Start with Good Habits, End with A Diet

Accurate Representation of What Resistance Training does for you

One of the most interesting things I have learned throughout my fitness journey is how late in the game I actually began a diet.

I always loved working out, staying mobile, and being involved with different sports in life. But a diet? That wasn’t even something I had considered in the past. I ate to “perform,” which, now looking back, was just stuffing my face because I thought being a lineman in high school was all about being massive. Also, most coaches and family members pushed me in that direction—more specifically, to have a never-ending carb load. This, of course, helped in the performance aspect of football or sports as a kid, but not so much in the overall health side of things.

Fast forward a couple of years into college, and I was still trucking away in the gym and moving a lot. But I did not have any sort of control over my food intake. This is when I truly began to dial in the food I consumed and followed other protocols to ensure I would lose weight. This was all at a ripe 21-22 years of age.

Although I can thank the caloric deficit for the actual scientific loss of weight, I would never have been as healthy and able without the habits I had already established in life.

See, I knew I needed to move consistently. I knew I loved sleep. I knew that putting myself in too many stressful situations would end up giving me intense anxiety. So I stayed away and limited all of the bad things surrounding me. This was all done before I chose to diet, which ended up making dieting so easy for me.

I want to highlight this portion of my journey because my mindset just changed recently due to some of the training I have been engaged in. Losing weight was so easy for me because all I had to do was diet. There was nothing else that I needed to pull together in order to start shedding weight and reaching my goals.

Now, you might say, “Well, that’s pretty much the only thing others have to do also.” You would be right, but so many diets end up failing due to habits that haven’t been addressed before we even get to the meat and potatoes of a fully-fledged diet (get it?).

So what do we need to establish before we begin a dieting phase?

1. Remove Unwarranted Stressors

Why? Here’s why: Chronic stress can hinder weight loss by increasing cortisol levels, which triggers fat storage (especially belly fat), slows metabolism, and disrupts hunger hormones—leading to stronger cravings, overeating, and poor food choices. Stress can also reduce sleep quality, causing low energy, increased sugar cravings, and impaired recovery. Common diet pitfalls include stress eating, skipping meals and bingeing later, and relying on high-calorie comfort foods. Managing stress through better sleep, regular balanced meals, mindful eating, and moderate exercise can help counteract its negative effects on weight loss.

2. Optimize Sleep

After stress, we then attack everyday habits such as sleep. Why, you might ask? Sleep is everything. Lack of sleep can significantly hinder weight loss by disrupting hunger hormones, increasing cravings for sugary and high-calorie foods, and slowing metabolism. Poor sleep lowers leptin (the fullness hormone) and raises ghrelin (the hunger hormone), making it harder to control appetite. It also leads to higher cortisol levels, promoting fat storage—especially around the midsection. Common pitfalls include late-night snacking, low energy leading to skipped workouts, and reliance on caffeine or sugar for energy. Prioritizing 7-9 hours of quality sleep, a dark and cool sleep environment, and a consistent bedtime routine can improve weight loss results and overall well-being.

These are two things that people neglect constantly, and no wonder they struggle with losing weight or following a diet. If you neglect these simple focuses—stress and sleep—you are going to make it impossible for yourself to get things done. Especially in a world where everyone seeks the easy path to success.

But we aren’t even done yet. After those are considered and fixed, a good workout plan that a person can follow consistently should be implemented simultaneously. Notice how I say consistently—this means something that someone can do over and over and over. If you get lucky and string these three “Horsemen of Weight Loss” together, then you might not even need to go on a diet. There’s a good chance you might shed pounds and get leaner just by following these principles.

So before you jump on some random diet bandwagon, make sure to check in with your stress, sleep, and movement routine to stack the deck in your favor.

Once again, I cheated—I always loved sports and needed to get a little sweat out daily just to feel good. Some people don’t have that same urge, so for me, those habits came naturally. When it finally came to dieting, the process was smoother than warm butter.