Here's your habit change action plan and tracker
🗓️ Use this tool to work on some of the metabolic habits that can transform your energy.
⭐️ Bookmark this page, it will help you understand which habits to work on.
How to use the habit tracker
Don't try to change everything at once. Pick the habits that will make the biggest difference to how you feel, track them consistently, then stack new habits once the first ones feel automatic.
Metabolic change happens through small, repeated actions - not dramatic overnight transformations.
Sleep
Track: Hours slept each night
Why it matters: Sleep is when your body repairs, your brain cleanses itself, and your metabolism resets. Poor sleep raises cortisol, which elevates glucose even when you haven't eaten. Most Nico members need 7-9 hours.
Your action: Write down the number of hours you slept. If you slept less than 7 hours, ask yourself: what time did I finish eating? Did I look at screens before bed? Was I stressed? Start to notice patterns between your evening habits and your sleep quality.
Aim for: Consistent 7-9 hours. If you're struggling, focus on the "finish eating 3 hours before bed" habit first - late eating is the biggest sleep disruptor.
Breakfast
Track:
- Time - When you ate
- Carb-light - Did you avoid/minimise bread, cereal, porridge, pastries?
- Protein positive - Did you include eggs, meat, fish, or Greek yoghurt?
- Nutrient rich - Did you include vegetables, avocado, or other whole foods?
Why it matters: Your first meal sets your glucose pattern for the entire day. A high-carb breakfast (cereal, toast, pastries) creates a spike and crash that triggers cravings all morning. A protein-rich breakfast keeps glucose stable for 4-5 hours.
Your action: Tick the boxes that apply. Don't aim for perfection - aim for awareness. Notice the correlation between what you eat for breakfast and how you feel at 11am.
Aim for: Carb-light ✓, Protein positive ✓, Nutrient rich ✓. This might look like: 2 eggs, avocado, spinach, tomatoes. Or: full-fat Greek yoghurt with a handful of nuts and berries.
What to avoid: Cereal, porridge, toast, pastries, smoothies (even "healthy" ones), granola, fruit juice.
Lunch
Track:
- Time - When you ate
- Carb-light - Did you avoid/minimise bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, wraps?
- Protein positive - Did you include meat, fish, eggs, or cheese?
- Nutrient rich - Did you include vegetables or salad?
Why it matters: Lunch determines whether you'll have afternoon energy or afternoon brain fog. High-carb lunches (sandwiches, pasta, jacket potatoes) cause the dreaded 3pm crash. Protein and vegetables keep you sharp.
Your action: Tick the boxes. Pay attention to how you feel 2-3 hours after lunch. If you're reaching for coffee or snacks by 3pm, your lunch spiked your glucose.
Aim for: Carb-light ✓, Protein positive ✓, Nutrient rich ✓. This might look like: chicken salad with olive oil dressing, leftover roast dinner without potatoes, or a vegetable soup with added protein.
What to avoid: Sandwiches, wraps, pasta, rice, jacket potatoes, sushi (rice is pure glucose).
Dinner
Track:
- Time - When you ate (this is crucial for sleep)
- Carb-light - Did you avoid/minimise pasta, rice, potatoes, bread?
- Protein positive - Did you include meat, fish, or eggs?
- Nutrient rich - Did you fill half your plate with vegetables?
Why it matters: Dinner affects your sleep quality more than any other meal. Late, heavy, carb-rich dinners keep your glucose elevated overnight, preventing deep restorative sleep. You wake up tired even after 8 hours.
Your action: Track your dinner time and composition. The goal is to finish eating at least 3 hours before bed. If you go to bed at 10pm, finish dinner by 7pm. Notice the connection between early dinners and better sleep.
Aim for: Carb-light ✓, Protein positive ✓, Nutrient rich ✓, finished 3+ hours before bed. This might look like: grilled salmon with roasted vegetables, steak with courgetti and pesto, or chicken stir-fry with minimal rice.
What to avoid: Late eating (within 3 hours of bed), pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, dessert.
Water
Track: Glasses consumed (each circle = 250ml/one glass)
Why it matters: Dehydration is often mistaken for hunger. It also makes you tired, foggy, and irritable. Most people are chronically under-hydrated. Proper hydration supports every metabolic process in your body.
Your action: Colour in one circle for every glass (250ml) you drink. Aim for at least 8 glasses (2 litres) per day. Front-load your water - drink most of it before 6pm so you're not waking up to use the toilet.
Aim for: 8-10 glasses per day minimum. More if you're exercising or it's hot.
Pro tip: Drink a large glass of water before your morning coffee. Often what feels like "needing coffee" is actually dehydration.
Alcohol
Track: Units consumed
Why it matters: Alcohol disrupts glucose regulation, ruins sleep quality, and is stressful to your liver. Even one drink affects your glucose overnight and your energy the next day. Most people dramatically underestimate their alcohol's impact on sleep and energy.
Your action: Write down the number of units. Be honest - this is just data. Notice patterns: do you drink more on stressful days? How do you sleep after drinking? How do you feel the next morning?
Aim for: Reduce consumption. If you drink, notice the impact on your sleep quality and next-day energy. Many Nico members naturally reduce alcohol because they see the glucose disruption in real-time.
Reality check: 1 pint of beer = 2 units. 1 large glass of wine = 3 units. Spirits = 1 unit per shot.
Movement
Track:
- Before breakfast - Any movement (walk, workout, stretching)
- After dinner - 10-20 minute walk after eating
Why it matters: Movement is one of the most powerful glucose-management tools you have. A 10-minute walk after eating can reduce your glucose spike by 30-50%. Morning movement (especially fasted) tells your body to burn fat. Evening movement clears dinner glucose before bed.
Your action: Tick the box if you moved. It doesn't need to be intense - a gentle 10-minute walk counts. Focus on consistency over intensity.
Aim for: After-dinner walk every single day (this is the highest-impact habit). Before-breakfast movement 3-5 times per week.
Why it works: Your muscles absorb glucose directly from your blood when they contract. No insulin required. Walking after meals is like giving your body a shortcut to clear excess glucose.
Workout
Track: Any structured exercise (gym, run, class, workout video)
Why it matters: Structured exercise builds muscle (which stores glucose), improves insulin sensitivity, and creates metabolic flexibility. But it's not essential for metabolic health - daily movement (walks) is more important than occasional intense workouts.
Your action: Write what you did. Notice: when do you have the most energy to work out? How does your nutrition affect your performance?
Aim for: 2-4 times per week. But prioritise the after-dinner walk over gym sessions - it has a bigger immediate impact on glucose.
Note: Don't use exercise to "burn off" bad food choices. Exercise is about building metabolic capacity, not compensating for glucose spikes.
Stress relief
Track: Any deliberate stress-reduction practice
Why it matters: Chronic stress elevates cortisol, which raises glucose even when you haven't eaten. This is why stressed people struggle to lose weight despite "doing everything right." Stress also disrupts sleep, increases cravings, and impairs decision-making.
Your action: Write down what you did to actively reduce stress. This could be: 5-minute breathing exercise, meditation, stretching, journaling, time in nature, playing with your kids, reading fiction - anything that genuinely relaxes you.
Aim for: Daily. Even 5 minutes makes a difference. The goal is to interrupt the stress cycle before it becomes chronic.
Reality check: Scrolling social media is not stress relief. TV might be, but only if it genuinely relaxes you (not the news or intense drama).
Screens
Track:
- AM - Did you avoid screens for the first hour after waking?
- PM - Did you avoid screens for the last hour before bed?
Why it matters: Morning screens spike cortisol and set your stress baseline high for the day. Evening screens (especially blue light) disrupt melatonin production and prevent deep sleep. Most people check their phone within 3 minutes of waking and scroll until they fall asleep - keeping cortisol chronically elevated.
Your action: Tick the box if you succeeded. This is one of the hardest habits to build because phones are engineered to be addictive. Start with one: either morning OR evening screen-free time.
Aim for: Both morning and evening screen-free. First hour after waking: no phone, no email, no news. Last hour before bed: no screens at all.
Why it works: Morning cortisol naturally peaks when you wake - adding screen stress compounds it. Evening melatonin needs darkness to rise - blue light blocks it completely. These two habits massively impact your stress levels and sleep quality.
How to use this tracker effectively
Week 1
Pick ONE habit to focus on. Just one. Track everything, but only try to change one thing. The awareness alone will start to shift your behaviour.
Week 2
If your first habit feels automatic (you do it without thinking), add a second habit. If it doesn't feel automatic yet, keep working on the first one.
Week 3-4
Stack habits gradually. The goal isn't perfection - it's consistency. You're retraining your metabolism through repeated practice.
Review weekly
At the end of each week, look for patterns. Which habits are easiest? Which are hardest? How do you feel on days when you tick more boxes? This is your body giving you feedback.