This is probably the most important piece of advice here:

No one is perfect. No one is able to train or eat ‘optimally’ all of the time. Life happens. And life changes. Plus, what even is considered ‘optimal’? Optimal is different from person to person. Optimal for me include actions based on a combination of my preferences, scientific evidence and what I consider a good return on investment of my time, money, and effort such as deciding to not spend extra on organic versus non-organic every time I visit the shops, not including cold water therapy as I simply don’t like it (even though studies have shown it is linked to many health benefits), aiming to hit my protein goal roughly every day for building and maintaining muscle mass, and moving my body in some way each day for health.

No matter how busy I am, I nearly always manage to get out for my daily walk. This is an important part of what is ‘optimal’ for me in my life. It is time for me to either catch up on my studies via audio, relax and listen to music, or simply reflect with quiet time to appreciate where I am in that moment, that day, and the world around me. Someone else might find an hour they have made available to work on mobility, catch up on TV, work, or even sleep optimal!

Breathe… Take a step back and really think about some of the points I've highlighted. If you can't get 8 hours of sleep a night because you have a small child calling on you every few hours, that is fine. Instead, look to another aspect that you do have more control over such as your step count or your nutrition. In an ideal world, everything we did would be optimal from our sleep to our nutrition and every workout we completed would be to the highest level we could. Unfortunately, that isn’t realistic, and we would end up chasing our tails even trying to reach it.

Health and fitness are multifaceted; there is no need to overhaul your life. There it isn’t “a one size fits all” approach so have fun and remember you are doing your body good by getting up and moving around, incorporating more whole foods, increasing your lean mass, and strengthening your bones!

Create your own path but also allow for the direction of this path to change direction… I may even decide to incorporate the practice of exposing my body to sub-zero temperatures one day!