​The start of the year is an exciting time for fitness.

You may be super motivated right now, which is fantastic. There’s no better mental place to get started!

But are your habits up to the task?

Fat loss and muscle gain are often oversimplified as a matter of calories, protein, and resistance training.

While these are fundamental components of the physique development process, fat loss and muscle-building phases require a lot more if you want to get the best results possible.

That’s why, when I take on a new client, I don’t plunge them into a deficit or a surplus on Day 1.

This approach could do them more harm than good if they didn’t have certain key habits in place, which I help them develop over the initial weeks of coaching.

Some of these habits are always a priority, whereas others are more important in a deficit and less so in a surplus, or vice versa.

Let’s start with the habits that are always a priority, no matter the phase.