It’s been said that it takes at least 21 days for something to become a habit, if done consistently. Once it becomes a habit, the action is automatic every day. However, if it’s a bad habit, those seem to be some of the ones that are difficult to break. If you’re overweight or obese, then chances are you acquired plenty of bad habits over the years to get you to the point where you are.

Being in either one of these positions is not fun, nor is it good for your health. If you’ve been dieting, you know that when you lose the weight, more times than not it comes right back. This is because you deprived yourself of certain foods. Also, you sapped away at the fat that was stored in your body. Therefore, when you start to eat normal again, your body accumulates additional fat, which causes you to gain the weight back.

Going from diet to diet can also be a bad habit. You’re so desperate wanting to lose the weight that you can’t be patient and focus on the right way to do it. However, don’t despair. There are some things that you can do to learn new habits in order to lose weight for the long-term:

• You must make a concrete decision that you are tired of the yo-yo merry go round cycle and want to lose weight. • Find out what the root cause of your weight gain and work to eradicate it. Whatever is was that caused you to gain the weight is obviously part of the bad habit.

• You will need to be committed to executing a plan for weight loss.

• Put those plans in place of the bad habits and work on them.

• You will have to be patient, because when you learn new habits it can take a while. Everyone doesn’t change at the same pace.

• If you find yourself going back to your bad habit(s), catch yourself and stop immediately.

• Continue with the new habit and repeat it so that it can be the new habit.

You may have to increase the number of times that you do it in order for it to work for you. Find other people that will support you in your efforts. You want people that will cheer you on as you work on losing weight. Don’t get frustrated if you don’t see results overnight. The key to weight loss success is being focused, disciplined and taking action.