Week 6 of Health Happenings. Five weeks in the bank. I was running a little behind getting to Forge Fitness this morning, but this past week I had my schedule down to a tee. Every daily workout and every walk got done on time.

Navigating the obstacles

Life still happens. A couple of things came up this week that could have knocked me off track:

• Adult beverages. If you're going to have a drink, a vodka soda with a bunch of fresh citrus is a much lighter option than most.
• Sunday dinner at Mom's. My mom is a wonderful cook and Sundays can get out of hand. This week she came over and we made one of my favourites, a Portuguese cabbage soup. Comfort food that fits the plan.

Sleeping more, and better

I expected to sleep less with all this activity. The opposite happened. I'm sleeping about an hour more a night, and from my health tracker it looks like I'm getting more REM and deep sleep. I'm no doctor, but my guess is my body needs the extra time to recover.

Like-minded people

Posts about other people's health journeys used to scroll right past me because they didn't feel relevant. Now I'm stopping, reading and cheering them on. I even shared what's working for me with someone on Facebook who was struggling. Being in this mindset attracts people doing the same thing.

The magical moment

I forgot my shoes and had to borrow some that felt about 15 pounds heavier. Didn't matter. The scale read 235.8 pounds, down from the 239s last week. That's 16 pounds gone since Day One.

Zac also showed a posture stretch you can do at home on your stomach. Clearly I've got some work to do there. Then it was workout time, and it was an absolute killer way to start the week.

Joe is not a doctor or a dietitian. This is his personal journey. Talk to your healthcare provider before making big changes to your diet or exercise.