7 Life-Changing FAT LOSS Habits You Need In 2025

Giving up all your favorite foods and spending every day at the gym might help you lose some weight, but what you really want is a sustainable way of living that keeps you lean long term.

After struggling with the last 10 or 15 pounds for over a decade, I found seven habits that keep me as lean as I want to be, and I’ve helped many of my clients finally lose fat after years of yo-yo dieting.

Track Your Progress 

You need to keep track of anything you want to improve.

If you want to pay off your debts, you’ll need to know how much they are, what the rate of interest is, how much money you’re making, and how much you’re spending.

Then you’ll need to formulate a plan for spending less or earning more to balance your budget.

If you just say to yourself, I wish I wasn’t in debt, you’re not likely to take any action that will get you to your goal.

But many people treat fat loss just like that:

❌ I really need to lose weight. 

❌ I wish I could see my abs. 

Look at the steps you need, and monitor your progress with each of them.

The scale is going to go up and down a little bit from day to day or week to week for reasons that have nothing to do with whether you’re succeeding on your fat loss journey or not.

But it’s still valuable to keep track of your weight because it’s very easy to just let it all slide if you don’t have that hard truth in front of you regularly.

Many, many, many years ago, when I was still working in gyms, some of my clients wanted to be weighed when they came in for their workouts.

One of my clients would only want to be weighed when he knew his weight would be lower.

So after a weekend when he was overindulging in way too much food and drink, he didn’t want to get on the scale.

But the fact that he didn’t get on the scale didn’t change his weight or his progress.

He was still not making progress. 

👉 If I don’t look at my weight, it didn’t happen. 

So if you’re trying to lose weight, track your weight.

It doesn’t have to be every day, but you need to have a general idea of where you’re at.

Of course, this isn’t a good idea for everyone, but for most people, that feedback is helpful.

Most body fat scales aren’t that accurate, but tracking your waist and hip measurements can tell you whether the fat in your midsection is going down, which is probably what you want.

You should also track non-scale or non-measurement victories, like:

✔️ How many chin-ups you can do 

✔️ How much weight you can deadlift 

✔️ How many stairs you can climb without getting out of breath 

Whatever makes sense for you.

Those are the outcome goals, but it’s also important to track your process goals.

Losing fat and building muscle requires weight training workouts and probably some other added physical activity to get into a calorie deficit.

You might also want to track your calories and macros, which I’m going to talk about a bit later on.

To see what’s going on in my online fat loss program, The Lean & Strong Academy, we track our food intake for at least three weeks.

I also have my members keep track of the weight for their workout program, their cardio, and we spend a module tracking our steps, which is the next fat loss habit.

Focus on Daily Movement 

Your energy expenditure—your calories out—isn’t just about how much time you spend at the gym.

In fact, the largest part of how many calories you burn is your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)—how many calories your body uses to just keep running.

This is higher for a larger person and lower for a smaller person, so it will naturally go down as you lose weight.

And there’s not that much you can do about it, apart from making sure you have as much muscle as possible, since muscle burns slightly more calories than fat even at rest.

Any active movement you do is going to contribute to your calorie burn, so it all adds up.

I actually find 10,000 steps a day pretty hard to do regularly since I work from home.

In the winter, I don’t feel like going out for walks either.

But doing more intentional movement throughout the day means your body is using more calories, and you’ll feel better.

So fit it in whenever you can.

If you can’t fit in a 30-minute walk in the morning, then try a lunchtime walk or even just move around your home more often.

I get up from my desk throughout the day and try to move around, usually on a 25-minute timer.

If you have a walking pad or treadmill at home, that’s great—it makes it really easy to fit in.

But otherwise, just move.

Sometimes I’ll do some vacuuming, which has the added benefit of keeping my condo clean.

When it comes to fat loss, motivation isn’t a useful thing to rely on. It goes up and down, and we don’t have as much control over it as we would like. Some days you’ll be all about the chicken and broccoli and the hardcore workout at the gym, and other days you’re on the couch rewatching the second season of Squid Game.

So design your environment for fat loss.

Habits take time to build.

If you spent years having a few cookies after dinner every night, it isn’t easy to just stop doing that. Using choice architecture makes positive choices easier and negative choices harder. So if you don’t buy cookies, you keep them out of your home, so you would have to go out and get them to continue that habit. Or you at least keep them at the back of the cupboard up high so that they’re harder to get to. That gives you a bit more time to consciously decide whether you really need them at that moment.

On the other hand, if you want to eat more fruit, keep it out on the counter so you see it regularly. Buy pre-cut vegetables so eating them becomes easier.

With exercise, you can leave your gym clothes out the night before so they’re ready for you in the morning. You can find a gym that you have to pass on your way home from work so you’re less likely to miss your workouts. Or even buy equipment and work out from home if you know travel to the gym is going to be an obstacle for you.

Remove the friction to doing the things you want, and increase the difficulty of doing the things you don’t. 

Remember, your fat loss plan is part of the bigger picture of your life. You need to design your meals and your workouts to match the commitments you have and your particular challenges—not to mention preferences.

With nutrition, many people don’t get enough fiber, so focusing on fiber can really improve the quality of your diet.

Fiber helps you stay full, regulates your blood sugar, and supports your gut health, which is all the rage these days. And most foods that are high in fiber are also low in calorie density, filling you up with fewer calories, which is exactly what you’re looking for with fat loss.

Reduce your calorie intake, improve your health, and stay satisfied by adding more vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans, and legumes to your nutrition plan.

Most apps will allow you to track your fiber intake, and I definitely recommend that you do that, especially if you’re just getting started on a fat loss plan. You’re looking for a daily intake of about 14 grams for every 1,000 calories you eat. So if you’re having 2,000 calories, it’s 28 grams. But a rough figure of 25 to 30 grams works for most people. 

Another fat loss habit that really works is portion control.

That doesn’t mean eating tiny meals or counting out five almonds as a snack.

You do want to be a bit careful with calorie-dense ultra-processed foods like donuts or cakes, as well as calorie-dense nutritious foods like nuts. Even foods considered healthy can lead to weight gain if you’re consistently eating more calories than your body needs.

Eating snack foods from a bag can be dangerous since there’s no natural stop except the end of the bag, of course. So measure higher-calorie foods, put them in a bowl, and put the rest away. Using smaller plates and bowls can naturally help you eat less because it seems like you’re eating more.

It’s also helpful to read labels so you can get an idea of what an actual serving size is for a particular food.

Many people will have two or three times the normal serving size for things like cereal or granola.

Paying more attention to your portion sizes requires you to be more mindful of what you’re eating generally. And sometimes just that awareness will cause you to eat less.

When it comes to nutrition and physical activity, the most important thing you can do is be consistent.

Consistency beats perfection, and it’s the thing that most people struggle with. Partly that’s because they make their plan too far from what they’re currently doing—too hard to achieve.

If you’re training with weights once a week, don’t decide that you’re going to start working out every day like many people do at the start of the year. Set your process goal for two weight training sessions per week. Once you’ve succeeded with that for a couple of months, increase to three workouts a week.

Small, manageable steps.

You don’t have to get everything right all the time. What matters is showing up day after day, even when things don’t go perfectly.

If you overeat or skip a workout, don’t just give up altogether.

 "I suck. I ate some chips, so I might as well eat the whole bag."

Don’t feel any guilt. Just move on. Get back on track with your next meal or your next workout.

While we’re talking about it, including some of your favorite treat foods in your diet—whether it’s a small amount every day or a larger amount once or twice a week—can actually help you stay on your plan because you know nothing is forbidden and you don’t feel deprived. But you’re still setting some rules, goals, and limits on yourself.

The last habit is nutrition-related since you probably know that most of your fat loss efforts are going to need to be there. 

This one can have a huge impact: prioritize protein.

When I first started building my meals around protein about 15 years ago, it was a game-changer for me. Not only did I feel more satisfied with my meals, but it also helped crowd out other foods. I didn’t have as much space for high-density treats because I was full from what I’d already eaten. 

Protein helps you build and maintain muscle, which is really what fat loss long-term is about. Maximizing muscle makes it easier to burn off fat.

Even if you don’t track calories, it’s often helpful to set yourself a daily protein goal and then divide the amount of protein you need into the number of meals you’re planning to have.

To make sure you’re getting enough protein and choosing the right sources, watch THIS VIDEO HERE.

Ivana Chapman