Explore 10 proven weight loss habits for sustainable, long-term results. From mindful eating to active living, discover strategies for lasting health.
If you’ve been wondering how to lose weight naturally, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve lost over 18 kg with these sustainable weight loss habits that not only helped me lose weight but also maintain it.
When starting on a weight loss journey, many seek quick fixes like meal replacement drinks or extreme diets. I’ve been there myself, desperate to lose post-baby weight, only to give up after a few weeks. It wasn’t until I heard this quote, “The longer it takes to lose weight, the longer you’ll keep it off,” that I understood the importance of sustainable approaches.
Drawing from my 2.5 years of learning about weight and fat loss, I’m sharing 10 of the best weight loss habits that helped me lose and maintain around 18-20kg. These habits aren’t just about shedding pounds; they’re about fostering a healthier lifestyle you can sustain.
This post will go through the importance of starting your day with protein, managing stress through self-care, the effectiveness of short workouts, and much more. I believe in making weight loss enjoyable and sustainable—once you adopt these habits, you’ll embrace the journey towards a healthier you!
I hope these proven weight loss habits help you build a healthier lifestyle and make the process feel achievable and fulfilling.
This post is all about the 10 best weight loss habits.
10 Best Weight Loss Habits
1. Start Your Day With Protein
A high-protein breakfast can significantly boost your metabolism and reduce cravings throughout the day. Protein-rich foods require more energy to digest, which means your body burns more calories processing them.
Moreover, protein helps regulate appetite by reducing levels of the hunger hormone while increasing the hormone that makes you feel full. By starting your day with a high-protein meal, you can keep your hunger in check, reduce mid-morning cravings, and prevent overeating later in the day.
High protein foods to add to your breakfast:
If you’re wondering what to eat in the morning for weight loss, here are some high-protein food ideas that also include foods high in fiber and healthy fats, which are essential for satiety and overall health:
- Eggs
- Nuts and Seeds: Include pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, and sesame seeds for added protein and healthy fats.
- Full Fat Cottage Cheese
- Full Fat Greek Yogurt
- Berries: Low in sugar and high in fiber (especially blueberries). Berries make a perfect complement to high-protein breakfasts.
- Steak
- Nut Butters: Cashew and almond butter are great for adding protein and healthy fats to your breakfast.
My Top 3 High Protein Breakfasts
Greek Yogurt with Homemade Nutty Granola and Berries:
- Combine Greek yogurt with homemade nutty granola. Top with berries and seeds like chia, flax, sesame, and hemp seeds for an added nutrient boost.
Cottage Cheese Pancakes (pictured above):
- You can find the full recipe HERE. This is one of my absolute favourite hearty breakfast – it keeps me full for 4-5 hours!!
Strawberry Chia Pudding:
- You can find the recipe HERE. This will be the best chia pudding you’ll ever have!
2. Drink Plenty Of Water
Staying hydrated is so important to achieve weight loss. Adequate water intake helps promote feelings of fullness, reducing the likelihood of overeating and snacking between meals. Also a lot of the time we mistaken dehydration with hunger. When I learnt this I went from snacking 3x a day to snacking once a day which is usually my dessert after dinner! This weight loss habit made a huge difference in my weight loss journey.
Furthermore, hydration supports various metabolic processes in the body, including the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates. Drinking water can also increase energy expenditure, aiding in weight loss by boosting metabolism.
Tips for increasing water intake:
Start Your Morning with Water: This is the best morning habit for weight loss! Drinking 500ml to 1 liter of water as soon as you wake up helps rehydrate your body after a night of sleep. Adding a pinch of Celtic salt can enhance hydration by providing essential electrolytes.
Carry a Water Bottle: Keep a reusable water bottle with you throughout the day – This is the water bottle I have that keeps my water cold. Carrying a water bottle makes it easy to sip water regularly and ensures you always have access to hydration.
Choose Water-Rich Foods: Incorporate foods with high water content into your diet, such as cucumbers, watermelon, oranges, and lettuce. These foods contribute to your overall hydration.
Listen to Your Body: Keep an eye out on any signs of dehydration, such as dry mouth, fatigue, or dark urine. These cues indicate that you need to increase your water intake.
3. Eat Mindfully
Mindful eating is a practice that involves paying full attention to the experience of eating and drinking, both inside and outside the body. It encourages awareness of physical hunger and satiety cues, helping you distinguish between true hunger and emotional or habitual eating.
This approach not only helps in recognizing when we are truly hungry or comfortably full, but also in understanding the reasons behind our eating patterns. As a result, mindful eating can play a significant role in weight management/loss by preventing overeating and promoting a balanced diet.
Tips on how to eat mindfully:
- Eat slowly
- Avoid distractions: Turn the TV off/avoid using your phones whilst eating.
- Listen to your body: Check in with yourself during your meal to assess your hunger and fullness levels. Pause occasionally and ask, “Am I still hungry?” This can help prevent eating past the point of fullness.
- Portion control: Serve yourself smaller portions to start. You can always take more if you’re still hungry. This can help prevent overeating.
4. Move Your Body Throughout The Day
While formal exercise sessions are beneficial, the movement throughout the day is equally important. I remember hearing that getting a workout done for 20 minutes or even an hour and then sitting down all day and hardly moving is like you didn’t even get the workout done.
The key to sustainable weight loss is consistent daily activity. For instance, if you have a desk job, regular breaks to take a quick 5-10 minute walk around the office or outside can make a significant difference. Walking to and from work, taking the stairs instead of escalators or elevators, and using a walking pad while working from home are excellent strategies to increase your daily movement.
Reducing the amount of time you sit is crucial not only for weight loss but also for your overall health. Prolonged sitting has been compared to smoking in terms of its negative health impacts.
Daily movement examples:
- Take the stairs
- Walk during breaks
- Walk or bike to work
- Invest in a walking pad like this one HERE
- Household chores
- Stand while working
- Park your car farther away
5. Plan Your Meals
If you have ever wondered how to make healthy eating a habit to help with your weight loss journey then meal planning is the answer! Meal planning has been a game-changing weight loss habit. By planning your meals, you can control portion sizes, reduce the temptation of unhealthy food choices, and ensure that your diet includes a variety of nutrient-rich foods.
When you plan your meals, you are less likely to make impulsive decisions that could derail your weight loss goals. Having a set plan allows you to prepare and portion your meals in advance, ensuring that you stick to your nutritional targets.
Check out the blog posts below that will help you significantly with this weight loss habit:
6. Get Enough Sleep
Sleep plays a vital role in weight loss and overall health, influencing the hormones that regulate hunger and satiety. When you don’t get enough sleep, your body produces more of the hunger hormone and less of the satiety hormone, leading to increased appetite and potential weight gain.
Not only that, but sleep deprivation can increase cortisol levels (stress hormone), which can further promote fat storage, particularly in the abdominal area. So if you are trying to lose fat around your belly and you’re not getting enough sleep then now you know what could be affecting it!
I understand that getting enough sleep can be particularly challenging for parents (I’m a mum to a toddler who does not sleep well and never has since birth), especially those with young children. My biggest advice is to prioritize going to bed early and avoid stressing about sleep, as stress itself can elevate cortisol levels and hinder weight loss efforts. For more on managing stress and cortisol, see the next habit.
Tips on how to improve sleep:
- Maintain a regular sleep schedule: Go to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday, even on weekends!
- Avoid screens before bed: The blue light emitted by screens can interfere with your body’s production of melatonin, the hormone that regulates sleep.
- Create a bedtime routine: Establish a calming pre-sleep routine to signal to your body that it’s time to wind down. Check out THIS night time routine checklist!
- Limit caffeine: Cut down to one caffeine a day and avoid drinking coffee after 1pm.
7. Manage Stress
Chronic stress is a significant factor that can contribute to weight gain through emotional eating and hormonal changes. When we experience stress, our bodies release the hormone cortisol, which prepares us for a “fight or flight” response. While cortisol is essential for managing acute stress, chronic stress can lead to persistently elevated cortisol levels, which negatively affect our health and weight.
Cortisol, as I mentioned under habit 6, promotes fat storage, particularly in the abdominal area. This is why many people, despite losing weight, still struggle with stubborn belly fat. I personally experienced this issue; even after losing kilograms, my belly fat remained. It wasn’t until I incorporated stress management practices into my daily routine that I began to see a significant reduction in fat around my belly and face.
8. Avoid Sugary Drinks
Sugary drinks are a significant contributor to excessive calorie intake and weight gain. Drinks like fizzy drinks, sweetened teas, energy drinks, and even fruit smoothies can be packed with hidden sugars and calories. When you consume these drinks, the liquid calories do not provide the same feeling of fullness as solid foods, leading you to consume more calories overall without reducing your food intake.
High sugar content in these drinks causes rapid spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels. Elevated insulin levels promote fat storage, particularly in the abdominal area. This process can lead to weight gain and increased risk of metabolic issues – to learn more about how to reduce blog sugar levels and insulin levels to help with weight loss then I highly recommend this book HERE. This book helped me drop an extra 2kg after MONTHS of struggling to lose them.
A common piece of advice I give to my Instagram followers who ask for weight loss tips is to avoid drinking their calories and instead choose to eat them. Eating whole foods provides more satiety and helps control hunger more effectively.
It’s not about completely eliminating sugary drinks or fruit smoothies from your diet, but rather about reducing their consumption. This approach can help manage calorie intake and support weight loss without feeling deprived.
9. Keep Healthy Snacks On Hand
Having healthy snacks available is crucial for preventing unhealthy eating when hunger strikes. To achieve weight loss, it’s important to reduce the frequency of snacking by increasing your intake of protein, healthy fats, and fiber in every meal to keep you fuller for longer. However, when you do snack, making healthy choices can help you stay on track with your weight loss goals.
I love a good snack in the evening as part of my self-care routine, often accompanied by a cup of herbal tea. While I sometimes indulge in an unhealthy snack like a croissant or donut, I avoid strict restrictions to support sustainable weight loss.
What has truly helped me satisfy my snack cravings while maintaining a healthy diet is keeping healthy snacks on hand. I either meal prep them on Sundays, making treats like date energy balls or banana bread, or opt for simple snacks that require little effort.
Healthy Snack Ideas:
- Greek yogurt with berries and dark chocolate
- Date snickers – try out my quick and easy recipe HERE.
- Fruit salad – you can add a dollop of greek yogurt or cottage cheese for some protein.
- Energy balls – these can easily be meal prepped and require no baking. Try out my very popular date energy balls HERE.
- Banana and chocolate cottage cheese pancakes: These are my absolute favourite to enjoy after dinner! You can find the full recipe HERE.
I highly recommend incorporating these snacks as dessert options after a high-protein meal to help control sugar levels, which is beneficial for weight loss. For more detailed information on managing sugar levels and improving weight loss, I found the best book ever that helped me lose an extra 2kg after months of struggling!
10. Short Workouts
Short workouts have been the best change I made since starting my weight loss journey. I used to try fitting in 1-hour workouts 4-5 times a week while juggling a baby and a blog! It was a struggle, and I kept quitting. Then, I switched to shorter workouts, scheduling 15-20 minutes (with the longest being 30 minutes). This change helped me stay consistent for the last two years.
When you start focusing on short, 15-20 minute workouts 5 times a week, you’ll begin seeing results. It’s manageable, even with a busy lifestyle—just 10 minutes on your busiest days can make a difference. This approach is one of the best weight loss habits because it’s sustainable and can be maintained even after reaching your weight goals, helping you keep the weight off long-term.
Many people think long workouts are the key to results, but often they can’t stay consistent. They might do 1-hour workouts 3-5 times a week for a while but find it hard and quit. Imagine focusing on 10-20 minute workouts—you can easily do this 5 times a week.
Related blog posts: Below are short, effective workout schedules, including videos. These can help you get home workouts done for the best results.
Unhealthy Weight Loss Habits
Here are some unhealthy weight loss habits to watch out for. If you’re doing any of these, make sure to stop if you truly want to achieve sustainable weight loss:
- Skipping Meals: This just leads to overeating/binge eating later on! So stick to eating 3 whole meals that are high in protein, fibre, and healthy fats.
- Extreme Calorie Restrictions: Eating less calories can slow down metabolism and lead to muscle loss too.
- Having Weight Loss Drinks and Bars: These are not even healthy and do not provide sustainable long term results.
- Over-Exercising: This can lead to burnout, injuries, and is very hard to maintain. This is why adding short workouts to your schedule as mentioned in habit 10 is so much more effective as you are able to maintain it.
- Fad Diets: Any diet that promises quick results are usually not maintainable and can be very unhealthy.
- Obsessive Calorie Counting: Focusing too much on calories can leading to unhealthy eating patterns and stress. Focus on nutrients and meals that will keep you feeling fuller for longer rather than calories. This is when you will truly start to see results.
- Ignoring Hunger And Fullness Cues: Not listening to your body can lead to overeating or undereating.
- Using Diet Pills or Supplements: These can have harmful effects on your health and are definitely not sustainable.
This post was all about the top 10 sustainable weight loss habits!
I hope you found this helpful!
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Lots of love, Mariam x
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