7 Micro-Habits That Helped Me Lose Weight

What is a micro-habit?

Micro-habit is a kind of daily mini-behavior that I like to pamper with positive OCD *. The micro-habit is to perform the desired activity in a very short time but in a repeated way. It can be so short that you never thought it could count.

Since the pandemic came, I put on about 8 kg, and then I focused on losing weight. I set out to reach a weight that would make me feel good about myself.

It is certain that I have lost a lot of weight with diet (over two kilos in 3 months), sports and micro-habits, but I do not want to write about it at the moment, as I have not yet reached the weight I want. I will come back with a detailed article at some point.

I'm just going to write about micro-habits. Those little things that we do for ourselves and that, repeated long enough, will end up as internal mechanisms of operation. For more information on micro-habits, I recommend The Art of Limiting the Essentials in Business and Everyday Life, written by Leo Babauta.

Micro-habits that helped me lose weight

I have no unallowed food in the house. If I'm not allowed sweets, it certainly doesn't help me to look at chocolate or other things that would sabotage me every day. I know, it's hard, but it really works.

I only have vegetables and yogurt in the fridge. Since I have given up certain foods that I used to eat quite a lot, I have moments when I feel like attacking the refrigerator in a barbaric way. Because sometimes I couldn't help myself, I decided that in the evening they would just catch me with yogurts and vegetables in the fridge. How much salad can a man eat? How much yogurt? I know, that means buying food in small quantities every day.

I buy food in small portions, the smallest. Because when I'm hungry, I don't stop until I'm a victim, I've learned to buy small portions and quantities. A little yogurt, a little ham foil, and so on. My brain gets tired of knowing that it has received the necessary portion, and so I can no longer fool myself that I respect the proportions… And the small food is really… small.

I only use small plates and put the food in the fridge after I put it on my plate. I don't eat until I bring the food back. I don't leave it on the table to make it easy to refill. In fact, I need very little food, even if I can eat a lot.

When I order food, I split the portion into two halves. Although the portion of the food is quite small anyway, I divide it in two and I eat twice, with a break of 1-2 hours between meals. If I take my soup and the second course, I don't eat both at the same table.

I replaced the sweets with fruit or drinking yogurt. I know, it's hard without chocolate or juices, but I'm used to it. I eat more fruit, and in the evening, if I'm hungry, I add another yogurt.

I haven't completely given up on forbidden foods, I don't act like I'm sick. I eat very, very little of them to pass my appetite. To read that I still steal from the unhealthy potatoes of my colleagues… Or I take another sip of cola so that I feel human too.

I didn't read these things anywhere, but I learned them more out of necessity. What healthy micro-habits do you have?