Sustainable weight loss is a product of your daily habits. Your daily habits are a result of your environment and lifestyle. Until you inculcate healthy eating habits, sustainable weight loss would be difficult to achieve. Healthy eating habits can be inculcated by following a 7 step process that is outlined below.

Step 1 – Being Aware that You Are Ignorant

Most people are totally ignorant about their eating habits. They eat the wrong foods in the wrong amounts and are not even aware of it. They know that they have a weight problem but are not able to relate it back to their eating habits.

As an example, David does not realize the effect of refined carbohydrates on his weight gain. His daily diet consists of white bread, bagels and Jasmine rice. All of these foods cause insulin spikes which make it difficult for David to lose weight. In an effort to lose weight David skips meals and unknowingly activates his body’s starvation response. His ignorance makes it more and more difficult for him to lose weight.

The program in David’s mind that controls his eating habits is making it difficult for him to lose weight.

Step 2 – Education

The only way to become less ignorant is by educating one’s self about various aspects of weight loss. This education could come via one’s own self effort. It could also come from the advise of a coach or dietitian. The best way to increase one’s knowledge about healthy eating habits is by regularly reading a blog such as the Correct Weight Loss Blog.

As an example, David educates himself about refined and complex carbohydrates. He realizes that he needs to completely remove refined carbohydrates from his diet to avoid insulin spikes. He also realizes that he needs to eat regularly in so that his body’s starvation response is not activated.

David is equipping himself with the knowledge to alter the program in his mind that controls his eating habits.

Step 3 – Creating Self Awareness

This is the crucial part of the entire process. This is the part where David can take his knowledge about weight loss and apply it into his own life. He needs to find habits which are sabotaging his weight loss efforts.

The best way to do this is by keeping a food diary. David briefly records down what he eats . He reviews his diary on the weekend to find out what he is doing wrong. This type of self-reflection is necessary. While the food diary can be cumbersome, it is very useful to quickly find negative weight loss eating habits. Keeping a food journal for a month is usually enough to create this awareness.

David uses the food diary to find the problems with the program that is running in his mind.

Step 4 – Conscious Eating

Once David has identified the unhealthy eating habits, he can go about making the necessary changes. David needs to consciously eat food and inculcate habits that will help his weight loss efforts. This step takes a lot of effort and energy.

As an example, David has consciously decided to stop eating refined carbohydrates. He has replaced the white bread that he normally eats at breakfast with oats. Oats is a complex carbohydrates that has many health benefits. David has stopped eating bagels and doughnuts. He instead eats an apple or some almonds. He has also replaced Jasmine rice with Basmathi rice. Basmathi rice has a medium glycemic index. He eats a small quantity of rice to keep the glycemic load within reasonable levels.

David is reprogramming his mind with habits that will allow him to lose weight and keep it off.

Step 5 – Healthy Eating Habits for Sustainable Weight Loss

After a month of consciously making efforts to practice healthy eating habits, David realizes that he is starting to make smarter food choices. Most of his choices are made without much thought as he has subconsciously programmed his mind.

A new program is running in David’s mind. With the help of this new program, David is able to make smarter food choices effortlessly.

Step 6 – Review Eating Habits Occasionally

6 Months later, David has fairly healthy eating habits. In order to fine tune his eating habits further he occasionally records down what he eats into a food journal. He does this to spot habits that could be sabotaging his weight loss efforts. This feedback loops ensures that he does not slip back into old negative habits. It also allows him to spot negative habits that he may had missed earlier.

Step 7 – Repeat the Process

Keep repeating the process until you have healthy eating habits ingrained deep within your mind. The feedback process allows you continuously fine tune your eating habits.