[This is an excerpt from my upcoming weight loss book, The Weight Loss Habit]
Edit:
The book is now available.
Remember my tip about forming habits from Part 1: To be able to form a habit, it’s really best if it’s something that’s easy, convenient, enjoyable, provides immediate positive feedback, or is incremental improvements over time.
You can kind of cheat this with exercise, by making it more enjoyable and giving yourself immediate positive feedback through the use of a reward.
If you do something that makes you happy or is really enjoyable immediately after, or even better – during – exercise, then you’ll mentally associate the two things, and start to crave exercise because of the reward.
Some possible rewards are:
- Watch a favorite or “guilty pleasure” TV show.
- Watch movies.
- Exercise with friends so that you can socialize at the same time.
- Listen to your favorite music.
- Listen to your favorite podcast.