Lately I’ve been thinking about how slippery the word healthy has become.
Everyone uses it. Almost no one defines it. And when they do, it usually gets reduced to one thing — labs, weight, discipline, or how put-together someone looks from the outside.
That’s never really worked for me. Here’s how I think about it for myself.
Healthy means three things:
One, you feel pretty good most days.
Two, you’re comfortable enough in your body that it’s not taking up constant mental space.
And three, your biomarkers — labs, blood pressure, resting heart rate, HRV — are doing well relative to you, your history, and your real life.
When those pieces line up, great. That’s the goal.
When one or more of them is off, I don’t see that as something being “wrong.” It's just information. A nudge to pay attention.
The question I ask next is, what could I adjust that would actually make my life feel easier or more enjoyable over time?
Because if a change adds stress, friction, or resentment, it usually doesn’t last — even if it looks good on paper.
Another thing I wish more people understood is timing. Once you make a change — eating a more solid breakfast, training differently, walking more, going to bed earlier — you need enough consistency before you decide whether it’s helping.
For most things, that’s about three to six weeks of being mostly consistent. Not perfect. Just mostly consistent. If that consistency isn’t there, the clock doesn’t keep running. It resets (because bodies need repetition to adapt).
What’s interesting is that the first signs things are "working" almost never show up as body composition changes.
If you’re waiting for the scale or visible fat loss to tell you whether you’re on the right track for a body recomp. goal, you’ll usually quit before you get there.
The early signs are more subtle...
Better energy in the afternoon.
Waking up a little less tired.
Cravings settling down.
Realizing you can go four hours between meals and feel fine.
Less puffiness.
Fewer aches.
Not getting taken out every time a virus goes around.
Those are the signals I look for first. That’s metabolic health shifting under the surface. Body composition usually follows once those are in place — not the other way around.
This is the lens I use.
Do you feel pretty good most days?
Do you feel great / good in your skin?
Are your numbers moving in a direction that makes sense for you?
If yes, we protect what’s working. If not, we adjust — carefully, realistically, and in a way you can live with. We pay attention, stay consistent long enough to actually learn something, and choose changes that don’t require you to disappear from your own life.
That’s what healthy looks like to me. I'm curious ... what does "healthy" look like to you?
XO,
Tara
P.S. I’ll have 2 spots opening up for 1:1 coaching in March — first come, first serve. In coaching, we dive into everything from accountability and custom workouts to nutrition and lifestyle planning, helping you get truly unstuck and making sense of all your data so you know exactly what to tweak for real results. If that sounds like what you need, you can learn more and apply here.