The 10 Lifestyle Habits That Have Kept My Body Fat Low for 4 Years

How I maintain a low body-fat percentage while still enjoying life

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels

In mid-2019, I achieved what for me was “body goals”: an athletic physique with a low-fat percentage.

How I got there is a story for another day. I want to share today how I’ve kept my leanness for four years (and how I plan to maintain these results for the years to come).

My body fat percentage in the past four years, sourced from my gym’s app and the results it provides whenever I use their scale. 2021 isn’t here because I canceled my subscription from August 2020 to September 2022 due to what was happening worldwide. Source: author.

The graph above shows my body fat percentage from May 2019 (when I signed up for the gym, just after getting to the weight I wanted) to April 2023.

As you can see, despite its natural, life-related fluctuations, it has remained low and has lowered even further recently as I’ve adopted a certified dietist’s nutrition plan to help me curve my sugar cravings.

August 2019 (Just after I’d achieved my fat loss goal) vs 2023 (Images Source: Author)

The Inspiration Behind the Habits and Two Important Caveats

To maintain my results, I’ve followed ten lifestyle habits. They’re the result of years of reading books, listening to podcasts, and watching videos centering on health, fat loss, and weight maintenance. Some examples are:

• The Huberman Lab podcast, where Standford professor Andrew Huberman thoroughly explains the most recent scientific findings on fat loss, exercise performance, hair loss — anything related to health, so his audience can optimize their results.
• Dr. David Sinclair’s Lifespan and Dr. Michael Greger’s How Not To Die. Although these books aren’t specifically aimed at losing weight and keeping it off, they’ve been invaluable in helping me adopt the healthy, lifelong habits that keep me on track.
• Tom Bilyeu’s youtube channel, where he shares his incredibly insightful conversations with experts in many fields, ranging from productivity to health.