4 Habits to Lose Weight & Keep it Off
The 4 habits that helped me lose 15 pounds and keep the weight off for over 2 years.
I’m not going to tell you that losing weight easy, because it’s not. Maintaining weight loss is even harder. But it’s not impossible*, and I was able to do it by making 4 small changes in my daily habits. One of my favorite phrases is that “you have to choose your hard.” It’s hard to lose weight, but it’s hard to be overweight, too.
It took me 1 year to see any real results and 2 years to reach my goal, but I’ve been able to maintain that weight loss for over a year since then. The best part is it no longer feels hard. Plus I never went on a crash diet or bought a weird supplement I couldn’t pronounce (although shout out my fellow blue spirulina fans — it’s weirdly good!).
Curious how I did it? This was my own experience. I do not know your personal situation—physiology and situations differ—and cannot guarantee you will lose weight using these tips. But they worked for me.
There were many factors that played into my weight loss, but I’ve narrowed them down to the 4 most impactful changes and new habits that I implemented:
- Eat filling meals filled with fiber and protein
- Move in some capacity daily
- Meal plan and prep weekly
- Drink a lot of water
Eat filling meals filled with fiber and protein
Ever heard the phrase “abs are made in the kitchen?” I tried to work against this phrase for years. I slaved away (and drained my bank account) at Soul Cycle and still carried around extra weight. This is because I had no idea how to eat to fuel my body, and 75% of weight loss and maintenance is your diet.
If that seems like terrible news, don’t worry — it’s not. Eating healthily does not have to be complicated. I changed very few parts of my diet in order to reach my goals, and those changes shifted my cravings which in turn made my new style of eating easier.
It sounds counterintuitive, but I ate way more at meal time than I used to. I ate until I was full. Then I found I didn’t have to snack in between meals any more. I did this by prioritizing fiber and protein. Why protein and fiber? They both help you feel full longer, which helps you snack and overeat less.
95% of America is deficient in fiber. The recommendation is between 19–38g and I hit about 45g a day. Which sounds like a lot, but is as easy as 1 tablespoon of chia seeds, 1 C of oats, 1 C of raspberries, and 3/4 C of pistachios — which could literally be breakfast. A diet high in fiber is important for many reasons, but for weight loss specifically it slows digestion in the stomach which helps you feel fuller for longer. Similar to fiber, protein helps you stay full for longer. It also helps you build muscle, which I’ll get into with tip 2.
This can look however you want, but what I do is make sure 1/2 my plate at any meal is filled with vegetables with fiber in them. Bonus points if I add a seed like chia or flax for extra fiber. 1/4 of my plate is protein. The rest can be fats, carbs, or whatever else I feel like.
You can do this really easily by swapping some of your favorite items. Here is a list of good fiber sources and here are good lean protein sources. Some swaps I did:
- High fiber wraps (like Ezekial) vs. regular tortillas
- A higher nutrient dense grain (farro, quinoa, cauliflower rice, bulgar wheat) vs. white rice
- Sweet potatoes vs. russet potatoes
- Dark leafy greens vs. iceberg lettuce
- Raspberries vs. mangoes
Here are some sample meals that easily get your plate to look like this:
- Smoothie (highly recommend Be Well By Kelly’s Fab 4 Smoothie recipes)
- Za’atar Chicken
- A “bowl” for lunch (highly recommend Rrayyme’s bowl tips)
- Grilled shrimp & veggie kebabs + a grain
- Chimmichuri steak + broccolini
- Miso salmon with bok choy and asparagus
- NYT Crispy Tofu with Cashews and Blistered Snap Peas
- Chicken Shawarma
- Grilled turkey burgers + vegan cheddar cheese + grilled onions + a grilled veggie + sweet potato
Move in some capacity daily
Remember the above about Soul Cycle? I had a lot of fun during my time at Soul Cycle, but I was stuck at the same weight (in fact I probably gained weight). This is because cardio-heavy intense workouts like Soul Cycle burn a lot of calories, but also make you a lot hungrier. And since they are more about cardiovascular health than building strength, you aren’t getting long term metabolism benefits.
Instead, I started to walk 10–15k steps a day and strength train. That was it. I lift heavy weights 3–4x a week and the rest of the week I take it easy with yoga, pilates, or an easy hike. For cardio I walk 10,000–15,000 steps a day. I have a dog, which is almost kind of cheating, but highly recommend getting into audiobooks and podcasts to help your walking endeavors. I look forward to walking every day so I can listen to my audiobooks.
In the fit scans I posted above, you can see that my body fat percentage went down from 30.5 to 22.8%, which means the ratio of muscle to fat in my body went up. This also caused my basal metabolic rate to go up. Without getting into too much science (if you’re interested, check out Natacha Oceane’s YouTube), that means I naturally burn more calories just sitting around than I used to because I have built more muscle (1309 vs. 1289, to be exact). This is how weight loss and maintenance become easier over time when you increase your muscle mass.
I understand walking this amount and even strength training this much isn’t necessarily attainable for everyone, especially those who don’t live somewhere with good weather year-round. Therefore, I recommend finding a workout that feels good to you. Is it dancing in your kitchen while you cook? Great. Can you walk or ride your bike to the post office? Wonderful. It’s really anything you can do to make daily movement habitual.
Meal plan and prep weekly
This ties back into tip 1 about eating healthily. When you know what you’re eating each day ahead of time, it’s easier to stay on track. Especially because eating at restaurants is almost a guaranteed way to be consuming extra calories.
Meal planning can seem really daunting but I promise it’s not. I wrote an entire article on how to meal plan (with a free spreadsheet you can use!) and another on how to meal prep in order to get you started.
At this point, meal planning and prepping takes me less than 2 hours each week. If you work 8 hours a day and sleep 8 hours a day, that leaves you 40 hours during the week and an extra 32 on the weekends to do whatever you want. That means meal planning and prepping only needs to be 2% of your week. Think about how attainable that feels! You probably spend 5x that scrolling through social media.
I mention this in both articles, but the process of meal planning and prepping gets easier over time, too. Your future self is thanking you already!
Drink a lot of water
This last one isn’t rocket science and it’s definitely not new, so I won’t spend that much time on it. DRINK LOTS OF WATER. I don’t really subscribe to the whole “if you think you’re hungry, you might be thirsty” mentality. I just feel a heck of a lot better when I’m hydrated.
There is the psychology component of how much we mindlessly eat, and replacing that with calorie-free water is simply something else to do with your mouth. Beyond that, when you feel good you want to do things that keep you feeling good. Water keeps your body functioning properly.
The one caveat here is often the first question I get when I say I drink 120oz of water a day. Don’t you pee all the time? The answer is yes, and I’m fortunate enough to work from home where a quick pop off the camera and “brb” is sufficient. I find going to the bathroom once an hour a fine consequence of feeling my best every day.
I know there’s a lot of health and wellness BS out there and it can seem like a never-ending cycle of pain. Every day is a new opportunity to make small, positive changes in your life, and reaching your health goals doesn’t have to be an insane pivot. I was able to do it with 4 small habitual changes, and I hope you can too.
Drop a comment below with any tips you’ve found helpful for losing and maintaining weight loss! 👇
Check out the other posts in this series:
How to Meal Plan in 3 Easy Steps (+ a free spreadsheet template!)
