50. The Power of Routine: How Consistency Drives Weight Loss

In this episode of Weight Loss Made Simple, Dr. Stacy Heimburger explores the transformative power of routine in achieving and maintaining weight loss. Discover how consistency through well-crafted routines can automate healthy behaviors, reduce decision fatigue, and make weight loss more manageable. Dr. Heimburger offers practical tips for establishing effective routines, overcoming common challenges, and setting yourself up for success as we approach the holiday season. Whether you're looking to enhance your meal planning, incorporate mindful movement, or improve your sleep routine, this episode provides actionable insights to help you build lasting habits. Tune in to learn how small, consistent changes can lead to significant weight loss results. Don't miss out on these valuable strategies for a healthier and more balanced life!

Free 2-Pound Plan Call!
Want to jump start your weight loss? Schedule a free call where Dr. Stacy Heimburger will work with you to create a personalized plan to lose 2 pounds in one week, factoring in your unique circumstances, challenges, and aspirations. Schedule now! www.sugarfreemd.com/2pound

This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.

Transcript

Welcome back to Weight Loss Made Simple. I am Dr. Stacy Heimburger, and today, I want to talk about something that I think is incredibly helpful: the power of routine. If you’ve ever struggled with maintaining your routine or found yourself slipping back into old habits, then I think this episode will be helpful. I want to talk about how consistency through routine can be amazingly beneficial.

So, why is your routine powerful? Well, routines let us automate behaviors and reduce the need to make decisions. If you remember back to the very beginning, our beautiful, flawed human brains like to take action if the motivational triad is met. You remember the motivational triad? It doesn’t like to work hard. Our brain is consistently, constantly looking for ways to automate behavior. It doesn’t like to think that hard. So, we don’t have to put a lot of conscious effort into brushing our teeth. We did it a couple of times, and our brain thought, "Sweet! I’m going to put that on automatic." Once it’s on routine, it actually doesn’t use as many neurons and synapses and mental energy to brush our teeth.

Once our brain can automate something, it doesn’t take as much effort, and our brain really loves that. It takes less mental effort, less willpower, and then it makes it easier to maintain. Another thing is fatigue. There are two sides to this coin: our brain wants to automate everything for ease and so that it can be a little bit lazy, and then there’s reducing the amount of decisions we have to make in a day.

So, how can we craft routines that support our goals? My favorite approach is to start small. We want to do small steps and start the habit. For example, if we want to start a morning exercise routine, we don’t need to go all out for two hours. Just get up and walk around the house. It’s the habit of getting up, putting your shoes on, and walking out the door. Once you’ve done that, the rest is kind of easy.

We start by incorporating something small that we can do. We can write down what we think we can manage, like planning dinner for Monday and Tuesday. You can order the groceries every Monday. Nobody cares if your kids care. I promise my kids actually love that they get red beans and rice most Mondays, and they love tacos. My little ones might have a little bit of rebellion, but we’re going to get into the habit. Our brain can just put it on automatic—one less thing we have to worry about, one less thing we have to think about.

How do we get the routine going? It’s like building a new highway in our brain. The first week or so, we have to make the road. We’ve got to use our machete and chop through the woods to make a path. After that, the road is there. It’s easy from there, not a problem.

So, how do we overcome the challenges? Some reminders, sticky notes, alarms on our phone, or a habit tracker can help. These tools give us visual feedback that we’ve done a good job. We all love that. If you think you don’t, you’re kidding yourself. We all love the gold star.

For October, pick one thing. For November, one more thing. For December, add another. By the start of the year, you’ll have three new healthy habits, and you’ll be ahead of everyone else joining the gym at the discounted rate. It’s a little flexible and unpredictable. I don’t love this idea of saying, “I’m going to do something every day of the week.” If I say I’m going to walk the dogs every day, I walk the dog most days, but I never tell my brain it’s happening every day.

Like, “Every day, I’ll walk Bernard with love and commit to every day.” But life happens. Sometimes I wake up late, sometimes I schedule a client early, sometimes it’s raining. To say every single day, if it rains and I miss it, there’s a high likelihood that my brain will shut off the rest of the week and think, “We’ve already messed it up. Might as well not bother. We’ll start next Monday and try again.” I know this happens. Some of you are nodding along as you listen. I do it every day, and on day three, the next four days probably won’t happen. So, that’s why I stay flexible.

Being flexible means at least 50 to 70% of the time. I’m going to have grace and flexibility. Building a huge impact in supporting your health routine is why I love group coaching. I’ll be opening up doors for a small group coaching program starting in November. Be on the lookout for that because, as a small group, we can make it through the holiday season, either losing weight or just not gaining weight. The social support will help us reach our health goals and get those healthy habits in place before the beginning of the year.

Most people gain 5 to 10 pounds every holiday season. We’re not going to do that. We’re going to stop that. We’re going to set up successful routines. Start small, overcome inertia. It doesn’t mean you’re not strong or that you didn’t plan well. Set alarms, put up sticky notes. We need to overcome inertia and use a tracker to get that visual feedback. Give yourself the gold stars and reward the new behavior.

So, what are some potential routines you want to start this October? Let’s set some bricks and build the foundation for what we want to do, either in the group in November or the beginning of the year. I love to start planning. You know I love that. Plan your meals every Monday. Pick something with high nutritional value, low sugar, and not processed. Plan your meal for Monday on Friday, order the groceries, and set sticky notes.

You could also start moving a little more. If you’re down south where I am in Louisiana, it’s finally not 1,000,000 degrees. Maybe you want to walk outside. Let’s say you’re going to do your daily walk. Set an alarm. It doesn’t need to be 10,000 steps; it just needs to be getting up and walking out the door. I love mindful movement. Get up, move, set a sticky note, get your shoes ready, and give yourself the gold star. Done.

We can also improve our sleep routine. This is a great idea. Go to bed a little bit earlier. Our stress levels have a tendency to go up, and our cortisol levels increase. Lack of sleep combined with high cortisol levels contributes to weight gain during the holidays. Maybe we need multiple alarms on our phones: one to stop looking at social media, one to get off the phone, and one an hour later to say, “Okay, time to go to bed.” Set an alarm at 11 PM to stop drinking caffeine. If you have an iPhone, you can set your bedtime, and it’ll remind you when it’s time to start winding down. A good sleep routine will help with your weight management.

Maybe try to be a little less overwhelmed this holiday season. I like to delegate and delete something every day. Set a reminder on your phone: What can I get rid of today? What can I pass off to someone? What doesn’t really need to be done?

For success, stay flexible and get some support. If you want a meal plan, you can always schedule a 2 Pound Plan call with me. If you want to do any of these other things and need coaching support, I’m opening a small group for November. I’ve never done it at this time of year, and I’m really excited because I think people will be set up for success come January. I’ll have another small group in January for those who want to wait until the beginning of the year. That’s fine. But if you do this during the holiday season, not only will it help with stress management, but you’ll also avoid holiday weight gain and have 2 to 3 habits on automatic by the time we start our next group in January. It’s my favorite time of year to start new routines. The kids are at school, everything is kind of running smoothly in October and November. I love having a coach help me with stress management over the holiday season. That alone is worth it.

If you want to know more, just email me at support@sugarfreemd.com. I’ll give you all the information and jump on a call to explain it personally if you want. For the 2 Pound Plan, you know how to do that: www.sugarfreemd.com/2pound (number two, word pound). Small changes will help you have a consistent routine, which will help you be super successful.

Make sure you share this with a friend and review the podcast. I would love that. Have a wonderful week, and I’ll talk to you next time.