Episode 5. The 30 Day Habit Tracker That Actually Works

Podcast Show Notes Episode 5: The 30-Day Habit Tracker That Actually Works

If you’ve ever started the year full of motivation, only to find yourself setting the same goals again and again, this episode is for you.

In this week’s podcast, Ginny McArthur — nutritionist, fitness trainer, and life coach — shares the simple but powerful 30-day habit tracker approach she uses with her clients to turn good intentions into lasting habits.

This episode is all about moving away from overwhelm and perfection, and focusing instead on small daily actions that actually create change — especially for mature women.

In This Episode, We Cover: Why big New Year goals often fail (and it’s not a willpower issue) How the brain resists change and clings to familiar routines.

Why small daily actions matter more than motivation.

What the “messy middle” of change looks like — and why it’s normal

Why a 30-day container makes habits feel achievable.

The psychology behind ticking habits off daily (yes, like a sticker chart!)

How to choose the right “low-hanging fruit” habits

Practical habit examples for weight loss, blood sugar control, sleep, hydration, and energy

How to score your 30 days and decide what to work on next

Why habits should feel empowering — not punishing

Example 30-Day Habit Ideas Mentioned:

Drinking 2–3 litres of water daily (especially important in menopause)

Planning food ahead each week

Being in bed by 10 pm

A 10-minute walk after dinner

Increasing daily step count

Reducing white flour and sugar

Eating breakfast within two hours of waking

Reducing evening carbs

Key Takeaway: Big goals are achieved through small, consistent actions. When you focus on what you can do daily — and follow through for 30 days — real, lasting change becomes possible.

Ready for More Support? If you’d like structure, accountability, and support to reach your health goals in 2026, Ginny invites you to join her February 12-Week Challenge, designed specifically for midlife women.

👉 Click Here February 12-Week Challenge

What’s Coming Up Next: Next week’s episode answers a question Ginny gets all the time — breakfasts: what to eat, when to eat, and why it matters more than you think. Thanks for listening. Ginny is always here to support you with nutrition, movement, and mindset.

Episode Transcript

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Hi, I'm Ginny MacArthur, I'm a nutritionist, a fitness coach, and a life coach, and I've been helping women lose weight and feel amazing for over 25 years.

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I'm obsessed with helping mature women age with

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Vitality, energy, and a wee bit of badassery thrown in for good measure.

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Going along with the new theme, we're still in January, January 2026, so exciting.

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Um, staying with that same theme of New Year, New You…

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new habits, we want to talk about

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consolidating

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healthy habits.

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This is what we do at Outlook. I've always been a great planner,

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but not such a great doer.

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It's easy to have lofty goals for the year,

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But find ourselves repeating the same goals year in, year out, and never actually achieving them. I don't know about you, but that used to happen to me every single year.

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Our brain is wired to stay in that safe, current routine that it likes at the moment,

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And not step outside of that comfort zone.

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So I used to write these long lists of goals for the year.

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But I'd always be living in the future in those goals, not doing…

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In the present, what it takes

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to reach those goals.

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I was never actually taking the

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action to get there. I kind of was expecting them to happen,

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And thinking I'd start tomorrow, or I'd start next week, or next month, but not actually in the moment,

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doing the thing.

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So, the thing is, I think, whether it's a health goal, a weight goal, a weight loss goal, a budgeting goal,

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a business goal. It's those small daily actions and choices that give us the results.

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I talked earlier this week on one of my posts about being stuck in that messy middle.

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And how, you know, all change is hard in the beginning,

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messy in the middle, but glorious at the end. That's a Robin Sharma quote.

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I find in my nutrition practice,

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So many people start off really motivated with a hiss and a roar.

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And then, when the new, kind of, shininess of working with me wears off,

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They find themselves in that messy middle,

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And instead of paddling through it to Pleasure Island,

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They actually slide back into their old habits, because, let's face it,

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That's easier. So, with this in mind, we designed a 30-day habit tracker

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for our clients in the membership.

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Rather than getting overwhelmed by the big picture,

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And to help prevent that starting out like a bull at a gate, doing too much too soon,

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And then going back into the old habits,

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We created a 30-day container.

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I think that most people can follow through and do something for 30 days.

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It's not too overwhelming.

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Whether it's, like, last January I did Going Without Alcohol for 30 days. I never would have done the whole year, but I could do 30 days.

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It could be increasing your step count for 30 days, or eating a smaller dinner for 30 days.

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It's just something that's not too daunting,

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But we'll move you towards your goal. If you're on YouTube, this is what our habit tracker looks like.

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And just the act of ticking off that you've completed that habit each day

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is like a 5-year-old kid with a sticker chart. You get… you're giving yourself a gold star every day, so you get that little dopamine hit every time you accomplish what you set out to do.

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And that in itself is empowering.

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It's what's taught me to be someone who follows through and does what they say they are going to do.

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To myself, not necessarily about other people, but learning to trust myself, that I can follow through.

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and do what I say I'm going to do.

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So, with your 30-day habit tracker, you need to pick the low-hanging fruit, right? So, stuff

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That's easy. So let's say your big picture is to lose 10 kilos,

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A small thing that will help you reach that goal is drinking enough water.

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It's worth noting that

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For women, as we move through and past menopause, we tend to lose our thirst signaling.

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So we often don't feel thirsty like we used to anymore,

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We also don't sweat as much as we did, but that's a whole nother… that's a whole other thing.

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Um, so as our hormones change, we do stop feeling thirsty. And every process

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that digests our food, or turns food into energy, or burns fat as a fuel requires water.

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So if you're a little bit dehydrated, it's going to slow all of those processes down.

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So, if 10 kilos of fat loss for the year, or half year, or whatever, is your goal,

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Then, starting with putting 2 or 3 litres of water a day on your habit tracker would be a very…

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sensible place to start.

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Your second one might be to plan your food every day instead of winging it, to actually eat on purpose.

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And every day that you plan your food ahead, and you take it off,

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you get another little take on your habit tracker.

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Sleep is another biggie for weight loss. You can be nailing your food,

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on point with your exercise,

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And totally sabotage yourself with lack of sleep.

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So, it might be something to do with your routine, so it could be…

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Stopping looking at screens earlier.

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Or it could be getting the morning light on your retina, or it might be as simple as going to bed before

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10 every night. That goes on your habit tracker.

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Checking it off daily works like magic.

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It's like I said before, it's like a 5-year-old kid with a star chart.

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At the end of 30 days,

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you give yourself a score.

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So, let's say your goal was to drink 2 liters of water for 30 days,

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At the end of the 30 days, you look, and let's say you achieved it for 21 of those days,

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So your score is 21 of 30.

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At that point, you can decide whether you think you need to repeat that habit again,

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For another 30 days,

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Which a lot of people do, just to cement it in there, or whether that's in there, you're good with it, and you pick the next one.

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So, taking this approach of these tiny little micro-habits,

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You will be amazed at what you can achieve over 12 months.

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I have fun with it, too. Sometimes I put silly goals. Well, not silly, but

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One year, I did juggling.

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30 days? Um, one year, I did handstand training, and I don't think I got there in 30 days. I had to repeat that 2 or 3 times, but… but I did it.

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One was decluttering.

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So I decluttered one room each month, and I gave myself a goal of decluttering 3 days a week.

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and ticked it off as I went.

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Another one specific to me was to wear a white shirt.

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For my 5-day working week, because…

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I am notorious for dripping coffee or food down my clothing.

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And so every day that I wore the white shirt, and I didn't drip coffee on it, I got a tick! I tell you, it was so empowering! Might not be anything to you, but it was really empowering for me.

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Um, so you could do, let's say that your goal is to get your blood sugars under control.

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So, it could be that you say, okay, um, I'm gonna walk for 10 minutes,

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After every meal, or I'm going to walk for 10 minutes after dinner, because we know that has a great effect.

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on your overall blood sugars.

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Or it could be, uh, for 30 days, I'm going to eliminate all added sugar, white sugar,

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I'm going to take out white flour and white sugar.

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for 30 days and see how I feel. It's not forever. It's just 30 days.

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could be, I'm not going to eat carbs at night for 30 days, so my dinner is going to be a protein with a whole lot of fibrous veggies.

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I know I can manage that for 30 days. Maybe I have one meal off a week, so I do it

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For 6 days a week, for 30 days.

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Um, could be anything. It's really looking…

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For things that could be eat breakfast within 2 hours of getting up.

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It's looking for that low-hanging fruit. It's…

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Looking at little things you can work on,

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That will give you a good result, but is not overwhelming.

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And it should be fun!

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And you should look forward to ticking it off.

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And another thing is not to beat yourself up.

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up if you fail.

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So, all failure is an opportunity to learn. So, if you're going along really well,

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And you've got tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, and then you've got a cross. Because you've got a cross and you didn't achieve it, that doesn't mean that you give up.

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For the rest of the 30 days, right? You go, oh, that's interesting.

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A, you're compassionate with yourself, but B, you might go, oh, I didn't drink my water, why not?

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I didn't have my water bottle with me. I didn't have cold water in the fridge. Whatever it is for you.

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That's an insight, it's a learning point that allows you to put a new strategy in,

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to get you there for the next day, or the next day.

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So, not ticking.

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is not failure. It's got to be fun, you've got to look forward to doing it.

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You've got to look forward to doing your little tech, but with compassion.

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Um, and like I said, if you're watching on YouTube, this is what our Outlook one looks like. Mine is always messy.

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But, um, but that's what it looks like. Like, one of mine for this month is to not work on a Sunday.

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Because I'm notoriously bad as a workaholic, so, you know, I…

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I've got two Sundays here that I haven't worked.

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And I can still get another one in before the end of the month.

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So that's a win. So…

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To recap, look at the big picture of what you want to achieve. What is one of your goals for the year?

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Then pick between 1 and 3,

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Easy things. Like I said, the low-hanging fruit, easy things.

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Could be water, could be increasing your steps,

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whatever that thing is for you. Could be eating more fruit and veggies.

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could be swapping white bread for a grainy bread.

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whatever it is for you,

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Print out the habit tracker,

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Keep it where you can see it. That's important, especially when it's a new practice.

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It needs to be on your fridge, or mine is on my office wall, where I see it every time I come into the office.

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Tick it off daily, give yourself a score at the end of the month,

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At the end of the 30 days,

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And then, if you're ready…

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move on to the next thing.

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or repeat. I hope that this is helpful, and has given you some ideas.

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feel that you need more accountability to reach that big goal for 2026,

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Join me in my February 12-week challenge, where we'll be doing lots of these little micro-habits,

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to help you on your way, I'll pop the link below. Have a fabulous week, everybody.

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I'm always here to support you with nutrition, movement, and mindset.

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That's my thing.

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Next week, we're talking about breakfast. I've had quite a lot of…

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Uh, you know, with intermittent fasting and what we should be having for breakfast, I've had quite a lot of questions coming in around that.

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So we're going to be talking about breakfast, and I'll give you some examples.

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of what are good things.

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have, or when you should be having it, and when maybe you shouldn't be having it.

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So that's what we're doing next week. See you next week. Have a fabulous week, everybody.

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Please, please, please message me. I love talking to you guys, I love hearing about where you're at and what you need help with.

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Please subscribe, like,

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whatever, follow, um, I'm eternally grateful to all of you for taking time out of your busyness.

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Just to stop and listen to me.

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Thank you, thank you, love you all. Have a great week.