If you want to get into the Keto Zone, but are used to eating the Standard American Diet or another higher carbohydrate diet, you may have to break bad habits. And honestly, you may have to continue to break bad habits as you get into, and stay in the Keto Zone.

But, if you follow our 5-Step Method to break bad habits and get into the Keto Zone, you can develop new habits that will make it easier and easier as you go.

Here’s our 5-Step Method to Break Bad Habits and Get Into the Keto Zone.

Step 1. Find and Write Your Reason

It’s vitally important that you are clear on your reason for lifestyle and diet change. And it requires that you believe in it. For many people, this alone will be a predictor of success.

As stated in most “stages of change models,” your reason for a change must be strong in your own beliefs in order to stick with a difficult change (1).

If your reason is fleeting, based on someone else’s opinion, based on a trend, or you don’t actually believe in the problem or the benefit, you will likely not continue when the going gets tough.

This is the difference in a doctor recommending a diet in passing versus a patient who really believes they have a specific problem, and they MUST make a change.

See the difference?

Summary: Break Bad Habits and Get Into the Keto Zone: Take some time today to write down your reason for starting the Keto Zone diet. It can be as simple as losing 5-10 pounds, but it must be matched with a strong resolution that change is needed. Write it down. If you have someone you can share it with, whether in person, on our Keto Zone forum, or other, share it today.

Example: I am 30 pounds overweight and am pre-diabetic. This is a huge problem for my health, my future, and my family, and I don’t want to be unhealthy. I will do whatever it takes to lose 30 pounds and normalize my blood sugars. I believe the Keto Zone will help me.

Step 2. Identify a Specific Habit and Its Triggers

Next, after researching and reading about the Keto Zone, such as in this post, decide what habit you’d like to attack first.

For many, it’s simply eating more than 25 grams of net carbohydrates through starches, grains, fruits, milk and yogurt, sweets and processed foods.

Start with one change to correct this. If for example, you always eat a bagel (high-carb) for breakfast, it’s time to change and replace this habit.

To do so, take it one step further and identify what “triggers” are in your life that leads to eating a bagel. These may include:

1. Simply upon waking, I crave a bagel.
2. Driving by my favorite bagel shop on my way to work.
3. Hunger in the morning makes me crave a bagel.

These are the habit and its triggers. Identifying and writing them down a great step towards changing them!

Summary: Identify a Specific Habit and Its Triggers. Write down the specific habit you would like to change. It needs to be specific, and something that is within your control. It cannot be “I want to weigh” 5 pounds less. This is not a habit, but an outcome. Focus on one habit. And then write down the actions, situation, thoughts, etc that lead to the habit.

Example: My habit is eating a bagel for breakfast. My triggers are my hunger in the morning, my ritual of waking up and eating a bagel, and my craving for bagels as I drive by my favorite bagel shop.

Step 3. Replace the Triggers and Habits with a New One

Now, what would you like to do instead?

Perhaps you’d like to drink Keto Zone Coffee and delay eating until 11 am, thereby employing intermittent fasting. You’ve read and believed this will help you reduce carbohydrates, stay energized throughout the morning, and feel full and satisfied.

These are the outcomes you want.

But, it also takes dismantling the triggers to break bad habits and get into the Keto Zone.

So, take down each trigger:

1. Simply upon waking, I crave a bagel – I will start to drink Keto Zone Coffee within 30 minutes of waking up, despite any initial craving.
2. Driving by my favorite bagel shop on my way to work – I will drink my first cup of Keto Zone coffee on the way to work and take a different route until I no longer see the bagel shop as a trigger.
3. Hunger in the morning makes me crave a bagel – I will likely still wake up hungry, but I will depend on Keto Zone coffee to satiate me while improving my health.
4. If I want a bagel, I will count down from 5 to 0. Once I hit 0, it will be my new trigger to move in a different direction by making my coffee, drinking my coffee, or simply doing something else. Zero always means action towards my goals!
5. I will keep a daily journal to track my progress and write down triggers that I’ve used as replacements.

This is your time for action. Replace the forming a plan and obliterating the triggers!

Summary: Replace the Triggers and Habit: First,  write down your new habit. Then, copy your former triggers down, cross them out, and replace them with new triggers for your new habit. These need to be specific action steps you will take.

Example: My new habit is drinking Keto Zone Coffee each morning. I will wake up and make it right away. If I delay, I will count down from 5 to 0, and then make it. I will drink it on my way to work and at work, avoiding the bagel shop completely. I will have all the ingredients on hand to make this habit successful. I will keep a daily journal to track my progress and learn from mistakes.

Step 4. Create Meaningful Immediate Consequences

This part should hurt.

Humans are wired to respond to both rewards and consequences. But, since it’s often challenging to break bad habits, it’s important to put meaningful immediate consequences in place from the beginning.

For many people, this requires hitting their wallets.

There are few things as immediate and meaningful as money. Two options are requiring a payout to your family member, such as your kid, every time you succumb to the bad habit. But, it must hurt. It needs to be enough that you think twice, and it cannot feel nice to give this money or serve as a replacement for the money you would have given anyway.

Another option is to send money to an organization, political party, or charity you DON’T like. But again, you must follow-though immediately. It’s vitally important that you are clear on your reason for lifestyle and diet change. For many people, this alone will be a predictor of success.

Summary: Create Meaningful Immediate Consequences Write down your immediate, meaningful consequence. Be resolute to following through with the consequence, no matter how many times you must pay up. Make sure it’s not something you want to occur.

Example: I will pay my child $5 every time I succumb to my bad habit. I will tell my child ahead of time that this is a commitment I am making so that their built-in accountability. I will pay the same day as the bad habit occurs. I will keep this in my journal as well.

Step 5. Reward and Repeat to Break Bad Habits

Here’s the good news: It usually only takes a few consequences, as long as they are meaningful, to move past them and develop the new habits.

It’s time for a reward.

Set up a reward system based on your habits (but not necessarily outcomes). It’s important, again, to reward habits because these are things you can control.

Decide what habit the reward is based upon. Then, write down a specific reward. The reward should not be food-based, but something that means a lot to you and makes you happy.

Summary: Reward and Repeat Once again, write down the habit you’re breaking, and the habit you’re establishing. Write down a timeframe and requirements for a reward. Write down a meaningful reward.

Example: I will not eat any bagels for 14 days in a row. I will drink my Keto Zone Coffee every morning in place of a bagel for 14 days in a row.  I will buy myself the new shirt I’ve wanted when I complete this. I will repeat this same goal 3 times until I feel like the old habit is completely broken and the new one is completely established, and then I will work on a new habit. I will keep these actions in my journal and let my support system know as I reward myself and move onto a new habit!

Bottom Line

You can make real lifestyle change, break bad habits, and get into the Keto Zone. Our simple 5-Step Method can help you identify habits that you need to break, replace them, and stay motivated.