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A better year starts here
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Hey there, I’m sending last week’s newsletter a little later than usual. I had an intense week where I felt mentally and emotionally drained. And even though I really wanted to write this, I just didn’t have the capacity. Instead of forcing myself to write when I wasn’t okay, I decided to wait till I was in the right headspace, so I could give you my best. This week, I want us to discuss the importance of annual reviews. But before we get into it, I wanted to share that I’ve started a 10-part series on TikTok where I’m sharing the essential things you need to know to start and succeed in your fitness journey in 2026. So go check it out! Most of us are so focused on new year plans that we almost always forget how much insight we could collect from the old year. An annual review is simply making space to observe your year. It’s giving yourself the chance to reflect on how your year went. The good, bad, and everything in between. For anyone focused on fitness, nutrition, wellness, and personal growth, annual reviews can help you reflect on things like how consistent your workouts were, your relationship with food, how well you rested and recovered, and how stress affected your progress. Annual reviews will help you notice the patterns that hold you back, understand your strengths and weaknesses so you can decide what to hold on to and what to change in the new year. If you don’t sit down to look back at everything that happened, you might end up repeating cycles you didn’t even intend to. That’s why annual reviews are so important. To help you conduct your own review, I’ve created a template you can use. It’s a simple worksheet with prompts you can fill in to help you reflect on the different parts of your life this year, and make plans to have a better year ahead. You’ll get to reflect on things including your fitness, nutrition, mental health, and support systems. You’ll also get to review what was unsustainable, what worked better than expected, and what you want to approach differently moving forward. Remember that your review doesn’t have to be perfect. What matters is being honest with yourself and leading with compassion, especially for the things you hoped to achieve but couldn’t. I recommend setting aside some quiet time this week to go through the template at your own pace. I hope you’re able to slow down, reflect, and acknowledge how far you’ve come this year. You don’t need to become a completely new person next year. Sometimes, your growth can come from understanding who you were this year and choosing to move forward with more intention. And I hope the template gives you some structure to explore that deeply. Challenge of the WeekEvery week, I’ll share a challenge you can try to help you stay intentional with your fitness, wellness, and personal growth journey. This week’s challenge is about reviewing your year. Set aside about 30 minutes to an hour for your annual review using the template, without distractions. As you reflect, notice what supported your growth, what felt unsustainable, and what you’d like to carry forward into the new year. That’s it for today’s letter. If you have any thoughts or questions you’d like to share, please feel free to hit reply and let me know! Take care, |
The Bodied Balance Newsletter
Join a community of 1,000+ readers learning to feel strong, eat well, and take care of themselves through fitness, nutrition, wellness, and personal growth. Subscribe for weekly tips and inspiration.
#019 March 13, 2026 Hey there, Sardines are one of the most underrated sources of protein. They’re also one of the cheapest high-protein foods you can buy. Most cans give you about 20-24g of protein and roughly 200-250 calories. If you drain the oil, you can bring that down to around 160-210 calories per can. They’re a great source of protein and healthy fats, which can help you stay full longer, support muscle recovery, and give you steady energy. So today I’m sharing a simple sardine recipe...
Hey there, I first heard about “clean eating” a year or so ago from an Instagram post of a fitness influencer. I didn’t know what it meant but I assumed it had something to do with eating well and staying healthy. I’ve been curious about what it actually means and what science says about it. So this week, I explored the concept of “clean eating” and what I found surprised me. The term emerged in the early 1990s in the body building community to mean eating a high protein diet and restricting...
Hey there, Most of us grew up being told to eat three meals a day. At home, in senior high school, and even now as adults. Breakfast, lunch and dinner at fixed times feels normal because it is what we were taught. This pattern wasn’t actually created for health. It came from the early days of industrialization, when work schedules were highly regulated. People ate at home before work, were given the chance to eat again at work, and most people also ate when they got home. Even the term “three...