Working from home presents a unique set of challenges. You may have been a total newbie to this new normal, making it tough to navigate the distractions that come up and maintain focus. These issues are natural and to be expected in this unprecedented time, so give yourself space to experiment and adapt to your new work environment. Here are some tips from a Fitbit health coach to help keep you laser-focused, feeling great, and fend off burnout.

Refuel regularly with real food. Your circadian rhythm naturally takes a dip in the midafternoon, and if you are without the extra stimulation of coworkers and the energy of office life, it’s easy to really feel that afternoon slump. Irregular meals and eating too many processed carbs or sugary foods can lead to unstable blood glucose levels and exacerbate your post-lunch energy crash. And new research suggests eating just one fatty meal can affect your concentration.

So, fuel your body and your brain by eating regular balanced meals and snacks that are rich in protein, healthy carbohydrates, and a small amount of healthy fats.

Have a dedicated workspace. During this unique time, you may still be working from home without a real home office. Although it may be tempting to simply roll over in bed and grab your laptop, it’s not doing your body any favors.

Creating a dedicated workspace can help you avoid neck and back pain, as well as minimize distractions. If you don’t have an extra room to use as an office, no problem, create a workspace at your dining table, or maybe set up a desk in an unused corner. Moving to your workspace when you’re getting started for the day can help keep you focused and avoid the temptation to watch TV, take a midday nap, or tackle that pile of laundry.

Keep a schedule. You may find you’re working longer hours since being stuck at home. The lines between work life and personal life may have become blurred, which can lead to the feeling you should be constantly working or thinking about work, even outside of your normal nine to five. Setting boundaries is important and will allow you to focus on work when you need to, be present with your family, and get rest and relaxation after you clock out.

Stay hydrated. Do you forget to drink water while you’re working? Researchers have found that even minor dehydration can impair your memory and cognitive function. Fatigue and brain fog are common symptoms of dehydration. So, try to ensure you’re consuming the recommended 64 ounces of water a day. Set up a silent alarm on your Fitbit device to remind you to hydrate often. You can also log your water intake right in the Fitbit app or on your device to make sure you’re drinking enough.

Don’t like the taste of plain water? Check out some of these ideas to spice things up. Or sip on a cup of tea instead, which can help you feel relaxed, but alert.

Opt for fresh air instead of an extra cup of coffee. Loading up on multiple cups of coffee can be tempting when you’re trying to stay focused, but too much caffeine can lead to a big energy crash later in the day. Instead of reaching for that extra cup, take a break and step outside if you can. Getting fresh air and exposing yourself to sunlight can give you a boost to power you through the rest of your day. If you can’t go outside, simply opening a window and taking a few deep breaths may give you the extra energy to refocus your mind.

Take regular breaks. While you may feel tempted to stay chained to your desk, taking regular breaks can help to boost your productivity and keep your energy levels up. Use your Fitbit device’s reminders to move to make sure you’re getting up and taking 250 steps each hour as a surefire way to keep moving throughout the day.

While life since March has been pretty far from ideal (how’s that for an understatement), you might have noticed one silver lining to things. Without days spent commuting to work, driving your kids to 1,000 different extracurriculars, or squeezing in dinners out with friends, there was all of a sudden way more time to spend on healthy habits like exercising and cooking meals. This was definitely true during the early days: Our data showed 42 percent of Fitbit users were logging more active minutes, aka exercise, this April compared to a year earlier.

But as life starts to inch its way back to normal, you might worry about those healthy habits going by the wayside. And with good reason: These days, most Fitbit users’ active minutes have returned to normal levels. Eager to hold on to those good-for-you behaviors you adopted while staying at home? Here’s how to make sure they stay a part of your life for years to come:

Keep as much as you can constant. While there are things you want to have change about your life (getting to see friends and family more, for one!), make sure to keep the specifics surrounding your workouts or cooking routine as similar as possible. 

Research shows doing that can help keep habits going strong. If you ran right after waking up during lockdown, try to keep doing it at that same time and follow the same route. If you would always meet up with a friend for your daily walks, keep meeting up with that same friend. “This way, even though the circumstances have changed, the specifics around your working out is somewhat stable and constant,” says Wendy Wood, a provost professor of psychology and business at University of Southern California.

Make it easy on yourself. The more complicated or time-consuming it is to do something healthy, the less likely you are to keep at it when life gets hectic again. Get around this with a few simplifying tricks. “Make extra any time you cook so you can have leftovers the next day,” says Joan Salge Blake, RDN, clinical professor at Boston University and author of Nutrition & You. “And spend less time in the kitchen by using your crockpot and relying on frozen vegetables that are already cleaned and chopped!”

This make-it-easy approach works for exercise too. “Set out your workout clothes and shoes the night before if you want to exercise in the morning,” says Wood. They sound small, but these little actions can make a big difference to motivation.

Focus on how good your healthy habits make you feel. Have you loved how energized your morning walks have made you? Do you feel great after cooking a veggie-filled meal from scratch? Noticing those positive effects can make sticking with habits down the road a lot easier. “This is the time to take stock of what has been feeling good,” says Julie Emmerman, a sport, performance, and clinical psychotherapist specializing in professional athletes. “If you stay mindful as things get busier again, it naturally lends itself to wanting to keep committed to those behaviors.”

This is something Blake encourages as well. “Sit down and make a list about why you might be happier now,” she says. Is it prioritizing family dinners? A morning yoga routine? Identifying exactly what’s making you feel good will help you know what to prioritize as life revs up again.

When it comes to weight loss, we generally think of the physiology behind it—calories in versus calories out, body mass index, steps per day. The numbers and science. But what if there’s an X factor that we rarely think about?

The mindset with which you approach a weight loss regimen may matter. In a small study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, researchers placed participants into two groups. Both groups followed a balanced isocaloric eating plan. In other words, both groups were eating the same number of calories, but only one group knew it; the other group was told they were on a low-calorie regimen. The participants who thought they were eating low-cal meals ended up losing more weight than those who knew they were eating the same number of calories.

What’s going on here? Since it was a very small study on placebo effect, it’s hard to draw a firm conclusion. But the research hints that a person’s beliefs about their eating habits may impact their health outcomes.

Mindset matters when it comes to shedding pounds, and there are a few sound psychological strategies experts have discovered actually work. Here, Charlotte Markey, PhD, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University and author of the forthcoming Body Image Book for Girls, explains how to approach weight loss the right way.

Think about what you are going to eat, not what you can’t eat. If you constantly tell yourself, “I can’t eat chocolate,” or, “I need to avoid bread,” you wind up obsessing about what you can’t eat. This is torturous, says Markey. “If you are thinking of avoiding certain behaviors, that is usually harder to manage than approaching or achieving goals,” she says. “It is all about how we frame what we do.”

Instead of thinking that you can’t eat ice cream, it’s “advisable to think about eating more fruit” or the types of foods you want to eat more of. Plan your shopping list with all sorts of healthy goodies, and focus on those.

Reframe your approach to eating as a form of self-care. If you think, “I look bad; I need to lose weight,” you’re approaching your dietary regimen as a form of self-punishment. Eating should mean taking care of yourself, says Markey. “Really, you should approach any behavior change as a form of self-care,” she says. “Think, ‘I will do this because it’s good for me,’ instead of being upset with yourself and then forcing yourself to do it.”

Think about how you want to take care of yourself, Markey says. Is it a home-cooked meal three nights a week? Is it increasing your fiber, opting for whole foods, grabbing more superfoods like avocado and quinoa? Focus on health and the results. Doesn’t eating a delicious, perfectly-planned sushi brown rice bowl just feel good?

Choose plans that involve joy; don’t take anything off the table. A lot of people crash diet; they opt for juice cleanses and carb-restricted menus. It’s hard to imagine never enjoying food at all, says Markey, and it’s easy to fall off a wagon you were never supposed to get on. “Think about what is realistic and sustainable for you and your lifestyle,” she says. “It’s not your fault if you cannot avoid carbs forever, and it’s not even advisable from a health perspective.” If you don’t enjoy eating your meals—something you do multiple times a day—you’re likely to fail.

At Fitbit, we don’t believe in diets. Not only because they don’t stick, but also because they often deprive the body of what it needs in the long-term for a short-term quick fix. “What you need to do instead is to eat in a balanced, healthy way,” says Markey, “But don’t avoid anything.” The moment you say, “I can’t have that,” you’ll want it 10 times more. If you love sweets, opt for a small square of dark chocolate after dinner. If you want that pizza, do one slice with a salad on the side.

Balance is a state of mind. “Really work on the mental piece of it,” says Markey. “Fearing certain foods or demonizing certain foods is not a good way to live a healthy, well-adjusted life.” Allow yourself to eat the foods you love. Savor them slowly, without guilt, and you’ll be amazed at how a small portion is often all you need to satisfy a craving.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Living well is not about monitoring the scale every single day. Markey sees a lot of people who are very focused on losing weight when they absolutely don’t need to. “There is more and more research to suggest that weight is not as big of a contributor to chronic conditions as we thought it was,” she says. “Sometimes, people are having a lot of angst about weight, which is brought on because they are embedded in ‘diet culture.’”

If you’re having a tough time with body image, extreme diets, or weight loss struggles, reach out for help. “A lot of people would benefit from work with a therapist who specializes in these issues, body image, and eating,” says Markey. “It is an investment in self that will be sustainable for the rest of your life, especially among women where the pressure is extreme.” Sometimes, it’s worth challenging our own beliefs to see if the need to lose weight is internally motivated, or externally driven. Narrow cultural ideals of beauty should never have a say in your health or weight.