HABIT CASE STUDY

How I Lost 15Lbs of Fat,

Put on Lean Muscle &
Got Into the
Best Shape of My Life

Akash Karia www.AkashKaria.com

How I Let Myself Get Out of Shape

As a tee ager, I as a physi ally a ti e you g a . While I as ’t part of

a y sports tea s, I as part of the Fit ess Clu here a group of us
would meet up after school and go through circuit-based training.
Furthermore, I was very heavily into bodybuilding. Even on my birthday,
my best friend and I could be found working out at the gym.

Unfortunately, that all changed when I got into my mid-twenties. When I moved into the corporate
world, the pressure on my time grew. As the Chief Commercial Officer of a multi-million dollar tech
company, I worked hard at my job. While the company I worked for was amazing, I didn’t want to
continue being a salaried employee.

I was passionate about making a full-

time living as an author, speaker and
consultant...so when I got out of my
job, I went home and spent late nights
working on my books.

On many occasions, I got so immersed

in working on my passion projects that
I’d forget to eat dinner.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), there

was a pizza place below my house that
was open till late nights.

Over a period of two years, that became my routine: wake up, skip breakfast, rush to my day job.
Come back from work, Skype with my girlfriend (long-distance relationship), work on my book till
midnight. Order pizza and a Coke. Eat, continue working on my book till about 3:00 a.m. Fall asleep.
Wake up, skip breakfast, rush to my day job...you get the point.

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Does this sound familiar?
Does my story relate to yours in some way? Have the
stresses of daily life – job, family, etc. – led you to neglecting your
health?
During the one year that I followed my unhealthy routine
(working late nights, not exercising, eating unhealthy food), I gained
excess weight around my mid-section and face.
I am genetically pre-disposed to being skinny, so I was
shocked when my family and friends began to comment on the fact
that I was beginning to gain weight rapidly. I brushed their
comments aside, until I saw this picture (the one on the right).
This particular picture was taken during an awards-gala,
where the organization I was working for was honored with a trophy
for exceptional performance. Only when I saw the picture did I
realize that my face was beginning to balloon up.
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Now, I know, some of you may be thinking, “That’s no big

deal. You’re certainly not overweight!”

And you’d be right. I wasn’t obese...but as someone who’d

been physically active as a teenager, noticing a double chin
beginning to appear came as a shock. When I took off my shirt, I
noticed large rolls of fat around my mid-section.

Worse than how I looked was how often I got sick. During my
tenure working for the technology company, I got sick VERY often.
I’d estimate that I fell sick (with some kind of infection, virus, etc.)
about once a month. And worse still, it took me one to two weeks to
recover from the illness.

My immune system was not functioning well. I was stressed.

I wasn’t taking care of my body. I wasn’t taking care of myself. And
my body was beginning to complain...climbing the three flights of
stairs to my apartment had me panting; I could feel my heart
beating loudly against my chest. Even short walks would have me
breathless...

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It wasn’t just about how I looked; it was
about the fact that my immune system
was breaking down...

Seeing this, I made a CONCIOUS decision to turn my

lifestyle around. I applied my expertise in the realm of habit
formation towards building a fitness habit.

In this short guide, I hope to inspire you to take charge of

your own health. The benefits to me have been life-changing.
Once I built the fitness habit, I have managed to:

• Lose several inches off my waist

• Shred over 15lbs of fat
• Get rid of my double-chin My double chin was beginning to show. And when I took
• Gain significant muscle mass off my shirt, I was “skinny fat”. My arms were skinny, my
• Become stronger and more flexible legs were skinny...but there were rolls of fat around my

• Improve my cardiovascular fitness midsection.

• Have more energy throughout the day

And, MOST IMPORTANT to me...since starting my fitness

habit last year, I have fallen sick only twice. And it took me just
one to two days to fully recover (If you remember, previously I
fell sick – on average – once a month, and it took my body up to
two weeks to recover).

That’s me next to Brian Tracy. In this picture, I’m only 26 years old. But
I look much older. And, right after this picture, I fell sick for two weeks.
I kept falling sick so often that I wondered if I’d been cursed with a
genetically-bad immune system.

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 Ready to learn how to build the fitness habit?

Ready to take control of your health?

Ready to lose weight, pack on the muscle, improve your cardiovascular fitness and boost
your immune system?

Whether you’re male or female – whether your goal is to lose weight or pack on muscle –
the tools in this guide will work for you. Why? Because these habit formation principles are
universal. Just apply them towards your own goals.

Finally: you don’t have to do EVERYTHING that I did. I’m simply sharing my own
experience. So pick and choose what resonates with you...and more importantly, DECIDE once
and for all to take charge of your physical health.

Let’s get started....

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 CREATE A SMALL HABIT
The Habit Tools:
The key to habit formation is to start with SMALL
1. Create a small habit habits. Many people make the mistake of
embarking on ambitious goals, only to fail
2. Set a target – 100 days
because the large size of their habit exhausts
3. Track your progress their willpower.
4. Be a realistic-optimist
The SMALL HABIT I created for myself was to
5. Make it convenient
work out just FIVE MINUTES per day..that’s it.
6. Utilize the if-then technique
See, my goal WASN’T to go to the gym every
The Fitness/ Diet Specifics: day. It wasn’t to work out one hour per day. It was
to work out just five minutes per day.
1. Work out at least 20 minutes per day, 3
days per week
Why?
2. Eat a low-carb, high protein diet

3. Photo-log meals Because it’s such a SMALL habit that it requires

relatively low willpower.
4. Slowly cut out sugar

Even on days when I am NOT feeling like working

out, I can muster the willpower to work out for
“just five minutes”.

Do you know what happens once I begin working

out? I usually end up finish the full workout – even
though I was initially hesitant about starting. Once
you START working out, it becomes much easier
to continue. The key is to start... Small habits are
magical because they help you get started.

If you find yourself failing to work out “just five

minutes”, then set an even SMALLER habit.
Perhaps – “do just one push up per day”. Or even
“do HALF a pushup.”

The goal with small habits is NOT to create any outer change in your body. The goal is to set the
FOUNDATION for a habit where the habit becomes such a natural part of your day that you feel
incomplete without it (like brushing your teeth, or taking a shower).

ACTION 1: What’s YOUR small habit? Write it down in your worksheet.

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 SET A TARGET
The Habit Tools:
Once I’d selected my small habit, I set a target.
1. Create a small habit
Most habit experts say that it takes “21 days for a
2. Set a target – 100 days
habit to become permanent”.
3. Track your progress

4. Be a realistic-optimist According to research, that’s false. First, habits

are never “permanent”. It’s easy to fall back into
5. Make it convenient
your old ways unless you have a strategy to keep
6. Utilize the if-then technique the habit going (follow the strategy in this guide,
and you’ll have a lifelong habit).
The Fitness/ Diet Specifics:
Furthermore, research has found that it takes
1. Work out at least 20 minutes per day, 3
anywhere between 18 to 254 days for a habit to
days per week
form.
2. Eat a low-carb, high protein diet

3. Photo-log meals Thus, I decided that I was going to set a target of

100 workouts. Why 100? Because I wanted to
4. Slowly cut out sugar
ensure that I was looking beyond just a one-
month “results-oriented” workout approach. Most
people work out hard for a month, realize that
results are not coming quick enough, and then get
demotivated. So it’s important that your “habit
challenge” be long enough...I suggest anywhere
between 60 – 150 days.

The other reason that I chose 100 days is

because the three digits is a MILESTONE to
celebrate. It signifies that I went from double
digits (99 workouts) to triple digits (100
workouts)...and the psychological reward of that
was enough to keep me motivated.

CAVEAT: Of course, I didn’t just STOP after I hit the 100 day milestone. Once I hit that milestone, I
increased it to 500 workouts (that may sound crazy, but that’s a milestone that motivates me. So far,
I’m 162 days in. I can’t wait to reach 500 and celebrate).

ACTION 2: Set yourself a challenge to continue your habit for X number of days. Be in this for
the long term.

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 TRACK YOUR PROGRESS
The Habit Tools:
One of the most important things I’ve learned
1. Create a small habit when it comes to habit formation is to COUNT
your progress.
2. Set a target – 100 days

3. Track your progress Previously, I used to record each and every

4. Be a realistic-optimist workout in a journal. Then, I switched the Seinfeld
calendar technique (which I talk about in my book
5. Make it convenient
here).
6. Utilize the if-then technique
Nowadays, I keep track of my progress by posting
The Fitness/ Diet Specifics: on Facebook.

1. Work out at least 20 minutes per day, 3

days per week

2. Eat a low-carb, high protein diet

3. Photo-log meals

4. Slowly cut out sugar

Why do I do this?

1. I’m too lazy to keep a journal. Plus, I keep

losing it.

2. I log into Facebook everyday. It’s just easier to

use Facebook like a mini-blog / journal.

3. I use Facebook to keep me accountable. When

I run into any of my Facebook acquaintances and
friends, they generally ask how my workouts are
going. As a perfect example, when I stopped
working out for a period of about 2 weeks, a friend
of mine messaged on Facebook asking why I’d
stopped.

4. My annoying habit of posting my workouts on Facebook has inspired several of my friends to start
working out as well.

I’m not suggesting that you start annoying your Facebook friends by posting your workouts. What I
am saying is – ACTION 3: Find a way to track your progress...

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 BE A REALISTIC OPTIMIST
The Habit Tools:
I’ve talked about the research behind “realistic-
1. Create a small habit optimism” in my book, so I won’t go into details
here. However, what I will show you is how I
2. Set a target – 100 days
applied it to my own life.
3. Track your progress

4. Be a realistic-optimist When most people set a goal, they have one of

the following two mindsets:
5. Make it convenient
1. Optimistic – “Yes, I can achieve this!”
6. Utilize the if-then technique 2. Pessimistic – “There’s no way I can do this!”

The Fitness/ Diet Specifics: Research shows that optimistic people are more
successful than pessimistic people. Given that
1. Work out at least 20 minutes per day, 3
you’ve set a SMALL goal, you should already be
days per week
confident about your ability to achieve your goal.
2. Eat a low-carb, high protein diet

3. Photo-log meals However, there is a third mindset that will set you
up for even greater success. It’s called “realistic
4. Slowly cut out sugar
optimism”. What that means is that you are
optimistic about your ability to achieve your final
goal, but you are realistic about the fact that the
PROCESS will be tough.

When I set my goal of 100 “small” workouts, I was

confident that I would achieve it. However, I also
envisioned the obstacles that I would face – the
temptations to skip workouts, eat unhealthy foods,
etc. I then set up strategies to deal with those
obstacles.

The benefit of being a realistic optimist is that

even when things get tough, you expected
them...and therefore, those difficult circumstances
don’t deter you.

ACTION 4: Be a realistic optimist. Be confident in your ability to achieve your goal, but realize that
the process will be tough.

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 MAKE IT CONVENIENT
The Habit Tools:
When establishing a new habit, it’s important to
1. Create a small habit make it as convenient as possible. The easier it is
to engage in your desired behavior, the more
2. Set a target – 100 days
likely you are to do it.
3. Track your progress

4. Be a realistic-optimist Earlier on, I mentioned that I stopped working out

because I got “too busy” with my job + trying to
5. Make it convenient
establish a second career.
6. Utilize the if-then technique
However, when people say that they are “too
The Fitness/ Diet Specifics: busy” or that they “don’t have time” (both excuses
that I used), what they really mean is that
1. Work out at least 20 minutes per day, 3
“exercising is inconvenient”.
days per week

2. Eat a low-carb, high protein diet When you think about having to pack your gym
3. Photo-log meals gear, driving to the gym, looking for a parking
space, working out, getting showered, driving
4. Slowly cut out sugar
back...it all seems like it will take too much time
(and it will)! A one hour workout at a gym can
easily take two to three hours out of your day due
to preparation time required...

In other words: working out at the gym can be inconvenient, especially if the gym is not located near your
house / work place.

The way I made fitness a regular habit was by making working out as convenient as possible. How? I
decided that I would work out at home – that eliminated all the set up and driving time.

I followed Tony Horton’s P90X3 workout program – which meant that all I had to do was watch the
video on my laptop while I followed along. When I was done, I could shower in the comfort of my own
home and call it a day.

Now, for some people – going to the gym (even though inconvenient) may be GREAT for
accountability. You know yourself better than I do. The point is – do whatever you can to ensure that
working out is as CONVENIENT for you as possible.

ACTION 5: Make it convenient....

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 UTILIZE THE IF-THEN TECHNIQUE
The Habit Tools:
Using if-then implementation plans have been
1. Create a small habit found to triple your odds of success in achieving
your goals.
2. Set a target – 100 days

3. Track your progress What are if-then plans?

4. Be a realistic-optimist
Simple, you say:
5. Make it convenient

6. Utilize the if-then technique If it is X, then I will Y...

The Fitness/ Diet Specifics: By setting such a conditional trigger, you set up
your unconscious mind to look for the trigger and
1. Work out at least 20 minutes per day, 3
then automatically push you towards the desired
days per week
behavior.
2. Eat a low-carb, high protein diet

3. Photo-log meals The way I did this with my workouts was to say:

4. Slowly cut out sugar

“If it is 10:00 p.m. then I will work out for just 5
minutes...”

Thus, every night (I enjoyed working out at night –

it was convenient for me to work out, then get
showered and get straight into bed), I would do a
short workout routine.

Most days, my “5 minute workout“ ended up

being a full 30-minute P90X3 workout. On some
days, it was only a 5-minute workout...which is
OK, because my aim was simply to establish a
habit.

The if-then technique can be utilized in any way

you like.

“If I am done brushing my teeth, then I will immediately drop on the floor and do 10 push-ups”

“If it is 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, then I will work out for 2 minutes.”

Simply, take an EXISTING action (something you do regularly), and attach the desired behavior after it.
ACTION 6: Create an if-then trigger.

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 Perfect! So we’ve looked at the six actions I used to developed a fitness habit...

Unless you master the HABIT side of fitness first, you won’t be able to maintain your
fitness routine for long.

With that being said, now that we’ve already looked at the “habits” side of things, I am
happy to share with you the fitness strategies I used.

Now, keep in mind that I am not a nutritionist nor I am an accredited fitness guru.
Everything I am sharing is based on my own personal experiences...learn from it, do
your own research and be smart in how you go about with things.

Unless you master the science of

habit formation, your fitness
routine and diet are useless...

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 30 MINUTE WORKOUTS
The Habit Tools:
According to research, just 20 minutes of exercise
1. Create a small habit are enough to allow you to experience the
benefits associated with exercise.
2. Set a target – 100 days

3. Track your progress I would also recommend working out a minimum

4. Be a realistic-optimist of three times per week in order to gain consistent
benefits and results.
5. Make it convenient

6. Utilize the if-then technique With that being said, I followed Tony Horton’s
P90X3* workout series. I worked out 5 days per
The Fitness/ Diet Specifics: week, and each workout was only 30 minutes
long. That’s long enough for me to experience the
1. Work out at least 20 minutes per day, 3
benefits, but short enough that I can’t use the
days per week
excuse “I don’t have time...”
2. Eat a low-carb, high protein diet

3. Photo-log meals Now, bringing small habits into play: My SMALL

goal was to workout just 5 minutes per day...that
4. Slowly cut out sugar
was the MINIMUM I would allow of myself. My
larger vision was to do 30 minute workouts. By
using the small goals strategy, I was able to trick
myself into doing 30-minute workouts even on
days when I didn’t feel like getting started...

EAT LOW-CARB, HIGH PROTEIN

All the research that I’ve read suggests that, in
order to lose weight, you need to REDUCE white
carbs (white rice, potatoes, bread, pasta). Less
carbs means fewer calories, which equals weight
loss (that’s simplifying it, but it works).

Furthermore, in order to gain muscle (and lose fat), you need to increase your protein intake. Protein
helps build and grow your muscles. Furthermore, protein helps you feel fuller for longer, which means
that you’re less likely to snack on junk food.

Furthermore, I ensured that I started my day with a high protein breakfast. Research has found that
people who eat a high-protein breakfast are able to kick-start their metabolism and lose more weight
(and build more muscle) than those who don’t.

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 PHOTO LOG MEALS
The Habit Tools:
Research also shows that people who keep
1. Create a small habit “photo food diaries” (taking pictures of what they
eat as part of an eating journal”) lose more weight
2. Set a target – 100 days
than those who don’t.
3. Track your progress

4. Be a realistic-optimist Of course, if you prefer – you can keep a food

diary instead (recording with text what and when
5. Make it convenient
you ate).
6. Utilize the if-then technique
I personally prefer to photo log my meals because
The Fitness/ Diet Specifics: it’s easier to take a picture than it is to write
something out.
1. Work out at least 20 minutes per day, 3
days per week
The idea here is that: by tracking what you eat,
2. Eat a low-carb, high protein diet you’ll be more conscious of ensuring that you eat
3. Photo-log meals healthier. The fact that you’re keeping a food
diary will motivate you to eat good, nutritious food
4. Slowly cut out sugar
– try it.

SLOWLY CUT OUT SUGAR

The final diet-related strategy I used to lose excess fat was to slowly cut sugar out of my diet. That
meant starting by removing sugary drinks (bye-bye Coke) from my eating plan. I slowly cut out the ice-
cream, chocolates and other artificial sources of sugar. Finally, I became more careful with how much
sugar I was putting into my coffee (previously, I used to heap several large spoons into each cup). Once
you begin to monitor your sugar intake, you’ll find natural opportunities to reduce it.

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 THE RESULTS
Using the strategies I’ve outlined in this guide, I was able to go from looking like this:

To this (below) within 15 days To this (below) within 90 days

While looking good feels
great, I am more proud of
the fact that I finally got my
health back. My immune
system is stronger. I have
more energy. And I feel at
my physical peak.

I wish the same for you...

Akash Karia
www.AkashKaria.com

No Photoshop. Zero editing.

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