Why not use the 80-20 rule to lose weight more easily?

For those of you unfamiliar with the 80-20 rules, I’ll explain it here. The 80/20 rule is a universal rule that applies to all topics in life, from business to relationships to health. To break it down to its basics, it means that 20% of the effort gives you 80% results and 80% of your effort gives you 20% of your results.

If we take someone who runs a store as an example, they might find that 20% of their products provide them 80% of their profits and the other 80% only 20% of their profits.

So how can you use this rule to your advantage?

20% of Bad Habits Cause 80% of Your Problems – Make a list of your bad eating habits, you will probably notice that there are 1-2 habits you do over and over again that are causing all the problems. You may notice that snacking in front of the TV is a big mistake you make. Just change that habit and you can see a big difference in your weight loss.

Reduce plates by 20% – Try to find plates that are 20% smaller than the ones you normally use. It may seem like a small thing, but it can produce big results.

80% of time in the gym is wasted time – if you’re looking to cut time and burn more calories, focus more on building muscle mass than cardiovascular work. Although cardio has its place, increasing your daily metabolic rate by doing some weight training is best done.

80% of car trips are probably wasted trips – while we all need cars to get around, but if you look at how many trips you make per day, you probably don’t need to do them all in one car. If you’ve gotten into the habit of getting in the car during those 2 minute drive to the local store, why not leave the car in the driveway and ride a bike?

80% of watching TV is wasted time – some people complain that they never have time to exercise, but like everyone else, we only have 24 hours. How are you spending yours?

You might be surprised at how much time is wasted in the day watching TV, sitting around watching shows we probably don’t like, or browsing channels out of habit.

If you think about it, there is really only a basic selection of shows that we actually watch (20%). So why not just stick to that and forget about the others (80%)? Now you have this extra time to get on a cycling machine or treadmill at home or just go for a walk.

While the 80/20 rule is not an exact science that everything falls into exactly 80% and 20%. You will find that even changing small things on one side can make big differences on the other.

So why not use it to your advantage instead of against you?