. If you shopped at a different supermarket or moved to a till without chocolate, that’s a new, positive cue.
If you are setting a new habit, find a cue that will help you to form a new habit e.g. prep veggies when you buy them and when you open the fridge when you are bored or about to eat something bad, the healthier choices will be there in front of you.
Find a better reason to quit your old habit, if you want to lose weight, do it because you want to play with your kids or you want more energy, not just because you want to fit into a certain clothes size.
I want to get stronger and lifting weights regularly is only part of it. My food habits need to change and my sleep needs to improve, so I need to set up new cues: Food prepping needs to be a new habit, I also need to encourage my family to get involved so I have a support network that are on the same page as me.
Do you have any bad habits that you would like to change?
Comment below and let me know, I would love to help if I can!
