I've always had a goal to "eat healthier" but never really knew how to make that happen. I assumed eating more vegetables would be a good idea, but including them in my meals felt tricky.

Vegetables cooked or roasted in dishes are delicious, but I'm not a huge fan of eating them raw.

I also believe it's important to enjoy the food you eat and simply trying to force myself to like raw broccoli so I could "be healthier" didn't work.

In June of 2026, things finally clicked and I figured out what exactly "eating healthy" looked like for me.

My family has a history of high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Usually it doesn't become a problem until later on in life, but I'm already seeing a steady increase in cholesterol and realized it's better if I try to make some changes to my diet and exercise now, so it can become a habit, and therefore, easier to continue later if it does become a problem.

I'm currently at a healthy weight, so that is not part of my goals right now.

After doing some research, here's what I've finally landed on as my personal health goals:

• Eat at least 80g of protein per day
• Eat at least 25g of fiber per day
• Eat less than 13g of saturated fat per day
• Drink 55-65 ounces of water per day
• On average, eat the same number of calories that I am burning (or a bit less)

I'm also trying to achieve these goals through eating fresh or "real" food and not relying too heavily on supplements or pre-prepared foods, though I know there will be times when those are the easiest options.

Now, I have a clear path of what "healthy" eating looks like for me.

In order to determine if I am reaching my goals, I've been tracking calories and macros and recording everything I eat and drink. This can definitely be a challenge to do, but I'm not looking for "exactness" here, just close enough.

I've been using an Oura ring for years. One of the things that it estimates is my total calorie burn for the day. While I realize this isn't a perfectly accurate measurement, it's a starting point and it's consistent.

I know several people who use the Lose It! app for tracking calories and macros, but I wanted to set things up my own way, so I ended up using Claude Code to build a custom app for myself.

In addition to the calorie and macro trackers, I also have some other dashboards set up for goals I have around sleep and activity, pulling from the data from my Oura ring.

Claude has also been helpful in calculating calories and servings for me so I'm not doing all of the work manually.

While this may seem like a lot of work, it has provided me a significant amount of insight into my current diet and habits and made it easier to adjust because I can see where I'm not meeting the goals I've set.

Since I just started this journey, I don't expect to hit all of my targets immediately, but to gradually get to where that becomes the norm.

Currently, I'm consistently getting my protein and water goals, but frequently short on fiber and over on saturated fat. Now that I know those are areas that need improvement, I can start implementing more foods with fiber in them and reduce foods that are high in saturated fat.

Here's an example of how this has worked for me:

For a while, I've been drinking a protien shake for breakfast mixed with PB Fit. It's a powder I mix with whole milk. It's a quick easy breakfast that tastes ok and I don't have to think about what to have for breakfast.

Overall, the macros align with my goals. However, whole milk is high in saturated fat. So, I swapped the whole milk for skim milk.

Now, the shake still provides the protein I'm looking for, but without the saturated fat. It also reduced the calories a bit, so I can add those back in with a different meal or snack later in the day.

Eating healthy and "dieting" can be very emotionally charged. It's easy to feel guilty for doing certain things and not doing others.

I've found by outlining these goals and reminding myself they're a guide, not a strict "all or nothing" rule and I'm terrible if I don't hit them every day, I've been able to improve in ways I've tried to improve for a long time. I've also been able to reduce binge eating or emotional eating because I know where I'm at for the day and how the food I eat is contributing to my overall goal.

I still eat foods I love, often in smaller quantities or less frequently. However, I don't feel like this is restrictive because... as much as I love eating food, I know that my body and my brain feel better when I'm consistently hitting these targets. Having a healthy body now outweighs the temporary satisfaction of a satisfying treat (that I would continue to eat more and more of).

Of course, it doesn't always feel that way. But over the past few weeks as I've implemented this plan, I am finding a lot more joy in eating and get excited when I see my "dashboard" showing how close I am to meeting my targets.

I've also made an effort to slow down when I'm eating and really focusing on how much I enjoy my food and think about how it's providing my body with the nutrients I need.

Hopefully this provides some insights into how you can determine what's important to your health so you can also have a clear path to reaching your health goals.