My Healthiest Year Yet: How 2024 Changed My Health and Fitness Journey

Close your eyes and picture yourself at 80. Are you climbing a hill, chasing after grandkids, or savoring a life with mobility and energy? This question was a key motivator that made 2024 a turning point in my health journey. Although I’m nowhere near 80 and still far from my ideal fitness goals, 2024 has been my healthiest year so far. I made health a priority by focusing on weight control, cardio, and strength training. I also adopted new habits, like running weekly and embracing strength training, which I had never enjoyed before.

A Mindset Shift

In 2023, I read books that made me reflect deeply on life, death, and what truly matters. These reflections led me to explore more about health and exercise in 2024, sparking action to take better care of myself. To stay organized and focused, I even created my own Pillars of Health.

Let’s be honest: we don’t need endless books or podcasts to know what’s healthy. Most of us already know the basics; we just don’t act on them. As Morpheus said in The Matrix (1999): “There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” For me, the key was taking action.

Here’s a glimpse into what I focused on this year. Perhaps it will inspire you to take a step toward your own health goals.

Running

This year I also started running. I am not crazy about it and have not participated in any races (yet) but I started with 5K and then increased to 10K. I’m gradually improving my pace, currently completing 10K in about 54 minutes.

I run once a week, usually on Mondays. While it’s a small step, it has helped me build both endurance and a routine I genuinely enjoy. I track my runs with an Apple Watch and use the Pace mode, which helps me maintain a steady pace and stay on target. I appreciate this feature because it allows me to gradually increase my pace goal and simply follow it during the run.

Strength Training

Starting strength training was a big surprise for both my wife and me. She’d been encouraging me to try it for years, but I always resisted, claiming I didn’t like it and it was boring.

This year, she persisted, and a few podcasts helped change my mind. Reading Outlive was the tipping point. Two ideas from the book resonated deeply:

1. Health compounds over time. Conditions like atherosclerosis develop silently over the years, only becoming evident when it’s too late. I realized I needed to act now to prevent future problems.
2. Aging and strength. As we age, we naturally lose strength and mobility. To stay independent and enjoy life in later years, we need to build and maintain strength today.

I now do strength training at least four times a week for an hour. Initially, I started with three days but quickly upped the goal. Committing to daily workouts makes it easier—there’s no decision to make; it’s simply part of my routine.

To help me in the workout, I use the app Fitbod and it is great! I chose the goal “Improve conditioning” in the app and it gives more high-reps, low-weigh resistance exercises with minimal rest to enhance endurance.

I like updating the effort (or the Rate of Perceived Exertion, RPE) so the app can more accurately calculate the weight, number of sets, and repetitions for my next workout. I also appreciate that it tracks the estimated recovery of my muscles and suggests exercises for the muscles that are the most recovered. This helps me train my entire body in an effective and balanced way.

I’m fortunate to have a well-equipped gym in my building, just an elevator ride away so not many excuses as well.

Weight Control

Weight management has always been a challenge for me (and still is). My target weight has been 75 kg for years, but I’ve struggled to reach it, often hovering in the lower 80s or higher 80s during holidays.

This year, I made some progress, briefly hitting my goal before slipping back. The journey continues, but I’m determined to achieve lasting results.

The cornerstone of my approach is simple and effective: calorie counting. I don’t follow trendy diets or extreme regimens. Instead, I track everything I eat and aim for a calorie deficit most days. Weekends are less strict; maintaining balance is my goal as we like to cook and have fun.

I use the Cronometer app to track my calorie intake. The paid version is ad-free and offers extra features, but the free version works well for most. Since we cook most meals at home, tracking is easier as we can weigh ingredients to ensure accuracy. Tracking calories at home is straightforward since we weigh ingredients, but dining out is trickier without nutritional info from restaurants.

I weigh myself every morning to better understand and manage my weight. For consistency, I do it right after waking up and using the washroom. I use an affordable RENPHO Body Fat Scale that integrates with Apple Health, which helps me maintain a history of my progress even if I switch scales.

Walking

Walking has been my go-to activity for years. It’s my favorite way to wind down, reflect, and listen to podcasts. This habit has contributed to my impressive podcast listening stats. It’s incredible how much you can absorb during a walk.

Whenever possible, I choose nature for my walks. I’m lucky to live near a beautiful park and enjoy hiking whenever I can.

Exploring Emotions

In 2024, I didn’t just focus on physical health; I prioritized emotional health as well.

After listening to several insightful podcasts about emotions, including Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett: How to Understand Emotions and Dr. Marc Brackett: How to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence, I discovered the How We Feel app. It was recommended in one of the episodes, and I decided to give it a try. My initial goal was to explore my emotions and expand my emotional vocabulary. Emotions, I learned, are far more complex and varied than I had imagined.

The app allows you to log your mood by selecting from a set of 144 emotions, categorized into four quadrants: High Energy Unpleasant, High Energy Pleasant, Low Energy Unpleasant, and Low Energy Pleasant.

Between September and January, I recorded 297 emotional check-ins. The image below summarizes how my emotions were distributed across the quadrants.

As shown in the image, 45% of my emotions were High Energy Pleasant, 38% were Low Energy Pleasant, 10% were Low Energy Unpleasant, and 7% were High Energy Unpleasant.

This process taught me not only new emotion labels but also how to better understand and manage my feelings. For example, while searching for a parking spot at a busy mall, I initially thought I was angry about not finding one. However, when I paused to check in with the app, I realized I was actually feeling frustrated. Recognizing the specific emotion helped me respond more calmly.

Some of my most frequent emotions were Focused, At Ease, Energized, Fatigued, and Thoughtful. This exploration has given me a deeper understanding of my emotional landscape and the tools to navigate it more effectively.

Supplementation

Before 2024, the only supplement I took was Vitamin D, essential during Vancouver’s cloudy winters. This year, I added a multivitamin to cover any potential deficiencies I was having.

With the addition of strength training, I began using whey protein to hit my daily goal of 2g of protein per kg of body weight. While I eat plenty of meat, it is not enough on its own to achieve my protein goal. I don’t have a specific brand preference, so I usually buy the most affordable option I find at Costco. Right now, I’m using LeanFit.

While not considered a supplement, protein bars have also become a convenient snack. I opt for ones with 20g of protein and around 190 calories from Pure Protein, but I limit myself to one a day. Ideally, I prefer snacks like fruit or none at all.

Sleep

Since reading the book Why We Sleep in 2023, sleep has been a key focus for me. As I mentioned in my Pillars of Health, I aim for nine hours of sleep opportunity each night. While I don’t always hit that target, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule remains a top priority.

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In 2024, I focused on improving my health by prioritizing weight control, running, strength training, and emotional well-being. Inspired by reflections on long-term health, I built simple, sustainable habits like weekly runs, structured strength workouts, and mindful calorie tracking. Emotional health also became a priority, with tools like the How We Feel app helping me better understand and manage my emotions.

I worked on maintaining a consistent sleep routine, added some practical supplements, and aimed for a balance between structure and enjoyment. While there’s still room to grow, this year marked meaningful progress toward a healthier, more balanced lifestyle.

And like my goals became purposes, 2024 taught me that health is a journey, not a destination.

Cheers.