January is typically a challenging time for setting your new year’s health goals. You are going to be bombarded with ads for “detox teas,” 1,200-calorie starvation plans, and gym memberships, all banking on your new year’s health reset.

Reject all of it.

This year, “Taking Control” shouldn’t mean shrinking your body. It means understanding it. It means shifting from being a passenger in your own body to being the CEO.

Here is your Health Level Up Checklist, focusing on data, advocacy, and energy, rather than the number on a scale. Learning what is going on inside is just as important as improving the outside.

1. The First Inner Check: Blood Work

You can’t fix what you can’t measure. Feeling “tired all the time” isn’t typical; it’s usually a deficiency and is something to look into. You need the data. Don’t just assume you are just lazy or burnt out.

The Level Up: Schedule a physical with your PCP, especially if you are overdue for one. Physicals are once a year. Do not just get the basic panel. Advocate for yourself. Look into checking these levels:

• Vitamin D & B12: (The energy vitamins).
• Ferritin: (Iron stores, low iron causes exhaustion/hair loss).
• Thyroid Panel (TSH, T3, T4): (The metabolism regulators).
• Hormones: (If you have cycle issues).

2. The “Add, Don’t Subtract” Nutrition Rule

Diets fail because they are based on restriction (“I will not eat bread”). Your brain rebels against restriction. By cutting out entire food groups, you could end up overindulging later.

The Level Up: Focus on crowding out. Instead of taking things away, make it your goal to add things.

• Goal: Add 20-30g of protein to breakfast.
• Goal: Add something green to dinner.
• Goal: Drink 2L of water before 2 PM.

The Psychology: When you fill up on the nutrient-dense stuff first, you naturally crave junk less, without the psychological warfare of “banning” it.

3. Cycle Literacy (For the Girlies)

If you have a uterus, your body runs on a 28-ish day rhythm, not a 24-hour clock. Ignoring this is like trying to drive a car with the wrong fuel. You shouldn’t expect to have the same high energy every single day of the month.

The Level Up: Start tracking more than just when you bleed. Track your energy and mood.

• Follicular Phase (Week after period): High energy. Schedule the big meetings and hard workouts.
• Luteal Phase (Week before period): Lower energy. Prioritize sleep, walking, and boundaries.

Stop fighting your biology. Work with it.

4. Movement for Sanity, Not Vanity

Exercise is the most underutilized anti-anxiety drug on the market. Working out isn’t only about burning calories or changing how you look. If you don’t see results in 2 weeks, you quit.

The Level Up: Disassociate movement from weight loss. Move your body solely to change your mood, energy, and stress levels.

• Feeling anxious? Lift heavy weights or sprint (burn off the adrenaline).
• Feeling depressed/stagnant? Go for a “Hot Girl Walk” outside (forward optical flow reduces stress).
• Feeling stiff? Yoga/Pilates.

If you hate the workout, you won’t do it. There are so many different workouts out there; take the chance to try something new. Find the thing you don’t hate.

5. The Appointment Audit (The Boring Stuff)

Adulting is mostly just scheduling appointments you don’t want to go to.

The Level Up: Open your calendar right now and book the “Big Three” for the year:

1. Dentist: (Teeth are expensive luxury bones; keep them clean.)
2. Dermatologist: (Get that mole checked. Wear your sunscreen.)
3. The Gyno: (Pap smears are not fun, but cervical health is non-negotiable.)

6. Sleep Hygiene (The Foundation)

You can eat all the kale in the world, but if you are sleeping 3-5 hours a night, your cortisol will be high, and your health will suffer. Or “Revenge Bedtime Procrastination,” staying up late scrolling because you didn’t have free time during the day. (Look it up, it’s a real thing)

The Level Up: Protect your sleep like it’s your job.

• No coffee after 2 PM.
• Phone down 30 mins before bed (or at least use a blue light filter).
• Keep the room cool.

The Bottom Line

Your body is the only house you have to live in for the rest of your life. This year, stop trying to renovate it with a sledgehammer (crash diets). Start maintaining it with respect.

Get the blood work. Eat the protein. Go for the walk. You got this.