Today, on the Fat Murder Podcast, we wanted to talk about habit formation and how long it really takes to form a habit.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard that it takes 21 days to form a habit, but is that true? And where did that number come from?
If you’re anything like me, you learned it as if it was some kind of undisputed fact.
Life lesson: When a lot of people regurgitate the same thing over and over again, then everyone will start to believe it.
But when you think about it, it’s understandable why people liked the idea of changing in 21 days.
The time frame is short enough to feel doable and long enough to be believable. And doesn’t like the idea of improving their life in just three weeks?
That sounds great, but the reality is, based on witnessing over 2500 clients go through my habit-based program, Unstuffed, it will probably take you anywhere from 6 months to 18 months to become the kind of person who naturally waits until they’re hungry to eat and stops before they’re full. Not 21 days.
There’s a reason why my program is 6 months and not a 30-day challenge. Change takes time. And behaviors you’ve been mindlessly executing for a lifetime take significantly longer.
Accepting that habit formation takes longer than 21 days can help you understand that habits aren’t something you do, they’re someone you become. They’re a process, not an event.
Knowing this from the beginning makes it easier to manage your expectations and commit to making small, incremental improvements – rather than pressuring yourself into thinking you have to become this new person overnight.
To dig into this topic with us, listen to today’s episode and take the time to identify which habits you’d like to master that will benefit you for the rest of your life.
We provide actionable steps and solutions how to turn this into not only a dream, but your reality.
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If you want to learn how to not-only lose weight, but lose the struggle along side it, you can get started by taking the Weight Loss Psychology Quiz: Discover Your Diet Personality Type