Are you ready?!?

October is here and the holidays are coming! Whether you want to go full "Sobtober", or just give it your best for a couple weeks, let Valley Street see what you're made of! I've also been on my health plan for the last 3 months and I have 1 month to go before a big check-in. Having your support will help me stay motivated!

Each week, you'll track your progress across a number of dimensions. Simple efforts are worth 1 fitness point, more difficult ones are up to 4 points. The categories are added together to calculate your weekly fitness score. At the end of the week, submit your accomplishments in the form below. I'll post an anonymous leaderboard of total scores (without the per-category detail) and we can cheer each other along! Here are the fitness categories:

• Strenuous Exercise:

  • • • 30+ minutes of constant activity that gets you to sweat. Activities like running, biking, pickle ball, HIIT, etc are all good!

• Pre-meal Greens:

  • • • A healthy portion of leafy green vegetables to help for a balanced meal and reduce sugar spikes!

• Limit Red Meat:

  • • • Avoiding red meat to help reduce impact to cholesterol. Includes burgers, steaks, etc.

• Post-meal Walk:

  • • • 10+ minutes of a light walk around the block after a meal to help with digestion, chat with friends & family, or listen to a Blinkist.

• Limit Alcohol:

  • • • A toast with water keeps both your wine glasses and your head clear. A drink counts as the standard single glass, shot, beer, etc.

• Meditation:

  • • • 10+ minutes of focused meditation. Yoga or apps like Calm or just listening to relaxing music in peace count.

• Sleep:

  • • • 7+ hours per day. We all need our beauty sleep. Get to bed early if you want to make it!

• Water:

  • • • 8+ cups per day. Clear water is best, but decaffeinated tea or coffee are OK

If  you have ideas for additional categories or other adjustments, please let me know! This was just a start based on my personal focus.

For health tips, check out this link

Use this spreadsheet to record your progress. Also at tracker.smilak.com Put your nickname in an unclaimed tab. If you want to be fully anonymous, make sure you use an incognito window when editing.

Each week you start with 8 points (on account of starting with no meat or alcohol). It will go up with exercise, and down with consumption! Mark a 1 in the spreadsheet each cell accordingly, or a higher number for multiple events in a given day.