First shower for Cookie and BODY goals

Since we got Cookie in July, we never showered her because she’s a cat and she’s small. But hubby said we need to from time to time. He got a special bag and shampoo for the event. She had no idea what was going to happen.

the whole event was uneventful. She was shaking a bit because no fuss. Good girl! Later, she sit on Sofia’s book and took a nap.

Other things we did:

• 8 miles run for me and 3 miles for Sofia.
• Took a long bath with epson salt.
• Went to the mall to get new journals for 2022. I’ve tried few that come with prompts and ended up abandoning them. I prefer the plain/empty ones that I can adjust to my like. I found they were on sale so got 3 🙂
• Spent 2 hrs reading on the couch with legs up. So relaxing.
• Couple massage with a strong handle therapist. Loved it.
• Finished “People we meet on vacation” before bed time. A solid 3/5. Sweet romance.

I also spent some time to reflect my goals for 2022. The easiest pillar is on Body. This is what I came up, subject to change.

Goals under BODY

• Eating
  • January low carb vegan challenge. The idea is to find meals that won’t spike my blood sugar that are not heavy on animal products. I don’t feel good eating animal products in a daily basis but also don’t want to go back to carb heavy vegan diet that I was on for 3 years. I know that blood sugar is not The only metric to track for healthy eating, but once I saw what some food does to my BS (sweet potatoes, oatmeal, fruits in general), I can’t unseen it. I plan to try 1 week of vegan keto/low carb and see how my blood sugar respond to it. I am getting a new CGM today and I’ll be posting daily meals in my instagram (coco.newjourney). I’ll continue to track my blood sugar with CGM until I find a good balance.
  • Whole food balanced meals. After what I learn in January, I’ll get back to whole food plant based way of eating with fish, eggs, and seafood to add more variety and ensure getting all the nutrients without supplements.
  • Ban sugar. I don’t consume a lot of added sugar but I still do. In days that I’m stressed out I might consume too much cookies/breads/chocolates, which not only makes me feel bad the next day, it does show up on my skin. For the last couple of months, I have almost eliminated sugar in my diet without much effort as I became more conscious what it does to my BS, and I notice less acne and clearer skin overall.
  • Eat last meal of the day 3 hrs before bed time. This might be a challenge as many days I go to sleep by 8:30pm and usually dinner is 6pm in our house. I’ll see if I can move it 30 min earlier for proper digestion and good sleep.
  • Try new recipes. I aim to try at least 1 per week as I often rotate among few dishes that the family likes and get bored with it. To accomplish this, I plan to save recipes on my phone and choose one before I write down the to-buy list for husband.
  • Explore new cuisine while traveling. All the above goals are not relevant when traveling. I used to be the person that try to eat clean and healthy while traveling, which makes the trip stressful and everybody else had to accommodate me. In addition, I was depriving myself from new experiences. Since 2021, after I stopped eating vegan, I’ve been more relax with eating on vacation. I’d try everything that looks good. I plan to go a step further to proactively seek local cuisines, beyond what hotels offer, to truly experience local culture.
• Exercise
  • Running: 3-4 times a week with Sunday long run. I enjoy running a lot especially now that Sofia runs and we have a running family friend. We plan to do some trail runs too. Maybe I’ll also challenge for a sub-25min 5k? Let’s see. I have signed up for the Berlin 2022 marathon, and will start training for it 3 months earlier.
  • Strength training: 2022 is the year I plan to strength train seriously. The older I get, the more I want to build muscle to be strong. I’ll find a program that I enjoy and aim 3 times per week.
  • Pilates/yoga: I spent most of the 2021 doing pilates/yoga kind of workout and I love it. I will do these on my runnings days and rest day.
  • Schedule (tentative): Monday: pilates/yoga; Tuesday: run + 30 min strength training; Wednesday: run + 30-45 min pilates/yoga; Thursday: 45-60 min strength training; Friday: run + 30 min pilates/yoga; Saturday: 45-60 min strength; Sunday: long run.
• Selfcare
  • Massage 1-2 times a week, at least until we leave Manila.
  • Take bath on Sundays after long run with epson salt and essential oil (need to get some).
  • Skincare. Stop rushing at night. instead spend 5-10 min for skincare.
  • Old shower: few times a week. It feels challenging but it has a lot of benefits, physical and mental so I’ll give it a try.

I am the type of person that likes to write down goals and forget about them before January ends, so if you have a good idea how to keep track of them throughout the year, I’d love to hear. 🙂 To start, I’ll create a page of my 2022 goals so they can be reviewed easily.