Everyone is ready to get back into a routine once September rolls around. There’s something about the start of a new school year and the shift from summer into fall that makes us want to get back on track with our health and weight loss goals.

But here’s the thing: while you’re feeling that burst of motivation, you’re also probably feeling completely overwhelmed. Between soccer signups, swim lessons, back-to-school nights, packing lunches, managing your day job, and trying to keep the house from falling apart—your plate is already full.

So how do you use that September energy to actually move the needle on your weight loss? And how do you keep the momentum going once October and November roll around?

The answer isn’t what you think. And it’s definitely not about overhauling your entire life. Keep reading to learn how to reset your habits, one at a time, in a sustainable way.

Why Making Multiple Changes at Once Backfires

New season, new energy, which is great, except for sometimes it can backfire when you try to overhaul multiple things in your life at once. You may be feeling motivated to meal prep, workout every day, and get eight hours of sleep.

All of these are great habits to focus on for sustainable weight loss, but trying to do them all at once is a great way to ensure none of the changes stick. By week two, you’re exhausted. By week three, you’ve thrown in the towel. And by the time the holidays roll around, you’re telling yourself you’ll start fresh on January 1st.

Sound familiar?

Here’s the truth: trying to change everything at once is a recipe for burnout. And when nothing sticks, you end up right back where you started—or worse, you feel like you’ve failed.

But there’s good news: you don’t need to overhaul everything to keep your weight loss moving forward. In fact, doing the opposite—focusing on one or two key habits—is what actually creates lasting results.

Get Back Into a Routine By Focusing on Small Changes

I have a new client who just started working with me two and a half weeks ago. She’s a busy working mom, and before coming to me, she had tried Noom (hello, calorie counting), which just left her feeling hungry all the time.

She took things into her own hands and started working out more and trying to snack less at night. But when she reached out to me, she was frustrated. The scale wasn’t moving. She felt uncomfortable in her body and completely defeated.

When we started working together, I had her walk me through everything she was eating in a day. Here’s what I found: she was eating really healthy food. She wasn’t living on fast food or junk. But I could immediately see a few simple places where she needed to make small upgrades.

So that’s exactly what I told her to do:

• Make one specific upgrade to her breakfast
• Change a couple things at lunch and dinner (nothing drastic—mostly adjusting portions of foods she was already eating)
• Start lifting weights twice a week following a structured program (not random workouts)
• Increase her daily steps by about 1,000 (nothing crazy—her steps were pretty low to begin with)

That’s it. No food groups cut out. No calorie counting. No extreme elimination diet. She didn’t give up any foods.

When I met with her yesterday—just two and a half weeks after our first call—she was already down five pounds, half an inch in her waist, her clothes felt looser, and she said her “afternoon soul-sucking exhaustion” was completely gone.

Her words, not mine.

I asked her the question I always ask my clients: “Do you feel like you’re dieting?”

Her answer? “No, I don’t. I feel like I can keep doing this.”

That’s the difference between sustainable weight loss and a restrictive diet.

Why September and October Are Some of the Best Months to Lose Weight

I probably don’t have to tell you why it’s more difficult to try to lose weight during the summer or the holidays (I actually love helping women during these seasons because they come every year, so it’s best to learn how to navigate them).

But some of the simplest months for locking in sustainable habits in my opinion? September and October.

These months fall right between the major vacation seasons and the major holidays. You’re home more, you’re in a routine, and there’s less temptation from extra travel and indulgent food.

This makes September and October the perfect time to solidify your habits so that by the time the holidays roll around, those habits are already locked in. They’re just part of your routine.

Instead of waiting until January 1st to start fresh (again), you could be 10 pounds down between now and the end of the year—just by focusing on simple, consistent habits.

The 5-Step Framework for Building Habits That Actually Stick

Okay, so let’s talk strategy. Here’s exactly how to use your September motivation to create lasting change without burning out.

Step 1: Pick One (Maybe Two) Habits to Focus On

First things first: you need to choose your focus habit for September. Not five habits. Not a complete lifestyle overhaul. One or two habits, maximum.

If you’ve already been working on something over the summer—like getting 10,000 steps a day or walking regularly—awesome, keep doing that and pick something new to layer on top.

If you haven’t been focused on anything specific, pick just one thing.

Here are some examples of powerful habits to focus on:

• Meal planning or meal prep
• Getting more daily steps
• Committing to strength training 2-3 times per week
• Increasing your water intake
• Going to bed earlier
• Managing your stress better

I love these habits because most of them are foundation habits—habits that have a positive ripple effect into other areas of your life. I learned this phrase from Gretchin Rubin’s book, Better Than Before.

For example, if you get a good night’s sleep, you’re more likely to make better food choices the next day and have more energy to work out. If you work out, you’re likely to sleep better that night.

One habit positively affects another habit.

How to choose your habit: Pick one that feels like the simplest and easiest to focus on during September (when things are already crazy), or one you feel like you really need to get a handle on.

For me? It’s meal prep and meal planning. I flew by the seat of my pants all summer, and I know I need to plan my dinners, get into a better cooking routine, and think about when everything’s going to happen. That’s my focus for September.

What’s yours?

Write it down right now.

Step 2: Schedule It and Habit Stack

Once you’ve picked your habit, it has to go in your schedule. When are you actually going to do this thing?

This is where habit stacking comes in—a concept from James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits. Habit stacking is where you take the new thing you want to do and pair it with something you already do.

Here are some examples:

Example 1: I had a client who would walk to pick up her daughter from school around 4 pm. It wasn’t that far of a walk. So she said, “I’m just going to leave at 3 pm instead.” She had flexibility in her schedule to leave an hour earlier, so she started walking for an hour, then picking up her daughter. She was already going to pick up her daughter—she just stacked her walk before that existing habit.

Example 2: Maybe you already pack school lunches for your kids at night. You’re already in the kitchen with food out. So while you’re packing school lunches, why not make your overnight oats or chia pudding for breakfast the next day? You’re already doing the task—just add one more thing to it.

These small actions, layered consistently through habit stacking, become an effortless part of your routine over time. It just takes a little practice.

Step 3: Work Backwards When Necessary

Some habits require you to think backwards to make them actually happen. This especially comes into play with bedtime and meal prepping.

For meal planning: If you want to have healthy dinners planned for next week, you need to think:

• What days are we actually cooking next week?
• When do we grocery shop?
• When do we need the grocery list ready?
• When do we need to decide what we’re making?

You have to work backwards. Maybe you need to plan meals on Friday for the following week because you grocery shop on Saturday, then you prep some things on Sunday. Or maybe you cook some meals on Sunday and some during the week.

For bedtime: Say you want to be asleep by 10:30 pm. How long does your nighttime routine take? Your skincare, winding down, turning off your phone? Do you need to start that whole process at 9:30? 9:00? 10:00?

If you actually want lights out at 10:30, but you like to read in bed for 20 minutes, you need to get in bed around 10. Seems simple, yet it’s still hard to do.

Working backwards ensures your habit actually fits into your life.

Step 4: Get the Tools and Resources You Need

Now, assemble any tools or resources that might help you actually do this habit.

This could be:

• A walking pad (as the weather gets colder, this can really help you get steps in)
• A weighted vest (maybe it motivates you to go on walks because you’re getting more calorie burn and working your core)
• New weights (time to upgrade and start lifting heavier)
• New workout equipment
• Meal prep containers
• A new lunch box

Your kids probably get a new lunchbox each year, so now it’s your turn for an upgrade.

Buy something new that excites you about your habit. If you’re excited about the habit, you’re more likely to do it.

Step 5: Find Accountability

Okay, tough love time: some people have really good internal accountability, but most of us need external accountability to actually make things happen.

Sure, you can set reminders on your phone or your calendar. But for a lot of us, we’re just going to ignore those reminders and do whatever we think is more important at that moment—whether that’s work or something else.

For most of us, we need another actual person to hold us accountable.

The built-in accountability in our Sustainable Weight Loss Method program helps our mom clients finally get consistent with their habits. They send me pictures of their food, and I’m in their pocket giving feedback and helping them along the way.

It’s not about being the food police, but rather it helps them stay accountable and change their habits. When someone else sees what you’re doing, you don’t want to let them down. t’s that external accountability helping them change their habit and get consistent.

That accountability forces them to make the change over and over until it becomes routine.

Here are some ways to create accountability:

• Go on walks with a friend
• Hire a personal trainer
• Schedule a workout class – you’re financially invested, have to show up at a scheduled time, and don’t want to let the instructor down by canceling
• Work with a dietitian
• Join a community with other people on the same journey
• Ask your spouse, partner, or kids to help keep you on track

I recently asked my husband to help hold me accountable to not eating late into the evening.

Financial incentive matters too: If you pay for a gym, you’re more likely to show up. However, there’s typically a certain amount of money that has to be leaving your account each month to keep you accountable. If you’re aren’t paying that much, you may find yourself financially supporting the gym but not actually going.

The Most Important Part: Progress Over Perfection

Alright, so you’ve picked your habit, scheduled it, figured out accountability, and acquired any tools you may need (or want).

Now comes the most important part: Progress over perfection. Consistency over intensity.

Small changes add up over time.

If something doesn’t go as planned—you didn’t do that walk on the day you said you would, you were supposed to do strength training Monday and Wednesday but Monday didn’t happen—do it Tuesday. Do it Thursday. It doesn’t matter when. Just do it.

Going on a 15-minute walk a few times a week is much better than going on a 45-minute walk every once in a while when you magically have 45 minutes to carve out.

Those small, consistent changes add up over time.

It doesn’t mean it’s easy. In fact, it can be challenging if you are someone who worked out a lot before having kids. But now? You’re working with small pockets of time, so you have to squeeze things in where you can.

And while you’re thinking about your pockets of time, ask yourself: what do I need to give up?

How important is your health or weight loss goal to you? Is it more important than doom scrolling at night? Are you wasting 30 minutes scrolling when you could be prepping breakfast for the next day or going on a walk?

Tough love, but someone’s gotta give it to you.

Think in Quarters, Not Days

Here’s a helpful reframe: think about your day in quarters—morning, midday/lunchtime, afternoon, and evening.

If something doesn’t go well in the morning, just get back on track in the next quarter of the day. Don’t wait until the next day. Don’t wait until Monday.

Every day you put off just delays your results. Every time you make a small action at the next meal or the next quarter of the day, you get to your results faster.

And remember: something is better than nothing.

Even if the habit is small, it’s better than starting big and stopping. We’re done with that cycle, remember?

Focus on the Habit, Not the Outcome

Here’s something really important that I should have said at the beginning: it’s important to stay focused on the habit because that’s something we have control over and we can take action on. Too often we hyper fixate on the outcome (i.e. weight or the scale), and while we have some control over this, we don’t have as much control as we do over our daily actions. Plus, it takes time for the results to come. It’s not going to happen day to day but focusing on habits day to day will lead to the result over time.

Saying “I want to lose five pounds in September” is a great goal to have. Cool. But what are you going to do to get there?

If you spend every day thinking “I want to lose five pounds” and weighing yourself, that’s doing nothing but leaving you feeling defeated, discouraged, and frustrated.

You can have that outcome goal—but every day, your focus needs to be on the habits that are going to get you there.

That’s why I encourage picking a habit to focus on each month, not a result or an outcome.

What to Do in October (And Beyond)

In October, you can either:

• Pick a new habit to layer on top of the September habit
• Keep working on the same habit if you don’t feel like it’s quite locked into your routine yet

That’s it. Then you stay patient, give it time, and tweak and troubleshoot as needed.

You don’t have to have new goals every week or every month. Sometimes the most powerful and effective thing you can do is the same habits over and over. It’s not always about doing more but rather getting consistent with the core habits that move the needle.

You Don’t Have to Do This Alone

If you’re reading this thinking, “This sounds great, but I could really use help staying accountable and knowing exactly what to focus on,” then I want to invite you to join us inside The Sustainable Weight Loss Method.

This is my three-month program where we give you:

• The roadmap you need for this season of life as a busy working mom
• Simple, sustainable strategies for weight loss by focusing on habits, not restrictive diets
• Massive accountability through our community and regular check-ins
• Expert guidance so you always know what to focus on next

The combination of the roadmap + accountability puts you on the right path and helps you stay consistent until these habits become part of your routine.

Ready to Make September Your Month?

Here’s your action plan:

1. Pick one habit to focus on for September
2. Schedule it and habit stack it with something you already do
3. Work backwards if necessary (especially for meal prep and bedtime)
4. Get any tools or resources that will help (and make it exciting!)
5. Find accountability—whether that’s a friend, a program, or a community
6. Focus on progress over perfection—something is always better than nothing

Remember: you don’t have to overhaul your entire life to see results. You don’t have to wait until January 1st to start making progress.

You could be 10 pounds down by the end of the year just by focusing on simple, consistent habits starting right now in September.

Small changes, layered consistently over time, create the transformation you’re looking for.

So what’s it going to be? What’s your one habit for September?

Ready to build sustainable habits that actually stick?

Download my free guide: 5 Habits for Sustainable Weight Loss for Busy Working Moms—these are the exact strategies I use with my clients to help them lose weight and actually keep it off.