Minimal Viable Habits — What is it?

It was February 2019. I returned from a beautiful trip to Thailand and realised that I had gained a whopping 5 kgs (11 pounds). I knew it was time to do something about my weight as I was at my heaviest.

However, I’ve struggled with managing my weight throughout my life. I haven’t been consistent with my exercise and my diet. I’m not sure why, maybe because I lose motivation quickly.

Then out of the blue, my friend gave me a copy of a book that could help me achieve my health goals. Surprisingly it’s not a health book.

It was called Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Start with the MVH

One of the first things I learned from the book is to create a system to help me build simple habits that help me achieve my goal.

So if I was to lose weight, then I’ll need to create a system that supports three types of habits: my exercise, my diet, and my fasting.

I started with something light. I would go to the gym twice weekly for 30 minutes each session. I would also eat Keto and skip breakfast for three days.

At first glance, it looks like I’m not fully committing to the process, but in reality, it was a way to start locking in habits. I didn’t want to go hard on the first week only to get lazy on the 2nd and 3rd week.

I had to train my mind and body to get into the habit.

This is what James calls the minimal viable habit. What is the absolute minimum you can do to start creating a habit?

Ramp it up slowly

After completing these simple habits in the third week, I decided to ramp it up. Instead of going to the gym twice a week, I did it thrice. Instead of just skipping breakfast, I would move my lunch to 2 pm instead of 12.

Amazingly, I lost 6 kilos in 5 weeks and felt my body was starting to take shape. I kept increasing the habits I was forming every three weeks until it got to the point where it became natural for me to do it consistently.

My body has adapted to my new lifestyle and continues to lose weight with little effort. In my 12th week, I went to the gym six days a week. I was eating only one meal a day while still eating Keto-type food.

Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash

Tiny improvements, dramatic results

Fast forward to 6 months since I started creating new habits, I lost a whopping 17 kilos (37.4 pounds). I was at my best weight since high school, and I felt amazing.

These tiny improvements to my habits got me the results I wanted because time was on my side. I didn’t care about losing so much weight instantly.

I only cared about building these habits to create the best version of myself in the long run.

Final thoughts

Whenever I have a goal I want to achieve, I always start with creating a system to help me create sustainable habits that will help me get closer to my desired outcome.

Currently, I am using (and tweaking) my system to make the most of the habits I have created. I know now that I don’t need to go hard to build new habits immediately.

I need to start with the MVH.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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