167 Fat Loss Habits

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1 Fat Loss Habits 167 By Coach Stevo and The Habitry Collective

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habits to loose weight

Transcript of 167 Fat Loss Habits

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    """"

    Fat Loss Habits

    167

    By Coach Stevo and The Habitry Collective

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    This assortment of words and pictures was created by The Habitry Collective, a

    fluid collective of health and fitness enthusiasts with a passion for

    reasonableness. Contributing members to this document include Coach Stevo,

    Josh Hillis, Marc Halpern, Seth Munsey, Taylor Lewis, Rob Morris, and Dan

    John. The entire work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-

    ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://

    creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.

    "If youre not familiar with Creative Commons, it pretty much means you can

    make whatever you want with this thing, just make sure you attribute what you

    take from it to The Habitry Collective. You know, dont be a jerk.

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    You know all those fitness magazine

    covers that we all roll our eyes at?

    The ones with airbrushed models

    (who never, ever looked like that a day

    in their life), medically ludicrous

    promises (Get a Six Pack in 9

    Seconds!), and quotes from fitness

    professionals like us taken completely

    out of context (Fitness Expert Dan

    John tells us how to Get a Six Pack in

    9 Seconds!)? Yeah, thats where

    most of our clients are getting their

    entire health and fitness education. And no, I dont mean the magazines, I mean

    the covers. They stand in line after shopping while they were hangry, staring at

    those covers while simultaneously hating/loving/envying/loathing the airbrushed

    people they think look like that and gleaning what they can from the covers so

    they can change their lives to be like them, maybe, one-day, when their kids are

    in pre-school/school/middle-school/high-school/college.

    A lot of us alienate these people (aka, 90% of the population of the United

    States) when we say things like, theres no tricks. Theres no shortcuts. Which

    What the Heck is This Thing?

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    is doubly funny because its a lie; fat loss is all simple tricks that you get good at

    one at a time until you dont have to think about them any more. We just call

    them habits. Lifelong fat loss is lifelong learning, through trial and error,

    enough of these habits to keep your weight under control without it controlling

    you. So instead of fighting our clients expectations, lets be honest with them.

    Its all tricks. Its all shortcuts. They just take a while to get good at.

    The Habitry Collective have accumulated many of these over the years,

    so we thought wed catalogue a few hundred or so for your, and your clients

    benefit. We have also included the reasoning behind them so that you can copy,

    paste, and share (with attribution). Youll notice that some of these habits

    contradict each other. Thats on purpose; not everything works for everyone.

    Some of them kinda sound the same. Thats on purpose, too. We left them in

    because dierent words resonate more with some than others. And most of

    them probably came from other people who are smarter than us. What you

    wont find in here is anything crazy. If all of these seem obvious, then we have

    done our job.

    "

    - George Orwell

    Sometimes the first duty of

    intelligent [people] is the restatement

    of the obvious.

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    There are 167 tips in this document. The Habitry Collective have used them all

    personally, with clients, or both. So they are tested, but not foolproof. Read

    through them and see what resonates with your training style. Maybe highlight a

    couple. And if you really want to make them yours, try paraphrasing them or

    rewriting them in your own words. Then test them out on your clients and see

    which ones work and which ones fall flat. Whats important to remember is that

    these tips are not magic words; they are the beginning of a conversation with

    your client. The real goal is to integrate the intended behavior into your clients

    life, which is going to take more than a sentence or two you got from the

    internet. And please, please, please obey the cardinal rule of habit-based

    coaching: dont ask them to do more than one thing at a time.

    To do everything at once, you have to be

    lousy at everything. To be great, you have

    to focus on very few things most of us

    can barely handle more than one.

    Dan John

    How to Use This Thing

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    "1. Keep a food journal. If there is one simple, secret trick to eating less its

    knowing how much youre eating in the first place. Keeping a food journal is

    not the solution to all problems, but its a lot easier to get to Point B when

    you know where the hell Point A is.

    2. Stop eating when you are 80% full. Most of the cues that people rely on tell

    them when to put the fork down are external (clean your plate!). By training

    yourself to rely on internal cues, like being 80% full instead of eating until you

    feel like youre carrying around a food baby, you can begin to trust your

    hunger levels and eat appropriate amounts of food at the appropriate times.

    3. Cut everything you eat in half. Eat the first half guilt free, then ask yourself if

    you really want the other half and why. If the answer is, yes, because Im

    freaking hungry, then eat the other half guilt free.

    4. Replace grains with greens. Theres nothing bad about grains (grains are

    not capable of moral judgement), but most people eat too much of them

    because they are so damn convenient. And telling yourself not to eat

    something is about as eective as me telling you not to think of a pink

    elephant right now. See? So instead of just trying to force a negative habit on

    yourself, turn that trigger (eating grains) into a trigger got a better habit

    (eating greens).

    5. Walk 10-15,000 steps a day. Buy a cheap pedometer or download a free

    app for your iPhone (like Moves) and see how many steps you take a day.

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    Now shoot for more. In some cases, a lot more. Walking is one of the most

    beneficial activities humans can engage in and for fat loss, wed rather have

    clients walk 10-15,000 steps a day than exercise (if they have to pick).

    6. Walk around the room when you talk on the phone. Want extra steps?

    Make a habit of pacing around the room when youre on phone calls.

    7. Leave your desk for lunch. This

    is a twofer. You have to walk to

    your food and youre less likely to

    eat mindlessly when you are

    focused on eating instead of that

    stupid email from Tammy in

    accounting.

    8. Set your alarm to give yourself

    enough time to go the gym, even if

    you dont think you will go. And

    keep setting it. Eventually, youll

    just get out of bed and since theres not much else to do at 6AM

    9. The Alpo diet. A trick from Dan John (via Tony Robbins). The hope of future

    gain is terrible inspiration (Be hotter eventually). Sos the fear of future

    losses (you might die of a heart attack in your 70s). Most people see

    healthy lifestyles as a nightmarishly painful option and staying the same as

    comfortable and easy. But you can change the stakes very easily by telling

    Always leave your

    desk at lunch.

    - Richard Branson

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    your friends that if you dont stick to a new habit (that you will document on

    social media) then youll eat a can of dog food. In front of them. On video.

    Yeah, kale sauted in garlic and olive oil doesnt sound so bad now, does it.

    10. Gym-pact. Its the internet version of the Alpo Diet except with money.

    11. Prioritize protein. Protein is filling as hell. If you get in the protein, youre

    less likely to eat less awesome stu.

    12. Eat colorful veggies at every meal. More veggies, less room for crap. Plus

    they are tasty when you give them a chance and cook them right.

    13. Eat a dierent plant every day (or a plant in a dierent way). In our

    experience, most people who claim to hate fruit and vegetables cant

    remember the last time they had one. So take a few weeks and challenge

    yourself to try a whole bunch of new fruits and veggies! Never had fresh

    mango? Nows your chance! Ever wondered what the kale fuss is all about?

    Roast some in the oven and make kale chips for the first time!

    14. Sign up for a CSA box. Its like doing the above trick, except nice people

    bring the fruits and veggies to your front door.

    15. Stop drinking calories. (Except bourbon. Bourbon is awesome.)

    16. Drink a glass of water for every glass of wine/beer/bourbon. One of the

    major reasons that people drink liquid calories like cocktails is not to get

    drunk, but because were thirsty. By slowing down your rate of cocktail

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    consumption and drinking water in between manhattans, you might actually

    drink less calories and feel better when your gym-time alarm goes o!

    17. Before you drink alcohol, drink a big glass of water. Same as above, but

    front-loaded.

    18. KEEP A FOOD JOURNAL. Seriously people, how are you gonna get where

    you need to be if you dont know where you are?

    19. Plan to Fail. Its going to happen. Youre going to have a day(week/month/

    decade) when nothing goes right and youre going to make less-than-optimal

    decisions. So have a plan about what youre going to tell yourself to get back

    on track.

    Success consists of going from

    failure to failure without a loss

    of enthusiasm.

    - Winston Churchill

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    20. Do a post-mortem. When things do go wrong, look at it as a failure of

    strategy instead of a failure of willpower. Assess what you did that got you to

    this point and make a new plan that takes it into account. Didnt think about

    the weekend? Now you know. Didnt remember that theres barely any fresh

    vegetables in Sweden? Now you know.

    21. Plan (schedule) your free meals at the beginning of the week. It can been

    all the dierence between an indulgent meal and a weekend o the rails.

    22. Shopping for good food is your most important workout of the week.

    Plan for it. Schedule it. Prepare for it. Just like you would prepare for your

    hardest workout.

    23. Put delicious seasonings on healthy food. It can make all the dierence

    between thinking, OMG delicious Kale! and OMG I have to eat Kale.

    Make it easy on yourself at every possible opportunity.

    24. When things go wrong, go back to basics; fall back on the foundations. If

    its food, re-examine total calories before you worry about nutrient timing or

    macros.

    25. Wait a week. Fat loss is not linear. EVER. So when fat loss stalls, wait a

    week before flipping out.

    26. Go to farmers markets as a fun outing. Fat loss takes a community and

    should be more fun than not. Farmers markets are an opportunity to have a

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    little fun with the people you care about surrounded by delicious, nutritious

    food!

    27. Buy foods youve never heard of, then google how to eat them.

    28. Challenge your friends to recipe competitions. Who can cook the best

    steak. Who can cook the best vegetable dish. Set calorie limits for an extra

    challenge or dont and just bask in the joy of good friends and food.

    29. Look for similarities in popular diet plans, ignore the dierences.

    30. Journal about feeling full see if you feel more full after meals with more

    carbs and less fats, or more full after meals with more fats and less carbs.

    31. When you get stuck eating out, forget about the food choices you dont

    have. Just make the best choice you can from the options you do have.

    32. When you get good results, write down what you did right. Notice that its

    fairly simple.

    33. When you get bad results, go back to what was working when you got

    good results. Notice that its fairly simple.

    34. Remember that everyone falls o. The game is getting back on.

    35. Keep it in perspective. If you lost $20, you wouldnt say e it! and go

    empty your entire bank account into the trash. Dont treat your diet that way

    either.

    36. Realize that perfectionism is a way to abdicate responsibility. If your only

    option is perfection, then your only option is failure.

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    37. Notice that feeling bad is a way to not take any actions that would make a

    dierence. Feel your feels. Now make a plan.

    38. When someone tells you you look leaner and fitter, believe them.

    39. Keep a workout journal. Its like a food journal, but for heavy things and

    sweating.

    40. Every couple months, go back through your workout journal and notice

    how much progress youve made. Be proud of what your body can do.

    41. Forget about days and start thinking in months. Dont worry about any

    individual day of food or scale weight. Look at trends over weeks and

    months.

    People overestimate

    what they can

    accomplish in a day,

    and underestimate

    what they can

    accomplish in a year.

    - Bill Gates

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    42. Throw out all of the diet books. Buy more cookbooks/recipe books, even if

    at the moment you dont think youll ever be the kind of person who cooks.

    43. When you cook, cook too much. Have all four burners going and cook at

    least two dierent meals at the same time (i.e. dinner + lunch for tomorrow).

    44. Always make enough to have leftovers for a couple of days.

    45. So ideally youre making dinner, plus two days of dinner leftovers, and

    lunch for three days, every time you go in the kitchen.

    46. Buy more tupperware. Buy twice as much as youll ever think you need.

    47. Buy Mason jars for storing sauces and soups. Theyre hipster tupperware.

    48. Make tasty food easy. Get spice mixes and sauces. Buy pre-made

    hollandaise and salad dressings. Buy herbs de provence.

    49. Make a List of Whys. List every reason that you want to perform a daily

    healthy habit like the ones on this list. Every reason from the noble to the

    vain. From the clever to the stupid. Dont judge them, because theyre going

    to come in handy.

    50. When things get hard, refer to your List of Whys. Find the one reason

    that feels the most motivating to you right now and say it out loud. Louder.

    Freaking yell it! Now go do it!

    51. Go to friends gyms. See what you like, what you dont, and see if you can

    picture yourself there. Think of it like a blind date.

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    52. When you want a snack, drink green tea. Its tasty, easy, and has enough

    caeine to delay the onset of the hangries.

    53. Know what you want. Not what

    you think you want; not what you

    think your family wants for you; not

    what the magazines tell you that

    you want; and not what you think

    the person asking wants to hear.

    When his clients tells me they want

    to run a marathon Coach Stevo

    usually says, No one wants to run

    a marathon. Marathons suck. We want to be the kind of person who ran a

    marathon. So think long and hard about the kind of person you want to be

    and what skills and habits you need to become that person.

    54. Failing to plan is planning to fail. One of the biggest mistakes we make is

    coming up with an audacious goal then patting ourselves on the back for

    being brave in our own heads. What about the process of getting there? In

    order to get to your Big Goal, you need a bunch of Small Goals that lead up

    to it. As they say,A goal without a plan is just a wish.

    55. Aim lower, but more often. Small goals focused on the process of building

    the skills and habits necessary to achieve your Big Goal are the secret sauce

    Be wary of getting

    your goal and

    discovering it

    wasnt worth it.

    Dan John

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    to success. Dan John has a saying, how do you become a 200ft thrower?

    You become a 190ft thrower and you keep practicing.

    56. Focus on the process. There are so many things in our lives that are out of

    our control, but we can practice and improve the skills, habits, and behaviors

    necessary to achieve any goal even if the opportunities prove scarce. By

    focusing on the process, we make achieving Big Goals as likely as possible.

    Henry Hartman summed this idea up nicely when he said, Success always

    comes when preparation meets opportunity.

    57. Make a Mantra. Were human. We overestimate, get distracted, and lose

    focus, but at least we know we will. So have a plan to get back on track and

    a slogan to remind yourself. Coach Stevos mantra: Theres always Monday.

    That way hell only lose 6 days at the absolute most. If your only option is

    perfection, then your only outcome will be failure.

    58. Put yourself out there. At Coach Stevos first (and only to date) Olympic

    weightlifting meet, he took second-to-dead-last. A middle school student

    lifted more weight than him. But Tommy Kono, the only person to hold world

    records in four weight classes in weightlifting, pulled him aside and said,

    You dont learn to compete in practice. Its hard to get better by yourself, so

    whatever your goal, you need to practice it out there, in public, and in the

    wild.

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    59. Start Today. The question Coach Stevo asks every one of his clients after a

    goal-setting session is simple: What can you do today to get one step closer

    to that goal? Then we put 100% focus and energy on that next step. Once

    the goal is set, we forget about it and focus on the next step until the next

    step is done.

    60. Make a shopping list. Even if you are going to store for one thing, write it

    down and stick to the plan. A great way to generate a shopping list is to start

    with recipes that I am exited to make. That way, you have a plan for the week

    as well as some great dishes to look forward to!

    61. Shop on a schedule. Set a reminder and go to the grocery store for your big

    shopping trip at the same time every week. With over half of our brains

    activity dedicated to automatic decisions, humans are creatures of habit. And

    by shopping at the same time every week, you can more easily get into the

    routine of buying healthier food automatically. If you run out of something and

    have to go back to the store mid-week, only buy what you went there to buy

    (make a list!). Most of the junk food in your house probably got there on

    those little emergency trips that happened outside of your grocery store

    routine.

    62. Dont shop hungry. When youre hungry, your willpower is low, making it

    harder to resist the box Lucky Charms. If your stomach is growling when you

    get to the grocery store, grab a snack from the aisle to take the edge o and

    keep the wrapper so you can pay for it in the checkout lane. Better one

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    mediocre food decision than the dozens that can result from shopping on an

    empty stomach.

    63. Buy treats (but not the fully assembled kind). The greatest threat and

    greatest ally to fat loss is convenience. Want to stop eating a pint of ice

    cream a week? Dont pick up a carton ice cream. Instead, buy sugar, eggs,

    and heavy cream, and an ice cream maker. It only takes about 20 minutes to

    make fresh, delicious ice cream in any flavor you want, but having all the

    ingredients (unassembled, and without the convenient pint and lid) will limit

    your ice cream eating to those times when you really, really want it.

    64. Get the good stu delivered. If you live in a major city, many grocery stores

    oer home delivery. Ordering your groceries online practically forces you to

    stick to your list! Other options for delivery include community supported

    agriculture (CSA) boxes and farmer co-ops, which are often cheaper and

    more delicious than the grocery store because only in-season items are

    included. On the first of every month, a box of fresh fruits and vegetables

    arrives at my houseits convenient and temptation free.

    65. Dont shop alone. When people shop with others, even kids, they tend to

    make better decisions. How likely are you to buy that box of Lucky Charms if

    you have to justify it to your friends?

    "

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    66. Forgive yourself. It wasnt going to be easy and it wasnt going to be

    perfect. Youre still on the path, youre still moving forward, the road just isnt

    as straight as it looked from where you were. For many people, this is the

    most dicult step, but theres a trick that might make it easier: Take a deep

    breath and actually say the words, Im OK, out loud.

    67. Win or Learn. One of the athletes with whom Coach Stevo worked had a

    sticker on her training journal that said simply, Win or Learn. This is an

    opportunity to reorient. Why is the path dierent than you thought? Are your

    priorities in order? Are you pushing yourself too hard? Or not enough? Are

    - Wumen Hui-k'ai

    A Zen monk approached his new teacher.

    I have just entered the monastery. Please teach me.

    The Zen Master asked, Have you eaten?

    The monk replied, I have eaten.

    Then you had better wash your bowl.

    At that moment the monk was enlightened.

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    you bored? Are you missing something? These are all fixable problems if you

    take the time to reflect.

    68. Change your perspective. There is a saying in Zen Buddhism: The

    obstacles are the path. Context is everything, and if you think of this

    moment as an opportunity to learn more about yourself and what youre

    doing, then youll actually be better o for the experience.

    69. Dont worry about the next mile, worry about the next step. Put your time

    and energy into what you need to do today to get back on track. What can

    you do in the next day, the next hour, or the next 60 seconds that will refocus

    you on your goal? Even if its simply tossing the leftovers in the trash or

    making a cup of coee, youll be headed in the right direction.

    70. Have a ritual for failure. Great athletes have some set pattern that tell them

    its time to move on. They take a deep breath. They take o their shoes. They

    pack up their gear. Even the simple act of saying out loud, Whelp, glad thats

    over! can create the space necessary to get back at it.

    71. Take pictures. If what you want is to look better in a swimsuit, in a pair of

    jeans, or even naked, take before and after pictures. The number on the scale

    can remain stubbornly fixed even as your clothes begin to hang better on

    your body and you start to look slimmer in the mirror. Rather than hopping on

    the scale every Monday, whip out a camera phone and take a selfie instead.

    72. Use a tape measure. Coach Stevo has had clients come to me after

    consistently losing weight for a year and says, verbatim, I need a new plan. I

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    stopped losing weight, even though my waist is getting smaller. If your waist

    or hip measurements, the circumference at the widest points, are going

    down, you are losing fat. Just keep doing what youre doing and throw away

    your scale.

    73. Play with your kids (or grandkids)! If your goal is to be able to play with

    your little ones without getting tired, set a time to play with them every week.

    If its getting easier to do week after week, then youre making progress!

    74. When it comes to the human body, only bad things happen quickly (like

    injuries). Good things take time, and always more time than we think they

    should. Keeping track of healthy things you are doing, like eating colorful

    vegetables at every meal and walking daily, is the best way to see if youre

    doing what you actually need to be to reach your goals. Every great athlete

    keeps a training log. Every pilot keeps a flight log. When you start doubting

    yourself, just look at all the little things youre doing and remind yourself

    youre on the right track! You just

    have to keep moving forward!

    75. Plan a sleep routine. Going to

    bed at the same time every night

    sets the stage for shutting down

    your brain and falling asleep

    quickly. But the plan should start

    well before you turn out the lights.

    Sleep! You probably wont

    even consider this one, but it is

    the single best weight loss

    tool, muscle gain tool, training

    tool, life tool, I have ever

    encountered.

    Dan John

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    76. Set a shut down alarm. It takes time to unwind, so have an alarm go o

    30 to 45 minutes before you want to actually be asleep and begin your

    bedtime ritual.

    77. Create a nightly ritual. Turn o all your electronic screens, write down

    everything you need to do tomorrow (so youre not fretting about when the

    lights go out), get into your pajamas, brush your teeth, wash your face, drink

    a small glass of water. Whatever you need to do before bed, do it in the same

    order every night. This sends the message to your brain that its sleepy time.

    78. Get dark. Humans are very sensitive to light, so do your best to make your

    bedroom as dark as possible. Think about repositioning your furniture,

    purchasing a set of dark curtains, and covering up all the little lights on your

    devicesblack electrical tape works well. If you keep your cell phone on your

    bedside table, place it face down.

    79. Make your room as quiet as possible (or get earplugs). A bed partner can

    make this dicult, so consider investing in a pair of earplugs or a white noise

    machine if the person next to you is a heavy breather. There are also phone

    apps that successfully mue the sound of snoring.

    80. Soak up the sun during the day. Exposing yourself to plenty of natural light

    during the day, taps into your bodys circadian rhythmthe internal clock

    that tells you when youre tired. At night, the contrast of your dark, quiet

    room, will strongly signal that clock to make you sleepy, so youll fall asleep

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    faster and more easily. Spend as much time outside during the day or in

    bright rooms as you can and save dark spaces for bedtime.

    81. Make dinner before you leave the house. Dinner is not a surprise; its

    pretty much a nightly occurrence. So plan it out, chop it up, portion it out,

    and put it in the fridge before youre anywhere near that fast-food window.

    Then you wont spend your drive home worrying about prepping, cooking,

    and cleaningyou just have to tackle reheating. Pressed for time in the

    morning? Make dinner the night before, or pre-plate a few meals on Sunday.

    82. Have a snack in your car. We make the poorest food choices when were

    hungry. So carry something with youbaby carrots and peanut butter, or trail

    mix, to tide you over until you make it past all the fast food places and can

    make it home for a full meal.

    83. Take the long way home. Sometimes the best way to get away from a bad

    relationship is to avoid the person. That strategy works for fast food, too.

    Sometimes its a lot easier to take the back roads than to drive right past

    those golden arches. And lets be honest: Youre not just gonna get the

    salad, are you?

    84. Invite someone over. If you know you dont have any food in the house, and

    fries sound so good you can almost taste them, go on a preemptive strike

    and invite a friend over for dinner. You can meet at the grocery store, order

    some healthier take-out, or combine whats in your fridges for a creative

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    leftovers dinner. Any menu the two of you create will be better than

    continuing the cycle of convenient, car-based calories.

    85. Reflect on how you got here. When theres a paper bag in your lap and the

    smell of KFC on your breath, its time to ask yourself a simple, nonjudgmental

    question: How did I get here? At some point in your day, your plan proved

    too hard, too complex, or too unreasonable. Reflect on what you can do to

    make your evening meal simpler and more convenient than those 189 fateful

    seconds to help you break free of the pattern the next time.

    86. Dont keep pitfall foods at home. Yes, it can be that simple! Are you

    snacking on chips after dinner? Dont buy chips. People typically hit the

    grocery store at times of greater discipline and clarity than those sugar- and

    salt-crazed moments just before

    midnight, so its easier to resist

    temptations and fill your cart with

    nutritious options. If you cant shop

    right after a meal, have a snack

    before going to the market. One

    smart snack now is better than

    seven nights of mindless potato chip

    munching.

    87. Have a dessert fallback plan. At

    some point youre going to get - Garry Kasparov

    It is better to have a

    bad plan than no plan.

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    hungry after dinner. Having a contingency plan to prevent you from suering

    all night is smart. Try keeping an emergency bar (thats one bar) of incredibly

    dark chocolate (80% cacao or more) in the house. Two pieces of dark

    chocolate with a little peanut butter can satisfy most cravings, and its

    actually pretty hard to gorge yourself on chocolate that dark.

    88. Dont skimp on supper. Consistently leaving the dinner table hungry puts

    you at a disadvantage, and creates a caloric deficit that will be impossible to

    maintain in the long term. Be reasonable. If an extra helping of chicken or

    vegetables keeps you from devouring a sleeve of Girl Scout cookies later,

    that second serving was worth it.

    89. Notice your triggers. Coach Stevo once had a client who would eat a pint of

    ice cream on the nights she had a self-imposed midnight deadline to finish an

    accounting report for her business. When he suggested she move the

    deadline to noon, her dark-hour dairy binges stopped. Are you overlooking

    any subliminal cues that might be causing you to snack? Keep track of when

    youre logging those late-night snacks in your food diary to see if you can link

    it to a specific activity, event, or feeling.

    90. Make a ritual that reminds you that youre done eating for the day. Using

    a set or series of activities to declare, Im done with that; now Im onto this,

    can be very powerful. A simple ritual that works for one of my clients: When

    she has finished eating for the evening, she cleans her teethdinner, floss,

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    brush, done. That clean-mouth feeling reminds her that her teeth are o duty

    for the night, and its time to do something other than eat.

    91. Find a closer gym. Jennifer Gay, Ph.D., and her colleagues conducted an

    experiment and found no matter how motivated people were, the biggest

    factor in determining whether or not people who just started exercising would

    still be exercising in 6 months was how convenient it was to get to their gym.

    Why fight an uphill battle? Pick the one thats closest to your home or oce.

    92. Go to the gym in the morning. People who start an exercise habit in the

    morning are far more likely to stick to it. There are lots of reasons for this, but

    the most compelling is known as decision fatigue. Researchers have found

    that decisions cost something to make and we are more likely to depend

    on impulse and habit by the end of the day. So after commuting, working,

    and commuting again, youre less likely to go the gym later in the day than in

    the morning.

    93. Get beyond should. There are lots of things we should do. We should

    floss twice a day. And call our mothers. But feeling like we should do

    somethingwhat psychologists call introjected motivationis a very poor

    quality motivator when compared to feeling like we must to do something,

    or need to do something. So tell your friends that if you dont workout

    twelve times this month, they can shave your head.

    94. Find a reason (for today). Write down every reason you can think of for

    going to the gym. Every answer to the question, Why? Keep that list by

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    your bed. When your alarm goes o at 6AM, grab the list and pick the reason

    that sounds most motivating to you for that day.

    95. Simply set the alarm. Coach Stevo once had a client who, couldnt work out

    in the morning. After getting to a possible root of her issue, setting an alarm

    clock seemed to be the best solution. She wasnt confident that she could go

    to the gym (even once), but she was 100% confident that she could set an

    alarm for 6:00am. So he asked her to set it right there, on her phone, in front

    of him. She could do anything she wanted after the alarm went o he just

    wanted her to set the alarm. The next day she walked into my gym at

    6:30am. I was up, she said. Thought Id come here. 80% of life is

    showing upand most of us cant do that without an alarm.

    More is just more.

    More isnt better.

    Dan John

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    96. Have a Ive got 5 mins to workout. We all have those days where time

    just gets away from us and our schedules are slammed. Plan out a quick

    5-10 min workout that you can do anywhere. Something like, squats, crawls,

    and sprints. Set a timer for 5 mins, set a rep goal for each exercise, and

    complete as many rounds as you can. That way you always get at least some

    movement in for the day.

    97. Take pictures of your meal and share it with a friend. They dont even

    have to analyze it. Just knowing that someone else is seeing everything thats

    on the plate can help guide us to make better food choices.

    98. Unplug. There have been many a workouts missed or cut short because of

    the temptation to finish reading that blog, checking Facebook for the

    millionth time, or getting stuck trying to catch up on the endless flow of

    emails. Put down the phone, turn o the computer screen, and start moving.

    You will be much happier afterwards. Those emails will always be there

    waiting for you.

    99. No T.V. in the bedroom. Seinfeld re-runs are awesome, but not so much at

    midnight when you have to be up at 5 am. Having a television in the bedroom

    can ruin your sleep quality. The temptation to turn on the T.V. for just a few

    minutes before sleeping can turn into an hour plus of lost sleep.

    100. Take more action, do less thinking. The wrong diet, executed well and

    consistently is more eective than the perfect diet executed sporadically.

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    101. Dont major in minors. Go with things that are obvious. When an article

    comes out that Kale is bad, dont skip the kale salad and go get fast food.

    The worst vegetable is better than the crap most people eat every day. You

    know this already.

    102. If the same thing derails your plan two or three times in a row, that

    means you need a new strategy.

    103. Better strategies and planning are always more eective than willpower

    and discipline.

    104. Review your food journals. If you treat your food journal as a grade of

    your plan, you can always see where to replan or create new strategies.

    105. Write down a Plan B for each week. Most of the things that could derail

    your plan next week, you already know. Take the time to set up your Plan

    Bs at the beginning of each week.

    106. The simplest and easiest plan is the best. Youre not gonna remember a

    complex plan when youre hangry.

    107. Stock Up. If you need grab-and-go kinds of healthy food, you should

    stock up on those. Buy too many. The last thing you wanna do is run out!

    108. Experiment (and record). Most people feel full if they have protein at every

    meal. Some people feel more full with more fat vs. carbohydrates, and some

    people feel more full with more carbohydrates vs. fat. Adjust your ratios until

    you feel more full.

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    109. Look at the dierence, not the absolutes. If you ate 25 free meals last

    week, and this week you eat 24, youve made progress. Little bits of progress

    all of the time = results.

    110. Take it one meal at a time. You can break up your planning by meal or by

    day. For example, this week you could just focus on breakfast. Next week

    just focus on lunch.

    111. Every day is not the same. Weekends require dierent planning and

    structure from weekdays. Get your weekday meals handled before you even

    worry about the weekends.

    112. Have a free day or free meals or some version of an o-plan time.

    Just so you can turn your brain o for a spell. So really, you only have to get

    one weekend day handled.

    113. Focus on planning, shopping and cooking, even before you focus on

    eating.

    114. Then focus on increasing consistency and bouncing back from mistakes.

    115. Be Boring. Most people eat the same stu every day, so dont overthink it.

    Be boring. For most folks breakfast is the best way to do this, but it can be

    any meal or snack. Have one or two easy to make recipes that you have for

    the same meal, everyday. Boring, yes, but it takes the thinking out of one

    meal. On a 3 meal schedule, you just freed up 33% of your willpower.

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    116. Dont think of it as a workout

    or a diet, call it a change.

    Honestly, thats all it is, dont give it

    a label.

    117. Fool your brain. Use smaller

    dishes and tupperware.

    Chopsticks are a nice way to keep

    portions down, too.

    118. Pick something you are not

    good at, or never thought you can

    do, and work at it. If you cant do a

    pullup, work on it. It isnt a workout, just practice.

    119. Make a food journal club, in person or online. Message each other

    everyday, and share recipes and workouts.

    120. Stand up at work instead of sitting at a desk. Use a timer, and start with 5

    min, slowly adding time.

    121. Write down potential roadblocks each week on your calendar. Even if you

    are unsure it will happen, plan for it anyway.

    122. Accept the fact that you may add some muscle and the weight may not

    be where you want it. This is especially true if you learn what a goblet squat

    is!

    The obstacles are

    the path.

    - Wile E. Coyote

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    123. If you dont have planning, shopping, and cooking totally mastered and on

    autopilot, you are a diet beginner.

    124. Beginners need better planning. Intermediates need to work on re-

    planning based on the results theyve gotten. Advanced folks can actually

    look at whats in the plan.

    125. Work on macronutrient ratios and meal timing after you are planning,

    shopping, and cooking on autopilot.

    126. Just Breathe. When you know youre about to make a decision that could

    derail you, take 3 Big Breaths (In through the nose out through the mouth).

    Just breathing might help increase your clarity and help you make a decision

    that suits what you're trying to accomplish.

    127. Eat breakfast. Start yourself o right with proper fueling.

    128. Skip Breakfast, if youre just gonna eat crap anyway and put all your

    planning into a kick-ass lunch.

    129. Take Supplements. Itll get you in the habit of at least drinking water.

    130. Ditch Supplements. Theyre distracting you from what really matters.

    131. Whenever you notice yourself surfing the internet, take a walk.

    132. Unplug your laptop when you work. Every time it runs out of battery, take

    a walk and work somewhere dierent as it charges. Then when its charged,

    take a talk and work someplace dierent.

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    133. Start a club. Whether its a walking club, a kettlebell club, a cooking club,

    or a habits club. Everything works better in groups and youre more likely to

    stick to a plan if more people are on board.

    134. Make T-shirts. Everyone loves T-shirts and it will be a reminder of your

    goals and the people counting on you every time you wear it.

    135. Cut every corner. Pre-peeled garlic, pre-washed spinach, pre-chopped

    kale, and pre-cooked chicken are all available at Trader Joes. No one is

    going to give you a medal for chopping all your own lettuce or making your

    own mirepoix, so if it saves you a second of time and an ounce of willpower,

    buy the pre-packaged stu until you actually want to do all the prep yourself.

    136. Prep everything all at once. Youve got out the knife, the board, and the

    tupperware (you bought all the tupperware already, right?) so you might as

    well get everything done all at once!

    137. Throw a cooking party! Food prep and cooking is something we all have

    to do, and I dont remember anything on Moses tablets saying anything

    about having to suer through that crap alone. Invite a couple of friends over

    on a Sunday afternoon and you can shop, prep, and cook all your meals for

    the week together. You also get to divide the labor, so youll be chopping and

    cleaning half the time you normally would. Plus, if anyone is too busy or sick

    to join, everyone else can pitch in to keep him or her fed for the week.

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    138. Learn to make chipotle crema. Its the Mexican version of crme frache,

    a slightly soured and thickened cream, with chipotle peppers blended into it.

    Why? Its crazy delicious (like a milder and less thick sour cream) and tastes

    great on everything. Fish? Crema. Broccoli? Crema. Burgers? Crema. Kale?

    Hell yeah, crema! Making your own fermented sauce will make you feel like a

    badass, and encourage you to make more things. It will also make you want

    to show o your awesome sauce to everyone you know, which will mean

    more delicious cooking! Its also easy as hell.

    1. Heat a cup of heavy cream to just under 100 degrees F.

    2. Add a tablespoon of buttermilk.

    3. Put it into a pint-sized mason jar, close the lid, and leave it on your

    counter for 24 hours.

    4. Add a single, canned chipotle chili (the kind in adobo sauce), a pinch of

    salt, then use an immersion blender to blend until its smooth directly in

    the jar.

    5. Put it on everything. Then refrigerate.

    139. Eat 3-4 meals a day. There is nothing magic about the number but for

    people who graze, this is a game changer. By switching to discrete meals, its

    less decisions to make, less time you have to focus, and less willpower spent

    on planning and prep. And theres a lot of leeway with 3 or 4 meals.

    140. Master one meal at a time. For most people, the idea of planning,

    prepping, cooking, portioning, storing, and reheating 21-30 meals a week is

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    daunting as hell. It's also completely unreasonable to expect people who've

    never cooked before to start there. Instead, pick one meal a day (maybe even

    just weekdays) and start there. Once you feel like you've got that meal

    mastered, move on to 2 meals a day.

    141. Put 20% less on your plate. If you want to eat 20% less (or stop eating

    when youre 80% full) a great place to start is by putting less on your plate to

    begin with. Dont worry, if youre still famished you can always get more.

    142. Buy new knives. For some people, buying a new toy is just the kick in the

    butt they need to get into a new habit. And the knives most home cooks use

    are freaking terrible. So invest in some quality steel that youre excited to

    chop with.

    AND WHAT ANDY RODDICK ACTUALLY

    The basics have always worked in fitness. Get your walks in,

    have some intensity sometimes and get all the basic human

    movements into your training toolbox. Dont injure yourself

    training or competing but welcome an occasional bout of

    soreness. Leave a little in the tank every workout, so, if

    something does come up, you can handle it. If you get thirsty,

    drink water. Learn to spot and use spotters. Teach the next

    generation how to lift correctly. Leave the facility better than

    you found it.

    Dan John

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    143. Make your own coee. Great coee is easier to make than ice cream

    soup and has two great benefits: 1) it keeps you away from the Starbucks

    pastry case and 2) it can create a tiny space in your morning to stick some

    new healthier habits. Think of it like sticking your toe into this whole,

    breakfast thing. Because before you know it, youll be thinking, what can I

    do for that 4 minute brew time

    144. Workout in your backyard. For all the people that fear going to the gym

    because youre not fit enough yet, the backyard is a killer place to start a

    training habit. Its also a great place to invite your friends to workout with you.

    145. Do only one workout for a month. Any workout. Weights, sprints, running,

    yoga, zumba, whatever. Just pick a single workout and do it every time you

    train for a month. Coach Stevo just did loaded carries for a month during prep

    for his thesis defense (in the parking lot of his school) to stay in the habit of

    doing anything.

    146. Have a Loaded Carry Party! If you want to get stronger in the most

    convenient and fun way possible, invite a bunch of friends over to a park on a

    Sunday and ask them to bring something heavy. Anything heavy. Books,

    bricks, dog food. Anything that you can get your arms around, stu into a

    canvas duel bag, or dump into a cheap, plastic sled. Now carry them! Carry

    them on your back, wrapped in your arms, or drag them on the sled. Make a

    it a contest out and celebrate at the end with a beer! Just make sure you all

    agree to meet the next week and try it again.

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    147. Keep a Chocolate Journal. If you get cravings for chocolate at weird

    times that are strong enough to make you contemplate homicide, start

    writing down when you get them, how much you eat, and why you think you

    wanted it so badly. You might start to notice patterns.

    148. Start a Self-Talk Journal. One of the most vicious saboteurs of a fat loss

    program can be the little voice inside your head. So start writing down what it

    says, when it says it, and how it makes you feel. Learning under what

    conditions that voice pops up might be the first step in quieting him or her

    down.

    149. Get back on the horse, today. When things go wrong, instead of thinking

    about how far you have to go, focus on what you today, right now, this

    minute to get back in the game. Is it writing a shopping list on your iPhone?

    Texting your coach to schedule a session? Planning your next meal? Calling

    a friend to invite them over for a healthy dinner? Do it. Now. Today.

    150. Reward yourself every day. This stu is hard. Remembering to do it is

    hard. So when you do remember to eat that kale, plan that meal, lift that

    heavy thing, or even take out the trash, tell yourself, good job! Coach Stevo

    has had clients imagine cartoon characters tell them, good job! It turns out,

    even those little rewards add up and help close that habit loop. Not only do

    you deserve it, but saying good job! will help you learn the habit faster.

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    151. Blackmail yourself. A lot of people promise to buy themselves big rewards

    when they reach their fitness goals, only to find they either lose motivation or

    just buy it for themselves anyway. So do the opposite. Tell your friends that if

    you dont send them a picture of the vegetables youre eating that meal, they

    have permission to post something embarrassing about you on Facebook.

    152. Schedule a regular thing. Coach Stevo pays a cleaning service to clean his

    house every other Wednesday. So you know what he does every other

    Tuesday? He cleans his house. If you have a regular dinner, or workout, or

    walking club, or even a book club, youre far more likely to prepare for it. And

    you can piggyback on that preparation to get other things done. Even if its

    just a book club, you can use it as an excuse to buy a bunch of healthy food

    to have around your house for when they arrive and then snack on healthy

    leftovers all week.

    153. Teach someone else. Are you struggling with a habit? Teach it to someone

    else. Walk them through what youve tried, what youre thinking of trying

    next. What youve learned. What worked and what didnt. Docendo discitur.

    One learns by teaching.

    154. Keep an indulgence journal. Coach Stevo used to see big gaps in his

    clients food journals and instantly know that was when they got o track.

    So he started an experiment where the clients only kept a journal of when

    they went o track and why. What went through their head, and how they felt

    afterward. It turned out that most of the indulgences where not really that

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    enjoyable after the first 3 bites. And that over-indulging often had less than

    awesome consequences. The Indulgences Journals not only reminded

    people that over-doing it wasnt all that it was cracked up to be, but also

    served as a reminder that most of the time, all they really wanted was the first

    3-5 bites.

    155. Do pushups every time you pee.

    156. Drink water every time you do pushups so that you have to pee even

    more often.

    157. Pick one new place on your errands list to walk to every week.

    158. Walk out your front door and just start walking with no destination in

    mind.

    159. Pick one of your favorite podcasts or radio shows and only listen to it

    when you are walking or working out.

    160. Download E-Books, but only listen to them while youre walking or

    working out.

    161. Make a Walking E-Book Bookclub. Every member has to listen to the

    book while they were going for walks or working out. Members can be from

    all over the world if you meet on Facebook.

    162. Always take the first parking spot you find. Youll walk more and trust us,

    it saves time in the long run.

    163. Take the stairs for anything trip under 4 floors. Its probably faster too.

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    164. Take pictures of every staircase you walk up. Some of them are beautiful

    and if you start Instagramming them, its hard to stop.

    165. Instead of meeting for drinks, go for a walk together. Most of the time you

    meet people its to catch up, not get blitzed. Walking is quieter, more

    invigorating, and way more engaging than a bar would be. This does get

    dicult with groups of 3 or more, though.

    166. Drink a big glass of water before you go to bed. The little bump of

    hydration might make up for what you missed and prevent you from waking

    up parched in the middle of the night. It can also help cool you down and get

    you ready for sleep.

    167. Chop Wood; Carry Water. A young student of Zen runs into Wu Li, the

    great Zen Master on the mountain outside the monestary. Master Li is

    performing his daily routine of chopping firewood and bringing up buckets of

    water from the river for the Monastery.

    What is life before Enlightenment? the young monk asks.

    Chop wood; carry water, responds Li with a swing of his ax.

    What is life after Enlightenment?

    Chop wood; carry water, responds Li with a smile on his face.

    If there is any secret tip, trick, tactic, or strategy that trumps all the others on

    this list, its to stay focused on the process, not the outcome. Motivation will

    come and go. Tactics will work until they do not. But throughout it all, you

    must continue to chop the wood and carry the water. As Dan John says in

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    Intervention, to continually strive for mastery and grace. The gap between

    who you are now and the you that you are striving to become is not so great.

    It is a collection of habits; the actions that you know you should take now,

    just with less eort and cunning and just a little bit more joy that comes from

    years of trying to get little bit better at them each day. The best version of

    yourself that you can imagine, the leaner you, the fitter you, is still you. Just a

    version of you that has mastered the basics and doesnt have to think about

    them as much anymore. So do not think of chopping wood and carrying

    water, aka healthy eating choices and reasonable exercise, as the work you

    must finish to attain your goals. Think of them rather as the goal itself. The

    subtle joy of preparing delicious meals and sharing them with friends. The

    corporeal wonder of a new PR after years of practice. The greatest secret in

    fitness is that there is no secret. The magazine covers and gurus are guarding

    an empty vault. And the path to all your goals is the steps you take, and the

    friends you meet along the way.

    The Habitry Collective

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    Before enlightenment chop wood and

    carry water.

    After enlightenment, chop wood and

    carry water. Wu Li, Zen Master