A habit is repeated behavior that is learned rather than acquired. It requires little or no thought to develop a habit, and it can be part of any activity you do regularly. And that habit becomes your character and, ultimately, your destiny. That’s why Aristotle said that “We are what we repeatedly do.”

You can develop habits in either conscious or unconscious behavior, and the habits you form can either be good or bad. Good habits are those behaviors that are beneficial to your well-being, and it is often linked to discipline and self-control.

Likewise, bad habits are negative behavioral patterns that may be willful or a result of an unconscious act. Thus, it would be best if you recognized them before they became your character. 

Breaking Bad Habits through Habit Coaching 

You can keep bad habits, like fidgeting, but needless to say, most bad habits are detrimental and should be changed, eliminated, and replaced. Ditching a bad habit may be a challenge because the process of breaking it does the same practice when you develop it. 

Also, breaking and replacing a bad habit takes double effort because you have yet to create a good routine after breaking the bad one. Thus it needs double work to ditch the bad and develop the good. That’s why you need a habit coaching program to help you break a bad habit for good. 

Habit coaching enables you to transform and do things differently, not just for fitness and nutrition but for your overall lifestyle. It would create a true and lasting positive transformation that supports your well-being.

Habit coaching allows you to stay connected and motivated by having a habit coach be part of your routine. The coach will set you up and guide you to achieve bigger goals and improve your life through small daily steps and conscious wins.

When to See A Habit Coach 

Your conscious decision to start a habit change is already a win towards making a good life. But when you decide otherwise, you might need to work with a habit coach, especially if you encounter these unpopular perspectives:

1. You are tired of relying on your motivation to get things done.
2. You need to see a coach if you are tired of starting anew because of a recurring failure.
3. When you doubt yourself to accomplish things, you need a habit coach to help you find clarity.
4. It would help if you had a coach when you become unaccountable, unmotivated, and tend to give up easily.
5. If you are likely to get stressed easily – wanting to change a habit could sometimes be a struggle and stressful, thus making you get discouraged and give up so easily. So if you are overwhelmed with this condition, you must get a habit coach to help you change your habit. 

The Benefits of Habit Coaching 

As you break an unwanted habit through habit coaching, you would realize bundles of benefits that would surely change your life for good. And these are some of the benefits that you will enjoy.

1. Habit coaching provides you the proper skills, strategies, and support needed to develop a habit.
2. Helps build your confidence to pursue your goal and make changes with your routines.
3. You will get valuable experience because you work with exceptional habit coaches.
4. It helps you see your blind spots – when you are into habit coaching, you will be guided to discover and uncover your potentials that you might not know you have or you avoided. 
5. It helps you practice mindfulness – you will be aware of your feelings, actions, and thoughts that directly relate to your habit, thus making you conscious to avoid or act on it. 

Diet & Fat Loss

My position is that you should be focused on manipulating your body to burn fat. This is a very different focus than calorie-counting and is based on the scientific explanations of Dr. Jason Fung (and our own experience running diet studies and supporting fat loss coaches).

To manipulate your body to be in fat-burning mode, most people will have two options: reduce carbs or increase fasting time.

Try both at once if you want to burn fat quickly, but also know that for long-term health you should be looking for a permanent change. In our experience as behavior designers, the 16:8 intermittent fasting option — where you skip breakfast everyday — is a much easier permanent lifestyle change than avoiding carbs for the rest of your life.

There are a couple of caveats. We haven’t covered diet changes for people with significant pre-existing health issues. If this is you, trust your doctor, not us. Also, many women have told us anecdotally that they experience low carb and fasting differently than it is described by men. I feel like this is a blind spot in our coverage, and I’m sorry.

Last, a huge amount of diet writing comes with a heavy dose of fat shaming. We’ve tried to avoid that, but if you have arrived here feeling like you’ve been fat-shamed in the past, please read Ragen Chastain’s piece about Leaving Toxic Diet Culture Behind.

Intermittent fasting:

We don’t have an intro to fasting article yet. If we did, it would be focused on eating windows. That form of fasting is commonly called 16:8 and refers to an 8-hour eating window: say, noon to 8pm. You do all of your eating in that window, and then fast for the remaining 16 hours.

• Science: Does Fasting Burn Muscle? ~Dr. Jason Fung
• Case Study: Tracking Ketones and Energy During Intermittent Fasting ~Mark Moschel
• Case Study: I lost 50lbs on a 5:2 Intermittent Fast ~Dave Wentworth

Low Carb:

There are a lot of variants of Low Carb that are mostly on the spectrum of how aggressively you will avoid carbs. Keto is the most aggressive.

Tim Ferriss’ Slow Carb uses a weekly cheat day to make the diet change easier to follow.

• A Blueprint for Fat Loss with Slow Carb, Low Carb & Keto Diets ~Dorothy Stainbrook
• How to Eat According to Your Carb Tolerance ~John Fawkes
• How to Check if a Food Label is Keto ~Abigail Roaquin

Comparison of Diet Approaches:

In 2014, we ran a weight loss experiment using control groups and randomized assignment. Our goal was to compare popular diet approaches and what we found was that they all led to weight loss (even as compared to the control group). As part of that experiment we wrote up helpful diet cheat sheets that you can use now as quick guides to different approaches:

Slow Carb | Paleo | Whole Foods | Vegetarian | DASH

Skills:

The importance of these articles is in the behavior change. It’s easy to know how you should eat, but much harder to follow through. Hopefully, these skills will help.

• How to Use Mindfulness Meditation to Overcome Emotional Eating ~Stefy Uotani
• How to Conquer Food Cravings ~Dr. Jason Fung
• How to Meal Prep Like a Champ ~Jen
• If You’re Going to Count Calories, Make Sure You Also Count Macros ~Serdar Tuncali

Case studies:

• Case study: How I Lost 40 Pounds in my 50s by Combining Strategies ~Steve Spring
• Case study: How I Lost 12 Pounds During My Month of Whole 30 ~Steve Spring
• Case study: Lose Weight and Get Fit After 40 ~Larry Cornett, Ph.D.
• Case study: How I Lost 65 Pounds and Reversed Pre-diabetes ~Abigail Roaquin

Fasting vs. caloric restriction:

So many people are unhelpfully locked into caloric restriction as the way they view fat loss, so here are some ways of looking at it. The TL;DR is that yes, you do end up in a caloric deficit with any fat loss, but that’s a side effect that you can ignore and instead focus on hormonal manipulation.

• Obesity is a Hormonal Imbalance, Not a Caloric Imbalance ~Dr. Jason Fung
• What is the Difference Between Fasting & Caloric Restriction ~Dr. Jason Fung
• The Science of Why Caloric Restriction Fails ~Dr. Jason Fung
• Why Fasting Succeeds Where Caloric Restriction Fails ~Dr. Jason Fung

Exercise

Just seven articles — obviously there’s a much bigger world that we haven’t covered yet.

• The Complete Guide to Overcoming Gymtimidation ~Ragen Chastain
• How to Prevent Injuries Even if You Work a Desk Job ~Carol Moynham
• The 1,000 Calorie Protein Shake ~Jesse Warren Tevelow
• How to Stick to Your Fitness Habits ~John Fawkes
• How to Overcome Resistance to Running ~Odille Remmert
• Grease the Groove — The Russian Military Secret to Strength Endurance ~John Fawkes
• How I Squatted 100 Kilograms After Just 37 Hours of Training ~Reinoud Schuijers

Sleep

Sleep is the ultimate brain training and health habit. You get more done when you’re rested and so it’s almost always worth the trade-off of giving yourself a full night of rest.

Of course, getting to sleep and staying asleep isn’t always easy:

• How to Fall Asleep Quickly and Wake Up With Energy ~Melissa Chu
• The Complete Guide to Curing Insomnia ~John Fawkes
• How to Power Through Sleep Deprivation When You Have No Other Choice ~K. Markle

Your morning routine:

• How to Stop Struggling By Building Your Own Morning Routine ~Jason Gutierrez
• How to Wake Up Early ~George Halachev

Tracking:

• Case study: What I Learned From Six Months of Obsessive Sleep Hacking ~Chris Davidson

Give Up Caffeine

The benefits of doing this are often for sleep, but also to save a small amount of money, and, counterintuitively, for productivity.

• A Very Thorough Guide to Quitting Coffee & Caffeine ~John Fawkes
• How to Kick a Caffeine Addiction in 5 days ~John Fawkes
• Case Study: The Effects of Caffeine, Alcohol, and Exercise on Sleep: Analyzing the Surprising Results ~Max Frenzel
• Case Study: What I Learned From Quitting Coffee After 15 Years Of Daily Consumption ~Angelo Belardi

Give Up Alcohol

A lot of people develop unhealthy habits around alcohol that turn into a drag on their health, their sleep, and their productivity. Here are some ways to turn those habits around.

• How One Year Without Beer Unlocked My Performance in Business and Life ~Andy Ramage
• What Happened to Me After Giving Up Alcohol for One Year ~Malcolm Bedell

Remembering to take your prescribed medication every day can be a daunting task. And we all know how important it is to stick to the schedule prescribed by the doctor — to not miss even a single dose. 

Forgetting to take your medicines on time can have multiple side effects. It could prevent your body from healing at the recommended pace, and might even lead to some unwanted health issues. To make sure nothing like this happens, it’s very important to remember to take your medicines on time every single day.

Yes, it’s different, but you can apply some creative ways to make it a part of your routine. This article discusses some simple steps you can apply right away to make sure you never forget to take your medication on time.

1. Learn about your medicines

Knowing exactly what each medicine does and how it helps your body heal can be a strong motivator to make sure you take them on time each day. So, do some research, read about the medicines online, and learn how they can help you become healthier. This will act as a trigger so your brain makes you warier of not missing them from now on.

2. Use pillboxes

We all have seen an older relative, a parent, or a grandparent use pillboxes to remind them to take their medicines on time. You might be young, but that’s not a reason to not resort to helpful tactics, especially if they help you remain in good health.

Get a pillbox, sort through your medicines, and store them in separate compartments. You can also add a sticky note to each compartment, and take it off after you’ve had them. This will make sure you don’t miss a dose and will serve as a motivator to remind you to stick to the schedule. 

3. Calendar alerts

You can turn to technology to help you take your medicines on time. Set an alarm on your phone for the week in advance, so you don’t miss your medicines when it’s time to have them during the day.

You can also download a free habit tracker where you mark each day on the calendar you’ve successfully stuck to your brand new habit of taking medications each day. Seeing an unbroken streak will make you want to prolong that phase as much as possible and will motivate you to not skip your medications.

4. Link your medication doses with a daily activity

An important step in building any habit is to tie that habit with a “trigger.” A trigger can be an activity you perform daily, like brushing your teeth, taking a shower, writing in your journal, etc. Make a mental note to tie your new habit of taking medication to a habit you perform every day.

Thus, when you next set out to perform the triggering activity, your brain reminds you to take medication too. Choosing a trigger is a personal activity, and you can choose any habit that you perform every day without fail.

5. Get help

Talk about the need to take the medication with your family and friends. Ask them to remind you if you forget, or to keep track of the days when you’ve successfully had your medicines.

Having someone to hold you accountable goes a long way in ensuring you don’t miss even a single day of your new habit of taking medication. If you can’t find a friend or a family member to remind you of your daily habit, you can hire an accountability coach. These are trained professionals who will hold you accountable for your new habit of taking medication on time and will help you get back on the wagon if you ever fall back. 

6. Look for ways to simplify your regimen

The next time you visit your doctor, ask them for ways to simplify your regimen. Maybe a few medicines can be combined in a single dosage. Or, instead of taking medicines throughout the day, you can have them at a single go after a meal, like lunch or dinner? 

You should take care to not self-diagnose in this case, and always take such decisions under the full supervision of your doctor. It might not work out and you might not have any alternatives, but trying never hurts, right?

If you work out, you can stretch right before you start to exercise to prevent joint and muscle injury. And even when you don’t work out daily, you can incorporate stretching into your daily routine. This post discusses some helpful steps you can apply right now to incorporate stretching into your daily routine.

1. Do it in the morning

Stretching right after you wake up helps the blood flow into your extremities and makes you more awake, alive, and ready to seize the day. It can also help you achieve better breathing control and leave you with more energy to have a productive day ahead.

2. Do it during breaks

This routine helps especially if you have a job that requires you to sit in one place and stare at a computer screen all day long, Each time you take a break to drink water and go to the washroom, stand up and do a few stretches. Reach your arms all the way up over your head, bend down to reach your toes, and rotate your torso from side to side. This will help you feel invigorated and return to work with renewed vigor.

3. Do it after you reach home

If your job involves going out of your house and working in an office, stretching right after you reach home can be a good way to reconnect with your body. It will also help ease the stress of a tough day. It can be your small act of self-love, your way of reclaiming control over your time, attention, mind, and body.

4. Do it when you brush your teeth

Every morning and right before you go to bed, stretching when you brush your teeth can be a great and effective way of getting your heartbeat up and burning some quick calories while spending minimal effort. Stand on your toes and feel the stretch in your calves. You can also lift your leg, bend it at the knee, and stretch it behind your back. This not only helps you achieve better balance, but it can also be a great way to stretch without actively thinking about it.

5. Get a habit tracker

You can also download a habit tracker where you check off the days on the calendar when you managed to stick to your goal of stretching each day. You’ll soon start craving for an unbroken streak. This can act as a great trigger and a cue for your body and mind to start your habit immediately. Soon, the idea of not stretching at all and spending your day in a sedentary manner will no longer look so attractive.

6. Get an accountability partner

No matter how hard you’re pushing yourself, doing something so big and challenging all by yourself can get tough at times. To make sure you don’t lose motivation midway, have a friend who is working on the same goals of stretching even for a bit each day. If you stay with a friend or roommate, try and get them on board. This is a great way to ensure you don’t miss out on your stretches and take care of your body as well.

If you aren’t able to find a friend working towards the same daily stretching goals, you can hire an accountability coach to help you keep on track. They are trained professionals who will hold you accountable each day and make sure you don’t fall off the wagon even if you are demotivated.

Researchers from all over the globe have established that looking at screens at night might be sabotaging your sleep. Studies have shown that being exposed to the blue and white light given off by phones, laptops, and other electronic gadgets at night prevents our brains from releasing melatonin, a hormone that tells our bodies it’s nighttime. That means it takes us longer to fall asleep. Researchers think that so many years of delaying sleep can mess with our internal body clocks.

Experts suggest stopping using any device for roughly an hour before falling asleep. Assuming every healthy adult needs eight hours of sleep each night and getting up at 7 AM is a great habit, you need to fall asleep by 11 PM each night. That’s why you need to stop using any screen after 10 PM.

Yes, it’s a great habit and yes, it’s going to be super hard. But how are you going to achieve something like this? This post discusses how you can make sure you don’t use any screens after 10 PM each night.

1. Know this is going to be hard

No matter who you are or what you do, avoiding screens at night is going to be hard. Train your brain to understand this shortcoming of yours and don’t be too hard on yourself. 

Think of it as a challenge and gamify it so you can reward yourself with something you truly desire or crave so you don’t fall into the trap of not doing what you’re supposed to. Forgive yourself for not sticking to goals, but have the determination to keep pushing on. One bad day doesn’t mean you failed at the habit. One bad day means you simply need to pick yourself up and keep pushing ahead so you know you’ve got it in you to become the best version of yourself.

2. This isn’t the end of your social life

Another major reason stopping you from achieving what you want might be the fear of missing out on what’s going on in your social media channels. But contrary to your fear, staying away from screens is not going to hamper your social life. 

You can use the extra time to connect with your family, your pet, your children, or even catch up on reading a book. Sure, you aren’t being socially active when you’re reading, but books fill your head with exciting ideas that you can use as conversation starters when you next meet people.

3. Get an accountability partner

No matter how hard you’re pushing yourself, doing something so big and challenging all by yourself can get tough at times. To make sure you don’t lose motivation midway, have a friend who is working on the same sleep goals. If you stay with a friend or roommate, try and get them on board. This is a great way to ensure you get good sleep and take care of your body as well.

If you aren’t able to find a friend working towards the same sleep goals, you can hire an accountability coach to help you keep on track. They are trained professionals who will hold you accountable each day and make sure you don’t fall off the wagon even if you are demotivated.

You can also download a habit tracker where you check off the days on the calendar when you managed to stick to your goal of staying away from screens after 10 PM each night. You’ll soon start craving for an unbroken streak. This can act as a great trigger and a cue for your body and mind to start your habit immediately. Soon, the idea of scrolling through your phone for a few minutes before sleeping will no longer look so attractive. 

Waking up early is a great way to keep up your spirits and feel energized for the rest of the day by putting in minimal effort. So many people from across hundreds of countries have expressed interest to wake up at 6.30 AM every day. 

Even though this is such an important habit, several people struggle to accomplish this. This post discusses seven easy steps you can apply to your life right now to wake up at 6.30 AM each morning. These are science-backed tips you can add to your life from today onwards and watch the visible change it brings to your overall physical and mental health.

1. Shift your bedtime a few hours earlier

Getting up early might seem like such a chore, but sleeping early is much easier. Shift your bedtime a few hours earlier and see the magic for yourself. This will train your body to wake up early.

If you go to bed late each day, forcing yourself to wake up early might be a health risk as most adults need 7–8 hours of sleep each night. But going to bed early will make sure you don’t sleep less, while at the same time enable you to wake up early.

2. Don’t use any devices before bed

Keep your phone, computer, or iPad in another room before coming to bed. This way, you won’t be distracted and keep checking notifications each time you get reminded of something. Also, science has proved time and again that the light from screens damages the quality of your sleep.

You can get rid of this problem with a simple step: unplug all your devices before going to bed and keep them in a separate room.

3. Eat nothing at least 2 hours before going to bed

Late-night snacking could be your biggest enemy. It’s easy to confuse exhaustion with hunger, so even if you crave that delicious snack before going to bed, be strong-willed and say no to the craving.

Several studies have proven that late-night snacks can cause acid reflux and interfere with the quality of your sleep. They can also make you feel worse about yourself, leading to overthinking which might not let you sleep on time.

4. Sleep with your curtains open

While this might seem like an extreme measure, this is a great way to wake up early in the morning without having to set an alarm clock.

The natural light coming in through the windows would wake you up better than any alarm tone, and also leave you feeling energized and excited throughout the day.

5. Place your alarm clock across the room

Again, this might seem like an extreme step, but keeping your alarm across the room will push you get out of bed if you want to get rid of that annoying alarm tone the first thing in the morning.

As you get out of bed, you get a chance to stretch your limbs, while will help you rub some of that sleep off your eyes. This can also be an exceptionally valuable routine if you keep multiple alarms, and have to jump out of bed every five minutes to turn each of them off.

6. Set a night routine

A night routine might sound like a chore, but do it right, and it can be the biggest act of self-care you indulge in throughout the day.

A night routine can be something as simple as reading a book for thirty minutes each night. Or you can even incorporate elaborate tasks like lighting a candle, washing your face and wearing a face mask, etc.

It depends upon you what routine you pick. Either way, you’ll have something to look forward to each night, and the routine will train your body to feel tired and immediately fall asleep once it’s complete.

7. Track your waking up early habits

Using a habit tracker to mark the days you woke up early can be an excellent way to make sure you don’t fall off the wagon. Seeing a streak of several days would be an excellent motivation to keep pushing yourself. It can also serve as a reminder of what you are capable of and how much remains to be done before you can reach where you’re supposed to.

Walking is one of the easiest, most fun ways of keeping your health in check. No matter what age you’re at, what kind of work you do, or where you live, you can easily incorporate walking into your daily routine and add it as a viable form of exercise in your daily habits.

While researchers are still conflicted about the exact number of steps one needs to walk daily, some studies claim that walking 10,000 steps every day is a good start. But for someone who has never walked a lot and mostly leads a sedentary lifestyle, how to go about including walking in your daily routine?

This post discusses five easy steps you can apply to your life right now to start walking more often. These are science-backed tips you can add to your life from today onwards and watch the visible change it brings to your overall physical and mental health.

1. Stroll with friends

Going on a walk all by yourself can be hard if your job requires you to sit in front of a computer all day long. You can start small and build this habit gradually by going on a stroll with your friends every evening. 

Walking with friends is a great way of getting your body used to walking more as you can laugh, share stories, and have fun. It will feel more like a fun activity than a workout session. It will also go a long way in building a habit you’ll forever be grateful for.

2. Boost the intensity

While strolling with friends is a good way to incorporate walking into your daily routine, it might not be very effective health-wise as you won’t be walking fast. You can take care of this by slowly increasing the pace. If your friends refuse to follow the pace you set, you can start embarking on your daily walks alone.

Start by playing music in your headphones and choosing tracks that have a high beats per minute ratio. The fast-paced tracks will pump your heartbeat and make it easier to walk faster without thinking too much about how hard a task you’re accomplishing.

3. Head out after a meal

While scientists are not sure if working out after a meal is a good idea, some form of light exercise disguised as brisk walking never hurts. 

This will act as a great mood-booster, and you can walk all those calories away. A quick post-meal walk can also help clear sugar from the blood,according to the American Diabetes Association. This will prevent spikes that can take a toll on people with diabetes or who are at risk of developing it.

4. Put your phone away

Looking at your phone all the time while walking will require you to be hunched all the time and lead to bad posture. To prevent this from happening, you need to keep your phone away.

Don’t keep it at home. Instead, get a fanny pack or a small pouch to be slung over your shoulders and keep your phone inside it. Get some Bluetooth earphones that allow you to listen to music while being hands-free as you walk.

5. Use a steps tracker

Having a fitness tracker app on your phone or wearing a Fitbit on your wrist as you walk is a great way to count the daily steps and keep yourself motivated. When you know you need to walk a fixed number of steps daily, you will feel even more inclined towards doing it if you have a tracker to count how many steps you have already walked. This will also put you in the mood to celebrate better once you’ve accomplished your daily steps goal.

Bonus: Have a partner

Having someone else do it with you can make building any new habit easier. If you can’t find a friend who’s also learning to walk every day at the same time as you are, you can hire an accountability coach to help keep you on track. These are trained individuals who will hold you accountable and help you get back on track if you ever fall off the wagon.

You can also turn to technology and download a free habit tracker. This is a great way to mark your progress on the calendar and use it to motivate yourself to keep pushing on.  ,

This post discusses eight effective steps you can implement right now to quit smoking and get rid of your smoking habit. Apply them to lead a healthier life today.

1. Know your why

Having a strong reason to quit smoking can go a long way in helping you stick to your resolution. Know your reason behind this decision and make your mind around it. Be so rock solid in your conviction that no amount of temptations can divert you from your path.

2. Prepare before you dive in

Nicotine addiction is real and can be very difficult to deal with on your own. Before you embark on this journey to quit smoking, talk to your doctor and your addiction expert about your decision. Some drugs to help with the withdrawal symptoms can also be a good tool in your arsenal.

You can also consider nicotine replacement therapy and familiarize yourself with alternatives before taking such a big step. These will help you stay on course and stick to your goals.

3. Expect support

Lean on your loved ones for support. Tell them about your decision and the steps you plan to take to achieve this goal of quitting smoking and draw your boundaries. If you have friends who hang out while smoking, you need to stay away from them during the smoking hours so you don’t get tempted. 

Similarly, let your family know. Having a shoulder to lean on will make this journey less taxing than it has to be.

You can also hire an accountability coach to guide you on this journey and keep track of your progress. With their expert advice, they can make sure you don’t fall off the wagon.

4. Find new ways to relax

The most common reason people turn to nicotine is that it helps them relax. If you find different ways to enjoy your breaks, you can beat the cigarette addiction.

Go to a massage spa, pamper yourself with a hot bath, find purpose in a new hobby, rediscover your love for reading — there are so many ways you can fight work stress. Cigarettes don’t have to be the only option.

5. Avoid triggers

Another common reason people turn to smoke is that they need something to accompany their drinks. If you feel alcohol is a trigger, stop drinking so you don’t feel tempted. 

Fighting alcohol addiction is another struggle, but if leaving these two habits helps you live a better life, why not attempt them both?

6. Get a lifestyle change

Clean your house and get rid of all the reminders of your smoker lifestyle. Toss the ashtrays in the trash and get houseplants or other decorative items to replace them.

Similarly, change your lifestyle to fill in your “smoke breaks” with other meaningful activities. Spend time with a pet, hang out with friends, or dedicate an evening to a loved one.

7. Learn to forgive yourself 

Understand that giving up smoking is not going to be a straight line. It is a journey filled with ups and downs — and there will be days you can’t be strong enough. Bad days are inevitable and not in your control. But you can control the way you feel about them. 

Forgive yourself for slipping up, and get back on track. You can also download a free habit tracker to mark your progress. Remember to celebrate small wins and congratulate yourself for keeping up a streak of ‘no smoking’ days. 

8. Exercise

Make exercise a part of your daily routine. When you get your body moving, you’ll feel the dopamine hit that comes from smoking and not feel the need to resort to cigarettes.

If you feel working out is hard, you can also incorporate running into your schedule. It’s a great way to de-stress after a long day. You can be healthy as well as not rely on smoking for comfort. 

But knowing its several adverse effects on health is not enough to make one strong enough to quit sugar. It takes a lot of hard work and determination. This post discusses seven simple strategies you can use to cut sugar out of your life.

1. Throw away the table sugar

Replace it with a healthier alternative like honey, molasses, and syrup. Cutting it out of all dishes you use it for will help you reduce your intake of sugary foods.

2. Stop having canned drinks

Soda, cola, or other sweetened drinks have a tremendous amount of sugar content. You can save yourself from all that sugar by simply cutting these drinks out of your life and only drinking water when thirsty.

3. Choose fresh fruit over processed sweets

Processed fruits are often canned in syrup or sugary water, which only adds to your calorie intake without adding any nutritional value to your diet. Replace the canned food by choosing fresh fruit, which will have many health benefits instead of simply filling your tummy.

4. Take smaller portions

If you’re in a party or social gathering that requires you to have sugary food or drinks, choose to have a smaller portion size. You can also refuse the extra serving to ensure you remain on track with your goals to delete sugar from your life.

5. Read labels

Reading the nutritional information on the labels of every processed food item you pick up from the supermarket will go a long way in reducing your sugar intake. The labels will also help you make healthier eating choices and only pick the food items best for your body.

6. Learn from experts

If you’re finding it hard to delete sugar from your life, learn from the experts at Better Humans. They write the best, most in-depth pieces on how to live a better life. You can use their experiences to fuel your life towards a healthier direction:

How I Quit Refined Sugar Using a Commitment Contract
Putting money on the line and partnering up for accountability helped me stay the course and overhaul my eating…

Everything You Need to Know About the No Sweets Diet
Getting Started with Lift’s Quantified Diet

How To Begin a Sugar-Free Life
How I cut refined sugar out of my family’s diet for improved health

Does Sugar Cause Heart Disease?
Does sugar cause heart disease? Evidence points to it.

How to Conquer Your Sweet Tooth with a 30-Day Sugar Fast
Learn how to reset your sweet cravings by giving up all added sugar for a month-or more.

7. Hold yourself accountable 

Get a friend to track your progress or hire an accountability coach from the list of certified coaches on coach.me. They will support you on your journey and help you get back on track if you sometimes fall off the wagon and miss your habit for a few days.

You can also download a free habit tracker to track your progress and make sure you can build and maintain an unbroken streak of healthy habits.

Many people fail at sticking to their running goals is because they expect too much from their bodies. They believe they will start today and run 10 miles in a single day. This is not only unrealistic but also a sure-fire way to set yourself up for your failure. 

To get into the running habit, it’s important to ease yourself into it. And you can do that by starting to walk. Put on your running shoes and comfortable clothes, and set out on a nice walk. You can do this every day for about a week until your body is used to the idea of spending that time outdoors. Next, you can start running in sprints.

2. Get healthier

If you want to be a regular runner, it’s important to take care of your health. Two of the simplest ways to do this would be to get more sleep, eat healthily, and drink lots of water. 

You can also try to switch to a home-cooked diet plan of enough protein and less sugar. These will help build muscles and make you stronger to sustain that 10k run you’ll eventually plan.

3. Don’t overthink

Analyzing the pros and cons of what you’re about to do too much will only lead to undue stress. It’s simple: you plan to run, and you’re going to do it. Just get out of the house and start running. 

Even if you feel tired or lethargic, you can cover the target miles by walking. The important point is to show up and be consistent.

4. Fit running into your schedule 

Build a routine that suits your lifestyle. If you’re naturally not a morning person, don’t try to aim to run in the mornings. This will make you miserable and prove harder to stick to because your body is not aligned towards such a punishing schedule. 

Instead, fit running at a time that suits you the best. Forget what the rest of the world says is healthy. You know your body better than any doctor. And if your body is okay with going for a run in the evenings, there’s nothing wrong with that.

5. Rest before you tire

In the first few days, don’t push yourself to exhaustion. Doing that will only dim your motivation and make you feel as if running is only draining your time and energy. Instead, rest before you tire. 

Or better still, plan your running in sprints of 20–10, where you run for 20 minutes and walk for 10 minutes. This is an example, and you can tweak this schedule according to something that suits your body and fitness levels. Remember, this is flexible and can be upgraded once your body gets used to running every day.

6. Be mindful of the process

More than the physical aspect of running to burn calories, treat your daily runs as opportunities to connect with nature and get in touch with what your body wants. Be mindful of the air rushing through your lungs, the way your legs work, the various sights and smells that waft past as you move — and fall in love with the process.

It’s okay if being fit is your ultimate goal. But if you love the process, you’ll feel even more motivated to keep doing it, and a few setbacks won’t get in your way of building a running habit.

7. Keep yourself accountable 

The main reason why most people fail in sticking to their running goals is that they don’t have anyone to hold them accountable. Here are two simple and amazing ways to go about it:

Track your progress

Tracking your fitness journey is important, but even more important is tracking your habit and applauding yourself for your consistency. A great way to do this is to install a habit tracker and mark the days you can stick to your running goals.

Get an accountability partner.

This can be someone who holds you to your promise and keeps a check on you — especially on days you feel like giving up. Having a friend with similar goals is an incredible way to go about this, but better still, why not hire a professional? Go through this directory of habit coaches and find one that suits your requirement.