How small, everyday adjustments quietly shape your weight — in ways you may not even notice.

I’m always on about how small adjustments are easier to implement than big change, and that small adjustments repeated every day will lead to great change in our weight over time.

But frankly, most people don’t actually believe me. They don’t believe it’s true. Sure, in theory it sounds good, but in practice, it seems unlikely.

So let’s look at it from the other side of the coin. How do we gain 5, 10, 15, 20… or more kilos?

We make small adjustments, repeat them daily, and they lead to great change we don’t want.

What kind of adjustments, I hear you ask? These kinds:
• We let our belt out one notch at a time when our waistband feels tight
• We start wearing roomier clothes when things get too tight to do up or start restricting us
• We stop getting on the scales when we don’t like the message they deliver
• When we look at ourselves in the mirror, we turn to the most flattering angle or avoid looking altogether
• We feel an uncomfortable emotion and soothe it with food or beverages
• The portion of food on our plate gets a little bigger and a little bigger until we’re serving ourselves enough for two meals
• We start having one wine every night and that then turns into two…

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, isn’t it?

When you look at it that way, it’s easy to see that in practice, small changes really do lead to great change.

So what kind of small adjustments can lead us the other way?

• Do all the ones in reverse
  • Have a little less milk and/or sugar in each cup of tea or coffee
  • Buy smaller packets of biscuits, or fewer packets of biscuits. Buy single serves of cakes, chocolates and chips
  • Halve the amount of butter on sandwiches (butter one slice instead of both)
  • Halve the amount of gravy on dinner
  • Go to bed 30 minutes earlier — it helps reduce the afternoon slump that leads to snacking
  • Park at the back of the carpark and walk a little further
  • Find something funny to watch and laugh a little more
  • Meet a friend for a walk once a week, or go on your own

The difference between the first lot of adjustments and the second lot is this: the first are unintentional — you do them without thinking.

The second are intentional. You make them with conscious awareness of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

We all do it. There’s nothing wrong with doing it… other than its leading us to destinations we don’t want to arrive at.

So if you’re going to hit repeat on habits and behaviours, do it with the ones that are going to give you long-term benefits, not short-term relief.

To create the change that you want, you have to swap making comfortable adjustments to uncomfortable situations… and start making uncomfortable adjustments to comfortable situations.

Think about that for a minute.