If you currently have a goal to lose weight by changing your habits, today I’m going to share with you some key methods from the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, and how they can help you not just reach your weight loss goals, but keep the results for good!
3 types of habits and goals to lose weight
One thing that’s interesting to note from the book is how James breaks down goal setting. This is important since most of us set goals regularly, but we don’t always achieve them!
In the book, James outlines 3 main types of habits we engage in based off the goals we set:
Outcome habits:
These habits focus on us reaching a specific goal, such as wanting to lose 5kg or running your first marathon. There’s usually an endpoint of something specific we want to achieve after a certain amount of time. Unfortunately we don’t always have control over the outcome we get, so we can easily lose motivation and we’re much more likely to quit early if we focus solely on outcome habits and goals.
Process habits:
These habits focus on the processes we need to achieve our goals, like sticking to a diet or exercise plan, or following a training program to improve your running. This goes a little deeper than outcome habits, and is often slightly more effective because the focus is on what you do each day, which is something you can control, rather than an outcome which you don’t always have control over.
Identity habits:
These habits come from a place where your identity is tied to the habits you engage in. Your identity is the beliefs you hold, the values that are important to you, and who you believe yourself to be as a person. Think of an example identity like, “I’m a runner.” If you believe you are a runner, you’re much more likely to get out the door and go running compared to if you label yourself as “not a runner.”
Once the identity shift has been made, this has a ripple effect down to the actions you take each day. Identity based habits are the most effective and long-term type of habits because we always act according to our identity, that’s just how we work as humans!
Unfortunately, our identity can also work against us too.
The stories you tell yourself and the way you talk to yourself greatly impact what you do and don’t believe about yourself. If you tell yourself a story like, “losing weight is just so hard for me” or “I can never stick to things for very long,” you’ll start to believe that and act in accordance with that identity.
We all have some form of these limiting beliefs that we reinforce about ourselves. And the craziest part? No matter how true these beliefs might feel, they are not factual. They are simply a collection of our thoughts! This is good news, because it means you have the power to shift your limiting beliefs and create new ones, therefore creating a new identity that serves the type of person you want to be.
The things we do or don’t do each day is one way our brain collects evidence to prove our identity. Your actions will either be serving as evidence for your old identity, or they will serve as evidence for your new identity. The more evidence you have, the stronger your identity will become.
This is helpful to note, especially when it comes to weight loss, because many people have plenty of evidence of things that “haven’t worked” or when they “haven’t been able to stick to things.” That’s why it’s important to make sure your new habits can scale up and down, so that you can still achieve success no matter what life throws at you.
If you then have consistent evidence from small wins each day, you’ll have a greater chance of believing your new identity. This means it’s more likely to stick and you’re more likely to have the results you’re hoping for, simply as a byproduct of becoming a new version of you.
How to lose weight by changing your identity
Most people know how to set a simple outcome based weight loss goal, for example, “I want to lose 5kg or 10kg.” They might set a date they want to hit that goal by, and then work back from that to determine how much weight they need to lose each week to reach it. They will then look towards process focused goals, like following a specific diet or challenge in order to lose the weight. The problem with this approach is that none of these new actions become true habits, and as a result, the weight loss doesn’t stick around for very long once the goal is achieved.
So if we use James’s model and strive for an identity based approach, the goal is not simply to just lose weight, instead the goal is to become a person who naturally manages their weight for life. We want to lose weight by changing our habits, and therefore changing our identity.
We approach it like this in our coaching programs, because for most of our clients, they want to solve this problem for good. They don’t want to do another short term diet or challenge and wind up gaining the weight back after they stop doing it. When you can shift your identity and become someone who naturally manages their weight, you also start to implement habits that align with that identity. Habits such as learning when you’re physically hungry, eating slowly, and regularly moving your body.
How habits are formed
In the book, James breaks down the habit formation into 4 parts:
- The Cue – the initial signal to initiate a behaviour.
- The Craving – the internal motivation or desire to perform a behaviour.
- The Response – the behaviour that you do, either positive or negative
- The Reward – the instant reward is the relief from the craving, or the positive feelings you feel.
We’ve further adapted this model to use with our own clients, which we call the LOOP:
- Thoughts – The sentences running through our mind at the time.
- Feelings – The way we feel as a result of the thoughts we are thinking.
- Behaviours – The behaviour or action you engage in.
We use the LOOP, as it simplifies the process and puts an emphasis onto our thoughts and behaviours, which are the things we have the most conscious control over in the moment.
The key to managing most of our eating behaviours (and any behaviour, for that matter) starts with identifying the thoughts driving our behaviour. Being able to change your thoughts can help you change how you feel, the actions you take, and over time, the results you experience. This is how you can start to lose weight by changing your habits! It puts you in the drivers seat, instead of feeling like your cravings and impulses have control over you.
How to break a bad habit
The same model that is used to create a new habit can be used to break a bad habit:
- The Cue – reduce exposure and remove the cues from your environment.
- The Craving – change your mindset and highlight the benefits of avoiding the bad habit.
- The Response – increase friction and make it harder to perform the bad habit.
- The Reward – make it unappealing, get an accountability buddy, make the consequences public and costly.
You can also use our LOOP method to change a bad habit.
- Thoughts – identify current thoughts that lead to the bad habit. Create a pivot plan, which is a new set of thoughts we can think in the moment. This must be something that aligns with the identity we’re trying to create, and something you can believe.
- Feelings – recognise current feelings and understand that if they’re uncomfortable feelings, they will pass. We don’t have to immediately react to our feelings.
- Behaviour – become aware of your behaviour when certain situations come up, and instead choose differently. For example, instead of choosing to mindlessly eat cookies when we get home after a stressful day, we can recognise that we would normally grab cookies, but choose to drink a glass of water instead, or go for a 5 min walk to clear our head. We’re not really craving the cookies, we’re craving the relaxation and moment to ourselves that we believe the cookie will give us after our stressful day.
3 habits to help you lose more weight
If you’re trying to lose weight by changing your habits, and you want to become someone who naturally is able to manage their weight for good, what habits should you focus on?
You want to focus on habits that you can implement in almost every situation, and that you have complete control over. Many people jump straight to changing the types of food they’re eating, but then run into trouble once they start dealing with cravings for the very foods they’re avoiding – which doesn’t help, it just relies more and more on willpower (which is a finite resource we can’t always rely on.)
Eat slowly
Eating slowly is the first step we introduce to most of our clients. It helps give them time for their conscious brain to recognise what’s happening while eating, and therefore make decisions that serve them better.
Eating slowly and mindfully also fosters a more positive relationship with food. Not only does slowing down help us enjoy food more and improve digestion, but it also helps us recognise the point at which we’ve had enough to eat and feel physically full. This helps avoid overeating.
Hunger awareness
The amount of food we eat has the biggest influence on weight loss, and your body naturally regulates this by sending hunger cues to tell you when to start and stop eating. It’s important we learn how to recognise the difference between when we are physically hungry, and when we just want food but are not physically hungry.
We spend a lot of time working with our clients on how they can learn to recognise their hunger cues, because it’s something most of us have forgotten, or were never taught in the first place!
This helps them start to regulate the amount of food they’re eating without having to change what they’re eating. You don’t have to feel deprived of food you like, or feel like you have to miss out on meals out with friends in order to lose weight! You can still enjoy all types of foods, but aim to listen to your natural hunger cues as the signal to start and stop eating.
Exercise
We don’t encourage our clients to exercise for the sole purpose of weight loss because this can often be a losing battle. We do, however, encourage them to exercise so they feel more energised and clear headed each day.
When we don’t get enough activity, we often feel more sluggish, and we become more likely to overeat, which makes losing weight harder.
Exercise is particularly great for mental health and for keeping your energy levels in check during the day. One of the types of movement with the lowest barrier to entry is walking, so we often encourage clients to start here. This allows them to consistently maintain their activity levels, without them pulling up really sore after an intense workout – which can often negatively influence further activity if they’re not used to it. Like most things we teach, we stress that this doesn’t have to be spending hours exercising at a high intensity.
No matter which habit you’re choosing, remember to start where you’re at, and start with small, doable actions. When you’re changing your habits to lose weight, there’s no one size fits all. There’s only the habit that works for you and your life right now.
Interested in getting further help and support to build new healthy habits that stick? Whether your goal is to lose weight, to start exercising regularly, or to eat better and feel healthier, we can help you inside The Habit Reset!
The Habit Reset is our monthly membership where we give you step-by-step guidance on building habits and living the life you want. Click here for more information!
