Lean Habits
Lately I’ve been reading more and more about habit and behavior change. Luckily for me I received this book by Georgie Fear that’s all about Lean Habits.
Clocking in at just over 100 pages keeping the book lean, but with plenty of useful information. Even some science here and there. It’s an easy read, and something that you don’t need to read from cover to cover as you’re working through the book.
Georgie states that there are 3 main issues that come with sticking to a diet:
1. Most diets make us too physically uncomfortable to be sustainable.
2. Most diets involve a lot of change all at once, which makes us too mentally uncomfortable to sustain them.
3. Most diets decrease our quality of life more than we’re willing to put up with forever.
And all 3 of these are exactly why most of my friends and family have failed at dieting. Think about the last diet you tried? I could go on and on about the ridiculous program diet hopping that everyone I’ve known over the years has done. You’ll start one diet, and find that you can’t sustain it for very long, and then hear about the next miracle weight loss diet and switch to that finding that only the protocols have changed, but not the inconvenience.
Lean Habits is a book built around sustainability for the person that wants to stay lean without being on some fad diet. This isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle.
Changing one habit at a time is something I’ve been about for a while, and that’s the aim of each habit in this book. Focusing on one thing at a time will increase your chance for success. Sure it might seem like if you’re only doing one habit at a time that it will take longer to reach your goal, but how many years have you been dieting to reach your goal so far? 1, 2, 5? It took you years to get to where you are now, it’s not going to take weeks to get to where you want to go.
A big part of behavior change and building new habits is accountability and tracking each habit. The book suggests a spreadsheet or a notebook, I would suggest that you get a friend on top of that. Someone that you can text every single day that will hold you accountable. You can also join Georgie’s facebook group Lean Habits and work with others that are going through exactly what you are.
For each habit you’re going to take 14 days to master, and then you’ll continue that habit while adding a new habit. The goal is to become automatic so you don’t even have tot hink about what you’re doing, you just do it. It’s a lifestyle change, not some terrible diet that you can’t sustain.
Lean Habits has 4 core habits that will be the base of the change. Things like eating 3 or 4 meals per day, and eating mostly whole foods. If you’re following the guidelines, that’s 2 months to master these core habits. Then the remainder of the book is supporting habits. Things like eating the right amount of fat, being aware of what you’re putting in your mouth, and conquering emotional eating. An extremely well rounded list of supporting habits. There is even a trouble shooting guide at the end.
Let’s look at a few of the habits.
Eat 3 or 4 meals per day without snacking.
This one is a great one to start with because most people eat 3 or 4 meals every day, but they snack on top of that. Some of you will only have to eliminate snacking, others might need to add a meal. She isn’t focusing on what you’re eating, or even how much you’re eating. Just that you’re sticking to 3-4 meals per day. Easy.
It’s not until Lean Habit 4 that we delve into the what to eat, so at this point you’re already 3 healthy habits in, and on your way to a leaner you.
Eat Mostly Whole Foods.
This is something literally everyone knows they should be doing, but now you’re going to make it a habit, and put it into practice.
I don’t want to give away all the habits, as you should pick up the book. This is one of the best guides I’ve read when it comes to a sustainable system of getting lean and into the shape that you’ve wanted for so long. So drop the fad diets, grab this book and start your journey.
Lean Habits For Lifelong Weight Loss: Mastering 4 Core Eating Behaviors to Stay Slim Forever
