Fat Loss Habits

Ben Carpenter

N e w Yo r k Boston

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd iii 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 All reasonable care has been taken in the preparation of this book but the information it contains
is not intended to take the place of treatment by a qualified medical practitioner. Before making
any changes in your health regimen, always consult a doctor. While all the therapies detailed in
this book are completely safe if done correctly, you must seek professional advice if you are in any
doubt about any medical condition. Any application of the ideas and information contained in this
book is at the reader’s sole discretion and risk.

Copyright © 2025 by Ben Carpenter

Cover copyright © 2025 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright.
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First published in 2025 in Great Britain by Short Books, an imprint of

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LCCN: 2024949503

ISBNs: 9781538768655 (trade paperback); 9781538768662 (ebook)

Printed in the United States of America

LSC-C

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd iv 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 Prevalence of Obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) Between 1975 and 2016 According
to Geographical Region19 (Data shown for females ≥20 years of age)
Although obesity rates will obviously vary
between countries, you can see that the global
trend is toward significant weight gain. This is
also seen across sex (females and males) and age
groups (children, adolescents and adults),
which is not shown on this image. 350m

300m

Number of people
250m

200m

150m

100m

50m

0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Sub-Saharan Africa High-income Asia Pacific

Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa Latin America and Caribbean
South Asia High-income Western countries
East and South East Asia Central and Eastern Europe

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd 9 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 Portion Size Availability in the US Marketplace:
Comparing Products When First Launched to 202136
Portion Size Availability in the US Marketplace: Comparing When First Launched to 2021
Some sodas became available
in over quadruple the size
Sometimes they
that they used to be, and
keep the original
one beer over six times the
Calorie Content Per 100g

size, but then offer Sometimes even

original size!
Weight (oz or fl oz)

larger sizes the smallest size

is bigger than the
original size

1955
1916 1976
1954
1938 1955 1908

Nestle Mcdonalds Hersheys Burger King McDonald’s

Nestle
Crunch
McDonald’s
Hamburger,
Hershey’s
Milk
Burger McDonalds
French Fries Soda, poured
Coca Cola,
Coca Cola,
bottle
Budweiser,
Budweiser,
bottle
Crunch hamburger,
beef only milk
Chocolate King fromsoda fountain
bottle bottle
beef only chocolate French fries

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd 15 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 How Shops Can Subconsciously Influence Your Purchasing Patterns
ENTRANCE/EXIT
CHECKOUT They can catch your
They will often
attention as soon as
upsell you into
SHELVES

SHELVES
you walk in
buying snacks
and drinks as you DISPLAY
are waiting in the
FRIDGE FRIDGE
queue to pay
You are often more likely to buy items prominently positioned
at end-of-display locations

MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR

AISLE AISLE AISLE

Items they want you to buy can also be positioned

at eye-level throughout the store

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd 19 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 A DDR ESSING THE R E A L PROBLEM

Calorie Intake (top) and Body Weight Changes (bottom) During an

Exclusively Ultra-Processed Diet and an Unprocessed Diet 59

3500
The ultra-processed
diet caused people
(calories per day)
Ad libitum intake

3000 to consistently
consume more
2500 calories than the
unprocessed diet . . .
2000
0

which translated
Body weight change (kg)

1
to weight gain, even
during the short
0
study duration
of 14 days
-1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Days on diet
Ultra-processed
Unprocessed

The role of advertising

When you step into your local supermarket, invariably you are
immediately greeted by flashy signs and displays showcasing the
newest food items on offer. They aren’t the most nutritious options
in the store, but many of them are actually cheaper than what you
normally eat. Your mouth starts salivating because they look
incredible, so you add a few to your basket. When you get home and
try them, you discover that they are mind-blowingly tasty, and put
your old favorite foods to shame. When you go back to the store, you
are going to buy them again, right? This is one example of how food
advertising can permeate your subconscious and subtly influence
your food choices. Many other examples can be found in the media.

— 23 —

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

keep in mind that even after people lose a lot of weight by using strong
medications that help suppress appetite, or even following bariatric
surgery procedures, there are people who still regain a significant
amount of the weight they originally lost. 24,25,26 It’s important to
remember that this is an average—there are some people who do
significantly better and some who do significantly worse. This is not
to say that long-term weight loss is impossible, which is a harmful
narrative to reinforce. It is simply explaining why some people
struggle so much. This is why developing healthy long-term habits
that become second nature can help you combat this negative yo-yo
dieting cycle.
Body Weight Change in Response to Semaglutide Injections (2.4mg per week)
and Subsequent Follow-Up Period
Body Weight Change in Response to Semaglutide Injections
52-week off-treatment
68-week treatment phase extension phase 27
(2.4mg per week) and Subsequent Follow-up Period

68-week treatment phase 52-week off-treatment extension phase

2 0
0

-2 You can see continual

Percentage body weight

-5
weight loss for the
change from baseline

change from baseline

-4 Body weight (kg)
-6 whole 68 weeks
-8
-10
-10

-12

-14 -15

-16

-18

0 4 8 12 16 20 28 36 44 52 60 68 75 80 104 120

Time since randomization

This first 16 weeks (weeks) Once the drug was stopped,
was a “dose people started regaining
escalation” phase weight toward baseline,
reinforcing how common
weight regain is in people
who have lost weight

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 Commonly Reported Barriers and Facilitators to Diet, Exercise and Weight Loss

Barriers Example(s)
If you have struggled with yo-yo dieting throughout your life,
Lack of initial making nutrition changes or rejoining a gym can feel daunting.
motivation If you have a lot going on, exercise often takes a back seat
to other priorities.
Trying to squeeze exercise into long work hours or a hectic
Lack of time
family life when you already feel exhausted can be extremely
and energy
difficult.
Being given a terrible crash diet and exercise plan you detest
Lack of
that rapidly removes your will to live doesn’t exactly make you
enjoyment
want to keep going.
Unable to afford local gym memberships or at-home equipment.
Lack of money Struggling to afford nutritious foods when less nutritious foods
are often cheaper.
Lack of Being given a program and then kicked out the door without any
support ongoing guidance or accountability.
Lack of Being given a copy-and-paste training regimen and meal plan
personalization that don’t suit your personal preferences.
If you cannot see physical changes from working out, it can
Lack of results be significantly less exciting to keep going unless you can find
another reward that makes you want to continue.
Physical disability can make exercising anything from more
Sickness
difficult to impossible, especially if you are in a lot of pain.
Partners, family or friends that proactively discourage you from
Saboteurs
doing what you want or make you feel guilty.
Receiving negative comments about your weight.
Weight stigma Being injured or mocked in the gym, which makes you less likely
to want to keep going.
Eating for reasons besides hunger, like eating a lot when bored,
Inner food cues
stressed, anxious or sad.
An all-or-nothing mindset that makes you want to give up the
Dichotomous
moment you deviate slightly from a plan, like eating one cookie
thinking
and then thinking “Fuck it, my whole diet is ruined.”

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 Facilitators
Facilitators Example(s)
Example(s)
Exercising
Exercising frequently
frequently isis much
much easier
easier when
when you
you enjoy
enjoy doing
doing it,
it,
High
High initial
initial or
or have
have aa deep-rooted
deep-rooted motivation
motivation like
like wanting
wanting toto improve
improve your
your
motivation
motivation health,
health, lower
lower disease
disease risk
risk or
or extend
extend your
your healthy
healthy years
years on
on this
this
planet
planet so
so you
you can
can spend
spend more
more time
time with
with loved
loved ones.
ones.
Noticing
Noticingphysical
physicalchanges
changesoften
oftenfeels
feelsmotivating,
motivating,but
butthey
theyare
are
Ongoing
Ongoing often
oftenalso
alsovery
veryslow
slowto
tosee.
see.It
Itisisvery
veryrare
rareto
tosee
seenoticeable
noticeablechanges
changes
motivation
motivation weekly,
weekly,sosohaving
havingother
otherongoing
ongoingsources
sourcesof ofmotivation
motivationcan
canbe
be
great,
great,like
likefeeling
feelingyourself
yourselfgetting
gettingfitter,
fitter,healthier
healthieror
orstronger.
stronger.

Exercising
Exercisingregularly
regularlycan
canbebeaalot
loteasier
easierififyou
youhave
havepeople
peoplewho
who
also
alsolike
liketotoexercise
exercisewith
withyou,
you,like
likefriends,
friends,family
familyor
oreven
evenstrangers
strangers
Social
Social support
support
when
whenititisisin
inaagroup
groupclass
classsetting
settingbecause
becausesocializing
socializingcan
canbe
benice.
nice.
Access
Accesstotoprofessionals
professionalslike
likeaapersonal
personaltrainer
trainercan
canalso
alsobe
behelpful.
helpful.

Ongoing
Ongoing sources
sources of
of motivation
motivation don’t
don’t have
have to
to be
be physical.
physical. AA lot
lot
Psychological
Psychological of
of people
people who
who turn
turn exercising
exercising into
into an
an ingrained
ingrained habit
habit do
do so
so
improvement
improvement because
because ofof psychological
psychological changes,
changes, like
like having
having better
better mental
mental
health,
health, feeling
feeling more
more confident
confident oror noticing
noticing improved
improved mood.
mood.
Actually
Actually knowing
knowing what
what you
you are
are doing
doing can
can make
make itit easier
easier to
to move
move
Having
Having aa clear,
clear,
forward.
forward. For
For example,
example, aa plan
plan devised
devised specifically
specifically for
for you
you byby aa
personalized
personalized
personal
personal trainer
trainer versus
versus walking
walking around
around the
the gym
gym aimlessly,
aimlessly, or or
plan
plan
some
some clear
clear nutrition
nutrition habits
habits that
that suit
suit your
your personal
personal preferences.
preferences.
Conducive
Conducive Being
Being physically
physically active
active can
can be
be much
much easier
easier when
when you
you live
live or
or
exercise
exercise work
work in
in an
an area
area that
that facilitates
facilitates it,
it, like
like having
having aa gym
gym next
next toto your
your
environment
environment workplace
workplace oror having
having safe
safe walking
walking routes
routes by
by your
your home.
home.

Making
Making dietary
dietary changes
changes cancan be
be easier
easier when
when preferred
preferred foods
foods are
are
Conducive
Conducive food
food
more
more accessible,
accessible, like
like having
having affordable
affordable nutritious
nutritious foods
foods offered
offered
environment
environment
by
by your
your workplace
workplace and and convenience
convenience stores
stores close
close to
to your
your home.
home.

Instead
Instead of of all-or-nothing
all-or-nothing thinking
thinking where
where youyou feel
feel like
like your
your plan
plan
Psychological
Psychological isis ruined
ruined every
every time
time you
you deviate
deviate from
from itit even
even slightly,
slightly, knowing
knowing
flflexibility
exibility that
that you
you can
can keep
keep progressing
progressing forward
forward isis important.
important. You You don’t
don’t
need
need to to be
be perfect
perfect to
to keep
keep showing
showing upup and
and making
making progress.
progress.

People
People who
who monitor
monitor their
their progress
progress and
and behaviors
behaviors often
often see
see
better
better long-term
long-term results,
results, like
like people
people who
who are
are successful
successful in
in
Self-monitoring
Self-monitoring business
business may
may be
be more
more inclined
inclined toto frequently
frequently check
check their
their
bank
bank balance.
balance. This
This may
may include
include weighing
weighing yourself
yourself regularly
regularly
or
or keeping
keeping aa nutrition
nutrition and
and training
training diary.
diary.

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd 54 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

all. It is not worth trying to follow a very specific macronutrient plan

if that involves sacrificing your ability to stick with it.
Predominant Macronutrient Content of Some Example Popular Foods
Food nutritional
Predominant values mayContent
Macronutrient vary, use this as a rough
of Some guideline
Example only. Foods
Popular
Protein Food nutritional
values naturally vary,
so use this as a rough
Chicken breast, leaner
ground turkey mince, guideline only
leaner ground beef mince,
cod, tilapia, halibut,
shrimp, prawns, scallops,
egg whites
Carbohydrate and Protein Protein and Fat
Chicken thighs, beef,
Low-fat milk, low-fat
pork, lamb, salmon,
yogitan, seitan, kidney
mackerel, eggs,
beans, chickpeas,
Whole milk, cheese, tofu
lentils, quinoa
almonds,
cashew nuts,
soy beans, tempeh
Potatoes, rice, pasta,
oats, most cereal Butter, cream,
products, all fruits, all olive oil, coconut
vegetables (although Avocados, oil, vegetable oils,
Carbohydrate some have a lower olives, coconut mayonnaise Fat
carbohydrate content)

Fat and Carbohydrate

Food-Choice Diets
Rather than searching for a magical macronutrient ratio, many diets
prefer to tell you which foods to prioritize or which to limit. These
programs are often less extreme than diets that say you are never
allowed to lick an apple again because it’s too high in carbohydrates,
or you are never allowed to even look at a steak again because it’s too
high in saturated fat. By focusing on foods that are nutritious, and

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

Primary Food Sources That Popular Health-Promoting

Diets Often Include or Prioritize
Plant-based diets
Plant-based Diets
(which (which
vary vary dramatically)
dramatically)
Popular diets
sometimes have mini The most common stuff
disagreements about Fruits, vegetables, these diets agree on
whole grains, legumes,
which foods to include, nuts, seeds, meat
so use this as a simple substitutes
guideline only
Fruits, vegetables, Fruits, vegetables,
whole grains, whole grains,
legumes, nuts, legumes, nuts, Fruits,
Fruits, seeds seeds vegetables,
vegetables,
fish, poultry,
fish, poultry, Fruits,
Mediterranean diet whole grains, DASHdiet
diet
Mediterranean diet whole grains, vegetables, DASH
legumes, nuts,
legumes, nuts, nuts, seeds seeds, low-fat
seeds, olive oil,
Fruits, Fruits, dairy, vegetable
red wine
vegetables, vegetables, oils
fish, poultry, fish, poultry,
nuts, seeds nuts, seeds

Fruits, vegetables
(maybe excluding
potatoes), fish, poultry,
red meat, eggs,
nuts, seeds

PaleoDiets
Paleo diet

Meal-Timing Diets
We now come to the third big umbrella group of diets, which are
based not on what macronutrients or foods you eat, but on what time
you eat them.
Meal-timing diets are entirely different from the macronutrient-
based diets and food-choice diets above as they tell you absolutely
zero about the macronutrients or foods you choose to prioritize.
They very simply tell you when you should or shouldn’t eat, and that’s
about it. The following diets—the 16:8 diet, alternate- day fasting

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

When Does Time-Restricted Eating

Common Eating Pattern Work? Eating
Late Time-restricted

8am
8 am

Fast
Fast Eat 2pm
2 pm

Eat

8pm
8 pm 8pm
8 pm

Switching from this to this often causes people to eat fewer calories
without even realizing it, which promotes weight loss and can improve
some health markers. But in research studies where the calorie intake
is kept the same, the weight loss benefits seem to disappear.

It is totally true that fasting can improve many people’s health. But
whether you actually need to avoid food for long periods of time to
obtain all those health benefits is an ongoing debate. It’s possible
that fasting could improve some health markers even if you don’t
eat less,75 but, at the moment, solely from a weight loss perspective,
I think it’s sensible to play it safe and just view it as a tool that often
nudges people toward eating less food.
One big plus point of time-restricted feeding is that it is simple,
because saying, “Hey, don’t eat breakfast” or “Only eat between
midday and 8pm” is dietary advice that takes literally five seconds
to tell someone and, occasionally, that sound bite alone is enough
to promote weight loss. Another possible advantage is that people
who adopt this kind of fasting protocol often find themselves eating
fewer calories than they would on a normal diet, which can give them
a little extra weight loss edge.76 That said, if they are going to eat

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

When Does Intermittent Fasting Work?

Calorie intake

Calorie intake
Fast day

Fast day

Fast day

Fast day
Fast day
M T W T F S S M T W T F S S
Modified alternate-day fasting Modified fasting two days per week (5:2 diet)

Having fasting (or “modified fasting”) days with aggressive calorie restriction can
cause people to eat fewer total calories over the course of a week. But again, in newer
research trials where they compare this to an equivalent degree of weekly calorie
restriction via regular dieting, the weight loss and health benefits seem to vanish.

It is true that meal-timing diets can promote weight loss and it is also
true that these can often improve certain health markers. Whether
they are better than traditional diets is a nerdy ongoing nutrition
debate with people arguing from both sides, so there definitely isn’t
a super clear winner yet.93,94,95 In my opinion, it is important for you
to know this because it means you get to choose whichever approach
floats your boat. If you prefer to avoid intermittent fasting, you can
rest assured knowing it’s not necessary to avoid food for long periods
of time to lose body fat and improve your health.
The rising popularity of fasting diets unfortunately also means
a lot of people exaggerate the shit out of their benefits, often in an
attempt to sell you something that is pretty and shiny. Obviously,
everything has pros and cons, and it concerns me that so many
people selling time-restricted eating or intermittent fasting diets
conveniently forget to tell you the downsides. Imagine you are a

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 How Popular Fat Loss Diets Really Work

Nutrition How Some People Think The Primary Reason They

Intervention They Work Actually Work
Carbohydrates are uniquely
Low- fattening; decreasing Restricting carbs normally
carbohydrate your intake lowers means people prioritize
diets insulin production and protein and eat fewer calories
promotes fat loss

Strictly avoiding carbs

Going into a state called
Very-low- often means people eat
ketosis makes your body
carbohydrate even more protein and even
burn body fat at an
ketogenic diets fewer calories than regular
accelerated rate
low-carb diets

As dietary fat is calorie

By avoiding higher-fat
dense, reducing your intake
foods, you can eat as much
Low-fat diets is a fairly reliable, but not
as you want of lower-fat
foolproof, way to reduce
foods and still lose weight
your calorie intake

Time-restricted The long fasting window When you avoid food for
feeding (16:8) shifts your body to using long periods of time you will
diets body fat for fuel probably eat fewer calories

Intermittent During extended fasting, When you avoid eating

fasting (5:2 or your body goes through for entire days at a time,
alternate-day even longer periods of you will almost definitely
fasting) diets burning body fat eat fewer calories

Prioritizing nutritious foods

Only eating foods available
and avoiding high-calorie,
to our cavemen ancestors
Paleo diet highly processed foods will
is a surefire path to
probably cause you to eat
optimal health and weight
fewer calories

Some sales pitch about Whether they mention

Almost every how this works better it or not, they are
new fad diet you than all other weight engineering different
will ever see loss diets and you should ways that encourage you to
definitely buy it reduce your calorie intake

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd 91 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

this diet lost weight and improved several health markers without
any significant adverse psychological effects.103,104

Change in Body Mass Index (BMI) for the Ad Libitum Control Group and
Calorie Restriction Group105

5
Percentage change in BMI from baseline

-5

-10

-15

0 6 12 18 24
Follow-up month

Percentage change in BMI

Regular calorie restriction without any fancy-
Ad libitum control group sounding diets caused persistent weight loss
Calorie restriction group (and improvement in cardiometabolic risk
markers) for the study duration

My hope is that, rather than blindly following one diet because it

has great marketing or one that sounds appealing, you can actually
handpick the specific elements of that diet that work best for you
and disregard the elements that don’t. In Chapter 5 we will discuss
individual tips that overlap with some of these diets, plus some
other healthy habits that don’t, allowing you to create your own
fully customized plan. First, though, I think it’s important to do a
self-audit so we know where you are now relative to where you would
like to be.

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 Weight history and goals
1. To help us establish your dieting history, what nutrition
and lifestyle strategies have you followed that have
resulted in a weight loss of 4.5kg (10lb) or more? (By this
I mean intentional dieting only, so you don’t need to
include the time you got food poisoning and spent a week
emptying the entire contents of your digestive system or
anything like that.)

2. In the past year, how many times have you embarked on

an intentional weight loss program? This includes
diets of any duration, whether you followed something
for several months or just tried it for a couple of days.

3. Have you ever experienced any significant negative side

effects from trying to lose weight? These can be physical
or emotional; whatever you remember. If yes, what were
your symptoms?

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 4. Do you currently have a weight or fat loss goal? If so, how
much would you like to lose?

5. When did you last weigh your target weight and how long
did you maintain it?

Lifestyle
1. Do you currently smoke? If so, how many cigarettes per
day? Feel free to say how many you smoke per month if
you don’t smoke daily.

2. If you have ever smoked and then stopped, did you notice
any weight gain? If so, how much, roughly?

3. Do you currently drink alcohol? If so, how many drinks

do you have per week? If you drink less frequently, how
many do you have per month?

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 4. Do you take any other recreational drugs? No judgment.
As these can obviously affect your health, it can be a
useful thing to know when designing your plan.

Eating habits
1. Do you find that social factors affect your health and
weight, such as eating with family and friends or when
socializing, celebrating or at business events?

2. Do you eat because you love the taste of food?

3. Do you crave specific foods?

4. Do you ever overeat at breakfast, lunch or dinner? Note if

it is one meal in particular.

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 5. Do you snack a lot between meals or after dinner?

6. Do you feel like weighing scales hold a power over you

and can affect your mood?

7. Do emotions affect when you eat, such as when you are

stressed, angry, bored, sad, depressed, anxious or lonely?

8. Do you feel guilty if you eat “forbidden” foods?

9. Does being tired affect your ability to have control over

your diet?

10. If you think you’ve eaten too much while on a diet, do you
tend to give up, feel like you’ve lost control and eat more?

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 11. How many times do you eat per week? Add up your
breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks.

12. What does your diet look like on a typical weekday?

13. What does your diet look like on a typical weekend?

Physical activity
During a typical week:
1. How many minutes of vigorous activity do you do?
This can include things like running, fast cycling and
heavy lifting.

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 2. How many minutes of moderate intensity activity do you
do? Only include things you do for more than ten minutes
at a time, like cycling at a regular pace, carrying light loads
or playing doubles tennis.

3. How many minutes do you spend walking?

4. How many minutes do you spend sitting?

5. Do you enjoy any of the following forms of exercise?

Walking outside, walking on the treadmill, jogging,
running, cycling outside, cycling inside, group aerobics
classes, racket sports, swimming, basketball, golf,
dancing, weight lifting? Others? Please describe.

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

Self-Reported Emotional Reasons for Weight Regain, Grouped by Gender 12

% of ssample who endoorsed each emorional reason

60
Although not everyone reports emotional
Percentage of sample who endorsed

50 reasons for eating, around half of people do,

each emotional reason

with comfort eating and eating when stressed

40
as the most common forms
30

20

10

0
Comfort Stressed Low/down Emotionally Frustrated Self- No
eating drained punishment emotional
reasons
Women Men

Why Do Your Goals Actually Motivate You?

When I was a teenager, I remember setting myself an exercise goal
to lift a certain weight in the gym (on bench press obviously, because
teenage gym bros always love training their chest, and I was no
exception). My whole exercise experience immediately became more
fun. I was excited to go to the gym, and I felt happier every time I
tracked a tiny improvement on my journey to that goal. I wasn’t just
going to the gym, I was going to the gym with a purpose.
Have you ever had a target that was so similarly exciting that you
really knuckled down and worked your arse off to try to achieve it?
Setting goals for yourself can be an amazingly powerful tool. But
it can also be a fucking terrible tool when used improperly, and it’s
important to understand some pros and cons.
Having weight loss targets is often linked to better results,13 but
it is also extraordinarily common for people to set unrealistic goals
for themselves.14,15 For example, in one research study, a group of

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 THE SELF-AU DIT

women aimed at numbers that were so overly ambitious, nearly half

of them failed to even hit their “disappointed” weight loss targets, let
alone their “reasonable,” “happy” or “dream” weight loss goals.16 This
does not mean that if you are too ambitious you will automatically be
shooting yourself in the foot,17 but it is worth being aware of.

Participant Expectations18
100

90

80

70
Despite a very
60
aggressive 48-week
Weight (kg)

50 diet, a lot of participants

failed to hit even their
40
“disappointed” weight
30 loss goal
20

10

0
t

yw t

ap ble w t
tua i n t e d g h t

tw t
ht
igh

igh

igh

st- eigh
pta eig

eig
i
we

we

we

e
l po w
ng

al
am

die
pp
Go
rti

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Dis
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Although the most common questions around weight loss are things
like, “How much weight do you want to lose?,” “What size clothing
would you like to wear?,” “When would you like to achieve this by?”
and “When did you last weigh this amount?,” I would like to ask a
different question. I would like to ask you why you have the goal (or
goals) that you do, and I actually want to ask it five times. This is

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

after my lunch, I swapped it for a couple of pieces of fruit. Years later,

as soon as I finish eating lunch, my brain still automatically wants
to grab a piece of fruit. This is a habit that took willpower at the
beginning, but, over time, repeating this new habit substitution
took less and less effort to the point that it became automatic.

A Decision Tree to Aid Selection of Habit Change Strategies11

Identify target behavior

Uptake of wanted
behavior, or decrease of
unwanted behavior

Wanted behavio r Unwanted behavior

(habit formation) (habit disruption)

Tips: it should be
intrinsically valued, simple
and realistic/achievable
(if not, consider revising)

Identify context/cues
(e.g., when, where, with whom, prior action)

Can the context/cues be avoided?

Yes
Repeat target No Pursue alternative
Avoid cues
behavioral context behavior
(habit discontinuation)
(habit formation) (habit substitution)

If problems, consider revising

target behavior or context

Inhibit unwanted
response
(habit inhibition)

Discontinuation of Overwriting of old

Formation of new habit
unwanted behavior habit associations

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 C H O O S I N G YO U R FAT L O S S H A B I T S

is a common predictor of eating more food and gaining weight,20 so if

you go through periods of restricting a food and then binge eating it,
it can be a bit like taking two steps forward and then three steps back.
A lot of diets revolve around food avoidance, restriction, deprivation
and misery, so sometimes it can feel like a nice change to focus on the
positive things you can add rather than constantly obsessing about
Fruits also tend to be low
negative things you need to avoid.
Leaner proteins are lower
than fattier proteins

Energy Density Examples of Popular Foods

Very high-fat
Energy Density Examples of Popular Foods
foods are always
1000 the highest
Vegetables with a higher
900 Ultra-processed, high-fat
water content are lowest,
800 foods tend to be much higher
and fruits also tend
Calorie content per 100g (3¹/₂oz)

700 to be low Leaner proteins

Calorie Content Per 100g

600 are lower than

Less processed starches
500 fattier proteins
tend to be lower than
400 more processed flour
300
products
200

100

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Low energy density Medium energy density High energy density

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd 129 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 C H O O S I N G YO U R FAT L O S S H A B I T S

Simplified Strategy to Reduce the Energy Density of Your Meals by

Incorporating Fruits and Vegetables

Instead of reducing your

portion size
Protein Carbs

You can keep it the same but

Protein Carbs add in nutritious, lower energy
density foods
Protein Carbs

Fruit
and Veg
This can be achieved in
a variety of ways, for example: Bowl of
breakfast cereal
Bowl of
breakfast cereal
Fruit

Alternatively, there is another strategy. Let’s pretend you went to a

food buffet. It is one of those all-you-can-eat places, so you intend
to eat as much as you can to get your money’s worth. What is one
thing you defi nitely wouldn’t do if your goal was to consume as
much food as possible? Eat a salad. More specifically, eat a salad
as a starter. Just the simple act of eating a salad first has been
shown to reduce how much food you tend to eat at the subsequent
main course. 28 The same thing has actually been shown with
fruit as well— if you give people an apple to eat prior to serving
them food, they will naturally eat less of their main dish.29 Again,
it is important to reiterate that these are tips that do not involve
intentional calorie counting or dieting at all. They are just strategies
that take advantage of your own appetite-control mechanisms so

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 C H O O S I N G YO U R FAT L O S S H A B I T S

without using lots of added oils or butter, you will quickly realize how
important added fats are for texture and flavor.
Here is an example you will all recognize. Take a plain potato.
If you bake it and eat it without any toppings, it tastes incredibly
bland. What do restaurants do to make it taste better? They slather
the humble potato with butter, bacon and cheese to make the
mouthgasmic loaded potato. What do big food corporations do to
make you more likely to buy their potatoes? They deep fry them in
some kind of fat and turn them into crisps (chips) and French fries.
The bland potato can become a delicious and somewhat addictive
little fucker when you deep fry it enough. Part of the reason a lot of
restaurant foods taste so good is because they drench things in a lot
more butter and oil than you would use at home.

Macronutrient Breakdown of Example Items at Popular

Fast-Food Chains, by Calories
Title to come
Glazed doughnut Cheeseburger Chocolate caramel Crispy buffalo chicken salad
Doughnut Cheeseburger
with bacon Milkshake
milkshake Chicken
with blue Saladdressing
cheese
Protein Protein

Protein Protein
Carbs
Carbs
Fat Fat Carbs
Fat Carbs
Fat
Sugar Sugar
Sugar
Sugar

“Carbs” represents non-sugar Although people often worry about the sugar
carbohydrates, while “Sugar” content of foods, dietary fat is often a much
represents sugar carbohydrates larger contributor to the total calorie content,
even in foods you would not suspect, like creamy
milkshakes and even some chicken salads

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 C H O O S I N G YThings
O U R F APeople
T L O S SFocus OnS
H A BIT

Health Risks Associated with Increased Intake

of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages 53

Metabolic syndrome
risk increased by
29 percent
Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption

Obesity risk
increased by
18 percent Hypertension When comparing the
risk increased lowest and highest
by 12 percent
intakes of sugar-
sweetened beverages,
Healthy Type 2 diabetes these are the changes
adult risk increased in health risk factors
by 29 percent

Health risks (graph not to scale)

Here are some tips for prioritizing lower-calorie drinks:

• Prioritize water where possible. Nobody will ever argue against

water being a great choice for a beverage, right?
• If you love sugary sodas, consider swapping for reduced-calorie
versions, many of which can taste similar.
• If you enjoy sugary drinks (like fruit concentrate or “squash” as
we call it in England), diluting it with more water is an easy way to
decrease the energy density in each glass.
• If you enjoy high-calorie, more indulgent dessert-style coffees, try
switching to lower-fat or lower-sugar creamers and sweeteners.
• Reduce alcohol intake, because alcohol can also be dangerous for
your health for other reasons if you are consuming a lot.

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 C H O O S I N G YO U R FAT L O S S H A B I T S

may not get anything from training more. You will do more for your
health by going from 0 to 50 than someone will likely get by going
from 50 to 100.

Theoretical Dose–Response Relationship Between

Physical Activity/Fitness and Health Status 59

Although being super fit can obviously be good for your health, significant
health improvements can also be seen at much lower thresholds, so doing
something will likely always be better for your health than doing nothing!

High Activity/fitness
Risk for chronic disease and

level at baseline
premature mortality

Health
benefits Change in health status
with an increase in
physical activity/fitness

Low

Inactive/unfit Active/fit Highly trained

(extreme activity/fitness)
Activity/fitness level
Activity/fitness level

Something crucially important to understand is that exercising a little

bit more in isolation is not always a reliable way to lose weight unless
you also pair it with nutrition changes, or at least make sure you keep
your food intake static. There are possibly three big reasons for this.
Firstly, exercising actually doesn’t tend to burn as many calories as
most people think. Let’s say Bobbie the Beginner wants to lose some
weight, so they decide to join the gym and start jogging. As Bobbie
is brand new to working out, it’s fair to say their jogging is at quite a
gentle pace, because diving headfirst from a sedentary sofa lifestyle

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 3000
Exercise

Exercise You have the most control over Non-exercise

Total daily energy expenditure (calories per day)
Total Daily Energy Expenditure

Non-exercise these on a daily basis, and NEAT activity

activity thermogenesis
thermogenesis tends to be more dominant
(calories per day)

Thermic effect Thermic effect

2000 of food You can change this, but only a tiny bit of food

You can change this in the long

1000
Basal term, but are not in control of it Basal
metabolic metabolic
rate on a daily basis rate

0
Less active More active
individual individual

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

their health.79,80 Double win. But that’s actually a fuckload of steps

and can be very hard to achieve if you don’t spend a lot of the day
on your feet. So, if your current activity levels are very low, please
know that walking a little bit more may decrease your risk of dying
early, even if you do fewer than 10,000 steps a day.81,82 Based on
your own self-audit you have an idea of how active you are, so do
what you can to move the needle upward at an appropriate pace.
• On top of that, it’s a great idea to build movement into your daily
life, where possible. For example, can you use a standing desk
instead of a seated desk, take your calls standing up instead of
sitting down, take the stairs instead of the escalator, park farther
away from the entrance to the grocery store, take short breaks
from working at your desk, get outside or do something after
dinner rather than sitting on the couch, and so on?

Nonlinear Dose–Response Analyses of Step Count

and Risk of All-Cause Mortality 83

Although walking a lot shows the lowest

1.00 risk of dying prematurely, walking just a
moderate amount carries a significant risk
reduction compared to walking a little. Once
risk

0.75
again, something is better than nothing!
Relative
Relative risk

0.50

0.25

0
1600 6600 11600 16600 21600 26600

StepStep
count (steps
count per day)
(steps/day)

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 C H O O S I N G YO U R FAT L O S S H A B I T S

Calorie Intake Following One Night of Different Sleep Durations 95

Title to come
3500

3000 People who only slept for

4 hours ate 22 percent
more food the following
2500 day, indicating how
Total daily calorie intake

powerful sleep quality

Total daily calorie intake

2000 can be for appetite

regulation

1500

1000

500

0
44hours
hoursofsleep
sleep 88hours
hoursof sleep
sleep

And if that sounds startling, it actually gets worse. Sleep deprivation

not only makes you inclined to eat more food, but it can also make you
more susceptible to losing muscle tissue when you are dieting. One
study compared short 14-day periods of either 8.5 or 5.5 hours of sleep
in the context of a reduced-calorie diet and, although both conditions
resulted in the same weight loss, sleep deprivation caused less fat loss
and more lean body mass loss.96 So, if you and your identical twin
were both following an identical diet and lost an identical amount of
weight, but you were sleep-deprived and they weren’t, your weight
loss would likely come more from muscle tissue and less from fat
tissue than their weight loss, which is not ideal.
This sounds like fucking terrible news, but it also means that the
reverse is true. You can actually regulate your appetite, improve

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

your diet, increase muscle tissue retention and increase fat loss
as a downstream effect of improving your sleep quality. If you are
habitually sleep- deprived and you manage to increase your sleep
duration, it’s quite likely that you will naturally reduce how much
food you are eating without even trying. In another study, people
who received sleep counseling to extend their sleep by just over one
hour per night naturally consumed 270 fewer calories compared to
those who carried on with their usual sleep patterns97—no dieting,
no intentional food restriction; your body’s appetite hormones
may simply settle after being out of whack for a while, so you crave
food less.

Change in Calorie Intake (calories per day) During the 2-Week Intervention98
Title to come
300
per day)
(calorieskcal/d

200
from baseline,

100
from baseline

Participants following
0 the sleep extension
intake

intervention reduced
intake

their daily calorie

in energy

-100 intake by 270 calories

in energy

per day compared to

the control group
Change

-200
Change

-300
Habitual sleep
Habitual sleep Sleepextension
Sleep extension
intervention
intervention

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 C H O O S I N G YO U R FAT L O S S H A B I T S

Calorie Intake and Food Volume Intake While Watching TV

or Listening to Music112

1000

750

Volume
750
(kCal)

Volume intake
intake
Intake

500

intake (grams)
500
Calorie
Calorie

(grams)
250 250

0 0
Macaroni Pizza Macaroni Pizza
and cheese and cheese
Watching TV resulted in
Music TV a significant increase
in food intake compared
to listening to music

If you eat a lot more during a mere 30-minute TV episode, imagine

what could happen if you are someone who eats all of your dinners
and evening snacks in front of the T V. Over the course of weeks,
months, years or decades that could really tally up. This distracted
eating concept isn’t only applicable to the T V. If your boss is an
arsehole who makes you feel guilty for taking lunch breaks, so you
eat while you are working on your laptop,113 or you are someone who
likes playing on your smartphone while you are snacking,114 it’s quite
possible that this is naturally pushing you toward eating more food
without you even realizing it. In today’s fast- paced, technology-
fueled environment, these types of distractions are all around us,
and they may interfere with your body’s natural ability to tell you
when you have eaten enough food. This is why avoiding distractions
while you are eating may be a smart way to be more in-tune with

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

Self-Reported Diet Strictness from Successful Weight Loss Maintainers

Title to come
in the Portuguese Weight Control Registry 131

Very few people try to be stricter Many people tend to be less strict
with their diet during weekends around holidays as well, not more strict
a b

40 40
Percentage of participants

Percentage of participants
30 30
% of participants

20 20

10 10

0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

More
More strict
on weekends
Same
Same on
on weekend
and weekdays
Less
Less strict
on weekends
More
More strict Same on
Same on holidays Less
Less strict
on holidays and weekdays on holidays
strict on weekends and strict on strict on holidays as strict on
weekends weekdays weekends holidays rest of year holidays

As it turns out, being consistently good can beat being sporadically

perfect. So, if you are someone who is extraordinarily strict during
the week only to find yourself going completely off the rails at the
weekend, maintaining a more relaxed but regular eating schedule
over the course of the week could help you develop a healthier
habitual nutritional intake, which sounds like a smart idea.
If you would benefit from more consistency, here are some
example starting habits for keeping a regular eating pattern:

• If you are someone who finds yourself with a sporadic eating

schedule and this often triggers you to eat a lot more food at
certain times of the day, it’s obviously a sensible idea to try to
resolve this. For example, you might play around and find out that

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 C H O O S I N G YO U R FAT L O S S H A B I T S

Fat Loss Fundamentals

Non-negotiable A calorie deficit

Strongly Making your plan as easy to stick to in the long term as possible
recommended Eating a nutritious diet (better for appetite regulation but also
health, obviously)
Exercising regularly (aerobic and resistance)
Being physically active in daily life (NEAT)
Adequate, good quality sleep
Consuming enough protein
Doing all of the above consistently

Shit most people What the best weight loss diet is

don’t even need What the perfect macronutrient ratio is
to worry about What the optimal meal frequency is
What the best form of exercise is

Shit that needs Short-term crash diets with no long-term benefit

to die in the fire Overly rigid diets that promote unnecessary food anxiety
Shitty weight loss supplements
Pretty much any latest greatest weight loss “hack”

Funnily enough, this is

the stuff many people
focus on the most

Now that you have some dietary strategies from Chapter 3 and
some individual healthy habits from this chapter, let’s move on to a
topic that is woefully neglected in the health, fitness and weight loss
industries: how you can become better at adhering to these in the
long term and with less conscious effort.

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

The Intention–Behavior Gap

Title to come

The behaviors
People with the they know they
best intentions should follow

The easy-looking
bridge that most people
struggle to cross

Keeping weight off after the initial diet phase is actually so tricky
for so many people that the National Institutes of Health in the US
organized a team of experts to discuss what factors make long-
term weight loss such an elusive creature and what can be done
to help. 2 It isn’t just about knowing what behaviors to follow, but
understanding why adhering to them over a long period of time
gets progressively harder. They discussed some of the things I have
already talked about in this book, like genetics and appetite, and
some things I don’t plan on talking about, like weight loss drugs
and surgeries. However, one novel thing they explored was the
“overwhelming conclusion” that weight loss success needs to involve
the expertise of behavioral researchers, rather than just focusing
on physiology (like a lot of weight loss diets and weight loss books
do). They agreed that weight regain was extremely common after
six to nine months of a weight loss intervention and that, even at

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

approaches, like which diet plan is better than the others, there are
likely some neglected underlying psychological influences that can
help you toward, or hinder you from, achieving those results, so let’s
talk about some of them now.

Behavioral and Psychological Factors That Can Influence Your

Response to Diet and Lifestyle Interventions
Weight loss behaviour and psychology
Metaphorical
iceberg
Diet and exercise advice

Goals, motivations, emotional

regulation, dietary restraint/rules,
stress, self-belief, self-compassion,
black-and-white thinking, body image
(non-exhaustive list)

I am going to simplify the shit out of the following concepts for a

couple of reasons. Firstly, they can be nerdy and boring, and if any of
you really want nerdy and boring you can read the research papers I
cite at the back of the book. Secondly, the research on them isn’t as
concrete as advice like “Reduce your calorie intake to lose weight”
or “Eating vegetables is good for your health,” which we have a hell
of a lot of studies to support. Consider these as seeds I want to plant
in your brain, if you think they apply to you.

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

strategies you could implement that would divert your focus could
change this cycle.13
Title to come

A Hypothesized Model of the Impact of Food-Related Behaviors and

Emotional Functioning on Body Weight in Adults14

Negative emotions Snacking

Stress BMI

Over time,
Emotional dysregulation Emotional eating snacking and
emotional eating
can cause an
If you find yourself struggling with these increase in
three things, it can cause an increase in body weight
snacking and emotional eating

There are various psychology-based practices for treating emotional

eating, including behavioral weight loss interventions, cognitive
behavioral therapy, mindfulness- based treatments, and others.15
While it is wildly outside the scope of this book for me to go into
them in detail, one important thing that I would like to emphasize is
something called cognitive reappraisal. This sounds like a semi-fancy
term, but, in reality, it basically just means reframing something you
are feeling, which can then change how you act upon it.
For example, I once tore my bicep off the bone in the gym, which
I would describe as very suboptimal. I wouldn’t recommend you try
it. As someone who lifts weights a lot, I knew it would really fuck up
my training and my brain started going into a spiral for how much
this would screw up my life. Rather than doing what I used to do, and

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

Examples of Psychological Rigidity Compared to Psychological Flexibility

Circumstance Rigid Response Flexible Response

Skip your session Do a modified, shorter

You have less time
entirely because you workout because
to work out than
can’t do exactly what something is better
originally planned
you wanted to do than nothing

Get pissed off and leave Do something else

The piece of
the gym because you because, again,
equipment you want
can’t follow the exact something is better
to use is broken
routine you wanted to than nothing

Just enjoy the cookie

Think “Fuck it, I may as
You ate an (because cookies are
well eat the entire plate
unplanned cookie delicious) and move
of cookies” and binge eat
on without guilt

Think “These are bad Think “Sure, these are

You go out for dinner foods I try to avoid less nutritious, but they
and the options are completely” and aren’t ‘bad,’ they are
not foods you view as get anxiety, or eat just foods I should eat
conducive to your diet them and have a in moderation rather
brain meltdown than abundance”

Assess what happened

Stay in bed all
and how to do better
You made a big mistake weekend feeling
moving forward;
on a work project and sorry for yourself,
shake it off and
feel horrible skipping workouts
continue with your
and not eating well
normal routine

Self-Compassion
Imagine that you have engaged in a “dietary lapse,” which is a
slightly fancy term for “Oh shit, I ate something that I do not think is
conducive to my diet,” like the cookie example I gave earlier. Rather
than feeling guilty for breaking the rules of your diet, what would
happen if you just...didn’t feel guilty at all? What would happen if,

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 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

This is the basic idea of monitoring your progress. It stems from

a concept called “self-regulation,” and the idea is very simple: if you
monitor what you are doing, then you get feedback on whether it is
working or not and this allows you to make appropriate adjustments—
just like the business owner checking their sales figures and expenses.

Why Is Self-Monitoring So Important? A Hypothetical Model

You (hopefully) This allows you to

started this in the self- identify any discrepancies
audit section, where between where you What you will do
you assessed what you are now and where you once you finish reading
are doing now would like to be this book

Actually doing
Self-monitoring Self-evaluation the thing

Setting your goals slots in nicely here, which is why

that was also included in the self-audit chapter

This can be an ongoing process, where self-monitoring allows you to identify anything you want to
change as you get closer to your goal, like a medical professional routinely checking health status

Self-monitoring is so important that it has been used for decades, and

has even been described as a “cornerstone” of weight loss treatment.1
This shit is a big deal, to put it mildly. When it comes to health and
fitness specifically, self-monitoring strategies tend to fall into three
major groups: physical activity, diet and body composition.

Your Physical Activity

When I was about 18 years old and relatively new to the gym, I
remember someone telling me that I should log my workouts. They

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 MON I TOR I NG YOU R PROGR E S S

It found that successful dieters walked far more than both control
PAEE (calories per day)

groups, which suggests that they rely on walking more as a tool to

Physical activity level

Steps per day

help them manage their body weight.

Energy Burned via Physical Activity and Step Count

Across Participant Groups 6
Successful weight loss maintainers tend to walk more and burn more energy than the
other groups, indicating this might be a useful strategy to prevent weight regain

P=0.02 P <0.01 P <0.01

1000 P=0.01 2.2 P=0.02 20000 P <0.01
expenditure (calories per day)

900
Physical activity energy

Physical activity level

800 2
15000
700

Steps per day

600 1.8
500 10000
400 1.6
300
5000
200 812 621 637 1.4 1.75 1.61 1.55 12107 8935 6477
100
0 1.2 0
WLM NC OC WLM NC OC WLM NC OC

Successful Normal A control with

weight loss weight control overweight/
maintainers group obesity

Technology is also advancing to better facilitate these habits using

little psychological tricks. For example, some smartwatches have three
physical activity rings on a digital display that fill up when you move,
exercise and stand. If you hit your daily goals, the display does a little
joyous dancy type thing to celebrate with you. As technology improves,
there is a strong chance that it will incorporate more of these little
psychological pats on the back to congratulate you when you move
more, all with the idea of encouraging more physical activity.
Long story short, monitoring your physical activity can be a great
tool to motivate you and help keep you accountable. It doesn’t have

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 Example
ExampleHabit
HabitChecklist
ChecklistDiary
Diary3333
Done
Doneonon
The
TheHabits
Habits MM TT W
W TT FF SS SS 55days
daysoror Notes
Notes
more?
more?
1.1.Prioritize
Prioritizenutritious
nutritiouslower-
lower- This
Thiswas
waseasier
easierfor
forme
metotodo
doduring
duringthe
the
energy-density
energy-densityfoods
foods week
weekthan
thanthe
theweekend.
weekend.

2.2.Eat
Eatmore
morefruits
fruitsand
and
vegetables
vegetables

IIrealized
realizedthethecreamy
creamycoffee
coffeeIIbuy
buybefore
before
work
workisishigher
higherinincalories
caloriesthan
thanIIthought,
thought,
3.3.Be
Bemindful
mindfulofofextra
extra sosoIIswapped
swappedititfor
forsomething
somethingthat
thattastes
tastes
dietary
dietaryfat
fat just
justas asnice.
nice.IIhave
havealsoalsodecreased
decreasedthe
the
amount
amountofofdeep-fried
deep-friedfoodfoodIIeat.
eat.

4.4.Prioritize
Prioritizelower-
lower-calorie
calorie
drinks
drinks

5.5.Exercise
Exercisemore,
more,atatleast
leasttoto
aapoint
point

My
Myjob
jobisisstill
stillvery
verysedentary,
sedentary,but
butII
6.6.Increase
Increaselifestyle
lifestyleactivity
activity started
startedwalking
walkingwithwithmy
mypartner
partner
on
onsome
someevenings
eveningsafter
afterwork.
work.

7.7.Exercise
Exercisesnacks
snacks

8.8.Ensure
Ensureadequate
adequate IIrealized
realizedwhen
whenIIplay
playon
onmy
myphone
phoneinin
sleep
sleepquality
quality bed
bedititoften
oftentakes
takesme
melonger
longertotoget
gettoto
sleep.
sleep.IIam
amworking
workingon
onimproving
improvingthis.
this.

IInoticed
noticedIIdidn’t
didn’teat
eatmuch
muchprotein
proteinat
at
9.9.Consume
Consumeadequate
adequateprotein
protein breakfast,
breakfast,only
onlylunch
lunchand
anddinner.
dinner.This
This
was
waseasy
easytotochange.
change.

10.
10.Eat
Eatwithout
withoutdistractions
distractions

11.11.Slow
Slowdown
downwhen
whenyou
youeat
eat

IIstarted
startedtaking
takingmore
morenutritious
nutritioussnacks
snacks
12.
12.Engineer
Engineeryour
yourimmediate
immediate totowork
workinstead
insteadofofrelying
relyingon
ontheir
their
food
foodenvironment
environment vending
vendingmachine.
machine.

13.
13.Keep
Keepaaregular
regulareating
eating
pattern
pattern

As
AsIIhave
haveaacomplicated
complicatedhistory
historywith
withthe
the
Your
Yourweight
weight scales,
scales,I’m
I’mchoosing
choosingnot
nottototrack
trackthis
thisat
at
the
themoment.
moment.

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd 211 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 Habit Checklist Diary

Done on
The Habits M T W T F S S 5 days or Notes
more?

1. Prioritize nutritious lower-

energy-density foods

2. Eat more fruits and

vegetables

3. Be mindful of extra
dietary fat

4. Prioritize lower-
calorie drinks

5. Exercise more, at least

to a point

6. Increase lifestyle activity

7. Exercise snacks

8. Ensure adequate .
sleep quality

9. Consume adequate protein

10. Eat without distractions

11. Slow down when you eat

12. Engineer your immediate

food environment

13. Keep a regular eating

pattern

Your weight

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd 213 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 FAT L O S S H A B I T S

eating more fruits and vegetables, and improving your sleep quality,
you could significantly improve your health, and lose body fat in the
process (depending on how much food you are eating and how much
exercise you are doing, of course), even if you never set foot on the
scales again. This is why there is a growing trend for people to use
a “weight-inclusive,” “weight-neutral” or “health-centric” approach to
their lifestyle, which basically means “Please stop worrying so bloody
much about whether you lose weight or not and just focus on the
individual behaviors that you know are healthy.”44,45,46

Why the Health-Centric Model Could Be a Smart Idea

Let’s say you consider

yourself “overweight”
Irrespective of and unhealthy
your body weight, Instead of weighing
you know that you are you and telling you to
likely in a healthier diet, your doctor simply
place than when recommends that you
you started follow some healthy
behaviors
People who exclusively evaluate
their progress based on how much
they weigh often give up here
You might bypass if their weight hasn’t changed, You prioritize
some of the possible before eventually starting at nutritious foods,
side effects of regular start exercising,
dieting, like getting square one again. The health-
improve your sleep
obsessive over centric model might help quality, reduce/
the scales interrupt this yo-yo cycle. cease cigarettes
and alcohol

Yes, it is possible You do not need to

that your body weight focus on what you
will change, but this can weigh in isolation to
be a consequence and know that your health
not a primary focus will likely improve

FatLossHabits_TPtextF1.indd 218 11/13/24 8:50:40 AM

 W H ER E DO YOU G O F ROM H ER E?

You are, always have been and always will be a worthy human,
and how much you weigh is one of the least interesting things about
you. Please don’t be one of those people who give up 95 percent of
their happiness just to weigh 5 percent less. Life is far too short and
too precious to spend it hating yourself and feeling miserable. If you
use the information in this book to become a healthier and happier
human one year from now, I have achieved the goal I set out to when
I first started writing.

Things People Focus On

A lot of people obsess

about this, in isolation

How much Your physical

you weigh health

For your overall

well-being, I would
Your mental
love it if you were health
here instead Or you might even
feel happier just
focusing on these
two for now, and
that's ok too

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 Image Credits

6 © Baillot, A. et al, PLoS ONE, 2021. CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/

by/4.0/; 9 © 2017 Abarca-Gómez, L. et al, The Lancet, published by Elsevier. CC BY 4.0,
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; 23 Reprinted from Cell Metabolism,
Volume 30, Issue 1, Ultra-Processed Diets Cause Excess Calorie Intake and Weight
Gain, by Hall, Kevin D. et al, Graphical Abstract © 2019 with permission from Elsevier;
38 © Wilding, J. P. H. et al. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, published by John
Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2022. CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/;
94 Reprinted from The Lancet, Vol. 7, Issue 9, Kraus, W. E. et al, 2 Years of Calorie
Restriction and Cardiometabolic Risk (CALERIE), Fig 2a © 2019, with permission
from Elsevier; 106 © Sainsbury, K. et al, Eating and Weight Disorders, 2018. CC BY 4.0,
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt
content-sharing initiative; 120 Adapted from The Handbook of Behaviour Change,
edited by Martin S. Hagger et al, 2020. Reproduced with permission of Cambridge
University Press through PLSclear; 143 Adapted from Clinical Nutrition ESPEN, Volume
57, Tran, Quang Duc et al, Sugar-sweetened Beverages Consumption Increases the
Risk of Metabolic Syndrome and its Components in Adults, Graphical Abstract © 2023,
with permission from Elsevier; 145 Reprinted from Warburton, Darren E.R. & Bredin,
Shannon S.D., Health Benefits of Physical Activity, Current Opinion in Cardiology 32(5),
fig 3a © 2017 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc, 2017. All rights reserved; 151 Adapted from Mayo
Clinic Proceedings, Volume 90, Issue 4, Nonexercise Activity Thermogenesis in Obesity
Management, Villablanca, Pedro A. et al, fig 1 © 2015 Mayo Foundation for Medical
Education and Research, with permission from Elsevier; 152 Reprinted from Journal of
Sport and Health Science, Vol 10, Issue 6, The Relationships Between Step Count and All-
cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Events, Mingxin Sheng et al, fig 2 © 2021, published
by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Shanghai University of Sport with permission; 158 © Tasali,
E. et al, Jama Internal Medicine, 2022. CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by/4.0/; 165 Reprinted from Physiology & Behaviour, Vol 88, Issues 4-5, Blass, E. M. et
al, On the Road to Obesity, fig 1 © 2006, with permission from Elsevier; 174 © Jorge, R.
et al, Nutrition Journal, 2019. CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative; 186 © Kamila
Czepczor-Bernat & Anna Brytek-Matera, Eating and Weight Disorders, 2020. CC BY 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt
content-sharing initiative; 205 © 2019 The Obesity Society. With permission from John
Wiley and Sons Ltd; 211, 213 © Beeken, R. J. et al, International Journal of Obesity, 2016.
CC BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Provided by the Springer
Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative.

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