I’m in the season of healthy living. One might think I’ve arrived here because of my past medical concerns – an ovarian and thyroid cancer diagnosis that were, thankfully, caught early enough to be effectively addressed and are now under monitoring. Of course, I’d rather not go through all those treatments again if it can be avoided. But, no, my current drive towards healthier living is simply because I’m looking towards the future and want to invest in my continued mobility and independence all the way into my later years.

Not that I’m old. I’m only 45 now and in fairly good shape, but it’s not too early to start being proactive. Also, I have been feeling heavy and sluggish of late and straying from my ideal weight. At only 4 feet and 11 inches tall, I feel my best in the 50-52kg range, but upon checking the scale some weeks ago, I discovered I was at 55kg. It occurred to me that if I wasn’t careful, I could -as I got older – end up overweight with reduced mobility and suffering other health issues down the road.

Here’s where I started to research and learn about insulin resistance, glucose spikes, visceral fats, brain health, longevity determinants, and all the other things that should scare you into healthy living. But I don’t really scare easy, I get distracted, I’m not really what you would call disciplined and I can also sometimes be described as lazy. So I knew that any exercise and weight-loss regimen would have to be ridiculously simple and enjoyable in order for me to actually stick to it. Luckily, my current daily routine, I discovered, only needed a slight tweaking.

Health experts everywhere laud the benefits of regular walking, which I already do at least once a day with my 3 dogs. Sometimes I even walk them twice in a day. My usual path is a 1 kilometer walk – the equivalent of about 2000 steps for me. This path taken twice in the morning, since I walk Oshin by himself and the girls Kimchi and Brown together, amounts to 4000 steps already before I’ve even had my breakfast. In the evenings, after dinner, if I feel up to it, I take the dogs out again for a shorter 2000 step walk. Add another 2000 steps taken while doing work, or moving around the house while doing chores in between resting and sitting in front of the computer. This brings my usual daily average up to about 6000-8000 steps.

With these numbers, I could hardly be accused of being sedentary, and according to the science, I already meet the standard for fairly healthy living – at least where the amount of walking is concerned. But since my goal was to lose weight and to improve my overall health in general, I had to step it up a notch.

After finding some health-oriented ideas and inspiration on YouTube, I made it a goal to bring my daily step count up to 10000 for at least 30 days straight. I got myself a simple 280 peso step counter about the size of my thumb with only one button to push to reset the count. In the mornings, I made sure my step counter was at zero and then clipped it onto my clothing or kept it in my pocket, occasionally glancing at it throughout the day to check my step total.

As predicted, by evening and after my second walk with the dogs, I would frequently register between 6000-8000 steps. To make up for the deficit to 10000, I would follow walking cardio workouts on YouTube, so I could build up a sweat and fulfill my daily 10k step goal before my 10-11pm bedtime. Not really needing 8 hours, I naturally wake up feeling well-rested after just about 6 hours of sleep at around 5:00am.

After the first few days of starting on my walking goal, I felt I could add in daily strength and flexibility training, and I began to squeeze in a quick workout each morning before going out for my walk with the dogs.

It seemed only natural to pair the increase in exercise with a more health-conscious diet. So I also committed to reducing my sugar intake by staying away from soda and other sweetened drinks, drinking my coffee black and by avoiding other sweet treats as well. I began consuming smaller meal portions by eating less rice and bread and focused on eating whole foods with protein and fiber. Lastly, instead of ordering out, I began cooking more for myself and my family, which is something I’ve discovered I also like doing.

As of writing this, I am 21 days into this routine. The scale now reads 53.5kg from my original 55kg.

Outside of my weight and the number of daily steps taken, nothing in my routine was strictly measured. I’m not the type to obsess over numbers, which is the best way for me to approach this, I think. Regularly having to quantify things would be too much of a chore that I probably wouldn’t be able to keep up in the long run. Instead, I’m happy to just let these healthy habits develop. Now that I’m seeing results, I’m pretty sure they will stick beyond just 30 days, especially since I’m actually enjoying these positive adjustments to my lifestyle.