How do you cope when you break a new habit?

Changing habits built up over a lifetime is hard work – there are several different stages we go through, from recognising something needs to change, to preparing to change it, actually taking action to change and then maintaining that change. It is very rare that we can maintain new habits forever with no slip ups so at some point something will knock us back into an old habit. An example would be thinking you need to improve your diet but taking no action, contemplating over it, buying a healthy new cookbook, reading through it, making healthy recipes for a few weeks and then having a weekend away and reverting back to fast processed foods because they’re easy and familiar.

It’s important to know that this cycle is normal – it happens to everyone! How you deal with it is key here. Ideally, we recognise what’s happened, that we need to implement another change and we begin the cycle again, moving through the stages faster each time until eventually the behaviour becomes habitual.

The time this takes is different for everyone but throwing the towel in after you first slip up is not the answer - spend less time beating yourself up and more time figuring out what tripped you up and how you can avoid it happening again 🤗