6 Ways You Can Refrain From Falling Back Into Bad Habits

You have managed to incorporate healthy habits into your routine successfully. You are eating your greens and fruits while avoiding sugar and fats. Things are going perfectly until that one day arrives. You decide to give in to your cravings and eat a pizza for lunch. The next day, you decide to eat a burger; before you know it, your slip-up day has turned into a groundhog day. You fall back into eating fast food and snacking on unhealthy junk daily. The cycle of bad habits has come back; this time, it may even be worse! So how do you stop this from happening? How do you refrain from falling back into a bad habit? We have jotted down six valuable tips that will help you stay on track and prevent you from slipping up. 

  • Get Professional Help For Addictions 

Breaking the habit of regular drinking or stopping substance use won’t be a piece of cake. You will experience withdrawal symptoms like nausea, headaches, anxiety, depression, and tremors. The symptoms may even become life-threatening. Thus, you may give into the temptation to find relief and relapse. 

The best way to stop yourself from falling back into your addiction is to get professional help from a rehabilitation facility. Facilities like delphihealthgroup.com create customized plans for each individual to ensure that they recover completely. They offer medically supervised detox plans and residential treatments that reduce the risk of relapse to almost 0. With sufficient willpower and professional help, you can leave your addiction problems behind and move on to a healthier lifestyle. 

  • Take It One Step At A Time 

Making an elaborate plan with big changes almost always fails. It is impossible to wake up one day and drop your bad habits altogether. Instead, you need to take things slow and plan out a small task instead of a huge one. Take it one step at a time, and you’ll be better able to achieve your goal without falling back into your old pattern. 

Instead of completely cutting off from a habit you want to quit, begin by cutting it down to half, then quarter, then 0. This way, you will give yourself time to adapt to each change, and you won’t relapse easily. Keep in mind that building a healthy habitual pattern takes time. Putting too much pressure on yourself will only cause delays instead of helping. Your plan should be simple and achievable while still being challenging enough to drive growth. The all-or-nothing mindset will only set you behind and stop you from achieving your goals. 

  • Learn To Cope With Stress

Stress is one of the most important drivers of relapsing back into a bad habit. Problems at work or in family life can cause you to break your cycle of good practices and fall back into the bad ones. Even feeling bored, guilty, or sad can do the same. Thus, it is essential to recognize the drivers of your slip-ups. Each time you want to relapse, ask yourself; do I really want to do this, or am I just feeling overwhelmed? Then, make more intelligent choices and find better ways to cope with your emotions. 

For example, stress is the most common reason people cannot maintain a good diet. The stress can cause you to seek comfort in food; before you know it, you will have eaten a whole jar of candies or several packets of chips. The best way to deal with this is to make smarter decisions. If you want an emotional snack, simply select a smarter choice. All in all, the trick to maintaining a good habit is to control yourself. Do not let yourself slip up completely. Instead, make smarter choices and opt for a middle ground. 

  • Don’t Allow Slip-Ups to Last 

During the start of your journey to break a bad habit, it is highly likely that you will have a bad day where you will slip up. This is normal, and it is okay. How you deal with this slip-up will determine if you can escape from your cycle of bad habits or not. 

Do not allow your slip-up to last for longer than a day. Just because you had one cheat meal does not mean you should have another one the next day. If you do not stick to your routine, you will spiral back into your old habits, and before you know it, you will be back at square one. 

  • Celebrate Your Wins 

Your behavior is also driven by feedback. Building a positive feedback loop gives you more confidence to tackle bigger challenges. Gradually, you will be able to create a positive upward spiral that helps you get better and better. 

Creating a positive feedback loop requires a reward system. While mental pats are enough for some people, others may need more tangible rewards. You can reward yourself with a nice meal after a week of eating healthy food or take yourself on a shopping trip after completing a workout goal. In conclusion, you should celebrate each win until you finally reach the point where winning becomes the usual norm for you. 

  • Focus On One Keystone Habit 

Making too many habits and breaking too many at once can become exhausting and lead to failure. Do not break your back by trying too hard to change overnight and failing instead. 

Focus on building one keystone habit and eliminating one bad one. Often, both habits will be symbiotic, and you can easily focus on both together. Once you’ve built your first good habit, building the second, third, fourth, and more will be considerably more manageable. It will create a positive snowball effect, and you’ll slowly see everything fall into place. 

Final Remarks

Breaking bad patterns is not an easy task. Remember to be gentle with yourself and don’t push yourself to do more than you can handle. With patience, willpower, and determination, you will successfully achieve your goal and leave behind your bad habits for good. 

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