If you want to be in the best shape of your life you need a handful of basics done consistently, week after week, whether you feel like it or not. Here’s the exact path I walk my 1:1 clients through, broken into five categories: mindset, training, nutrition, recovery, and planning.

Mindset and Setup

Start with the 7 layers of why. I have my clients do this exercise because it uncovers the deep motive behind why you’re doing what you’re doing. Clients who start a fat loss journey with only an aesthetic goal burn out fast. And listen, I’m ALL IN on aesthetic goals. Chase the body of your dreams! But there has to be a deeper why underneath it.

Here’s how it works: state your goal, then ask yourself WHY seven times. “I want to lose weight” becomes “I don’t want controllable health markers to shorten my lifespan” becomes “I want to be here as long as possible for my kids and grandkids” becomes “God placed me on this earth for a purpose, and part of that purpose is to set an example my kids can look up to.” Keep asking why and you’ll find reasons that extend far beyond aesthetics. If you have real weight to lose for health reasons, this one will probably make you cry.

Establish a morning routine. Mornings are so much more predictable than afternoons. If you’re not taking advantage of that, start.

Set weekly non-negotiables. These are the habits you can uphold even on worst case scenario weeks. Even if everything hits the fan, you can 100% commit to these. Maybe it’s your step goal and hydration. Mine is 5 workouts per week no matter where I am. When we were at the beach for the Fourth of July, they only had 10 lb dumbbells, so I ran more that week. Movement is movement, and staying in the habit matters more than the method. And if you don’t have time to hit your step goal but claim your health is important to you? Arrange your schedule to reflect the desires you claim to have.

Stop following so many health and wellness accounts. You’re questioning everything you do because you hear 10 different messages on the same topic. Until you’re hitting the basics (calories, protein, strength training, steps, sleep), stop letting some account on social media convince you it’s anything other than those basics holding you back. If someone other than a doctor tells you it’s your hormones or your slow metabolism and never mentions calorie intake, run the other direction. And do an audit: if seeing someone’s posts immediately annoys you, unfollow. If you know them personally, mute their account instead.

Training and Movement

Strength train a minimum of 2 days per week and push your effort. Not 2 days when life allows. 2 days every week, and that’s your floor, not your goal. Data backs this up. A PubMed analysis combining 16 long-term studies found that people who trained 2 days per week consistently lowered all-cause mortality by 10-17% and had 19% lower cancer mortality compared to people who trained less than that. You can build muscle at 2 days per week too, but those days need to be consistent and high-effort. No show up and coast. The last 1-2 sets of every exercise should be a 7 out of 10 effort, and you should kind of dread that last set.

Do some form of cardio each week. Two days is ideal, one on worst case weeks. Think of strength as your entree and cardio as the side dish. Do both and you will be strong, conditioned, and a force to be reckoned with.

Get 10k steps minimum per day, some intentionally outside. I say 10k because for most people it requires intentional walking above their everyday life, and that’s the point. A higher step count helps you lose weight and makes maintaining your shape easier, because more calorie burn means more diet flexibility. Get some of those steps outside. Sunlight on your face supports your circadian rhythm so that when the sun goes down, you fall asleep easily.

Nutrition

Track your calories. Every single one. If you’re not tracking, you cannot with 100% certainty tell me you’re in a calorie deficit. There is a 100% chance you lose weight in a true deficit and a 100% chance you maintain your results if you keep tracking at maintenance. The calories don’t lie, even if you do.

Set a high protein goal. If protein is new for you, start at 0.7-0.8 grams per pound of bodyweight. At 150 lbs, that’s 105-120 grams per day. Once you’re consistent, and especially if muscle growth is the goal, bump it to 0.8-1 gram per pound. Protein keeps you full and it’s the number one macronutrient for building and keeping muscle. Anyone with that toned look you want is eating a high protein diet.

Get a minimum of 20g fiber daily from whole foods. Fiber keeps you full on fewer calories, keeps you regular, supports gut health, blood sugar control, and reduces risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. My rock-bottom rule is 10 grams per 1,000 calories, but atleast 20 grams is a great target for almost everyone.

Save meals out for special occasions. Nobody at that restaurant is weighing your chicken or measuring the olive oil. Even your best estimate is still a guess. Food cooked at home and weighed on a food scale is the only number you can 100% stand behind, especially in a deficit. Save restaurant meals for date night, birthdays, and true occasions.

Cut alcohol completely, or reserve it for events. It’s empty calories, even one drink hurts your sleep quality, and drinks lead to other poor food decisions. And remember: the alcohol doesn’t change the company, and it doesn’t have to change the conversation.

Drink water like it’s your job. Hydration touches everything on this list: hunger, training, the scale, digestion, recovery. It’s the lowest-skill, highest-leverage habit here, and it’s truly the one I struggle with most, so you’re not alone.

Recovery

Sleep 7+ hours actually asleep, not just in bed. And that brings me to the next one.

Stop scrolling in bed. When clients tell me their bedtime, they’re telling me the time they got in bed to scroll. That’s how “in bed by 9” turns into 6 hours of sleep. Get honest with yourself that the bedtime scroll is a black hole. Put your phone across the room so you have to physically get up for your alarm, which also supports that morning routine.

Prioritize feel-good recovery. Foam rolling before workouts, stretching after, mobility a few days a week. Some days it might only be a few minutes total, but keeping the joints moving smoothly and cooling down with some stretching makes a massive difference when you’re consistently pushing your training.

Planning and Systems

Look at your calendar from a weekly perspective. Write down family events, variable work schedules, and your workouts. Yes, pencil workouts in like an appointment. Somehow when your kid has a doctor’s appointment it happens, so the same should go for your training. Then plan dinners for the week, including leftovers and an easy freezer option, then build your grocery list from there.

Take one full day off social media every week. A true 24 hours. I started with one day and now do two. It will show you how much time and margin you really have, and how distracted you are the rest of the week. Delete the app and re-download it the next day, or use a Brick device to lock yourself out.

That’s the exact path to achieve the best shape of your life. Nothing on this list is fancy, and that’s exactly why it works. Pick your non-negotiables, put them on the calendar, and stack consistent weeks.

How I Can Help

If you need a roadmap for your strength sessions, you can check out my monthly app membership here. These are the workouts I personally do every single week on top of running.

I am also accepting new 1:1 clients, and you can find out more about that here.

Until next time, keep adding another penny in the jar.