How long til it becomes habit?

"They" say it takes 14 day consitantly to make anything a habbit. I never formed a habbit with exercise. Diet takes time and build up of logging and what food to eat before it became easier.

I agree, it took me about 2 - 3 weeks until the healthier food choices became natural. My boyfriend was chowing down some pizza yesterday (Health reason require a high fat/high caloric diet for him) and it didn't appeal to me at all.

I can't say about going to the gym, though. I was already pretty active before I started working on healthier food. I cycle and play tennis, which avoids having to force myself to go to the gym (which I hate).

I hope it gets easier for you soon!

As soon as I had my house emptied of unclean food, the diet was easy. Nothing to eat, nothing to cheat.

The exercise is still a daily effort. I force myself into my sneakers. I can't stand how sore I feel most of the time. THEY tell me that part passes. I am waiting for it to pass.

I think it truly depends on your motivation for adopting the new habit. If your only motivation is seeing the number on the scale go down, then your choices/decisions will be based on that and may never truly become a habit. I think this is the reason so many people regain the weight. We like to say "I'm making a lifestyle change" but the second the weightloss stops (either at goal, a plateau, or a momentary stall) people tend to revert back to their old ways, which tells you it wasn't really a lifstyle change.

It took me about 6 months to really get into an exercise routine. During that time I hid my scale and really tried to focus on how I was feeling. I set fitness goals and revised them as I got better. Now if I don't workout I miss it. I knew exercise was a part of my life when I was trying to figure out the best way to run in the rain (I hated running before...and still hate running on a treadmill).

Now I am focused on the diet part of the equation. I tried counting calories but it makes me slightly obsessive and I tend to eat when I'm not hungry just because I have the calories for it, or will finish a meal after I'm full because I have already entered the nutrition info. I experimented with Intermittent Fasting which actually lead me to more of an intuitive eating approach. I have lost 3 lbs in the last month, where previously I had only lost 4 lbs in 6 months. I'm not bashing calorie counting. It actually taught me quite a bit, but it wasn't something I want to do forever and ... well that is part of forming a habit (the willingness to do it forever).

I became (and still am) addicted to working out around 3 weeks in to my dedicated lifestyle change... Ugh I need to run now (j/k it's not That bad- I'm not actually gonna go run right now... Maybe in a few though...)

Exercise became a habit as soon as my skinny frame put on an extra 8 pounds. I did dancing and weights. That was in 1987. I've been up on that habit even now, and I'm loaded with arthritis. BUT making a habit of eating decent never happened, and I kept getting bigger and bigger, regardless how I worked out. Went through many weight loss programs but cardboard doesnt taste good. I've lost 24 pounds on MFP - took a year!! but if I had developed a HABIT of choosing better foods, I'd be down and maintaining by now. The loss will be slower if you still eat crap within the desired daily calories - just what I've been doing. I'm working on it slowly but its sooo hard. I need that habit.

its lot lot harder than anyone says but when it does become a habit try and not let it become a addiction every thing in moderation that will be the key.

To be honest, with MFP, it felt like a habit pretty quickly. I think that's because I didn't really change what I ate in the beginning, I just made sure I only ate enough to fit into my calorie goal. As time went on, I made tweaks to it to fit more easily into my calorie goal. As more time went on, I started making other small changes here and there to get a better nutritional balance. I haven't cut anything out completely - no particular food or food group. I still eat all my favourites. The ones that are very high in calorie, I eat in smaller portions and less often, but I don't deprive myself of food that I? like. I don't feel like I'm "on a diet", so I'm not constantly worrying about caving in.

I do sometimes struggle with emotional eating, and that hasn't completely gone away. When that happens, there still has to be an element of "will power", and just distracting myself until the feelings subside. Worst case scenario - I use food to make myself feel better, but I always log it, and logging it stops it from going out of control. Still an unheatlhy coping mechanism, but at least it doesn't result in gaining a ridiculous amount of weight. (Not saying it's that easy for everyone.) But those days happen less and less, and now I eat more to properly fuel and nourish my body and the exercise that I do.

Based on all that, my advice would be to not make any drastic changes to your diet, at least not yet. Cutting things out completely is likely to make you feel deprived, and that increases the risk of a binge, or just stopping altogether. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with going low-carb, or cutting down on sugar, or cutting out the sodas or whatever, but for me, it's been much easier to focus on the calories first. Get portion sizes under control, learn to practise moderation, and then focus on what other nutritional changes you want to make. You don't have to do it all at once. You could try to increase your water consumption for a while, and then try and get more protein, or less sugar, or whatever's important to you.

Bottom line: losing weight is not easy. It doesn't have to be torture though. Try to create a diet that doesn't feel like a diet, that you can stick with indefinitely. Then, the rest will fall into place.

I've read up on this and "Experts" agree it takes 21 days to break a bad habit and form a new one. Though I'm not really sure who these experts are or what kind of studies they've done so I guess just try to see what works best for you! LOL

When you find what works and the scale goes down it' is highly motivating and addicting. Part of me sort of misses all the riding one victory to the next phase. Now it's just maintenance for me so the victories are just learning to be happy with your new life, and remembering how unhappy you were when you were obese.

If you find yourself floundering this is what worked for me, The Venus Index and the Anything Goes Diet. They are the reason I stopped floundering after 15 years and am now living my dream at age 50

blog bobbiesfitness.com

You're profile pic creeps me out, sorry.

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit

Good luck!

They say 21 days to make or break a habit. But you need to be continuous!! If you run for 3 days then take a break for 3 days it will take longer to get into the "habit".

Officially it took me about 3-4 months before I started to crave running and working out. Before I'd do it because I needed to - now I do it because I really want to. But again - I was not continuous so I'd run/work out 3-4x per week, so the habit took a little longer to become a habit.

I recently read "Weight Loss Boss", written by the CEO of Weight Watchers. He claimed 4-6 months depending on the habit.

As soon as I had my house emptied of unclean food, the diet was easy. Nothing to eat, nothing to cheat.

The exercise is still a daily effort. I force myself into my sneakers. I can't stand how sore I feel most of the time. THEY tell me that part passes. I am waiting for it to pass.

I'm sore every day, unless I take a couple of days off! And I've been at this for almost 3 years. THEY are wrong!!!!!

From a physiological standpoint, any time you make a change, it takes 21 days for the body to adapt to the change. This can be changing an exercise routine, adding exercise, nutritional makeup, job change, sleep patterns, etc. After the initial 21 days, you should be able to see measurable results within another 3 weeks. It does take time to change behaviors but if you can push thru the first 3 weeks, you will begin looking forward to doing your activities and watching what and how much you are eating. Just don't be in too much of a hurry to change your routines....go at least 8-12 weeks which gives the body time to adapt and get used to what you are doing. Most people who are serious about their physical training go thu a process called periodization which cycles different intensities within the same type of activity. Check your local or college library for more info on this topic.