My (2026) Fitness Regime

For the last many months, I’ve been following a simple fitness regime/routine/habit.

It is built on the idea that the pillars of fitness are:

• diet
• exercise
• self-image
• sleep
• mental peace

Diet

I follow the habit of mindful eating.

I don’t do any kind of fasting or restrictions (I’ve done intermittent fasting and keto-diet in the past). I just eat mindfully.

By that I mean, I eat when I’m hungry, I eat only to satisfy the hunger, and I avoid eating too much when there’s too many nice things to eat.

I cut chappattis from three to two and found that that’s enough. I avoid snacking. I eat just like a regular day when I’m part of a feast (conference lunches, weddings, celebrations, etc).

Even if I crave a biriyani or some porotta and beef, I don’t order like in my 20s. I share a biriyani with Swathi, or order just two porottas.

And I drink a lot of water.

Exercise

I exercise 3-4 times a week. Mostly it takes the form of jogging in a nearby park. These days I run a minimum of 1.5 km, and on some days 2-3km.

It was a struggle for me earlier when I would jog only in the morning. But nowadays I allow myself to run in the evenings. And I find it much more easier to get myself to the park in the evenings. I also am able to run farther in the evening.

What’s made it the easiest for me is that I have relaxed my approach to maintaining streaks. I try to run every day. If I miss a day, I try to run the next day. If I miss two days, I try to run the day after that. Sometimes I get sick and can’t run for a whole week. I then shift to walking. And then I get back to running as soon as I can. I don’t beat myself up. So I get to run much more.

It’s also helpful that I’ve gotten a smart watch with GPS as a birthday gift this year. I have a Redmi Watch 5 Lite (referral link). I’ve connected it to my Strava account. And so every time I am doing any sort of exercise, it gets logged. And that is nice.

When it is not running, it is some or the other activity — weights, climbing, badminton. Something to keep myself active.

Oh, we also got a pull-up bar (referral link) and it is the best investment ever. I keep hanging on it whenever. And I can almost pull myself up now.

Self-image

I think of myself as an athletic person.

I don’t think of myself as lazy. I don’t think of myself as having no energy. I don’t allow myself to feel like my body is not fit for exercising.

I think of my body as an elite athlete’s body.

I also was gifted some running clothes. And running shoes.

And a phone armband.

The whole package!

I wear all of them and I walk out and already feel good about myself.

Sleep

I have to sleep before midnight. My brain needs that.

And I try to ensure that.

It’s somehow become easier to fall asleep sooner. (Maybe the exercise, etc helps).

I think what helped me the most was giving myself the freedom to have not accomplished much in the day. It is 9 o’clock, it is time for bed. Whatever needs to be done can be done tomorrow.

I also don’t do revenge procrastination now.

For many months now my sleep cycles have been sane.

Mental peace

This required a lot of work with my therapist, a lot of reflection, reading, and discussions with Swathi and others.

I think I’m a lot less anxious now about things. I am okay with doing things slowly, doing things one at a time.

I am able to stop myself in the middle of something I’m immersed in, and cook or exercise.

I am able to breathe in and think about what my body needs — water? food? burn some calories? rest? silence? connection?

I am able to sit simply.

I am able to get bored.

Results

It’s been pretty good. My HbA1c went from 5.9 (prediabetic) to 5.6 (normal). From being able to barely run a kilometer without dying, I can now comfortably run perhaps 2, sometimes even 3km. My belly is visibly smaller. I’m able to climb up the stairs of my house without having to drag myself. I don’t have random aches and pains.

I don’t think this is the greatest fitness regime on the planet. But this is working fine for me.

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This was written at an IndieWebClub Bangalore meetup.