Atlanta Wellness Clinic Podcast

Breaking Free From All-or-Nothing Thinking

• Catina Wilson • Episode 16

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The Art Of Sustainable Habits: How To Make Wellness Stick Long-term

Frustrated by the Monday motivation that fizzles by Wednesday? You're not alone. The pattern of enthusiastic starts followed by midweek abandonment isn't a personal failing—it's actually a predictable neurological response when we approach habits with an all-or-nothing mindset.

Catina Wilson, licensed nutritionist and Atlanta Wellness Clinic owner, breaks down what she calls the "Three R's" of sustainable habit formation: Reminder (the trigger), Routine (the repeated behavior), and Reward (the benefit). This powerful framework explains why that evening glass of wine is so hard to give up, but also provides the blueprint for building positive health routines that can withstand life's inevitable challenges. As Catina explains, "With habits, it needs to be something that becomes like muscle memory, something completely unconscious that you just do without thinking."

What makes this episode particularly valuable is the honesty about neural pathways. Even when you've established healthy habits like regular exercise or nutritious eating, the old neural pathways don't vanish—they simply become less dominant. This explains why during stressful periods, we tend to revert to old patterns. The key to sustainability isn't perfection but persistence and finding motivation beyond just the number on the scale. From improved energy and better sleep to the simple victory of showing up one more day, we explore the non-scale victories that fuel lasting change. Whether you're struggling with weight management, exercise consistency, or any wellness routine, this episode offers professional guidance paired with real-world understanding to help you build habits that actually stick.

Ready to transform your approach to wellness? Visit Atlwellnessclinic.com or call 770-726-8978 for a free 10-minute weight loss consultation. Remember, the best time to start was yesterday—the second best time is right now.

To learn more about Atlanta Wellness Clinic visit:
https://www.ATLWellnessClinic.com
Atlanta Wellness Clinic
1827 Powers Ferry Rd. SE, Bldg 1 STE 250
Atlanta, Georgia 30339
770-726-8978

Speaker 1:

welcome to the Atlanta Wellness Clinic podcast hosted by licensed nutritionist and clinic owner, katina Wilson. We're here to kickstart your weight loss journey because, let's be honest, the only thing we want gaining weight is our wallets. From medical weight loss and nutrition coaching to body contouring, we help metro atlanta women get real results.

Speaker 2:

From green smoothies and morning yoga to journaling and digital detoxes. Starting a wellness habit is one thing, but sustaining it that's the real challenge. In this episode, we're exploring the art of sustainable habits what makes a habit last and how can we avoid burnout and that all or nothing thinking. I'm Millie M, co-host and producer, back in the studio with licensed nutritionist and clinic owner, katina Wilson, someone who's not only studied this but lived it, sharing practical tips, honest insights and tools to help you build habits that feel good and actually last. How are you, katina? I'm great. How are you Doing? Well, we're diving into something that we all wrestle with how to make our wellness routines actually stick. Talk to us about that.

Speaker 3:

Well, I mean, let's think about it. You know a lot of us, myself included, once you decide to lose that weight, it is all or nothing, right? I'm going to start on Monday. Monday, I'm doing great. Tuesday, I'm doing great. Tuesday, I'm doing great.

Speaker 3:

Wednesday hits the kids are misbehaving, there's traffic, there's work, there's responsibilities. Life just starts lifing and then we fall off the wagon, right, and that's the thing, like with habits. I think the challenge for a lot of us, we want to go big. It's like big or nothing at all and really, truly, when you think about habits, it needs to be something that just becomes kind of like muscle memory, something that's completely unconscious. You just do it without thinking.

Speaker 3:

And so what I like to think about like habits, I call it the three R's. There's the reminder, so the trigger. There's the routine, so you're repeating whatever that thing is, and then there's the reward, so let's use it kind of in a negative sense. You know you're you're a busy mom and you're a stressed out mom, so the trigger is that stress, that busyness, and so what do you do every night? You grab a glass of wine, so now that becomes kind of that routine and then you feel a little bit of stress relief. You might feel guilt later, but you might feel a little bit of stress relief. You might feel guilt later, but you might feel a little bit of stress relief.

Speaker 3:

So that's the formation of a bad habit. You can really do the same thing like with a good habit. You know what's that trigger, what's that routine, what's that reward, and you keep doing it over and over and over again. And that's how you know I like to look at habits. So it's really about being able to manage those triggers, creating kind of that sustainable routine, repeating it over and over and then realizing, like, what that reward is. And that reward could be weight loss, it could be feeling better, it could be less stress, right. But really that's how I like to think about the habits, the formation of habits.

Speaker 2:

Makes so much sense and I know for me, when I was going to the gym regularly, my body almost started to crave the gym, if that makes sense. Like, my body was like aren't we supposed to be doing something right now, Three o'clock? So I guess my question would be when you do have those missteps because life happens, your schedule changes at times how do you keep from falling into this spiral and tell us some tips about getting back on the wagon?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So the thing with habits is these become like over time they become a part of you, they become a part of your neural pathways. So even though, to your point right, like you created this new habit of going to the gym, when you're doing it on a regular basis and you're feeling good, it doesn't mean that original bad habit when you fell off the wagon and you were just drinking the glass of wine and then sitting around right or grabbing the chocolate chip cookie or the ice cream, right. It doesn't mean that that goes away. And you see this with a lot of addicts. They go through the process, they get clean, they're clean for a really long time, then life happens and then they fall off the wagon again.

Speaker 3:

And so the thing is with habits. Again, it's all about baby steps and we have to get away from kind of this all or nothing. I do think that you have to recognize and I loved your example, because it's the example that I use for myself, but I loved your example that your body starts to crave it. You have to start to really kind of appreciate that new feeling that you get right from that new habit that then becomes the reward, that new feeling that you get right from that new habit that then becomes the reward, Um, and that reward, hopefully, is stronger than the reward of not going to the gym or just picking up that glass of wine and the guilt that comes after.

Speaker 3:

So, over time, I think you just have to know that although you've created these new habits these new good and healthy habits the old ones don't go away. It's really a matter of if you continue to do it. Over time, those become stronger and stronger and stronger, and the bad habits become less and less. So for me, like with nutrition, I love sweets right, it tastes good, whatever but what? But because I've been eating healthy for so long now, now, when I overindulge, what ends up happening? I don't feel so good. So when that happens now is like maybe I'll eat sweets, but I won't indulge as much, you know, as a result of it, because eating the sweets doesn't make me feel as good.

Speaker 2:

That's some great advice, and can you just list a few good habits that people can start off with? But then also talk about sustainability. When you don't see changes, when you don't feel like you're making progress, how do you stay motivated?

Speaker 3:

I think we talked about this in one of the earlier episodes which is around kind of those non-scale victories, right? So again, I think, when we're thinking about habits, when we're thinking about weight loss, when we're thinking about kind of that new health journey that we're taking, the scale is only like one factor. You have to start to consider, well, what are other wins, right? How do you feel? How are your clothes feeling? How many inches have you lost? Are you getting more energy? Are you able to drop some of the medication?

Speaker 3:

There are all different kinds of ways to kind of look at like the victory of overall health, other than just that number on the scale. And so that's one of the things that you know as a nutrition coach that we look at. I mean, obviously we know that the scale is important, but there can be times where you're doing all the right things and that scale doesn't move. And so I'll ask the question well, how are you feeling? How's your digestion? How are you sleeping? Those are all important when it comes to kind of the wellness journey. And so I think you know, as you're going through this journey, as you're going through the journey of improving your health and creating new habits, you have to look at different kinds of wins other than just that number on the scale, and if you do that, then I think you start to look at success or feel successful all around.

Speaker 2:

And just completing the habit one more day can be considered a win.

Speaker 3:

We got to oh absolutely Every day, every day, baby steps, you're one step closer to getting to where you want to be Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

For sure, great advice, as always, to sticking to those habits and making them sustainable. We'll catch you on the next episode.

Speaker 1:

That's a wrap on this episode of the Atlanta Wellness Clinic podcast. If you're ready to kickstart your weight loss journey, and not just your bathroom scale and frustration, visit atlwellnessL wellness cliniccom or call us at 770-726-8978 for a free 10-minute weight loss consultation, because the best time to start was yesterday. The second best time right now. See you next time.