Let's be honest. Who wouldn't want to have a lean and healthy body? Have you ever wondered why so few people have a lean and healthy body despite all the weight loss programs on the market today? It is not a lack of trying or a lack of willpower.
The answer has a lot to do with how most weight loss and diet programs approach weight loss. Simply put, most weight loss approaches go against human nature.
Let me ask you a question. Do you like counting calories and carbs, measuring your food before eating, or spending hours in the gym?
If you are like most people, the answer is NO. Well, if you look at all the popular weight loss methods, that is exactly what they ask people to do to lose weight and improve their health.
The only people who seem to do well with counting calories and points, constantly watching everything they eat, and don't mind spending hours in the gym, or to be more precise, they love spending hours in the gym, are people who love fitness in other words, fitness nuts.
The simple fact is the vast majority of people don't want to dedicate their life to fitness. Yes, they want to be in shape, but they want to enjoy life and everything it has to offer.
Unfortunately, with the way most fitness programs approach weight loss and health, you have two choices. Enjoy life or a lean and healthy body, but you can't have both.
Most people choose to enjoy life, which is why we are still losing the weight loss battle. What if there was a 3rd choice?
Have you ever wondered how people in healthy regions are able to maintain their excellent health effortlessly? You don't see them counting calories, or points, portioning their food, measuring carbs or spending hours in the gym. As a matter of fact, they don't engage in most of the healthy behaviors popular methods of weight loss advise people to engage in to lose weight and improve their health. They engage in very different types of healthy behaviors that help them stay in shape. The most significant difference between the healthy behaviors through which healthy regions are able to maintain their excellent health and the healthy behaviors through which most of the popular weight loss programs help people lose weight is not in their effectiveness but in their ability to become habitual. You see the healthy behaviors through which most of the popular weight loss programs help people lose weight, no matter how long you practice those behaviors, they can never become habitual. In contrast, the healthy behaviors that healthy regions engage in can become habitual with a bit of practice, which makes all the difference in sustainable results. It is critical when it comes to sustainable weight loss that whatever healthy behaviors you engage in to lose weight, that behavior becomes habitual, and here is why. Suppose the behavior or behaviors through which you lost the weight does not become habitual. In that case, you must constantly be vigilant to keep engaging in that behavior or behaviors to maintain the weight loss. With people's minds being so preoccupied with life these days, can you see how having also to be vigilant to maintain all the healthy habits constantly can easily lead to burnout? That is why 95% of people who lose weight end up regaining the weight with the current weight loss methods. If you want to lose weight so it stays off effortlessly, you need to make sure the healthy behaviors through which you lose the weight have to potential of becoming habitual.
The Healthy Habits all Healthy Regions Have in Common
There is no better example to follow when it comes to sustainable healthy weight loss than healthy regions. No, we don't need to live exactly how people live in healthy regions; all we need to do is develop a few of their good habits. Although not all healthy regions have the same healthy behaviors, there are 5 healthy behaviors common to all healthy regions worldwide. Research has confirmed that these 5 healthy behaviors have the most significant impact on people's weight and health. These 5 healthy behaviors alone will help anyone lose weight and significantly improve their health without making any other changes in their life. I have been helping my clients apply these 5 healthy behaviors to their lives for years, and I can tell you, in my 30 years in the weight loss field, I have not seen healthy behaviors that have more of an impact than these five. The 5 Healthy Habits The first healthy behavior has to do with activities like exercising. However, there is more to exercising than just going to the gym. There are so many things you can do right at your house with no equipment, you don't need a gym to get a good workout, and also you don't need to work out that hard to get results. People in healthy regions don't go to the gym; all the healthy activities that help them maintain their good health are part of their everyday life. The 2nd healthy behavior has to do with taking regular breaks from food. Did you know that healthy regions don't eat breakfast regularly? As a matter of fact, they regularly go for 16 hours or longer without eating. The 3rd healthy habit they have in common is they don't eat 3 square meals per day but more like one and a half. I remember when I lived in Greece, we had a big lunch and a very light dinner, but no breakfast, except occasionally. The 4th healthy habit is the habit of taking your time while eating. When I lived in Greece, we didn't wolf our food down in 10 minutes and rushed back to work. We took our time and enjoyed our food. Did you know that in every study on slow and mindful eating, people eat less food, without even trying? What is great about developing the above 3 eating habits is that cravings will become a thing of the past; you will instinctively know when you had enough food to eat without counting calories or measuring your food, and you will not need to be as strict with what you are eating. Pasta, pizza, bread, and other forbidden foods will be back on the menu. The 5th healthy habit has to do with junk food. No, it was not that people in healthy regions did not eat junk food, but they treated junk food as special. It was something they had once in a while. When I lived in Greece, I remember my mother would get us potato chips and coke on the weekends. It was a big deal, and I really enjoyed it. You see junk food, if you only have it once in a while it will not have much of a negative effect on your weight or health. What is great about these 5 healthy behaviors is that they work with human nature, and with a bit of practice and the right approach, they can become completely habitual.
You Want to Lose Weight For Life?
Unless you love fitness, the key to sustainable weight loss is making sure all the healthy behaviors through which you lose the weight can become habitual. However, just because a behavior can become habitual does not mean it will. You must ensure you approach the development of the new behaviors in a way that will give them the best chance of becoming habitual. In my 30 years in the weight loss field, having helped thousands of people develop new healthy behaviors, I have found the best way is to focus on one new healthy behavior at a time. Only work on other behaviors once the new behavior is habitual and part of your life. That is how I have been helping people develop the 5 healthy behaviors all healthy regions have in common with great success, and I recommend you do the same. Yes, it might take you a little longer to lose all the weight you want, but once you have lost the weight you want, because you would have lost it through permanent changes in your daily habitual behaviors, keeping the weight loss will be effortless. Think about it, most weight loss programs don't approach weight loss in this manner, and 95% of people who lose weight with those programs end up regaining the weight back.