#192: How to Build Lifelong Healthy Habits That Actually Stick!

Tired of the endless cycle of losing and regaining weight? The key to lasting success isn’t another restrictive diet—it’s building sustainable habits that fit into your lifestyle.

In this episode, we dive into the psychology of habit formation, why small changes lead to big results, and how to set yourself up for long-term success. Whether it’s improving your diet, getting more movement into your day, or sticking to an exercise routine, these strategies will help you create habits you can actually maintain for life. 

If you're facing challenges on your midlife journey and need some guidance, I'm here to help. I'm currently opening slots for a few individuals to join my FREE 1:1 Coaching.

Apply now for personalised support from me.

Or you can check more of my coaching programs here


WAS THIS HELPFUL?
I’d be so grateful if you could take a moment to follow, leave a 5-star rating, and download a few more episodes.


WORK WITH ME:

Discover exactly what YOUR body needs to lose weight and gain strength in Midlife with Balance Your Menopause

Move Better, Minimise Pain, Prevent Injuries, Relieve Stress and Enhance Your Everyday Life with my Total Body Connection Program

Ditch one-size-fits-all dieting and discover your unique nutritional blueprint with
28-day Revoloution Program

Discover your Inner self and Improve your mindset with Mind Over Muscle Program

Get the support, guidance, and tools you need to feel stronger, healthier, and more empowered—at every stage. ...

Transcript

#192: How to Build Lifelong Healthy Habits That Actually Stick!

[00:00:00] Maintaining weight seems to be something that lots of people struggle with, and what I've found is that when people do anything, kind of any really wild things or any really restrictive diet, something that they can't stick to for life is when they really struggle to maintain, to maintain the weight that they've lost off.

Statistics show that most people will regain, 50% of people will regain the weight that they've lost within the first year. So it's a pretty, it's a pretty big, pretty big thing. Now what, what I, I don't want that for anyone. And it may have already happened to you before and it gives you, on that constant diet loop of, you know, like losing weight, regaining it, feeling like you're a failure, having to put it back on, not being able to keep it off.

What I have found through all my years as a trainer, as one of the most effective thing is looking at habits, is looking at habits. Anything that I've been able to do over time, anything I've been able to do and to stick to has been all about habits because I've [00:01:00] had to, I've chosen realistic habits that work for me.

And for my lifestyle, and I've chosen these habits and they're things that I, that, that I want to do, that I wanna stick to them doing it all for the right reasons. And I really, really want you to look at your habits. We wanna start looking at what are your current habits that you have? You know, are you somebody that, uh, yo-yos, you know, are you someone that when you start, um, I love it when I have people coming and join the class and they'll say, look.

I'm gonna start at doing two sessions a week instead of joining Unlimited. What I've always done before is I've joined Unlimited 'cause I've had this all or nothing mentality and I've said I'm gonna do it all and then, and then I don't do anything. So they already had that awareness. So what are the habits that you currently have around.

Diet and exercise, uh, what, what are those things and what's working for you and what is not working for you? We wanna be thinking about what, what have we done before? And, [00:02:00] and you know, like, is it, did that work to me? Did that not work for me? So what were my habits? What are my current habits? So my current habits are that I tend to only.

Do this for three months and then I give up, or I start a program and I never finish yet to the end. So we wanna start looking at what those things are, and then we wanna start working from there. We wanna look at your habits and what are your current habits. So if your habits are, I come home in, I come home.

From the afternoon and I've not eaten all day and I come home and I eat everything I can see, you know, I eat everything I can see while I'm making dinner. So maybe that habit isn't supporting your goal. We wanna think about, you know, maybe that habit's not supporting your goal. We wanna think about that.

Is, is your, is your current habits that you've got around your diet, is that supporting your goal? And, and maybe what could we look at implementing to change that? So the same thing is when we are looking at, if you, um, let's say if you have a habit of when you go [00:03:00] shopping, you buy, we used to do this, we used to go shopping and we used to buy blocks of chocolate, and then we would eat them, you know, and we would eat them just because they were there.

So, you know, I, I, I changed that habit around, uh, I used to have a habit of when I worked in an office. I worked in an office and I wanted to get away from the office. So we would go for a walk, and at the time I didn't drink coffee. So the women would all walk and we would all go for a walk to the canteen or cafeteria and they would get a choc a um, a coffee, and I would get a chocolate, and I just wanted to get outta the office.

So when I realized that this habit. You know, so I end up, I was buying a chocolate bar every day. So when I realized this habit wasn't supporting where I wanted to be, I looked at how I could change that. So, so this is, you know, it's just, it's just really look at what are your habits around diet and exercise.

And we wanna start just looking at that, you know? Um, do, do I like what I'm doing? If you do stick to it if, and you [00:04:00] know, and work around it, is it still supporting, is it supporting my goal? So, you know, because the things. The things that for you to have long-term success, it has to work for you and it has to work within your lifestyle.

So if you've got a habit of drinking. A glass of wine every night, but you think you don't wanna do that, you know, or you think that you should cut that out 'cause you wanna lose weight, but you really, really enjoy that glass of wine. Then keep it, keep it in there and let's look at other things, you know, because we, we've gotta have, you have to have something that's realistic and you can stick to, but habits are really, really important.

You know, I first was looking to do this and I said I was going to looking to lose weight after I'd had my babies, and I was said right, wrote down my macros, what I was gonna have and everything else. And I wanted to make sure that I could get the most amount of food in and. I wanted sport, my breastfeeding of my daughter, and then I didn't want to, I said I was not gonna have any chocolate, you know?

And, and then all I did was I [00:05:00] just thought about eating chocolate all the time. And then I said no. So then I made my plan fit around having chocolate every day because, because I knew it wasn't realistic to me. So we've gotta look at these habits and we've gotta think about what, what are your habits that are working for you and what's not working for you anymore?

And let's look at. Rechanging, the ones that aren't working for you and, and how that we can, um, change these habits to suit you. Now, like we said, it's, it's really underestimated how small changes add up to big. To big things. And when we look at changing little, little incremental habits, how, how it can make such a massive difference to your overall result.

So what I want you to think about, instead of making these big dramatic changes, I want you to think about what little changes can you make. Just, just start off small. So, uh, somebody that I know that lost quite a lot of weight, she used to go through McDonald's, drive through every day. So that was something that she did.

So instead of [00:06:00] getting the largest meal, um, upsizing everything and getting the McFlurry and all those things, after she chose to then get a, she, she went to get a medium size and then she downsized, you know, and, and now she doesn't even get it anymore. So. So, you know, we've gotta look at making small incremental changes, but when they're too dramatic, you are not gonna be able to stick to it.

So, so, so this is what we've gotta be mindful of, and you, I want you to remind yourself the whole way that what you've done before hasn't worked. So if you're like, this doesn't feel right, it doesn't feel like, you know, I get people doing things and they go, I don't feel like I'm on a diet. Well, you shouldn't feel like you're on a diet.

You know, we wanna be mindful of things, but we, we wanted something that you can stick to and, and the consistency and being able to stick to something long term is what's gonna get you the long term results. Being on a diet, short term, being restrictive, all of that is all the things you've done before and it has not worked.

You may have initially lost weight, but you [00:07:00] haven't been able to keep it off. So I want you to really, really think about what these things are. And look at including them. We wanna think about making small, small changes. So really, really teeny tiny changes that are gonna add up. So when we are looking at habits as well.

So it can be things like your habit. So, so a big thing I see is we, uh, so let's say school pick. So if you've got a habit of when you're at school pickup that you just sit in the car and you scroll on your phone until it's time, till the kids come to the car, or you get, or you know, you have to go and get them, well, you know, you can be sitting in there for 20 minutes.

But during that, that, so that's your current habit is sit in the car. Wait for, but the thing is that if you moved more, you would get your steps up. Your body would be moving more. You'd be burning more calories. So what about instead of sitting in the car during that time, do you go for a walk? I see it. I see it all the time.

I said all the time at school. I get to school, I arrive early because traffic is a nightmare. I arrive early and I [00:08:00] get out the car and I go for a walk. And some people are like, whatcha doing? And I'm like, I'm just walking. I'm just, I'm moving more instead of sitting on my butt, I'm moving more. And, you know, there's so many other benefits of, of walking and sometimes when I'm walking I get the best ideas, you know, that come to me.

So I want you to think about what, what are these things that you could do? What are these habits that you could look at? Um, what are your current habits, you know, during your day. How can we look at creating new habits that are going to really support, support your goal and get you where you wanna be?

The things I also try to say to people is we wanna look at, we wanna look at stuff that's gonna be able to work for us. So creating these. Big things like Right, I'm gonna exercise when I get home, I'm gonna, you know, like let's say getting to 10,000 steps or more. So if you're looking at increasing your steps, that's your daily movement.

That's your need to, we spoke about that before, so we look at moving more now. If you feel like you have to, [00:09:00] you know, again, understanding your personality, understanding what works for you, what doesn't. If you feel like you have to come home and then you have to fit in another half an hour walk, that just might feel like too much, too much to add on top of everything else that you have to do.

So let's look at it. Let's look at your day and how can you increase your steps during your day so you could walk in your lunchtime. You could walk in that time that you're sitting in the car waiting to pick up kids or waiting at, you know, um, when my kids are at after school sports, I go for a walk. I don't sit around and talk to people.

Um, I have a friend that we go for a walk together, but I, I don't sit around. I get up and I move because. Um, I have to be at this place 'cause my, you know, my child's doing an activity well, I'm gonna make it worth it for me. Uh, sometimes I bring work to do if I need to do work, so, so make it work within your current lifestyle.

I've had people that, uh, she struggled to get her steps in, but she worked out how she could work, walk further in her office. So how she [00:10:00] could walk kind of the long way to, um, to get to the. Printer or whatever, and, and she got her steps up that way, parking further away, going up and taking, uh, more regular breaks during your already day, you know, so to think about where, um, what you are, where you are currently at, um, and you know, and, and how you can incorporate these things into what you're doing already so we don't have to add it on.

A big thing I talk about people is stretching and people that have injuries or other things, or we're looking at stretching and I'm like, try to stretch through through your day because when you come home, you don't wanna go, oh, I've gotta do half an hour stretching. If you stretch through, through your work or through through your, you know, during things during your day.

It, it doesn't feel so bad. So when we add little things on, you are more likely to. Now the biggest thing with, with habits is stacking your habit. So when we're trying to create a new habit, I want you to look at, so we're gonna, you know, choose one habit that we're gonna focus on, [00:11:00] one habit that we're gonna look at, and I want you to choose called habit stacking.

So I want you to stack a habit with something you already currently do. When you stack a habit, you are more likely to stick to it. So, I'll give you my example. I, I used to run every morning, so I used to run every morning. Um, and I had that habit for a very long time. I don't do it anymore 'cause I've injured my foot.

So I don't run every morning, but I still do something else. So, and I told myself I wanted to do yoga every morning. I yoga every day. So I said I was going to yoga every day and a month went past and I didn't do it once. You know, and I, I, I didn't do it once 'cause I didn't, I didn't assign that habit to a time, I didn't say when I was gonna do it.

It was a bit wishy-washy. I just said I was gonna, I wanted to do yoga every day. So I didn't assign it to when, and then I, you know, then I thought, right, okay, what can I do? So I already had the habit of running every morning. That habit was already well ingrained. It was something I did without thinking.

So I thought, okay, I'm gonna get up 15 minutes earlier. [00:12:00] And I'm gonna stack my new habit with my already old habit. So I got up 15 minutes earlier and I did yoga for 15 minutes before I went out and ran. And I did it every day because I'd stacked that habit with something I already did. So when we're looking at creating a new habit, especially before it becomes well ingrained in us, which takes time, I want you to stack it with something you already do and you will find that you do it, okay?

You'll find that you are more likely to do it when you stack the habit with something you currently do. So, so stack your habit with something else. Okay? So, so that's the first thing when creating this new habit. Stack it with something you currently do, you, you will be more inclined to, um, to be successful at it.

So, so I want you to choose to, we, we are gonna look at our habits, look at what's working for us, what's not working for us, what would we like to change? Now again, I want you to understand the reason of why [00:13:00] you're changing it. Changing it because. It's supporting your why, it's getting you where you wanna be, not just changing it because you feel like that's what you need to do to lose weight.

'cause when, when you're changing it from that perspective, you're not going to be able to stick to it. We have to really, really, um, believe in ourselves and really, really want this and want it, and you are more inclined to stick to it. And we need to understand how all these little habits. Add up over time, and they add up to, to the, to, to your big result.

And these little habits, they are really underestimated because, because because they're so small and incremental, you don't think it's making a difference. But these little habits are things that are getting you to be consistent. They're getting you to stick to it because it's not such a big change when it's too big.

And, and you can, you'll make one little change and then you'll add on. So when, when we used to. Anything that I've been able to do that I've been able to stick to, to long-terms, all been about [00:14:00] habits, it's all about creating habits that work for you. So when I used to work in the uk, I lived in the UK and we used to eat, uh, you know, I look at how I ate over there and to how I eat now and it's day and night, completely day and night.

But did I make that, that. Big dramatic change. No, I, I changed things over time. I made small little changes that, that, that have, you know, that, that add up and they've got me to where I am today. I didn't do this one big change because I wouldn't, I wouldn't have stuck to it. I wouldn't have stuck to it, but.

I, we used to, um, we used to have like a full chicken breast each, you know, that was something that we used to have. And you know, now, now we don't do that. And I used to, I'm not saying that's bad, it's just, you know, just, just little change of my, I used to not pack my lunch and, you know, I used to just get takeaway every day.

And I used to eat bags of lollies, you know, I used to eat on a [00:15:00] train on the way home bags of lollies, you know, but I just made small. We used to get blocks. Of chocolate a Friday and a Saturday night. And we used to both eat over a block each, you know, and I just, I didn't, I didn't go from, from all or nothing.

You know, we, we made small, small little changes and they've changed along the way, you know, and that, that's what I want you to think about. I used to, I used to drink a lot. I used to drink cider and black cone and beer and whatever else I could find. And I don't drink very much anymore now, but that's my, my habits and my lifestyle has changed.

But I made small incremental changes. And that's the way that you are more likely to, to stick to it. The other thing that I want you to do is you need to set yourself up for success. So, so if it's something like if you are planning on doing exercise in the morning, uh, you know, set yourself up for success by, lay your mat out the night before.

Get everything ready. So there is no possible, there's no, you're giving yourself the least amount of excuses or speed bumps to hit that will stop you from it, you know, [00:16:00] succeeding. Uh, you know, like when I, um. I used to go to an exercise class in the morning, and I used to sleep in my clothes because it meant all I had to do was get up, roll out of bed and get out the door.

So, you know, instead of, you know, so set your clothes out the night before, instead of being like, oh, I've gotta find the clothes in the morning. And, and that just takes more, it takes more time and it gives you longer to have an excuse to really set yourself up for success. When I, again, when I lived in the uk, I knew myself.

I knew if I, I. Used to work in the city. So I'd catch the train to the city, and then to go to the gym, I had to walk past my house. If I went inside the house and if I went inside the house to get changed to go to the gym out of my work clothes, I wouldn't have went back out. So I used to carry my work, my gym clothes, all the way into work.

So I'd carry them into work in the city on the train, and I'd carry them home. I'd walk [00:17:00] past my house. And go straight to the gym because I knew as soon as I went home, I wouldn't go back out again. So, so, so that's what I'm saying. Set yourself up for success. Set yourself up for success by looking at the current habits you have and start thinking about your personality.

What, what works for you, what doesn't work for you? And then think about, so this, I know this works for me. I know that I'm going to be honest with yourself because if you're not honest with yourself, who are you gonna be honest with? So be honest with yourself. This, this is what I need. You know, I need to have, uh, you know, like if you're someone that says, um, I found just recently, I'm very motivated to exercise on my own, but lately I've struggled with it.

So I decided to go and commit to somewhere because now I'm committed to that. I have to be there, you know, so I have to be there. I've paid for it and I have to be there, um, because it's really easy to let yourself down. And, uh, so, so look at your habits. Look what you've done in the past. Look at what [00:18:00] your current habits are, and we want to be able to move on and, and, and do new things that are gonna support our goals.

Okay? Now remember, little things, little things all add up to these big changes. Little things add up to big changes and it takes time. So, you know, expect, expect to try something and it not to work, but that's okay because you've tried it. And that's why I said the only way I've got to where I am today is by all these mistakes.

And, and then I try and I go, I reevaluate. Okay, so that quite didn't work for me. That didn't work in with my lifestyle. Now how can I reevaluate to keep working towards the goal? Not just give up, but habit stacking. Habit stacking is one of the, uh, the best things that I can recommend for you to create, start creating a new habit.

It has been proven, um, by many, many studies. So stack your habit, set yourself up for success. So, so plan, plan yourself as so, so you can make it the least, [00:19:00] um, you know, the least way that you can stray. Setting yourself up. Success would include things like preparing your food, uh, you know, have your clothes laid out the night before, before going to the gym, making sure that, you know, you are giving yourself the, the, the easiest way to not, to not give up, get a friend.

I know somebody that's just, um, you know, she's just got a friend to, to them walking with each other to get themselves moving more and they're committed to each other. So then, you know, get a friend. I remember when I was younger. I used to have a friend who'd come pick me up before we, and we'd go to gym together, but if he wasn't picking me up, I wasn't going.

So, you know, 'cause I'd choose to sleep. So, so set yourself up for success that way. And, uh, you know, so we are gonna really, really dig deep with these habits and really start looking at what habits, what current habits we have. What works for us, and I want you just to choose. We're gonna, you know, this stuff all takes time.

It really takes time. So we're gonna choose one and we are gonna start chipping away, chipping away at them, um, and [00:20:00] just, just slowly start creating habits that you can stick to forever.