Small Steps, Big Change: Building Lasting Habits

 Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

. Small, intentional actions create momentum.

I’d like you to Start asking yourself these two questions:

• What is one habit I can realistically add this week?
  
  
  
• What’s the smallest version of this habit I can commit to?

Examples:

• Instead of 45 minutes of exercise, start with 10 minutes of walking or stretching.
  
  
  
• Instead of a full meal prep day, prep one meal or snack.
  
  
  
• Instead of strict diet rules, add one balanced plate per day.
  
  
  

The key to reaching your biblical weight loss goal is consistency over intensity. Each small step is a faithful choice that God honors.

1. Start Small – One habit per week is enough.
   
   
   
2. Anchor It – Attach your new habit to an existing routine (e.g., stretching after your morning devotion).
   
   
   
3. Track Progress – A simple checkmark or journal note reinforces your success.
   
   
   
4. Celebrate Wins – Reflect weekly and thank God for the progress you’ve made.
   
   
   
5. Be Patient – Habits take time. Trust God with your consistency.
   
   

Example micro-habit plan:

• Monday: 5 min morning stretch
  
  
  
• Tuesday: Drink an extra glass of water
  
  
  
• Wednesday: Prep a balanced snack
  
  
  
• Thursday: 10-minute walk
  
  
  
• Friday: Reflect and journal gratitude
  
  
  

Seek the Lord here and Remember: small, consistent steps honor God more than sporadic perfection. Reflect on these questions this week:

• Which small habit can I focus on right now?
  
  
  
• How can I rely on God to give me strength and consistency?
  
  
  
• What victories—even the seemingly small—can I celebrate this week?
• 
   “Lord, thank You for the gift of small, faithful steps. Help us build habits that honor You, strengthen our bodies, and bring joy. Give us patience and perseverance to press on, trusting You for growth and transformation. Amen.”

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and NOT losing weight?

Hey there friend, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach. I gained 100 pounds in my late twenties and struggled for years to get it off. Seven years ago, I found a basic system that worked and has helped me lose 90 of those pounds. I’ve been working with women in online fitness and nutrition ever since to break chains of diet culture, embrace their bodies and fueling instead of dieting.

In this podcast, I'll teach you how to:

• • Lose Weight in a Way that honors God without obsessing about the scale
  • Meal Plan and Prep for Your Family
  • Follow a MACRO based plan that allows you to eat the foods you love.
  • Recognize and pray through triggers keeping you stuck.
  • I’ll help you Plan your week and schedule your self-care time.
  • Cultivate a spirit of self-discipline in your workouts you actually enjoy.
  
  It's time to give God your health journey and watch Him make you new, from the inside, OUT.

Join The Biblical Weight Loss Framework: https://www.herweightlossmindset.com/framework

Join my FREE Community: https://bit.ly/JoinTheChristianWeightLossCommunity

Join my Insiders List with weekly tips for weight loss for Christian women: http://herweightlossmindset.com/herweightlossmindsetinsiders

Transcript

Hello, friends, welcome back.

So today we're talking about lasting products.

If you haven't noticed the theme for this month podcast, we're talking about small steps leading to big change.

Oh my goodness, that's the kind that stick and transform your life over time.

One of my favorite verses, I share it with you all the time.

Galatians 6.9 says, Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Listen, change is not instant.

Real lasting transformation happens step by step, day by day, one choice better today than you did yesterday.

That leads to one choice better tomorrow than today.

So we're gonna talk about building lasting habits that honor God and strengthen your body without overwhelm, without fear, without creating weight loss as an idol in your life.

So stay tuned.

We'll be right back.

Are you sick of trying diet after diet and not losing weight?

Are you tired of doubting your ability to actually lose weight in a healthy way?

Do you wish you could find a laid out for you plan that will help you stay accountable to your goals?

Hey friends, I'm Lindy Schlabach, Christian Fitness & Nutrition Coach.

I gained 100 pounds in my late 20s and struggled for years to get it off.

Nine years ago, I found a system that works and has helped me lose over 90 of those pounds.

I've worked with women in online fitness and nutrition ever since.

In this podcast, I'll teach you how to reframe your thoughts about weight loss and your ability to achieve lasting results and lose weight in a way that honors God without obsessing about the scale and meal plan and prep for your family.

So grab your pre-workout and let's chat.

Biblical Weight Loss is here for you.

If you're tired of trying diet after diet without losing sustainable weight or comparing yourself to every influencer on social media, join us.

If you're tired of feeling overwhelmed and defeated by the next fad or feeling like you have zero time to meal prep, join the framework.

If you are buying into the lie that you're never actually going to lose the weight, join the framework.

This five-step proven formula will give you a step-by-step approach to healing your mind so you can heal your body and walk in your God-given purpose.

When we lose weight according to the Holy Spirit, when we walk in step with God, this journey doesn't get easier.

But we know that He is going to give us what we need.

So find the link to join us at herweightlossmindset.com or in the show notes below.

So here's the thing.

Big goals often fail because we try to do everything all at once.

But it's the small intentional actions that actually create the momentum that will last.

So I want you to ask yourself a couple of questions.

What is one habit I can realistically add to my schedule this week?

And what's the smallest version of this habit that I can actually commit to in the season of life that I'm in?

So a couple of examples.

Instead of 45 minutes of exercise, start with 10 minutes of walking or stretching.

And instead of a full day or full week of meal prep, find one healthy meal or snack for the day.

And instead of strict diet rules or nailing all your macros, add one balanced plate to your meals per day.

Listen, the key to reaching your Biblical weight loss goals is consistency over intensity.

I've shared this with you a million times.

If you have seven days in the week and you nail your workout, your water, your meal prep, all of it in one day, fantastic, because that's not going to happen probably again for the next week or two.

It's the small step.

That creates faithful choices that honor God and the body that He's given us.

Start small.

One habit per week is enough.

And until you get that habit nailed down, take three to four weeks, take two months.

The average time it takes to build a discipline is anywhere from 60 to 284 days.

Start small.

If it takes you three years to nail an exercise habit, but that leads to your lifelong habit, that's going to create consistency and strengthen your body fantastic.

We're not going for six week fad diets here.

We are exercising.

We're making small healthy habits.

We're meal prepping for a life that is going to honor God and allow us to walk out the Great Commission, which is the entire point of the gospel.

And then anchor that seemingly small habit.

Attach it to an existing routine.

So you have nailed your morning routine, let's say, for three to four weeks.

And you feel like you're ready to do a ten-minute stretch two days a week.

So attach that new habit to your already pretty solid and consistent morning routine.

And then track your progress.

A simple check mark or journal note is going to reinforce your success.

Three things every day that you're grateful for, for your body.

Not for who you are, not your kindness, not your this, not your character, for your body.

Maybe those legs that are a little jigglier than you would like, or the arms that are still waving like me when you put your hand down.

Like focus on three things that you're grateful for, for your body.

Speak life to her.

Daryl and I just went to a marriage retreat and it was talking about speaking life to your spouse.

We need to speak life to our spouse, but we also need to speak life to ourselves.

So the conference was called Vertical Marriage.

It's by David Ann Wilson.

If you ever have the opportunity, go through it.

It was absolutely amazing.

And it's called Vertical Marriage because we're looking up.

We're focusing on our personal relationship with Jesus first, so that we can then go into our marriage and love our spouses and speak life to them as God would call us to.

But it's all about focusing on our faith journey first.

I've said that to you a thousand times.

When you focus on your looking up, God works out everything around you.

It's the same in your workout routine.

It's the same in your marriage.

It's the same in your work.

Tracking our progress, making sure that we're celebrating those things that seem so small are actually victories.

And when we can focus on gratitude, we keep going regardless of the outcome.

We're focusing on Holy Spirit obedience, not the outcome.

And then we're gonna celebrate those wins every week.

Thank God for the progress that you've made.

If you drink two more ounces of water than you did the day before, fantastic, celebrate it.

Cause you're gonna drink two more ounces tomorrow and we're gonna celebrate that too.

You have to be patient.

Building these habits takes time.

Running through triggers and healing from unhealthy mindsets, it takes time.

We're breaking chains here.

This is not an easy task.

But trusting God with our consistency and knowing that He's gonna give us what we need when we lay down our strive and try and surrender, He is gonna give us what we need.

So, here is an example of a micro habit plan that you can implement right now.

So, Monday morning, today, you are gonna stretch for five minutes.

Tuesday, you're gonna start your day with an extra glass of water before your coffee.

Wednesday, you're gonna prep a balanced snack.

Thursday, you're gonna go for a ten-minute walk.

And Friday, you're gonna reflect and journal your gratitude.

Okay, so this is a micro habit plan.

You can operate in this plan or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you can do a five-minute morning stretch.

Or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you can drink an extra glass of water.

So build it to make sense for wherever you're at in your life right now.

Seek the Lord here.

This is about leading you to habits that are gonna honor him wherever he might need you to be.

Maybe he doesn't need you to prep a balanced snack right now.

Maybe he needs you to focus on your morning routine and drinking more water and focusing on gratitude.

So let the Lord lead.

Ask him.

He will give you the habit that you need to start with.

It's the small consistent steps that are gonna honor him.

Far more than sporadic perfection.

He's not interested in your perfection.

There was one perfect human to walk the earth ever in the last thousands of years.

It was Jesus.

You're not Jesus.

Get over yourself, lay down your pride, lay down the perfectionism mindset that is leading you here.

We're never gonna be perfect.

Let yourself go.

There's freedom in that.

And then ask yourself these questions this week.

Which small habit am I gonna focus on right now?

And how can I rely on God to give me strength and consistency instead of my perfectionism?

And what victories can I celebrate right now?

Oh, holy Lord, thank you for the gift of small faithful steps.

Remind us that our job is to listen to you and walk that out.

Help us to build habits that honor you and strengthen our bodies and bring joy.

Give us patience and perseverance to press on in this really hard journey of breaking chains.

We trust you for growth.

We trust you for lasting transformation, Lord.

And when the journey gets hard, remind us that you're not about us being a certain weight, that you want us to walk obedient to you so that we can live out the purpose that you have created for us in the Great Commission.

Lead us, Lord, forgive us when we fail, and help us to walk in the area that you need to walk us in.

We love you.

Amen.