How to Use Habit Loops

Habit Loops help you turn your goals into daily actions by tracking key habits that support metabolic health. Each Habit Loop represents a habit with a target, and Levels shows your progress toward those targets each day and over time.

What Habit Loops track

Habit Loops currently support 11 core habits that contribute to better metabolic health:

• 👣 Steps: Frequent movement, especially after meals, helps keep glucose stable. Use this habit to remind yourself to get up and move throughout the day.
• 🏋️ Exercise: Any movement counts, including walks, yoga, light cycling, or strength work. This habit helps you work toward moving your body every day, even at low intensity.
• 💪 Strenuous workouts: High-effort workouts (like HIIT, CrossFit, or hard runs) have unique metabolic benefits. Use this habit to add more intense sessions to your week and track toward a weekly target.
• 🍚 Calories: Total calorie intake affects weight management and metabolic health. This habit keeps you mindful of your energy balance and progress toward your goals.
• 🍗 Total protein: Protein supports satiety, muscle, and stable blood sugar. Use this habit to work toward your daily protein target.
• 🥗 Total fiber: Fiber supports gut health and blood sugar control. This habit tracks your fiber intake so you can aim for a consistent daily target.
• 🍩 Total saturated fat: Saturated fat intake influences heart and metabolic health. Use this habit to stay aware of how much you eat and to balance it with healthier fats (like olive oil, nuts, and avocado).
• 🥔 Net carbs: Carbs often have the largest impact on glucose. This habit tracks net carb intake so you can see how your carbohydrate choices affect your glucose response.
• 💧 Water Intake: Staying hydrated supports energy, focus, and overall metabolic health. Use this habit to hit a daily water intake target. You can log water directly in the Levels app or import it from Apple Health or Health Connect.
• 🛏 Sleep: Short or poor-quality sleep can raise glucose, increase cravings, and add stress. Use this habit to work toward 7-8 hours of sleep each night.
• 🧘 Mindful time: Practices like meditation, deep breathing, or focused reflection support mental clarity and resilience. Use this habit to build in regular mindful time.

On your Today page, Habit Loops are represented by dots that update as you make progress.

How to read your Habit Loop rings

Not all Habit Loop rings work the same way. Understanding the difference will help you read your progress at a glance.

Progress loops (build toward a target)

Some habits are ones you want to do more of. These rings start empty and fill up as you make progress toward your daily target. A full ring means you hit your goal.

• 👣 Steps
• 🏋️ Exercise
• 💪 Strenuous workouts
• 🍗 Total protein
• 🥗 Total fiber
• 💧 Water Intake
• 🛏 Sleep
• 🧘 Mindful time

Limit loops (stay under a cap)

Other habits track things you want to keep within a limit. These rings work in reverse: they start fully closed (complete) and begin to unwind as you approach or exceed your daily cap. A full, closed ring means you are still under your target, which is a good thing.

• 🍚 Calories
• 🍩 Total saturated fat
• 🥔 Net carbs

For example, if your Net Carbs target is 50g and you have eaten 20g so far, your ring will still appear mostly closed because you are well under your limit. As you get closer to 50g, the ring unwinds further.

Net carbs vs. total carbs

The Net Carbs Habit Loop tracks net carbs, not total carbs. Net carbs are calculated by subtracting fiber from total carbohydrates:

Net carbs = Total carbs - Fiber

Fiber is subtracted because it is not digested or absorbed the same way other carbohydrates are, so it has little to no impact on blood sugar. Tracking net carbs gives you a more accurate picture of the carbohydrates that actually affect your glucose response.

Set up Habit Loops

You can select up to three Habit Loops to focus on each day.

1. From the glucose chart on your Today page, swipe left to see Habit Loops.
2. Tap Habit Loops.
3. Tap Program Settings.
4. Tap Configure.
5. Select up to three habits to track.
6. Tap Save.

Once selected, you'll see your daily progress toward those Habit Loops on your Today page.

Change your Habit Loops

You can swap out a habit at any time. Since you can only have three active at once, you'll need to unselect a current habit before adding a new one.

1. From the glucose chart on your Today page, swipe left to see Habit Loops.
2. Tap Habit Loops.
3. Tap Program Settings.
4. Tap Configure.
5. Unselect a current habit, then select the new habit you want to track.
6. Tap Save.

Customize Habit Loop targets

You can adjust each Habit Loop so it matches your current goals and starting point.

1. From the Habit Loops view, tap the habit you want to customize.
2. Use the − and + buttons to decrease or increase the target.
3. Tap Save changes.

Your updated targets will be reflected on your Today page, and your weekly and streak views will update going forward.