5 HEALTHY EATING HABITS THAT HELPED ME LOSE WEIGHT

I have been through all of it.

I looked for the quick fix and lived in denial of my own bad habits.

Fast forward a decade, I now know exactly what works, because I did it, and I can promise you that the 5 healthy eating habits i'm going to share, are the fastest way to success.

There's no quicker way to do it that won't see you reverting back to old habits again.

These 5 healthy eating habits helped me accelerate my results, lose fat, create a healthier mindset, and build the physique I have today.

The thing is, it really couldn't be easier, but for years I was making it so difficult for myself, for no reason other than lack of knowledge.

By implementing these habits, and taking it seriously, you too can accelerated your progress and reach your own health and fitness goals.

The problem is though, most people won't do it.

That's the sad reality.

We want a quick fix, always looking for something super fast, that actually just doesn't exist, and likely never will.

With this approach, we simply cannot reach or maintain out goals.

I have looked for the quick fix, I have lived in denial of my own bad habits.

I can promise you, from experience this is the quickest way to going no where.

The 5 habits i'm going to share are very simple, effective and easy to implement into my daily routine.

No counting calories, no long meal prepping, no drawn out recipes that cost a fortune.

Just simple habits, that work.

Habit 1. Changing the way I view food

Over the decades as the world has evolved, we have become spoilt for choice when it comes to food, to the point we abuse it, and in the process we're abusing our bodies.

We have so much variety and choice of amazing tasty foods, that we have forgotten the primary purpose of it, and that is to keep our bodies functioning optimally.

This is all we need food for.

When I looked at it like this, it all made so much sense to me. This was a significant turning point in my journey, and battle with food.

Here's the problem we continually face.

When we start consuming foods for other reasons than to help our bodies function, we're actually chasing a dopamine release in the brain, causing a feeling of pleasure and reward.

We do this without realising.

Think about it, you're often not even hungry when you eat. However, just the thought of eating your favorite meal or snack instantly gives you comfort, or a pleasure feeling.

So, you go and eat, and it instantly releases the exact feeling that you're chasing and that you're familiar with.

Highly processed foods, such as foods high in sugar, high saturated fat foods, give us this feeling far more than nutritious whole foods.

By reforming the way I viewed food was a crucial first step in changing my mindset, and getting on path to reaching my weight loss, and health and fitness goals.

My advice is to try and view food as fuel that your body needs to function on a daily basis.

The types of foods it needs are nutritious whole foods, in their natural form or near natural form.

When I eat healthy whole foods, I feel a completely different person than I do when I'm eating processed junk food.

HABIT 2. EATING MORE WHOLE FOODS

Yes, it sounds so simple and it's been said millions of times before, but it will always be one of the most important parts of healthy weight management.

Eat more whole foods!

I never took this seriously enough, until I realised just how much this impacts your success.

I don't eat whole foods for every single meal, and i'm far from restrictive.

A good rule of thumb I use is 80% whole foods and 20% comfort foods.

I've never completely eliminated comfort foods, or "unhealthy" foods from my diet.

This isn't sustainable for most people and definitely not for me.

However, to lose weight and to maintain a healthy weight it's crucial to create discipline around the foods that you eat.

I am strict with my nutrition, but I never restricted myself.

This is the key!

I'm strict with the majority of my day-to-day meals. I stick to a basic structure and consistently eat nutritious whole foods.

What I don't do though is restrict myself completely from other less healthy foods that I also very much enjoy.

You don't need to do that.

It does take time and discipline to break old habits and to create new ones.

It won't be an overnight change and it definitely wasn't for me.

Change is possible though, even if right now it feels like there are certain things you can never imagine yourself changing.

Here's some inspiration:

One of the biggest changes I made in my life was quitting alcohol.

This turned out to be the best decision I ever made in my life to date, however once upon a time I would have never dreamed I would be saying this!

I used to think that I loved drinking, it was a huge part of my identity, sadly.

To cut a long battle short, I abused alcohol for many years until it got to a breaking point, where I knew enough was enough.

I HAD to get rid of it, there was no other option if I wanted to move forward with my life.

I don't miss it, but back then I never would have imagined I would be sitting here saying that today!

Change is possible, no matter how hard it may seem right now.

Whatever it is, if you can build those habits over time, and stay consistent with it like I was, you can break those old habits and form a completely different identity, no matter how big or small.

HABIT 3. PORTION CONTROL

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to weight loss is managing how much we eat.

I've never personally struggled with consistently overeating.

However, I also never really understood what a healthy portion size looked like in terms of macronutrient balance, which are carbs, fats and protein.

This is something I teach in depth in my 21 Day Weight Loss Accelerator.

This is so important for ensuring that you're getting the right macronutrients in your diet, on a daily basis.

Here's the thing, if you don't understand what a healthy portion size is, your idea of a healthy portion size might be far bigger than necessary for healthy weight management.

Also, over time it can become easy to increase your portion size without even knowing, because your body adjusts to the subtle change, and you feel no different apart from often gaining weight.

It can be a real trap if you're not careful and understand the basics of portion size.

This lack of understanding is usually ingrained in us from early childhood.

Parents forcing us to eat everything on our plate, or simply allowing us to eat more than we need, but many of them probably had no idea of what a healthy portion size even looked like!

Often what we learn in childhood, we carry through to adulthood, sometimes never even questioning it.

Because of this, there can be a lot of bad habits to undo, and this takes time.

So, when we consume more food than we need on a daily basis to maintain or lose weight, those excess calories get stored in the body as fat.

Do this day after day, and you're going to continue to gain weight.

You must consume less calories than you burn each day if you want to lose weight.

No amount of exercise will help you lose fat if you're consuming more calories than you burn.

Here's how I come to understand portion size.

First of all, you don't need to count calories. I used to do it and it drove me crazy.

It's the fastest way to failing in the long term.

I'm not saying that counting calories doesn't help with losing weight, it does when done correctly.

Realistically though, it wasn't maintainable for me long term and I think that goes for most people.

That's when I started measuring portion sizes using my hands as a guide.

What I go by is one palm size for protein, cupped hands for fibrous veggies, one palm size for complex carbohydrates and one thumb size for healthy fats.

I give you a comprehensive nutrition guide and recipes in 21 Day Weight Loss Accelerator that can be used for a lifetime.

This is the structure I've followed for years and it's how I've managed to lose fat and build a healthy toned physique.

This is how I now structure 90% of my meals.

Understanding and implementing this habit really fast-tracked my journey, and also makes meal planning that much easier!

4. STAYING HYDRATED

This is something that I haven't taken all that seriously until recent years.

I don't mean that by drinking water you're going to burn fat.

What my biggest point here is that dehydration can lead to you thinking you're hungry when you're actually not, therefore you go and overeat.

Here's an example:

You're at work sitting at the desk for hours on end, or maybe you have a physical job.

You suddenly realise how frazzled, and foggy you feel in your mind.

When this happens, unfortunately we tend to reach for food in an attempt to feel better.

What we really need though is water.

This foggy, feeling is so often caused by dehydration, and not hunger.

You don't need juice, coffee, energy drinks, iced tea, diet soda, alcohol.....you need water!

When I'm thirsty I lack focus, I make poor decisions, I feel tired, irritable, moody, and often I think I'm hungry.

So, what I've started to do in these moments is go and have a glass of water or a drink from my bottle that's always on my desk.

Every single time I do this I instantly feel better in my mind, and I go from craving sweets and sugary processed comfort foods, to simply not craving it at all.

Staying hydrated is huge and something I heavily underestimated for many many years.

HABIT 5. PREPARE AHEAD

By preparing ahead, I don't mean meal prepping.

I personally don't prep my meals ahead of time because I find that I generally waste the last few meals anyway.

I don't like planning to eat a particular meal on a Thursday when today is only Sunday.

I prefer fresh meals that don't taste reheated, just a personal preference.

I also keep my meals very simple, so preparing them fresh is easy and usually takes less than 20 minutes.

If you're okay with meal prepping, and this works for you, I encourage you to do this.

Meal prepping can be extremely helpful, and cuts out a lot of time during the week.

My idea of preparing ahead, is doing one good grocery shop each week.

When I really started to dial in on my nutrition, and consistently started to eat healthy meals each day, my grocery shop started to look almost same every single week.

What I also find helpful is doing my grocery shopping online.

Doing this saves me time, it cuts out all of that temptation to buy new foods that I see on the shelves, and it stops me buying unhealthy snacks that I don't need.

Stocking my pantry, fridge and freezer with nutritious, whole foods that I plan to eat throughout the week was one of the easiest, and smartest habits I got into.

It makes meal planning, and eating healthier so much easier!

I always keep my meals very simple, and this is something that has helped me remain consistent also.

It cuts out the dilemma of deciding what to eat, what ingredients I need to get and wasting time.

My breakfasts are almost always the same thing every single day, which is some version of oatmeal.

It's the same with lunch, very similar every day.

Dinner, I'm a little more flexible because I allow more time, but usually very quick and nutritious.

It's far more important to me to maintain a healthy body inside and out than it is to consume unhealthy, processed food on a regular basis and feel awful.

I can now push past temptation, and over time, as you create healthy habits, the temptation gets less anyway.

If you want a clear-cut plan to lose weight and get toned at home through short home workouts, my 21 Day Weight Loss Accelerator will cut out all the guess work for you.

I teach you step by step, exactly how I changed my own eating habits, burned fat, toned up and maintain it.

I teach you only the essential things that you must know, so there's no unnecessary confusion.

So that was five healthy eating habits that have really helped put me on the right path, and get me to where I am today.

Remember, it's all about making small, sustainable changes and being patient.

You've got this!