10 Easy Habits That Helped Me To Completely Change My Life - Shannon Elizabeth Fitness (2024)

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10 Easy Habits That Helped Me To Completely Change My Life

I’m going to be honest, it takes a lot of effort to lose 100 pounds. Regardless of what some people might say or what you might read, there is no shortcut or easy, magical way to lose a lot of weight. Large weight loss takes effort, perseverance, self-reflection, and a change of habits. To be honest, for the longest time, I didn’t want to do any of those things. And I didn’t believe that I could. I had this idea that I wasn’t capable, that I was unworthy, and that a healthy lifestyle wasn’t for people “like me”. It took a lot of self-reflection to finally change that narrative that I had, and reach a point where I was able to love myself enough to work on myself.

When I finally told myself, that enough was enough, and that I deserved all my goals and dreams, I realized that I needed to make some serious changes in my life! I eventually realized that the reason I hadn’t been able to lose weight (and keep it off) was that I hadn’t been willing to change some of my core habits. Or more honestly, I was scared to make some huge changes. Change can be scary. I mean, what if I didn’t like who I became? But, thankfully, I decided that working towards the highest version of myself could only work out in my favor.

When I paused and did some serious self-reflection I was able to identify which of my core habits I needed to change in order to achieve my goals. I committed to making little tweaks here and there, and I focused only on the positive aspects of my journey! When I decided that I was worth it and committed to making my mind, body, and spirit healthy, I was able to lose over 100 pounds. And I’ve maintained that 100-pound weight loss years later!

Keep in mind while reading this post that these are things that worked for me! They may not necessarily work for everyone. However, I do recommend giving everything a try, it might just change your life!

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10 Habits That Helped Me Lose 100 Pounds:

Drink at least a 1/2 gallon of water daily.

One of the best things you can do to help yourself lose weight and maintain weight loss is to significantly increase your water intake. There are lots of different ways to drink more water. Remember that tea and coffee also count as water intake. The myth that tea and coffee lead to dehydration has long since been debunked. Another easy way to drink more water is to carry a water bottle with you throughout your day. Or to set phone alarms to remind yourself when to take a sip (or chug lol).

Increase Your Body Movement.

Most experts agree that the average person should be burning about 200-300 calories due to body movement daily. I know this sounds like a lot, but it is absolutely doable! For example, walking at a brisk pace is a great way to exercise. Especially if you don’t have the time to do a full aerobic or strength training workout. Something as simple as a 20-minute walk on your lunch break, or a short but fast 15-minute walk before dinner can really make a difference in helping you reach your health goals.

Early in my weight loss, most days I did a walk with my dog plus a workout. And over time, this just led to a habit of walking daily. Those daily walks turned into light jogs and eventually led to me running my first half-marathon less than two years later. I can’t stress enough how walking is a great gateway to a fitness lifestyle!

Don’t eat after 8 pm.

If you’re wondering which habit is the easiest to adopt, this habit is it. Challenge yourself to stop eating before 8 pm, and then don’t resume eating until the morning time. Most often, calories eaten after 8 pm are calories we do not need. So ditch the late-night snack!

Regularly practice intermittent fasting.

I’ve mentioned in this a few times that I am a huge fan of intermittent fasting. I truly credit this style of eating for completely changing my relationship with food and for helping me to lose a large amount of weight.

Intermittent Fasting cycles between periods of planned eating and fasting. The most common method is the 16:8. The 16:8 method requires fasting for 16 hours (half of these are sleeping hours) and eating during an 8-hour window. Intermittent fasting works because you are never restricting what you can eat, simply when you can eat. And the reason it works for weight loss is because short-term fasting has been shown to increase your metabolic rate which will have you moving quickly towards your goals!

I still regularly practice intermittent fasting as a means of maintaining my weight loss. Generally, I intermittent fast 3-4 days a week. I like the freedom of not having to restrict what I eat, as I enjoy eating food. For me personally, I’d rather have to only worry about when I’m eating. It just feels more manageable. And I’ve been able to comfortably eat this way for a long period of time.

Body Movement 4-5 times a week.

People don’t like to hear that body movement is an important part of losing and maintaining weight loss. But the truth is, exercising 4-5 times a week is the number one factor in my weight loss. I would never have been able to lose 100 pounds naturally if it hadn’t been for home fitness programs and training for my 10km race and half-marathon. Nutrition alone may help you to lose a significant amount of weight but if you truly want to be heart-healthy, and keep the weight off then you need to be regularly moving your body. Here are some of my favorite home fitness programs that I’ve tried:

• 80 Day Obsession
• P90X
• 21 Day Fix
• Transform: 20
• Barre Blend
• 9 Week Control Freak
• Liift4

Healthy Snack First.

Emotional eating is by far my biggest struggle when it comes to maintaining my weight loss. Thankfully, I’ve come up with little tricks over the past couple of years to help in this area! But the easiest trick is to allow yourself to indulge in a treat only after you have eaten a healthy snack first. Nine times out of ten I get full from my healthy snack and abandon my desire for the treat. It works because you don’t feel like you’re depriving yourself of anything, you’re simply telling yourself that you can eat it later. A delay of gratification is another way of practicing and strengthening your willpower which will make food choices easier over time.

Plant-based Foods.

I’ve been eating a plant-based diet for 7 years now. For me, this means I avoid consuming meat and eggs, and I eat very limited amounts of cow dairy. Instead, I eat tons of legumes, beans, tofu, tempeh, lentils, plant-based dairy, nuts, etc. Personally, my body has reacted extremely well to a plant-based diet. I’ve been able to reach and maintain my health goals, and my body feels really healthy and energetic most of the time!

Eating plant-based also addressed a few health issues I was previously having (like IBS, heartburn, and really uncomfortable bloating) and I no longer deal with those issues.

A plant-based diet isn’t for everyone, I totally understand that. But I absolutely have to mention it on a list of habits that changed my life.

Want to give it a try?

An easy way to dip your toes into this style of clean eating is to adopt Meatless Monday. Challenge yourself to try new recipes, vegetables, legumes, fruits, etc to fill yourself up!

Reduce or eliminate alcohol.

I talk about not drinking your calories in another post but I’m going to take it one step further and suggest reducing your alcohol intake. During 2018, I committed to drinking little to no alcohol and it is unbelievable the difference it played in my health. Considering even a light beer is still almost 100 calories, even a couple of drinks adds up really quickly. And if you’re drinking mixed beverages, then you’re looking at some serious calories!

One of the easiest ways to make an immediate difference in your health is to look at your alcohol consumption.

Nowadays, I allow myself to have the occasional drink each month. However, I still commit to keeping my alcohol intake low. Overall, I’ve noticed a huge difference in my skin complexion and less bloating! Those are two great reasons that help me stay away from overindulging in alcohol.

Embrace natural sugars.

Personally, eliminating sugar from my diet is just not realistic! I’ve tried many times and have failed miserably. I now believe that sugar has a place in my healthy lifestyle. The key for me was changing what type of sugars I was consuming. When I started to substitute white, processed sugars for more natural sugars like honey, maple syrup, agave, etc, it completely changed my health journey! Even though I was still eating sugar, I wasn’t gaining weight like I was in the past. Now, I’m not saying go overboard on the sugar because it’s from a natural source, but you can consume it more confidently!

When I’m craving sugar, I try to eat fruit first. Fruit is a great natural sugar. Personally, oftentimes an apple with some peanut butter will satisfy an initial sugar craving. And like I said above, eating a healthy snack first makes you less likely to have an unhealthy snack later.

Practice daily self-care.

Strangely enough, it wasn’t until I had embraced my body for what it was (at my initial 249 pounds) that I was able to move significantly towards my health goals and lose 100 pounds. I had spent decades hating my body. I was always looking at myself and seeing everything I wasn’t. But the day I chose to accept my body for what it was, and what it could do (my body birthed twins for crying out loud!) I felt a complete shift. All of a sudden, I felt confident enough to try a fitness program. It didn’t matter how overweight I was, I knew my body could do hard things.

From then on, I’ve treated my body with much more respect. I practice daily self-care, and I take care of my body inside and out. It’s true what they say, love your body and your body will love you back.

It’s time to adopt a healthy lifestyle you actually enjoy and hit your weight loss goals. Click here to learn more or visit my Instagram to connect.

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Want another perspective? Check out my brother who lost 90 pounds and his journey!