Walking To A Better 2023 - Enjoying Good Food While Exercising

To improve my fitness, I had previously set a goal to clock an average of 8,000 steps on a daily basis for 2023. To put the numbers in perspective, my average step count for 2022 was about 4,656 steps.

It has been two months into the year and I thought I would share my progress and reflect on my journey thus far.

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The Numbers

February was a slight improvement from January and I managed to clock an average of 6,865 steps daily, pulling up the overall average to 6,504 steps. That said, it is still way short of the 8,000 steps target.

Month	Average Steps
January 2023	6,178
February 2023	6,865
March 2023	?
April 2023	?
May 2023	?
June 2023	?
July 2023	?
August 2023	?
September 2023	?
October 2023	?
November 2023	?
December 2023	?
Overall	6,504

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New Strategy

While I continued to make an effort to be more active with my exercise sessions after work, my January numbers showed that I needed to do more to up the step count. So I decided to incentivise myself with food!

I went to check out all the nice restaurants and cafes online and I called my friends out for some of the visits.. By having more social gatherings and/or the urge to try out new food, I had more opportunities to venture out of my home and this inevitably increased my step count.

So in this month's entry, I shall share with my readers what are some of the stuff that I enjoyed! Hehe!

• Had a delicious meal at A Noodle Story. This eatery has been awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand for a couple of years. The food was slightly pricey but didn't not disappoint at all. The noodles and all the yummy ingredients that went with it was full of flavour and I liked that they had a fruity fizzy drink to end the meal.
  

• This was taken at a relatively well known Japanese restaurant called Watami. I am a fan of the takoyaki balls and I think this restaurant has one of the better ones in town. The food wasn't spectacularly delicious but it was good enough to satisfy my craving for Japanese cuisine.
  
  

• My friends actually recommended this place called Omote, which serves Japanese food. Apparently, you need to reserve way in advance or you might end up queueing for up to 2 hours! The service and the food were good and there's no surprise why it is so popular. (Though I must add that the prices weren't very friendly for my pocket. Lol!)
  

• Eating with a view! This is probably one of the easier locations to guess. It would be Astons at Clarke Quay district. Astons serves relatively affordable Western food and I had chicken and fish along with two side dishes and a glass of juice.
  
  

• Miracle Coffee was something I had been wanting to try, because the cafe is opened by one of the local celebrities. This signature drink is called Kaya Cloud and to put it in layman terms, it's similar to gula melaka flavoured coffee. The taste is very refreshing but it's extremely pricey!
  

• I am a fan of matcha drinks and when I saw this new cafe, Cafe Usagi, in the shopping mall, I knew I had to try it. Perhaps because this cafe was new, it was always crowded and there weren't empty seats, until one day I managed to sit down and enjoy the mochi ice cream and matcha latte. They have interesting ice cream flavours and I would definitely be back to try the other flavours!
  

• Luna is a cafe near my work office that serves coffee and decorative cakes. I was there with my colleague on one of the weekdays and I liked the ambience and the unique cakes!
  

• For those who have sharp eyes, you would be able to tell that this is Taiwanese cuisine. I found Jyu Gae Bistro online and I really enjoyed my time there. They had a live band belting out Chinese pop songs after 2000h everyday and the food was awesome! For those who missed travelling to Taiwan, this is one place to soak in a similar atmosphere!
  

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Summing Up

All in all, I did achieve my objective of increasing my step count with this strategy and I was rewarded with some good company and delicious food, so it has been an enjoyable month for me. Well, I am still not sure whether I can hit my 8,000 steps target but I will just keep doing my best and enjoy the process! Like what some say, it's not always the outcome but the journey that counts! :)

Thanks for reading and have a pleasant week ahead!