3 Habits to Drop If You Want to Finally Get in Shape
If you’ve had one of those “give me ice cream and wine, I’m done with this week” moments…you’re not alone. The good news: there are three very specific habits you can change that will move the needle for your energy, weight, and health.
Habit #1: Starting Your Day With Sugar (and Liquid Calories)
Picture this:
It’s 7:45 a.m., you’re stressed, under-slept, and sitting in a 20-car drive-thru line for a coffee drink that has as many calories as a meal.
Then you’re surprised when you’re starving again by 10 a.m. and raiding the office snacks.
Morning sugar bombs (fancy coffee drinks, sweetened creamers, juices, and energy drinks) hit you in three ways:
Blood sugar spike → crash → cravings
High-sugar, low-protein meals cause a sharp jump in blood glucose, followed by a crash that makes you tired, cranky, and looking for more quick carbs.
Studies show that starting the day with more protein and less refined carbohydrate leads to better blood sugar control across the entire day and less overeating later on (Xiao et al., 2022).Liquid calories don’t fill you up
Sugar-sweetened beverages and calorie-heavy drinks are strongly linked with weight gain and higher body fat because they add calories without giving you the same fullness as solid food (Nguyen et al., 2023).Your taste buds get trained to want “yummies”
The more the morning is about dessert-coffee, the more a plain black coffee or eggs-and-fruit breakfast feels “boring.” Over time, you start needing sweetness to feel satisfied.
What to do instead
Keep your caffeine, ditch the dessert.
Go black, or use a low- or zero-calorie option (a splash of milk, cinnamon, or stevia if you like).Base breakfast around protein.
Examples:Eggs + fruit
Greek yogurt + berries
Leftover chicken + veggie + egg burrito
High-protein breakfasts improve blood sugar after breakfast and later meals (Xiao et al., 2022).
Save sugar for intentional treats, not autopilot habits.
Habit #2: Treating Holidays (and Weekends) Like a Free-For-All
This is the classic pattern:
“I’m going to lose 15 lbs by January.”
Week goes OK.
Thanksgiving / holiday party / birthday hits.
You tell yourself, “Screw it, I’ll start over Monday.”
The problem isn’t one slice of pie or a glass of wine.
The problem is turning a single special event into a 3–5 day binge where you stop paying attention completely.
Here’s what we know from research:
When people are surrounded by ultra-processed, hyper-palatable foods (chips, desserts, boxed snacks, candies, fast food), they unconsciously eat ~500 extra calories per day, even when they’re told to eat as much or as little as they want (Hall et al., 2019).
Those “just the holidays” surpluses add up. A few hundred extra calories per day for a few weeks can easily mean a few pounds of fat that never fully leave once January is over.
Add in alcohol (which lowers inhibitions and adds calories), and suddenly one day of celebrating has undone two weeks of consistent effort.
What to do instead
Decide your non-negotiables before the holiday.
Example:“I’m having Turkey, potatoes, veggies, and one dessert I really love.”
“I’m going to track roughly and keep the day under X calories instead of pretending it doesn’t count.”
Protein & veggies first, always.
Eating protein and fiber before dessert helps with fullness and blunts the blood sugar spike from sweets (Xiao et al., 2022).Remember: the day still “counts.”
Your body doesn’t turn off on holidays. Your metabolism is still doing math.
Habit #3: Letting Your Whole Day Happen in a Chair
Most busy adults aren’t gaining weight because they “never work out hard enough.”
They’re gaining because the other 23 hours of the day are almost entirely sedentary:
Sit in the car
Sit at the desk
Sit on the couch
DoorDash instead of walking into a store
This isn’t just about calories. Long stretches of sitting are tied to higher risk of early death and cardiovascular disease, especially in people who aren’t getting enough moderate-to-vigorous movement (Ekelund et al., 2020).
The encouraging part?
A large meta-analysis of over 44,000 adults found that about 30–40 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous activity (think brisk walking, cycling, lifting) can offset much of the risk of long daily sitting (Ekelund et al., 2020).
What to do instead
Create a “movement floor,” not a step goal fantasy.
For many busy adults, a realistic floor is 6,000–8,000 steps most days, not a perfect 10,000+.Break up sitting every 60 minutes.
Stand up, walk to the farthest bathroom, do 10 squats, or walk during phone calls. Short bouts matter.Make your environment do the work.
Standing desk, water bottle across the room, parking farther away. Create small annoyances that force movement.
4 Simple Strategies To Start This Week
Here’s how to translate all of this into real life without feeling like you’re living in a boot camp:
1. Fix Your First 60 Minutes
Drink a big glass of water when you wake up.
Have coffee without sugary syrups/creamer.
Build a protein-forward breakfast (20–30g protein) at least 3–5 days per week.
This alone can reduce cravings and overeating later in the day (Xiao et al., 2022; Nguyen et al., 2023).
2. Set “Holiday Rules” Before You Arrive
Pick your A-list foods (the 1–2 desserts or dishes you truly love).
Commit to protein + veg first, then a small portion of the A-list foods.
If you’re in a fat-loss phase, aim to roughly stay within maintenance or a small surplus—not a 3000-calorie blowout.
Knowing there’s a plan takes away the “all or nothing” thinking that derails progress.
3. Add One Daily Movement Anchor
Choose one:
10–15 minute walk after dinner
5–10 minute walk after lunch at work
“Every time I finish a work call, I walk for 3 minutes”
Over a week, those tiny choices can add up to hundreds of extra calories burned and better blood sugar control (Hall et al., 2019; Ekelund et al., 2020).
4. Close the Kitchen After Dinner (Most Nights)
Use a simple mental test:
“Am I hungry enough to eat chicken and broccoli right now?”
If the answer is no, it’s not true physical hunger. You’re bored or have a habit of snacking even after you’re full.
Give yourself 10–15 minutes, drink water or herbal tea, and go to bed a bit earlier. Your sleep, cravings, and progress will thank you.
Big Picture
You don’t have to be perfect.
You don’t have to live on salad, never drink again, or walk 10,000 steps every day for the rest of your life.
But if you can:
Stop drinking your calories in the morning
Stop using holidays and weekends as a free-for-all
Stop letting your whole day happen in a chair
…your body will start to respond.
Take a second and ask yourself:
“Which one of these three habits is costing me the most right now and what’s one tiny change I can make this week?”
Start there. The momentum will build.
Need help getting started? Click here to book a free strategy session with a coach.
References
Ekelund, U., Tarp, J., Fagerland, M. W., Steene-Johannessen, J., Hansen, B. H., Jefferis, B. J., … Lee, I.-M. (2020). Joint associations of accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary time with all-cause mortality: A harmonised meta-analysis in more than 44,000 middle-aged and older individuals. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(24), 1499–1506.
Hall, K. D., Ayuketah, A., Brychta, R., Cai, H., Cassimatis, T., Chen, K. Y., … Zhou, M. (2019). Ultra-processed diets cause excess calorie intake and weight gain: An inpatient randomized controlled trial of ad libitum food intake. Cell Metabolism, 30(1), 67–77.e3.
Nguyen, S., et al. (2023). Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and changes in body weight and adiposity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Advance online publication.
Xiao, K., Furutani, A., Sasaki, H., Takahashi, M., & Shibata, S. (2022). Effect of a high protein diet at breakfast on postprandial glucose level at dinner time in healthy adults. Nutrients, 15(1), 85.
