The 5 Wellness Habits I’ve Been Focusing on this Year
The five wellness habits I’ve been focusing on to help me feel my best.
Honestly, I’ve always considered myself to be a fairly healthy person. I get regular exercise (particularly as I train for my 1/2 marathons each Summer), I eat fairly well, always making sure I get lots of fruits + veggies in and sleep has been a priority for me ever since I can remember (I’ve never been much of a night owl). I also enjoy baking (and snacking on the delicious treats I whip up), rich, creamy sauces, salt + vinegar chips and the odd cocktail – I mean, life is all about balance, right? Despite our relatively healthy lifestyle, I’ve found myself feeling more tired + depleted than ever. Throw in our renovations, an unexpected teaching gig and just the busyness of everyday life in general and I just found myself struggling to keep up with it all. By the end of 2024, my health + wellness were on the back-burner an I was definitely feeling it.
As 2025 rolled in, I made a commitment to myself that I was going to add wellness back to my priority list. I wrote out a list of habits that I wanted to focus on through the year ahead and I’m happy to say I’ve continued to stick with them through these first few months of 2025. While they haven’t been the magic ticket that I’d hoped in terms of energy, I have seen some slow, but significant changes in my overall health + wellbeing. And so, I thought I’d share the 5 wellness habits that I think have made the biggest difference for me just in case you’re feeling like you could use a little change in the wellness department too.
Before I dive in, I just want to mention a few hacks that have been helping me to track things. I’ve used several health trackers over the years, but this watch has been my favourite by far. I love that it not only tracks my steps, but it also tracks my sleep, heart rate, stress levels, and all sorts of other metrics. It also keeps track of your “body battery” which takes all of those metrics into account to let you know what kind of activity you might be up for that day, or whether you need a little more rest. The first thing I do each morning is check in with “sleep coach” to see how I slept (it tracks your time in all of the different stages of sleep) and where my body battery is at. It’s also a great running watch too! The other tool I’ve been making use of is this Habit Tracker App – I love that I can customize the habits and how often I’d like to do them. It’s like a little checklist everyday just for me!
Alright, let me tell you about what I’ve been working on this year…
5 Wellness Habits I’ve been Focusing on this Year
ONE: DRINK AT LEAST 80OZ OF WATER A DAY
We all know we should be drinking more water. Good hydration impacts all the things – nutrient absorption, cell function, waste removal, skin health, energy levels and even weight management. Of all the habits I’ve been working on, this one feels like the lowest hanging fruit by far – drinking 80oz of water is such a simple ask, but really makes a big difference to your overall health. As you get busy through the day, it can sometimes be hard to keep up with your water intake, but I’ve found an insulated cup, with a straw makes all the difference – it sounds silly, but taking away even the smallest barriers (like a lid I need to twist off with every sip) makes it so much easier to sip away at my water all day long. I’ve been using and loving this travel cup for nearly a year now and it’s by far my favourite – the 40oz size makes it easy to track my 80oz daily intake, the handle makes it easy to carry around everywhere and the flip straw is water tight, so I can throw it into any bag without any worries of leaks.
TWO: AT LEAST 30 GRAMS OF PROTEIN WITH EVERY MEAL
Protein intake has been trending in the wellness industry for years now and for good reason. Proteins are the fundamental building blocks of our cells, tissues and organs. Protein helps build muscle, repair tissue, regulate hormones, build energy, support our immune system, and help you feel full longer. Honestly, the list of reasons of why protein intake is so important is just far too long to ignore. At first, getting 30+ grams of protein with each meal felt impossible, especially when I’ve never really been much of a breakfast eater, but it’s definitely gotten easier the more I do it. There are SO many high protein meal ideas circling around out there (I’ve been pinning all sorts to this board on Pinterest), but here are some of my favourite go-to’s:
Breakfast: smoothie, greek yogurt with protein powder and high protein granola, 2 eggs and toast with cottage cheese. I start most mornings with a smoothie, I’ll add that recipe for you below…
Morning Smoothie – 49g of protein:
- 1/4cup frozen berries
- 1 nugget frozen spinach
- 3/4cup high protein greek yogurt
- collagen
- vanilla protein powder (I like to use a plant based powder)
- 1.5tbsp chia seeds
- a greens powder (we LOVE this one)
- eaa – the protein won’t count in the collagen without this (I really like this one because there’s lots of other good stuff in there)
Lunch: overnight oats and cottage cheese, hamburger salad bowl with roasted sweet potatoes and veggies, chicken salad sandwich with a side of cottage cheese.
Dinner: I usually just add extra meat to whatever recipe I’m making, making sure I’m eating at least 4oz of meat.
Snacks: there are SO many cool ideas and recipes out there, but this round up was a really great place to start.
THREE: AT LEAST 10,000 STEPS A DAY
I’ve been using this watch for more than a year now to track my steps. I find it’s more accurate than my old Apple watch and I LOVE the added health tracking features such as sleep, stress, heart rate, etc. On the days that I’m teaching, getting 10,000 steps in isn’t hard – I often come home from work with around 12,000 steps already. My days at home are a different story though. I spend a lot of time working in front of a computer, which means I have to be much more intentional about getting some steps in. Most days I like to take Charley out for an afternoon walk – I’ll put on an audiobook and wander the trails or our neighbourhood for 30-45mins. If the weather isn’t cooperating, I’ll walk on the treadmill instead – usually a 30min brisk walk will give me around 7000 steps, or sometimes I’ll pop my computer onto this treadmill desk and walk a little slower so that I can still tackle some work while I move.
FOUR: STRENGTH TRAINING + MOBILITY
While steps are important, I’m learning that the older I get, the more I should be focusing on strength training to really help me age as well as I can. Strength training helps prevent muscle loss, builds bone density, aid metabolism, increases energy levels and reduces the risk of many chronic diseases. It’s always been important to me to take care of my body, but as I get older, this has definitely become more important than ever. I’ve found a great at home pilates/strength program that has made it easier than ever to move my body – I’m loving it so much that until I got sick a couple of weeks ago, I’d used it every single day since January 1st. I love that it incorporates heavier strength workouts, with pilates as well as mobility work for rest days. It feels like a well rounded program and I’ve enjoyed it enough to stick with my daily workouts consistently for months now.
FIVE: DAILY GRATITUDE JOURNAL
I have been writing in a gratitude journal for several years now and I still love it as much today as the day I started. It is the one habit I’ve been able to stick with even while sick, or traveling or just the busy seasons of life. There is actually a ton of research out there describing the many benefits of gratitude journaling – increased positive emotions, reduced stress and anxiety, better sleep, enhanced resilience and a greater appreciation for life. For me, I just really love the idea of pausing for a few minutes each day to recognize and appreciate just some of the many blessings in our life. I know there are tons of options out there for gratitude journals, but this one has been my go-to since day one. I love that it prompts for a quick check-in each morning and evening – a simple, but impactful wellness habit that’s felt so easy to stick to.
I know this post is a bit different from what you’re used to seeing here, but this is a big part of my life for ages now and I just couldn’t resist sharing it with you. I hope this post has left you feeling inspired to focus more on your own health + wellness and that you found some new ideas to work into your own life too.
