Health is the Goal
I do not want to live more healthily for just a few weeks. I want to find out how movement, nutrition, recovery and reliable routines can become a lasting part of a busy everyday life.
This page brings together my journey: the starting point, the plan, measurable changes, setbacks and necessary adjustments. Not as a perfect programme, but as an honest record of what can genuinely be achieved with simple means.
Why Nutrition Means More to Me Than Losing Weight
My approach to nutrition does not begin with calories. Stomach and digestive problems have been part of my life since the end of my teenage years.
At around the age of 19 or 20, I regularly suffered from stomach cramps so severe that sometimes the only way I could endure them was curled up in the foetal position. I underwent gastroscopies, colonoscopies, ultrasound examinations and tests for various intolerances. In the end, I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome—but at the time, this did not provide a solution that noticeably changed my life.
The first turning point came when I stopped smoking. After reading the final page of Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking, I remained smoke-free. At the same time, the cramps I had been experiencing disappeared almost from one day to the next. I cannot prove today that smoking was the sole cause. Nevertheless, the experience shaped the way I think: what I consume every day can affect my body far more than I was willing to acknowledge for a long time.
When the Symptoms Returned
Years later, the problems returned in a different form. Bloating, diarrhoea, digestive problems and frequent trips to the toilet gradually became almost normal in a demanding working life. Coffee became a particularly noticeable trigger. There were also abnormal blood test results, a fatty liver detected by MRI and a laboratory examination describing an unstable gut environment.
Since January 2026, I have stopped drinking coffee. Alcohol plays almost no role in my life, and nicotine has been absent for a long time. Many things have improved, but they are not yet stable enough for me to consider the matter resolved.
That is why changing my diet should not become another short-term diet. I want to eat a predominantly plant-focused, varied and minimally processed diet. I want to reduce meat significantly, but not ban it completely. What matters is not a rigid set of rules, but what my digestive system can tolerate, what can realistically be implemented in everyday life and what supports my health in the long term.
The Handful Rule should provide me with simple guidance. I want to introduce new foods, greater plant diversity and legumes gradually and document their effects. Not every recommendation considered healthy will automatically be right for me. That is exactly what I want to find out.
What I Want My Diet to Look Like
My goal is neither a strict exclusion diet nor a short-term meal plan. I want to eat a predominantly plant-focused, varied and minimally processed diet without banning meat completely.
Plant diversity, sufficient protein and simple portion sizes should provide the framework. Tolerance remains decisive, however: my digestive system determines the pace. I will therefore introduce new foods, legumes and fermented products gradually, observe their effects and reduce them again when necessary.
Plant-Focused, but Not Dogmatic
Vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices should make up the largest part of my diet. I want to reduce meat significantly, but not ban it completely.
Tolerance Before Theory
Not everything generally considered healthy is automatically good for my digestive system. I therefore want to introduce new foods, more fibre and fermented products gradually and observe their effects honestly.
The Handful Rule Instead of Counting Calories
In everyday life, I want to estimate portion sizes primarily using the Handful Rule. It provides simple guidance for vegetables, protein, carbohydrates and fat without requiring me to calculate every meal completely.
Minimally Processed and Sufficient Protein
My meals should consist mainly of simple, minimally processed foods. At the same time, I will make sure that I consume sufficient protein so that I can preserve muscle while losing weight and rebuild strength through training.
Movement and Strength in Everyday Life
I do not need a training programme that pushes me to the limit for a few weeks and then fails in everyday life. My goal is to become stronger, more mobile and fitter again—with sessions that remain realistic alongside work, commuting, family life and the dogs.
Bodyweight exercises, a kettlebell and a push-up board will form the foundation. Walks, mobility work, swimming and, later, skipping or the systematic development of pull-ups will complement them. What matters is not doing as much training as possible, but having a plan that I can follow regularly and gradually progress.
Strength as the Foundation
Bodyweight exercises, a kettlebell and a push-up board form the basis. The aim is not to exhaust myself completely during every session, but to rebuild strength, stability and resilience in a controlled way.
Endurance in Everyday Life
Walking the dogs is already part of my everyday life. I also want to use swimming and, later, skipping to improve my fitness gradually without immediately overloading my body.
Mobility & Recovery
My mobility has declined considerably. Short mobility sessions, sufficient recovery and a conscious approach to physical strain should therefore become a fixed part of the plan—not merely an addition when there happens to be time left.
Progress Does Not Happen Only in Training
A good plan only helps me when I actually implement it in everyday life. That is why I want to document not only training, nutrition and weight, but also the routines behind them: What worked? Where did I avoid taking action? Which circumstances helped or caused difficulties?
Setbacks are explicitly part of the process. A missed session or a difficult week should no longer automatically mean the end of a plan. What matters is understanding the problem, adjusting the next step and starting again.
Routines Instead of Relying on How I Feel
Motivation fluctuates. I therefore need simple routines that also work on long working days. Short, clearly defined steps are more valuable to me than ambitious plans that can only be followed under ideal conditions.
More Than Just Weight
Weight alone is not a sufficient measure. I also want to document strength, mobility, fitness, digestion, sleep and the actual consistency of my routines, and assess changes objectively.
Planning for Setbacks
A difficult week is not proof that the entire journey has failed. What matters is identifying the cause, simplifying the plan where necessary and continuing without creating an artificial new beginning.
A Starting Point, Not a Final Result
This page describes the framework with which I am beginning my health journey. It is not a finished programme and not a promise that every idea will work exactly as planned in practice.
I want to document what I actually implement, how my body responds and where changes become necessary. This includes training, nutrition, digestion, sleep, routines and setbacks—as well as the question of which simple measures prove sustainable in my everyday life.