Streak #1 died on a travel day. Twelve days, done.
January 9th was the flight home from Cancun. We were on planes and vans from 11 AM to 9 PM, and I didn’t get in any intentional exercise. My Apple Watch said 637 calories and I didn’t close my exercise ring. The next day, January 10th, was a whirlwind of laundry and unpacking and catching up on life. Nine out of fifteen exercise minutes, just from normal movements. No real workout.
I could have told myself it still counted. I could have done the math and rationalized that walking through airports burned enough calories. But I built this system with a rule: only I decide if the streak breaks. And I decided.
Streak resets.
Owning It #
There’s something important about being honest with yourself. I set up the streak counter specifically so that I couldn’t cheat. No auto-detection, no algorithms. Just me, looking at two days where I didn’t hit my minimum, and calling it what it was.
Streak #1: 12 days. December 28th through January 8th.
Not bad for a first attempt, honestly. I took the streak through a vacation in Mexico and kept it alive for almost two weeks. But the lesson was clear: travel days need a morning workout buffer. If I know I’m going to be on planes all day, I need to get up early and knock it out before I leave. No exceptions.
The Scale of Truth #
January 11th. Back home, first day after the break, and I decided to face the scale. After a week at an all-inclusive resort in Cancun with unlimited food and drinks, I stepped on.
249.0 lbs. BMI 34.7.
That’s up 4.7 pounds from my pre-vacation weight of 244.3. Honestly? Not the worst. A week of all-inclusive Mexican resort dining and drinking, and I only gained about 5 pounds. Some of that is water weight. Some of it is the dozen tacos I don’t want to talk about.
When I first saw the number, I told my tracker, “I’m too heavy to weigh in.” Then I weighed in anyway. Because the dashboard doesn’t lie, and neither should I.
Starting Over #
The beautiful thing about a streak is that you can always start a new one.
January 11th, 2026. Streak #2, Day 1. Yoga and calisthenics in the morning, closed all three Apple Watch rings. 715 calories burned, 39 minutes of exercise, 16 stand hours. That’s a real day.
I also started tracking food that same day, because the exercise was only half the equation. Day 1’s food log was not inspiring: a Secure bar for breakfast, skipped lunch entirely, then had fried chicken, french fries, a mozzarella stick, some shrimp, and a pretzel with cheese dip for dinner. About 1,600 calories total but only 90 grams of protein when I needed 140 to 160. The pattern of skipping meals and then overeating at dinner was already showing itself.
The Lesson #
Twelve days isn’t failure. Twelve days is data. I learned that the streak can survive vacation but can’t survive a full travel day without planning. I learned that the scale goes up when you eat and drink freely, and that’s just math. And I learned that starting over feels different than starting for the first time.
The first time, it was a New Year’s resolution with a side of self-disgust. The second time, it was a choice. I knew what showing up felt like. I knew what the dashboard looked like with twelve green days in a row. I wanted that back.
Streak #2: Day 1. Target: 90 days. Let’s go.