The Gym Pods Guide to Building Lasting Healthy Habits
A practical, psychology-backed roadmap to help you stay consistent, motivated, and confident in your fitness journey.
Many of us have tried to make healthy changes before — only to fall off, get discouraged, or start over again and again. Whether you're working on your fitness, your nutrition, or any other personal goal, the methods in this guide will help you finally make changes that stick.
And while this is written with fitness in mind, these principles work for anything in life.
1. Why Change Is Hard — And What to Do About It
If you’ve struggled to make progress in the past, you’re not broken. Your brain is doing exactly what it’s designed to do: keep you safe, not happy. Safety to your brain means predictability. Even unhealthy routines feel “safe” because they’re familiar.
This is why repeated failed attempts can create internal beliefs like:
“I’m just not good at sticking to things.”
“The gym is too hard for me.”
“Diets never work — why bother?”
The truth? These beliefs are outdated. They were formed from past experiences, not who you actually are now. Your job now is to update them — and you can.
2. Step One: Change Your Beliefs About Yourself
Lasting change happens from the inside out. Here’s how to build a belief system that supports you instead of sabotaging you.
A. Your Future Self
Think about the future version of yourself you want to become — your “highest self.” Don’t check out yet — this isn’t mystical, it’s actually one of the most practical tools for growth. The biggest companies in the world use a version of this idea: they call it their mission and vision. Your highest self is simply your personal mission and vision.
Ask yourself: What decisions does that version of me make? How do they speak to themselves? What do they believe about their capability, their discipline, their worth?
Getting clear on your highest self helps you understand the beliefs you need to build today. The more often you act in alignment with that future identity, the faster you become it.
B. Change Your Beliefs & Rewire Your Subconscious
If you are the type of person who has tried and failed in the past to lose weight, you should really spend some time figuring out your internal beliefs. Chances are you have limiting beliefs that are holding you back - this could be the missing key.
“I consistently follow through with my diet and fitness goals.”
“I am the type of person who prioritizes health and fitness.”
“I love caring for my body by being active.”
“I choose to live a healthy, active lifestyle.”
I personally listen to hypnosis playlists overnight that repeat phrases that are aligned with the future version of myself that I am striving for - here is a link to an example on Spotify.
Changing your beliefs about yourself is the key to how you change your identity on the deepest level.
C. Look for Evidence That Supports Your Beliefs
Your brain believes what you repeatedly show it.
Ask yourself:
Do you go to work every day?
Do you brush your teeth?
Do you show up for the people you love?
These are proof that you are capable, consistent, and trustworthy. Look for evidence daily that contradicts the belief "I can’t stick to things."
D. Set “Can’t Fail” Goals
Most people fail because they start with goals that are too big. Instead, start with goals so small you can’t fail:
Go to the gym 1 time per week
Do 1 push-up per day
Walk 10 minutes per day
Small goals build confidence → confidence builds identity → identity drives behavior.
This is especially important for nutrition. You cannot go from takeout-heavy eating to bodybuilder-clean eating overnight.
Start by adding, not restricting:
Add 100 oz of water a day
Add more protein
Add more veggies or fruit
Once those are natural, then add a new habit.
E. Prioritize Activity — It Changes Everything
Movement is more powerful than people realize. You’ve probably heard:
“You can’t outwork a bad diet.”
This belief causes people to not emphasize being active. Activity (raking the leaves, pulling the weeds, organizing the house) burn calories and make it easier to burn more calories than you consume:
Light daily walking can increase burn by 300–500 calories
Add more activity and your burn can reach 3,000+ calories/day
This means you can eat satisfying meals and still be in a deficit.
Using an Oura Ring or fitness tracker helps tremendously because you can see your daily burn — and it becomes motivating.
3. My Four-Month Starter Plan
This is what I wish I had when I first started.
If you follow this, you will see momentum build faster than you expect.
Month 1: Build the Foundation
Take your body measurements, body scan, and weight
Create your belief-building audio and listen nightly
Invest in a tracker that shows calories burned
Walk 10 minutes daily
Go to the gym 1x per week — only do movements you enjoy
Book your Gym Pods sessions a week in advance
Drink 100 oz of water daily with electrolytes
Optional tools that helped me:
Oura Ring, smart measuring tape, walking pad, Hume Body Pod
Month 2: Add Just a Little More
Keep listening to the audio nightly
Increase walking to 20 min/day (or 10 min twice daily)
Join a weekly social activity (walking club, volleyball, pickleball)
Prioritize 80g of protein/day (again — don’t cut anything yet)
Stay consistent with 100 oz of water
Continue going to the gym 1x per week
Do monthly body measurements/scans
Month 3: Build Momentum
Continue everything from months 1–2
Increase gym sessions to 2x per week
Stay focused on enjoying the movements you choose
Month 4: Step Into Your New Identity
Continue everything above
Increase to 3x per week at the gym
By month four, you’re living a healthier lifestyle without the burnout or pressure that comes from trying to overhaul everything at once.
4. The Hard-Earned Lessons I Wish Someone Told Me
These principles would have saved me years:
1. Focus on changing your lifestyle, not losing the weight.
If you lose weight without changing habits, it will come back. Lifestyle is the real transformation.
2. Play the long game — the time passes anyway.
Rushing cost me 15 years. Slow, steady habits would have gotten me there so much faster.
3. Consistency is everything.
Do what you don’t hate. If you enjoy it, you’ll repeat it — and repetition creates results.
4. Don’t go from 0 to 100.
Big jumps create burnout and self-doubt - this is how many people create negative beliefs about themselves. One of my favorite quotes: "A ship that turns its direction by one degree will alter its course by hundreds of miles."
Small steps create momentum and confidence.
5. Protect your belief system.
Don’t commit to anything you know you won’t stick to. Your self-trust is the foundation of your transformation.
Final Thoughts
You are completely capable of creating a healthier, stronger, more energized version of yourself — not by being perfect, but by being consistent.
At Gym Pods, everything is designed to help you build trust with yourself, stay consistent with your habits, and enjoy the process of becoming the person you want to be.
Small changes → big results → lasting identity shifts.
You’ve got this.
Want to learn more? Here is a list of some of my favorite books:
Change Your Paradigm, Change your Life by Bob Proctor
Blink by Malcomb Gladwell
The Big Leap by Gary Hendricks
