4 Habits Teachers Can Start Right Now to Help Them Lose Weight

The Teaching ELA Podcast

Habits

If you’re going to succeed at weight loss or any positive life change you’re going to need to establish habits that serve you. Habits are the things we do automatically, without giving it too much thought. Here are a few habits that will increase your chances of success as you lose weight.

1. Movement - You need to get in the habit of moving. The prevailing wisdom is to aim for 10,000 steps and I think that’s a good goal. If you don’t currently exercise regularly, don’t feel you need to do some crazy workout routine. Just start walking more. There are low cost step tracking watches as well as smart phone apps that will help you track steps. I want to stress that the key to weight loss is not exercise, it’s eating smart. And movement can be an effective way to leverage healthy eating habits. Now if you already exercise regularly, bravo! Keep doing it.
2. Food Tracking - Those who track what they eat are more likely to succeed at weight loss. I’ll be honest: I hate tracking food--to the point where I’ve not eaten it because I didn’t feel like logging it--which turns out to be one benefit of tracking it. Now that I’ve consistently tracked my food for almost a year, it’s not that big of a deal anymore. I recommend MyFitnessPal but I’m sure there are others that do the same thing.
3. Sleep - Your body and mind function better when you get enough rest. How much sleep do you need? Probably more than you’re getting. Chances are you’re up and getting ready for work much sooner than most people and since your boss isn’t going to change the entire school schedule to accommodate your weight loss goal, you need to get to bed sooner.
4. Meal Planning - Was that groaning I heard? The #1 habit I strengthened that helped me lose weight and maintain weight is meal planning. Now when I say meal planning, I don’t mean some hieroglyphic-like chart with every meal from now until 2032 on a calendar with listed ingredients. For me it simply means that before I go to bed, I make my lunch for the next day. That’s my meal plan strategy.