Doing 1 or 2 massive things is nowhere near as effective as doing lots of little things. For example, eating 100% clean for one week is nowhere near as effective as eating 80% clean every week for a year. Rather than overwhelming yourself with massive tasks, or aiming for perfection, in order to lean up, simply create good healthy habits on a daily basis. Healthy habits that, when you add them all together, will give you incredible results.

Pick 3-5 things that you will do day in day out without fail, until they become automatic and part of your daily routine, without thinking about it or having to plan for it. Once you have mastered these habits, add in a new batch of 3-5. Keep doing this until all your old bad habits have been broken and replaced with good ones that will see you achieving amazing things.

Here are some examples of healthy habits you may adopt. Remember, you are aiming for improvement, not perfection.

Increase your daily step count. Start tracking your daily steps for a week. Work out what your average steps are. Once you have that average, aim at achieving 1,000 more each day for a week. Continue to increase by 1,000 per day each week, until you are consistently doing 10,000 steps. Then maintain that. Steps are a simple way to burn off incidental energy and keep the body moving.

Drink a glass of water every 60-90 minutes. This will help with hydration which will help with metabolizing fat out of the fat cell so it can be used for energy.

Go to bed and wake up at the same time each time. This creates a routine, which helps with your energy, mood, quality and quantity of sleep. Sleep is one of the best ways to increase your metabolism and fat loss.

When eating out aim for better options. For example, opt for Grill’d burgers instead of McDonalds. Aim for BBQ chicken instead of KFC.

Eat 3 to 4 meals per day instead of having snacks. This will help you feel satiated for longer, manage your calorie intake and avoid over eating and poor food choices.

Avoid skipping meals. Skipping meals impacts your thyroid which can slow our metabolism down and increase fat gain. Skipping meals also increases the risk of poor food choices, binge eating and ultimately overeating.

Eat protein with every meal. Protein helps with cell repair and regeneration. It also helps you build lean muscle which increases your metabolism and burns more fat.

Take 10 minutes out each day to do something you love. Do something for yourself, by yourself. This helps you manage your stress levels. The less stressed you are, the greater your fat loss.

Avoid food you are allergic or intolerant to. Eating food that your body doesn’t agree with increases inflammation and stress in the body. When you have inflammation and stress, there is no fat loss happening.

Exercise at least 3 times per week.

Quit smoking.

Reduce alcohol to only 1-3 serves per week.

Take up meditation.

Spend at least 10 minutes a day in the sunshine. Sunshine helps boost your mood and energy and therefore promotes fat loss.

Eat at least 5 serves of vegetables per day.

Avoid caffeine after 12pm. Caffeine can impact your quantity of sleep and your quality of sleep. This then affects your fat loss.

Keep treat food to 3 or less per week.

–        Coach Terri