My main Health/ Fitness goals for January were:
1. Go to 1 Core class at my gym (30 minutes). ✅ I went to 2! I found that I can squeeze in the 8:05-8:35 class on Fridays before work. I have a standing 9:15 Friday meeting, so I can shower before the class (it’s not a sweaty type class), go to the class, get home by 8:40 and be at my desk with time to spare before 9.
2. Hit 100% compliance on my workout schedule, beginning Monday, January 5th, if possible. ✅(*minus a couple days due to illness/rib). With my new schedule and switch to 3x/ week full body lifting, I feel that my schedule is now very sustainable. I only have to get to the gym 3 times (T/Th/Sun mornings). The 3 cardio days (M/W/Sat) are home workouts, typically on my lunch hour, and the duration is around ~30-35 minutes. Friday is my recovery day- either a short ~20-30 min home yoga video or the 30 minute core class. On my heavy lifting days, I’m at the gym for about an hour. On the cardio days, it’s less than 40 minutes. This feels like a very achievable, reasonable, and effective amount of daily exercise. Over-doing it can lead to poor muscle recovery, increased hunger, and decreased effectiveness, so this feels like a nice sweet spot for me.
3. Eat a good dose of protein at every meal + a fruit or veg with every meal. ✅ I mostly did this. Not 100%- I mean, unless you count like a couple strands of green pepper on a pizza slice as a serving of vegetables. Haha. But overall, I definitely did this. My protein game has been quite strong. For my size (close to 5’9″, 137-140 lbs), they “say” I should be eating somewhere between 108-140 grams, depending on if you follow the 0.8g/lb or 1.0g/lb thing. I most certainly did not always hit 140 grams, but I aimed to get well over 100 grams (approximately- I am often estimating/eyeballing!), if I could. I was totally not perfect with this, but I know I consumed WAY more protein in January than I had been in the fall. I was also certainly more mindful about adding in fruits/veggies.
My most common protein sources have been: eggs, egg whites, vanilla Greek yogurt, chicken, tuna, turkey, reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese sticks, and sometimes Core Power shakes or a scoop of protein powder mixed in unsweetened cashew milk (–> did you know that cashew milk has 50% more calcium than regular milk and it only has 25 calories in a cup? It’s a good option for someone like me whose bones are apparently starting to go to crap.) Of course I eat other protein sources, too- the multigrain English muffins I sometimes eat have 5 g, I eat other meat sources, etc. The above are just my go-tos.
February Fitness/Health goals:
1. Keep doing all of the above stuff. 😄 None of the above is feeling particularly laborious. Again, I am not aiming for perfection. I mean, technically I have “hit 100% compliance on my workouts” as a goal, which could sound like I’m seeking 100% perfection. I really just mean- “don’t skip workouts just because”. (Which, I was doing a lot of in 2025….). If life happens and I need to skip a day, no big deal! I just want that to be more the exception than the norm. I am feeling very content with having a steady rhythm that actually works nicely in my life, after spending the last few years trying to force fit TOO MUCH EXERCISE into my life (5x/week in the gym plus 3x/wk cardio plus weekly yoga plus daily walking… 😵💫) and often feeling defeated that – shocker, it just didn’t really fit in this season of life!
2. Hit 8,000 steps daily. This is my big February fitness goal! In January, I paid no attention to my steps. Honestly, half the days my Apple watch dies halfway through the day and I don’t even know how many steps I get. Which is fine! I intentionally was making a point to not focus on overhauling “all the things” at once.
HOWEVER. On the heels of this 2-week bitter cold stretch (i.e. we’ve been cooped up!) and a pretty busy “heads down working hard” season at work, I have felt extra aware that outside of my daily exercise, I do a llllllllllllot of sitting. One day (when my watch was charged, hehe), I looked down at 5 pm and I had like, 1,000 steps. No joke! (This was a recovery day, so I hadn’t done intense ‘movement with steps’ exercise, and it was below zero, so I hadn’t even walked Charlie.)
I would estimate that on average, in the winter (when our dog walks tend to be shorter/less frequent than summer), without putting in extra effort, and on a work day, I naturally land around 5,000-6,000 steps, max. If I do no intentional walking- like some of those below zero days, it’s even less.
This is yucky. Human bodies were made to move! I decided that for February, I want to focus on hitting 8,000 steps at least every day. 10,000 can be a real challenge (and anyway, that ‘magic 10,000’ number was just made up I think by the FitBit people), and could be a big jump up from my “low” days. 8,000 is definitely attainable, but requires at least some effort to make sure I’m moving a bit more. Progress>perfection.
I added a spot for steps on my habit tracker. ALSO key- I thought through when to charge my watch. (Sometimes I’d charge it while I showered in the morning, but I’d often forget…and I usually shower now in the basement guest bathroom and my charger station lives in my bedroom…many days I’d think of it just as I had stepped into the running shower. 😆). I decided that instead, I will put my watch on the charger at 9 pm right when my “wind down for bed” alarm goes off on my iPhone. Then it can be fully charged for me to wear to bed (bedtime= 10:15/10:30) and will be all set for the next day.
Today is February 4th, and so far I’m 3 for 3! Having “warmer” weather above 0 degrees definitely helps, too.
I’m making this my new “non-negotiable” for February, I think. (Stacking onto my January non-negotiables of flossing + nightly face washing, which is going beautifully. Not saying I will continue stacking new non-negotiables every month, but for now, this feels okay.)
Do you aim for a step goal?? I am also intrigued by maybe getting a desk attachment for my treadmill… I don’t think I’d want to stand all day (my back would hate that!), but would be nice for certain times.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for help from a colleague on something I needed yesterday.
GRATEFUL KAE 
I typically hit about 8000 steps per day without having to “try” hard, except Jan/Feb. I walk to work and back each day (about 3500 steps total) including in the winter so with that plus some dog walks (my husband is the primary dog walker, but I do it when he can’t) it’s not usually hard, but I do notice in Jan/Feb I tend to average a good bit under 8K and I think it’s because on the weekends I don’t walk much since I don’t have the walking commute (and I sometimes work from home on Fridays which also are too sedentary in the winter). Also, last week my kids had an ENTIRE WEEK of snow days and I mostly worked from home, and I got like 1000 steps each of those days haha. So an 8K step goal in January and February would actually be a good idea for me, too, because those are the months I struggle to hit it naturally.
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I usually do most of the dog walking, which for us, the typical ideal minimum is a ~10-15 minute loop at least once day, though ideally once in the morning and again in the pm. In nicer weather, though, or if more time, we’ll often extend that to a 25 min loop in both the am and pm. But when it’s so cold and crummy, we often stick to the shorter loop. If I only do that ONCE in a day, it’s just not that many steps, even though I feel like, Hey, I went out for a walk! It’s so much easier in the summer when we naturally take a lot longer walks. Charlie does okay with just the shorter loops, now at 2.5 years old- he’s not a big dog so wouldn’t require excessive walking anyway, but it is nice when we can get those daily walks in for sure! I hope as spring approaches and it gets light out earlier and earlier, Ivan and I can maybe start walking to the gym for our T/Th gym sessions! We’re only a 5-10 min walk away, but it would add up. I have no desire to walk there in pitch black, freezing temps at 6 am though.
And I hear you- there are always those totally slog days mixed in where you either do NO exercise or it’s a “butt in your chair for work all day” thing and at the end of the day it’s always like ooooooof I feel like a big blob….
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I think I need to get a new battery for my Apple Watch. I charge is every night when I read before bed but it often nearly runs out of battery by 6pm, especially if I have done a workout that day. I try to remember to put my watch back on the charger when I shower after a workout to give it some extra juice but don’t always remember to do that!
It’s easy to hit 8k on weekends and when I go into the office but it’s harder when I WFH. I do not focus on it, though, since I get a lot of steps in most days, especially if I do an OTF class! 8k seems like a good/reasonable goal, though!
My goals for February are to get to 10 OTF classes. OTF is doing a transformational challenge for 8 weeks. You need to go to 3 classes/week 6/8 weeks to be included in drawings, plus there are other drawings. It’s kind to have a challenge to focus on. Now that I’m back to traveling, it’s trickier to get there as often as I’d like. In some cities, like NYC, I can easily go to a class. But that’s not the case in all cities (like Las Vegas had no OTF studios in the downtown area). But it’s good to have to figure out when I can fit them in as it makes me really look at my calendar.
Nice work on having a strong start to the year!!
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My watch is several years old now too, and that’s a good point- I wonder if I just need a new battery! This is also part of why I like my new idea of charging it at 9 pm before bed. With my old morning charging routine (during my shower time), I often run into the issue of it dying or being super low first thing in the morning. Like, it will make it through the night, approaching 24 hours since the last charge, but then if I exercise at 6 am, it will die halfway through the workout (or before my pre-shower dog walk, when I want to capture the steps!). I think I’d rather have the battery die off, if it’s going to happen, in the 8-9 pm range when I’m mostly likely just sitting on the couch or not really doing much activity, anyway!
I’m so happy for you and your new OTF routine! Sounds so great for you! And I can absolutely see the huge benefit of scheduling in advance and/or being able to do it in other cities, too.
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I’m so pleased that the 3x full body workout regime is working well for you. It really sounds like you are ticking all the boxes right now but in a sustainable way.
Steps in February sounds like a good goal. You do have to put more effort in during the winter months for sure. My annual daily average is over 14,000 steps (London life for you!) but it’s more like 10-12k in Jan and Feb when the days are short and the weather is rubbish. I work from home as well so I try to force myself to move for 10 mins after lunch plus one chore walk a day (library, post office etc). Those two 10 min walks seem to make it ok plus maybe a bit longer on a rare wintry sun day. Good luck with your goal and bring on some warmer walks!
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Yes! I am feeling really satisfied with this plan, too- thanks again for that idea!
Andy funny you should mention city living- Ivan and I were literally just commenting the other day, as we took a brisk/ SHORT walk on a very cold day with Charlie, how different it would be to live in a big city where you had to walk everywhere. Ivan and I both really love that when we spend time in urban settings- Ivan especially prefers to walk anytime possible, versus just jumping on public transport. Our life here is definitely not designed to be all about walking, so you’re lucky to have that built right in to your lifestyle for you! If I tried to walk to my post office or library it would probably take me at least 40-45 minutes one way. haha.
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You are very smart to have “habit stacked” charging your watch with your “wrap it up” alarm. Bravo!
I don’t have a step goal, but it is very satisfying when my watch hits 10k steps and gives me that notification. On a normal day with 30 minutes of cardio and two dog walks plus general life, it’s no problem. If any of those things don’t happen, such as rest days or extreme cold that limits our dog walks to five minutes, then it gets trickier. But I also have plenty of >20k step days from hiking, so it all evens out.
My rib is finally better! Now to get my pushup game back! It’s going to be a bit of a long road.
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Yay!! I’m happy for your rib! Mine is still hurting but definitely “better”. I have not yet tried a pushup, though I’ve been okay with some plank moves- I just have to be careful. I still can’t do certainly pulling motions. And yes- I naturally get way more steps on the weekends or when I’m up and about the house more, too. It’s really the work days when I’m not getting intentional walking in- or just the bare minimum, like the shortest loop plus say a yoga video that doesn’t have steps involved- where I really notice it’s super low!!
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I always get more than 10k steps– not because I am trying or anything– that’s just the norm for me (usually closer to 12). But! I haven’t worn my tracker in a really long time– it makes me anxious to see my heart rate which then makes my heart beat faster ad then I get more anxious— you get the idea.
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Haha… I get that! I don’t have that issue and I honestly don’t even really look at my HR. I oftentimes don’t even “start” a “walk workout”, but it still captures the steps, of course. I do tend to start the time for my strength workouts, but I rarely pay attention to the HR there either!
With you working on campus and all too, you probably don’t really need to worry about this! When I worked inpatient omg I bet I got 20,000 steps in a day. (I didn’t have a tracker back then, but it was 12 hour+ shifts of walking walking walking, not to mention parking far away in Lot 60….). Sigh, there are downsides to WFH!! (not many for me, but this is one 😉
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I never track my steps, but I probably should. The problem is, I can’t wear my Garmin while I’m working, so I just don’t usually wear it during the day at all, except for running. Yep, that makes it hard to track steps! I think it’s a good goal to add to your schedule. It’s not really healthy to work out for an hour and then sit for the rest of the day- that fact actually makes me a little angry WHAT? My morning workout isn’t enough? Sheesh.
i love that you’ve hit on a great workout schedule! It’s true, what you were attempting before was just too much for this stage of your life. As they say, the best workout is the one you’ll actually do.
I don’t usually get in as much protein as you, but I agree that just by being aware of it, I’m getting more than I used to. Thanks for the reminder, because I need to start focusing on that again.
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It sounds like you’re getting into a groove with new habits. I think progress > perfection is key. Nobody can hit a 100% compliance ALL THE TIME, but being disciplined helps so much.
I have a similar „routine“ around charging my watch (because I want to wear it at night for sleep analysis), so I charge it an hour before bed to full and then also top it off when I am in the shower after my workout in the morning.
I am currently aiming for an average of 8000 steps daily. I know I get more on „run days“, so I am giving myself a bit of grace on cycling or rest days (because I am still doing something for my body, just not walking).
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