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Fat Loss Habits

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/.

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If you’re 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, don’t be a jerk.



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What the Heck is This Thing?

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, that’s where

most of our clients are getting their

entire health and fitness education. And no, I don’t 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, “there’s no tricks. There’s no shortcuts.” Which
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is doubly funny because it’s a lie; fat loss is all simple tricks that you get good at

one at a time until you don’t 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, let’s be honest with them.

It’s all tricks. It’s 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 we’d 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). You’ll notice that some of these habits

contradict each other. That’s on purpose; not everything works for everyone.

Some of them kinda sound the same. That’s on purpose, too. We left them in

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

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

won’t find in here is anything crazy. If all of these seem obvious, then we have

done our job.

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 “Sometimes the first duty of
intelligent [people] is the restatement
of the obvious.”

- George Orwell
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How to Use This Thing

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. What’s 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 client’s

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: don’t 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
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1. Keep a food journal. If there is one simple, secret trick to eating less it’s

knowing how much you’re eating in the first place. Keeping a food journal is

not the solution to all problems, but it’s 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 you’re 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 I’m

freaking hungry,” then eat the other half guilt free.

4. Replace grains with greens. There’s 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 effective 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, we’d 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 you’re on phone calls.

7. Leave your desk for lunch. This

is a twofer. You have to walk to

your food and you’re less likely to

eat mindlessly when you are

focused on eating instead of that

stupid email from Tammy in

accounting.
“Always leave your
8. Set your alarm to give yourself
desk at lunch.”
enough time to go the gym, even if

you don’t think you will go. And - Richard Branson

keep setting it. Eventually, you’ll

just get out of bed and since there’s 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”). So’s 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
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your friends that if you don’t stick to a new habit (that you will document on

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

Yeah, kale sautéed in garlic and olive oil doesn’t sound so bad now, does it.

10. Gym-pact. It’s the internet version of the Alpo Diet except with money.

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

less likely to eat less awesome stuff.

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 different plant every day (or a plant in a different way). In our

experience, most people who claim to hate fruit and vegetables can’t

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? Now’s 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. It’s 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 we’re 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 off!

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 don’t know where you are?

19. Plan to Fail. It’s going to happen. You’re going to have a day(week/month/

decade) when nothing goes right and you’re going to make less-than-optimal

decisions. So have a plan about what you’re 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. Didn’t think about

the weekend? Now you know. Didn’t remember that there’s 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 difference between an indulgent meal and a weekend off 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 difference

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

it’s 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 you’ve 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 don’t and just bask in the joy of good friends and food.

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

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 don’t

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 it’s

fairly simple.

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

good results. Notice that it’s fairly simple.

34. Remember that everyone “falls off.” The game is getting back on.

35. Keep it in perspective. If you lost $20, you wouldn’t say “eff it!” and go

empty your entire bank account into the trash. Don’t 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

difference. Feel your feels. Now make a plan.

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

39. Keep a workout journal. It’s 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 you’ve made. Be proud of what your body can do.

41. Forget about days and start thinking in months. Don’t 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 don’t think you’ll 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 different 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… you’re 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 you’ll ever think you need.

47. Buy Mason jars for storing sauces and soups. They’re 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 one’s on this list. Every reason from the noble to the

vain. From the clever to the stupid. Don’t judge them, because they’re 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 don’t, 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. It’s tasty, easy, and has enough

caffeine to delay the onset of the hangries.

53. Know what you want. Not what

you think you want; not what you

“Be wary of getting
think your family wants for you; not
your goal and
what the magazines tell you that

you want; and not what you think discovering it

the person asking wants to hear.
wasn’t worth it.”
When his clients tells me they want

to run a marathon Coach Stevo Dan John

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
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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. We’re 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 Stevo’s mantra: “There’s always Monday.”

That way he’ll 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 Stevo’s 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 don’t learn to compete in practice.” It’s 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 brain’s

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. Don’t shop hungry. When you’re 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 off 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? Don’t 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 stuff delivered. If you live in a major city, many grocery stores

offer 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 house—it’s convenient and temptation free.

65. Don’t 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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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.

- Wumen Hui-k'ai
66. Forgive yourself. It wasn’t going to be easy and it wasn’t going to be

perfect. You’re still on the path, you’re still moving forward, the road just isn’t

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

most difficult step, but there’s a trick that might make it easier: Take a deep

breath and actually say the words, “I’m 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 different than you thought? Are your

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

doing, then you’ll actually be better off for the experience.

69. Don’t 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 it’s simply tossing the leftovers in the trash or

making a cup of coffee, you’ll be headed in the right direction.

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

it’s time to move on. They take a deep breath. They take off their shoes. They

pack up their gear. Even the simple act of saying out loud, “Whelp, glad that’s

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 you’re 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 it’s getting easier to do week after week, then you’re 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 you’re

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 you’re doing and remind yourself

you’re on the right track! You just

“Sleep! You probably won’t
have to keep moving forward!

even consider this one, but it is

75. Plan a sleep routine. Going to
the single best weight loss
bed at the same time every night
tool, muscle gain tool, training
sets the stage for shutting down tool, life tool, I have ever
your brain and falling asleep encountered.”
quickly. But the plan should start

well before you turn out the lights.

Dan John
 21

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

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

bedtime ritual.

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

everything you need to do tomorrow (so you’re 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 it’s 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

devices—black 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 difficult, 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 muffle 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 body’s circadian rhythm—the internal clock

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

room, will strongly signal that clock to make you sleepy, so you’ll 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; it’s

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

and put it in the fridge before you’re anywhere near that fast-food window.

Then you won’t spend your drive home worrying about prepping, cooking,

and cleaning—you 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 we’re

hungry. So carry something with you—baby 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 it’s a lot easier to take the back roads than to drive right past

those golden arches. And let’s be honest: You’re not “just gonna get the

salad,” are you?

84. Invite someone over. If you know you don’t 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 what’s 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 there’s a paper bag in your lap and the

smell of KFC on your breath, it’s 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. Don’t keep pitfall foods at home. Yes, it can be that simple! Are you

snacking on chips after dinner? Don’t 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 it’s easier to resist

temptations and fill your cart with

nutritious options. If you can’t shop

right after a meal, have a snack

before going to the market. One

smart snack now is better than

“It is better to have a
seven nights of mindless potato chip bad plan than no plan.”
munching.

87. Have a dessert fallback plan. At

- Garry Kasparov
some point you’re going to get
 24

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

all night is smart. Try keeping an emergency bar (that’s 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 it’s

actually pretty hard to gorge yourself on chocolate that dark.

88. Don’t 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

you’re 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 you’re done eating for the day. Using

a set or series of activities to declare, “I’m done with that; now I’m 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 teeth—dinner, floss,
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brush, done. That clean-mouth feeling reminds her that her teeth are off duty

for the night, and it’s 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 that’s closest to your home or office.

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, you’re 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

something—what psychologists call “introjected motivation”—is 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 don’t 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 off 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, “couldn’t 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 wasn’t 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 off — 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 I’d come here.” 80% of life is

showing up—and most of us can’t do that without an alarm.

More is just more.

More isn’t better.

Dan John
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96. Have a “I’ve 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 don’t even

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

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 off 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 effective than the “perfect diet” executed sporadically.

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101. Don’t major in minors. Go with things that are obvious. When an article

comes out that Kale is bad, don’t 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 effective 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

B’s” at the beginning of each week.

106. The simplest and easiest plan is the best. You’re not gonna remember a

complex plan when you’re 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 difference, not the absolutes. If you ate 25 “free meals” last

week, and this week you eat 24, you’ve 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 different 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 “off-plan” time.

Just so you can turn your brain off 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 stuff every day, so don’t 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. Don’t think of it as a workout

or a diet, call it a change.

Honestly, that’s all it is, don’t give it

a label.

The obstacles are

117. Fool your brain. Use smaller the path.
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 - Wile E. Coyote

do, and work at it. If you can’t do a

pullup, work on it. It isn’t 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!

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123. If you don’t 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 they’ve gotten. Advanced folks can actually

look at what’s 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 you’re 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 off right with proper fueling.

128. Skip Breakfast, if you’re just gonna eat crap anyway and put all your

planning into a kick-ass lunch.

129. Take Supplements. It’ll get you in the habit of at least drinking water.

130. Ditch Supplements. They’re 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 different as it charges. Then when it’s charged,

take a talk and work someplace different.

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133. Start a club. Whether it’s a walking club, a kettlebell club, a cooking club,

or a habits club. Everything works better in groups and you’re 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 Joe’s. 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 stuff until you actually want to do all the prep yourself.

136. Prep everything all at once. You’ve 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 don’t remember anything on Moses’ tablets saying anything

about having to suffer 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 you’ll 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. It’s the Mexican version of crème fraîche,

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

Why? It’s 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 off your awesome sauce to everyone you know, which will mean

more delicious cooking! It’s 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 it’s 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, it’s

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

on planning and prep. And there’s 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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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. Don’t 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
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 you’re 80% full) a great place to start is by putting less on your plate to

begin with. Don’t worry, if you’re 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 you’re excited to

chop with.

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143. Make your own coffee. Great coffee 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, you’ll 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 you’re “not fit enough yet,” the backyard is a killer place to start a

training habit. It’s 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, stuff into a

canvas duffel 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 stuff 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 don’t send them a picture of the vegetables you’re 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, you’re far more likely to prepare for it. And

you can piggyback on that preparation to get other things done. Even if it’s

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 you’ve tried, what you’re thinking of trying

next. What you’ve learned. What worked and what didn’t. 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 off track.”

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

they went off 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 wasn’t 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 you’re 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. You’ll walk more and trust us,

it saves time in the long run.

163. Take the stairs for anything trip under 4 floors. It’s 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, it’s hard to stop.

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

meet people it’s to catch up, not get blitzed. Walking is quieter, more

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

difficult 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, it’s 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 effort 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 doesn’t 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