Did you know the things we did to lose weight are the very things we will need to continue to do in order to maintain our weight loss?

Here are 8 Daily Habits For Weight Loss Success:

1. Daily Mindset: This is a check up from the neck up! Get our gratitude on, read some motivating and positive material, mantras, and focus on our daily goals. Arm ourselves with healthy, weight and waist-friendly options to optimize our day and ward off the temptation to grab a quick high-calorie indulgence.
2. Eat 5 small meals per day, especially breakfast. I was one of those people who never ate breakfast. When I started adding breakfast into my day, I noticed I was less hungry and had less urge to snack. There’s science to back up the importance of eating breakfast. Rush University has a wonderful article which details the science behind breakfast.
3. Track:  Track our eating, exercise, and steps (although I don’t place a priority on my steps per day) in the Myfitnesspal app on our cell phone. You cannot help yourself be successful without data analysis. Since we “track” in so many other areas our of personal and professional lives, it’s really a “no-brainer” to add this quick step and habit into our daily routine. It’s as simple as a few clicks and you’re done.
4. Water Goals:  Experts suggest to aim for 8 glasses of water each day. Basically, begin with the 8 glasses of water recommendation by the medical community and build from there. Be mindful to increase your water intake before, during and after exercise.
5. Activity and Exercise: Having a weekly exercise goal is very helpful. It’s also important to be more active throughout our day.  Take regular breaks and get up from our desk to walk and stretch. Park our car further away from the destination and get more walking in. While shopping, take a lap around the store or mall once beforehand. Any way to get a few more minutes of exercise here and there really adds up.
6. Stress & Food Trigger Coping Techniques: I really leaned on food as my go-to stress reliever which isn’t a healthy coping mechanism.  If this is something that resonates with you, it’s important to consciously pay attention to situations that are more stressful than usual.  By being much more in touch and aware of those triggers, it allows us to work our way through it without reaching for food to “even us out!” There are all sorts of things and sometimes, it takes multiple techniques to quiet that uneasy feeling that comes up.
7. Learning: Since awareness (sometimes known as mindfulness) is a key component to improvement, look at each day with an open mind for opportunities to learn, improve and grow. Mistakes and not handling situations the best way does happen at times. Rather than beating ourselves up over it, look at those moments as golden learning opportunities. Use these situations to teach us how to do things better or how to avoid making those mistakes altogether. Guilt, shame, and self-loathing are positions that focus on weakness. Acknowledging the areas that need improvement, and developing sound solutions,  keeps us accountable. This approach empowers us, builds our self-confidence, and strength, which points us in the direction of success.
8. Nightly recap:  Instead of having a “nightcap,” each evening,  review our day instead! End with gratitude, look at what we’ve learned, and what to look forward to.