Habit Control

Most people who decide to try out a “diet” either find one in a book or magazine or are given one by a nutritionist or personal trainer, follow that diet to the letter for 12–16 weeks, then switch straight back to the way they were living beforehand. Then — to their shock/horror — they start gaining weight again. Which is the reason why so many sceptics claim that low carb diets don’t work — because they tried one, lost weight, but put all the pounds back on again. This is typical of human nature: when something goes wrong, the last thing we blame is ourselves. The truth is that people regain the weight they lost because they start eating in exactly the same way they were prior to following the low carb diet.

But what if those people had possessed greater willpower — would this have helped them stick with the low carb lifestyle? The answer, sadly, is no: willpower is a weight-loss myth. If willpower by itself helped us lose weight then the first diet plan we ever followed, combined with the strength of our willpower, would have done the trick. So if willpower isn’t the key, what is? In my opinion, the answer lies in behavioural change, and this is something that takes time and also requires careful planning and training. There is ongoing argument in the educational and psychological fields over whether changing one’s habits can by itself lead to behavioural change — but years of experience has convinced me that habit change can most definitely lead to effective behavioural change.

Drawing from my personal observations of the previous nine years (assisting approximately 7000 low carb weight-loss clients plus another 20,000 or so sports nutrition clients since 1995), in this chapter I outline solutions to some of the many habits that may contribute to weight gain or poor weight management. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of responses to every single weight gain habit that exists — there are just too many to cover — but it will help you master the main types of habits that lie at the core of the problem.