Early in 2024, it seems fitting to remind ourselves of some of the steps needed to create a lifestyle aligned with our truest desires. You could think of it as a review, a refresh or a “quickstart.”

The list below summarizes the basics needed for permanent weight loss and for successfully achieving peace with food. Think of it not as a linear plan, but rather a process, a “practice.” Pick one or two bullets to start.

• Don’t go on a “diet.” Instead, create your own custom plan, gradually. Each modification needs to be something you can live with for the rest of your life! Research shows that without lifestyle and mindset changes, you will likely regain the weight. Design your plan to fit all aspects of your life—your schedule, what other people in your household eat, how much time you have to shop and prepare, your food preferences, restaurant meals—in short, everything! Identify one or two small behaviors you currently have which prevent you from reaching your goals. Begin by changing one of those, then practice being consistent before you layer in the next new habit.

• Work on your feelings of agency. You are in the driver’s seat. If you’re trying to follow what an outside expert prescribes, then there’s something to resist, someone to “blame.” Feelings of disempowerment simply lead to more eating! Instead, take ownership of all your food decisions, including the occasional choice to eat something that’s not on your plan.

• Reframe the notion of a “mistake.” Trial and error are required to design your custom plan. Try something, make a mistake, then analyze and modify. If you beat yourself up for a misstep, it can, ironically, lead you to think “screw it,” eat off plan and delay your progress. Also, do not hold yourself back by indulging repetitive thoughts about past dieting failures. They do not predict your future!

• Court compassion, the antidote to shame. If you are kind to yourself, you will be far less likely to engage in eating behaviors that hurt you. Even more importantly, curiosity and compassion will lead you to derive the deeper results available to you on this journey: self-acceptance, self-trust, and self-respect.

• Eat protein! It can kick-start your weight loss, help you maintain lean muscle mass, give you abundant energy, decrease cravings for sugar and other refined carbohydrates, promote repair of vital tissues and organs of your body, support your healthy metabolism, and more!

• Observe your hunger. Begin to distinguish true physical hunger from an emotional desire to eat. If you eat only when hungry, you will reach your natural weight effortlessly and greatly improve your metabolic health! This skill is more advanced that it sounds, so give yourself some time. And if your body signals seem “confused,” consider cutting sugar and flour dramatically.

• Redefine your satiety. It takes twenty minutes for the brain to register that we’ve had enough to eat. Build that into your mealtime; pause before you reach for seconds. Stop when you feel energized and fueled, not stuffed.

• Practice your new habits consistently over time. This is the biggest secret to success. Be like the tortoise: “Slow and steady wins the race!”

Questions? Send me a message here. I’m delighted to respond. You’ve GOT this!