• Helene Sula has lost 50 pounds since May 2024, mostly by walking, hiking, and tracking her meals.
• The travel content creator, 38, said she doesn't deprive herself of yummy food in foreign countries.
• Sula shared 5 ways she lost the weight and is keeping it off, even with the occasional indulgence.

Helene Sula has visited 60 countries and hundreds of cities worldwide for her job as a content creator.

As much as sightseeing is part of her job, so is trying new foods.

After living in Heidelberg, Germany, for three years, she returned to her hometown, Dallas. Over time, she began to notice changes in her body.

"I've always fluctuated, but I especially gained a ton of weight when I moved back to America," Sula, 38, told Business Insider.

Her weight gain pushed her to reflect on her relationship with food, exercise, and travel.

"Food is part of a cultural experience," Sula, who now lives in Montenegro, said. "When I travel to a new place, I want to try the food. But I had to reframe my mindset and make it my mission to realize that I can try the food — I just don't need to eat all of it right then and there."

After a year of exercising and revamping her diet, Sula has lost 50 pounds — and gained a world of self-confidence.

"I am a very positive and outgoing person, but I think over the years, that has gone away a bit because I've been embarrassed," she said. "I feel like I've finally gotten back to myself. It's been really nice."

Here are 5 things Sula does to maintain her weight loss.

1. She tracks her meals on MyFitnessPal

Sula used to eat fast food regularly and didn't pay a lot of attention to her portion sizes.

"I'd eat a spoonful of peanut butter, and snacks like popcorn and chips straight out of the bag," she said. " I would never be mindful of how much I was eating or the portions. I didn't really think about that."

Sula has become more mindful of her eating choices, attributing a big part of her weight loss success to portion control.

"I thought I was eating healthy, but I was overeating," she said. "Now, instead of having three scoops of gelato, I have one."

To monitor her food intake and ensure she's maintaining a calorie deficit, Sula uses meal tracker My Fitness Pal. It's available on iOS and Android and is free to use, though users, like Sula, can pay for a premium version.

"I track breakfast first thing in the morning, and then, later in the day, I'll track what I eat for lunch and dinner," she said.

The app has been a game changer in her fitness journey.

"I don't try to be perfect with it — it's just a good tool to make sure that I'm staying on track," she added.

2. She doesn't turn down food, but she balances treats with other items

Sula rarely stays in a city for more than a week. No matter where she is, she still tries to maintain a well-balanced diet.

"My husband and I just went to Turkey," she said. "The food in Turkey is absolutely amazing. I still watched my portions, and definitely ate healthy when I could."

For her, that means consuming enough protein, fiber, fruits, and vegetables throughout the day.

Her favorite foods to eat on the road are:

• Eggs: While getting certain foods can sometimes be difficult to find in other countries, there's one food she can always count on — eggs. "My No. 1 is eggs in the morning, I'll go for an omelet of sorts," she said.
• Fruits and vegetables like apples and carrots: Sula likes to shop at local markets and grocery stores with fresh produce.

• Deli meats: She can get most of her go-to snacks, like turkey slices and fresh vegetables, in pretty much every grocery store. "I prefer turkey, just because it's somewhat healthy," she said. "I'll go up to the deli counter in a grocery store and have them slice it for me." She'll typically eat four to six slices, paired with roasted vegetables and a piece of fruit. If she's on the go, she'll have a protein shake instead.

• Protein shakes: Not all protein brands are available abroad, so Sula isn't picky. "If I'm in the UK, I like to drink UFit, and if I'm in Montenegro, I'll drink Protein Zott," she said.

3. She keeps a grocery list in her phone that she can use in any store around the world

A big part of eating healthy is balance — knowing when to indulge or abstain, Sula said.

"If I know that I'm going to have an indulgent dinner, for lunch, I'll go to a grocery store and grab an apple, protein shake, some turkey, and some nuts," she said.

According to her, this short grocery list is fairly affordable in most countries, typically costing about $6.

To ensure she doesn't stray from the menu, Sula keeps a grocery list in her iPhone notes app. She said it's a great way to avoid overthinking and complicating her eating decisions.

"Having a list of the foods that fill me up makes the rest of my day great," she said. "It takes the guesswork out of having to think so much about what to eat. I also don't get hangry."

4. She walks, hikes, and swims wherever she is

Sula said that a lack of walking was one of the biggest contributors to her weight gain.

"I went from living in Germany and walking or biking everywhere, to living in Dallas, where I wouldn't even dream of walking down to go to the grocery store," she said.

Now, Sula tries to constantly be on the move. To help her maintain her steps and exercise, her husband, who has a Master's in exercise science, created a workout schedule that she uses even when she's traveling.

While it can look different depending on what country she's in and what she's training for, it typically looks like this:

• Monday: An interval workout of a three-mile walk, alternating between two minutes of fast-paced walking and two minutes at a slower pace.
• Tuesday: Cross-training, which typically involves swimming
• Wednesday: Rest day
• Thursday: A nine-mile walk
• Friday: An eight-mile walk
• Saturday: Rest day or 12-mile walk
• Sunday: Rest day or 12-mile walk

"My workout schedule is very flexible," she said. "I don't really go to the gym very often. I have weights that I use at home, and I watch YouTube workout videos."

"If I'm somewhere for more than a week, I might go swimming, so I have to find a hotel gym," she added. Typically, it costs her around $5 per visit.

Sula has also added long-distance hiking to her workout plan. In 2024, she walked England's Cotswold Way, a 100-mile trail of rolling hills, woodlands, and farmland that runs from Chipping Campden to Bath, about a two-hour drive southwest from London. The walk took her 10 days to complete.

"It's my goal to walk everywhere we visit," she said. "I'm doing tons of walking in Montenegro. I've done a ton of walking in France. Germany is also really good for walking."

5. She doesn't shame herself for indulging occasionally or enjoying life

Sula's weight-loss journey hasn't been perfect, and she does have a few regrets.

"For a decade, I kept gaining and losing weight," she said. "I had an all-or-nothing mindset," she said. "I told myself, 'You need to eat healthy, and if you don't, then you ruined everything,' but that's just not real life."

"You can still try all the different foods and drinks, and still enjoy life," she explained. "The same goes for exercise. Building yourself up physically and making small changes makes a world of difference."

Sula's biggest recommendation for those trying to lose weight or better their health is to listen to their body.

"I'm still on a weight loss journey, but I think my No. 1 goal is to really just listen to my body and how I feel," she said. "I realize that food doesn't go away — it's always going to be there. You can try it, but you don't need to eat 55 croissants when you're in France."

• My number of daily steps plummeted when I moved out of a walkable city and began working from home.
• I bought a walking pad nearly two years ago to try to get my steps back up, and I use it every day
• My walking pad is easy to set up and put away, and I like challenging myself to get more steps in.

For nearly eight years, I didn't have a car and lived in super walkable cities, like New York City, which meant I often got close to 10,000 steps a day just by commuting to work and doing daily tasks like grabbing coffee or groceries.

When I moved from NYC to North Carolina, my steps plummeted. I started working from home, and most days I was clocking less than 1,000 steps in a day.

I started feeling sluggish and gross for moving so little throughout the week and decided to look into getting a walking pad.

It's been almost two years since I got mine, and I still use it to get between 8,000 to 10,000 steps (or sometimes more) a day. A few things have helped keep me motivated to stick with it.

I knew I wouldn't use a walking pad that wasn't easy to set up and put away

I knew I wouldn't be likely to use a walking pad regularly if I had to put in a bunch of effort to set it up, so I researched options that fold in half.

My walking pad folds to just under 3 feet long, so when I'm not using it, I push it underneath my desk.

With my current setup, I can also leave my walking pad plugged in all the time, so I just have to move my chair and unfold it when I'm ready to walk.

Since it's been so accessible, it's been easy to incorporate the walking pad into my daily routine.

I don't try to get all of my steps at once

I can easily go from sitting to walking and back, so I get my steps in over the course of the day instead of all in one session.

I typically try to walk for one and a half or two hours throughout the day, which I usually split into either a morning and afternoon session or a morning, midday, and afternoon session.

If I'm really not feeling like walking one day, I'll aim to do it for the length of one meeting, usually 30 minutes, and then switch to sitting for a bit before walking again.

Breaking up my steps also breaks up my day and gives me a bit of a change of pace throughout, which has been good for my mental health, too.

I'm always trying to match or beat my step count

I am competitive by nature and always enjoy a challenge. So, on most days, I check my number of steps on the Health app on my iPhone to see how I'm doing compared to my past self.

My target is to hit at least 8,000 steps a day, so I'll look at my app periodically to make sure I'm on track.

I also like to see how many steps I was averaging this same time last year. If I'm behind, I feel motivated to catch up. If I'm ahead, I feel empowered to stay that way.

Sometimes, I also have external accountability. My neighbor bought the same walking pad, so we occasionally text to see how many steps the other is taking.

Above all, I like the way using my walking pad makes me feel

Probably one of the biggest reasons I've continued using my walking pad for so long is that it makes me feel better during the day.

When I start to feel like I'm in a slump, walking for even a few minutes gets me out of it. Daily movement like this is good for my health and helps me feel more energized.

Plus, I've found it can help meetings — especially ones where I'm more of just a listener than a participant — go by more quickly.

When I'm walking, I feel more locked in on whatever task is at hand, and it's harder to step away from my desk and get distracted by something else.

All in all, my walking pad has been a game changer for getting my steps in and for helping me be more productive at work. I can't see a world where I ever stop using it.

• Michelle Kloese, 42, gained weight from early menopause and a stressful job.
• When she started a new job, she joined a health app paid for through work.
• Walking every day, logging her water intake, and meal swaps helped her lose over 60 pounds.

At 40, Michelle Kloese felt like she didn't recognize her body. In five years, she gained 38 pounds and developed high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and plantar fasciitis, a kind of foot pain caused by inflammation.

She didn't always feel like this. In her 20s, running was her main form of exercise, and she loved 5K races. Her body started to change in her mid-20s, when she experienced symptoms of early menopause, like infertility. By her 30s, bloodwork confirmed she had perimenopause, around 15 years earlier than most women.

Then, in her mid-30s, she started a demanding job as a middle school assistant principal, often starting before the school day and wrapping up after school hours. With less time to work out, a busy schedule, and irregular meals, she started to snack more.

"Somebody would leave a cupcake on my desk, so I'd eat that, or parents would bring in a basket of candy," Kloese, now 42, told Business Insider.

The change in her body really struck her after a surprise trip to Ireland for her 40th birthday. "I looked at the pictures and went, 'Oh gosh, I need to do something different,'" she said.

She had just started a new, less stressful edtech job, Kloese learned about a health app, Personify Health, connected through their insurance. The timing was perfect: she signed up, logging her steps and water intake.

She lost 38 pounds in the first year and 23 pounds the following year. Now she's in a "weight maintenance" phase, seeking to stay within a few pounds of her current weight.

"I have so much more energy — I'm not as sluggish and tired as I was feeling all the time," she said. The issues related to her weight, like high cholesterol and high blood pressure, also went away. "I have just felt a whole lot better."

Kloese shared the three habits she started and still maintains to keep the weight off.

She woke up to a full glass of water

Before, Kloese didn't drink much water — sometimes, she'd only remember to have around eight ounces of the recommended eight cups in one day. "That's one of the most challenging ones for me to do," she said.

Her goal was to get to at least 72 ounces, or nine cups per day.

Tracking her intake helped. The first thing she did every morning was drink a full, 8-ounce glass of water and log it in the app. For the rest of the day, she'd log in "steady sips", using a marked water bottle to measure her progress. It was more manageable for her to track two ounces at a time rather than feel pressure to chug a lot of water at once.

Drinking water helps with weight loss by curbing your appetite. It can also help you reach a calorie deficit if you swap it for high-calorie drinks like soda.

She swapped running for walking and yoga

While she used to run a lot in her 20s, Kloese's knees and hips hurt when she tried in her 40s. She knew she needed to try something different.

When she first made a plan to lose weight, Kloese communicated with a personal trainer through an app. The trainer said that, in her 40s, it was important for Kloese to focus on strength training as we naturally lose muscle with age. Muscle-building can also help with weight loss — gaining muscle boosts your metabolism and burns fat.

Kloese started doing at-home and online circuit workouts 3-4 times a week with light weights.

The rest of the time, she walked. She took part in a fitness challenge of walking 30 minutes a day. Weight-loss-wise, she said she saw about the same results as running.

Now, she aims to walk at least 7,000 steps a day, whether on her walking pad or on trails near her home in Florida. Occasionally, she trains for Mammoth Marches, 20-mile hikes all over the country.

She also swapped out some of the strength training with yoga, which relaxes her while still improving her strength and flexibility.

Being more active transformed her relationships with her friends. "Before, where we might've just picked a restaurant to hang out at, instead, we go out and do a hike," she said.

She made simple meal swaps

Despite snacking on sugary treats at her old job, Kloese isn't much of a sweets person. "I was a pasta-potato-bread kind of person," she said. Still, she wanted to make some more nutritious swaps.

Through the KickStart app, she logged her meals by taking photos of them. If she got a burger and fries, the app suggested lower-carb sides for next time, like a side salad or sweet potato wedges.

Eventually, she naturally made those swaps on her own, like cooking quinoa instead of white rice. She also gets pre-made meals through Factor, which she said helps her with portion control and eating a balanced diet when she's busy.

"Those were all small changes that evolved over time," she said.

• Krissy Oechslin, 48, moved to New York City from Charlotte, North Carolina, in February 2024.
• She always wanted to walk every block of a city, but Charlotte wasn't pedestrian-friendly enough.
• It took her 13 months to walk every block in Manhattan. It helped her adjust to her new home.

This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Krissy Oechslin. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

For years, I wanted to walk every block of a city.

In 2012, I read a New York Times story about Matt Green, who was on a mission to walk every block of all five boroughs of NYC. I thought it was incredible and wanted to replicate a similar walking project one day.

During the pandemic lockdowns, I toyed with the idea of doing it in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I lived at the time. It wouldn't really be possible — Charlotte is very car-centric, and there are parts of the city that just aren't pedestrian-friendly. I knew I would get odd looks if I was strolling next to a highway.

When I decided to move to New York in February 2024, I thought exploring every block of Manhattan would be a cool way to get to know my new city.

It took me 13 months of on-and-off effort to walk every block. When I was finished, I felt like I saw so many unique parts of Manhattan — ones even lifelong New Yorkers might not know about.

I tracked my progress with a 6-foot map

Originally, I planned to both bike and walk the city, so I couldn't use CityStrides, a map that only tracks running and walking. (In the end, I walked over 99.5% of the project.)

Because I wanted to tackle the blocks out of order, tracking them was a multi-step process. First, I needed a map of Manhattan.

Finding a complete one was trickier than I expected. The first one I bought on Amazon stopped after 110th Street and many I found capped the island at Central Park. Manhattan stretches over 100 blocks further north, ending at Marble Hill right before West 230th Street.

The best one I could find was from 2011, a 6-foot-long version that I stuck to the wall in my apartment.

By the time I was done with the project, I learned that one was not fully up to date, either — I encountered areas in real life that were blank on the map, like Waterline Square on the Upper West Side, which was completed in 2020.

I downloaded Strava to track exact steps every day, then traced my progress to the map with a Sharpie.

My first entry began in Harlem, right after I returned my moving truck and walked 10 blocks to my new home.

Afterward, I started trying to find unique routes when I made plans — how could I incorporate a new block on my way to meet my friends? Other times, I specifically walked to new areas on my list, like the FDR Drive highway service road on the easternmost side of the borough.

The oldest streets were my favorites

I didn't want to miss any historic landmarks.

When I started the project, I bought "The New York Nobody Knows" by William B. Helmreich, a sociologist who walked every block in NYC. It felt more like a sociology textbook than a walking guide, but it gave me some ideas of what I wanted to stop and look at on certain blocks, so I saved them in Google Maps.

I also stopped a lot during my walks to search different buildings or historical figures on Wikipedia, with what felt like hundreds of tabs open on my phone. I snapped photos of the original Statue of Liberty sculpture in Midtown and old, weathered ads for omega oil in Harlem.

Walking up to 10 miles a day sometimes, I ended up saving a lot of buildings on Google Maps that I plan to revisit during Open House New York, a weekend when normally private buildings are accessible to the public.

I'm a sucker for cobblestone streets, so some of my favorite neighborhoods were the West Village and Tribeca. I also loved the Financial District — some of the oldest streets in New York combined with towering skyscrapers made for such a cool contrast of old and new.

One of the most beautiful streets I discovered was on St. Nicholas between 152nd and 153rd — it was lined with historical rowhouses and pockets of greenery.

In the East Village, I encountered the two oldest cemeteries in New York: New York Marble Cemetery and New York City Marble Cemetery. The former, established in 1830, is partially obscured: I could only see it at the end of the block through an iron gate.

I stumbled upon other hidden gems like a Mexican folk art store or a used record shop in the middle of an apartment block. I loved learning that they exist.

I finished at an iconic New York spot

By March 2025, I bought a co-op apartment in a neighborhood I hadn't finished exploring: Morningside Heights, at the top of Manhattan.

That month, I officially ended my project near my new home, in front of Tom's Restaurant, otherwise known as the "Seinfeld" diner.

Four people completely ignored me when I asked them to take a photo of me in front of the restaurant. It made me feel like a real New Yorker.

Moving to a new city, I didn't have many friends yet. Having this project gave me built-in plans every weekend — if I had nothing else going on, I could always go for a walk.

When I tell people I walked every block of Manhattan, I can tell how long someone's lived here based on their response. The ones who've been here the longest aren't too impressed: walking everywhere is just part of the experience.

• Steppin is the latest app by Kayak's cofounder, Paul English.
• The app limits phone use by encouraging users to clock steps to unlock screen time.
• I tried it out for a week, and I noticed it made a difference in my morning routine.

For the past few years, I've set similar New Year's resolutions to reduce my screen time. I've tried setting time limits, keeping my phone out of sight, and deleting social media apps.

None of them ever worked. With an average daily screen time of over five hours, I'm what fellow Gen Zers might call chronically online. And social media, not surprisingly, takes up the biggest chunk of my time.

When I learned that a new iOS app called Steppin — created by the Kayak cofounder Paul English — aims to help people "escape the scroll," I was intrigued.

I tested the app for a week

Steppin combines the goals of clocking steps and limiting screen time. The more steps you take, the more time you are granted to use your restricted apps.

Each user can set their own parameters. I decided to restrict two of my most time-draining apps: Instagram and TikTok. For every 100 steps taken, I granted myself one minute of usage on my restricted apps. My earned time would reset every day.

I spent my first day working from home.

Normally, I use my evenings to unwind by scrolling social media. But on that day, by 5 p.m., I had only tracked 200 steps. With only two minutes to scroll, I decided to walk to a nearby park instead.

When I was done, I had walked more than 2,000 steps, the equivalent of 20 minutes of screen time. Seeing the number jump on the app gave me a dopamine rush.

At the end of the day, I had built up credit and could choose how much of my earned time to spend on my restricted apps.

I used the app for a week. The biggest change was that I stopped scrolling social media as soon as I woke up; I couldn't, because I hadn't clocked the required steps for that day. I felt refreshed and ended up with more productive mornings.

By the end of the week, my average screen time dropped by almost two hours.

How it works

Steppin is not the first app designed to curb screen time. The Qustodio parental app, released in 2012, allows parents to block apps and set daily screen time limits. Forest, released the following year, grows virtual trees during focus sessions. If users leave the app, the tree starts to die.

There are also built-in apps that allow users to set daily limits. Apple Screen Time is a feature on iPhones, and Digital Wellbeing, developed by Google, is on most Android devices.

Paul English, the CEO of Boston Venture Studio and the cofounder of the travel search engine Kayak, told Business Insider the idea for Steppin was sparked on a family trip to Spain.

During the trip, English's then-fiancée, Rachel Cohen, and his son, Mike English, discussed ways to reduce screen time.

He credited the other two for the idea. "The idea really came from Michael and Rachel more than me. I was really excited about that and I said, we gotta do this, let's build it, let's build it, let's put a team together because I think it's a really good idea," English said.

"There should be something outside of your phone to manage a phone addiction," the younger English, 29, a product manager and designer at Boston Venture Studio, told BI.

"Walking is obviously something that almost everybody does. So that felt like a perfect combination of physical and mental well-being," he said of the inspiration behind the app.

The app was released last month and is free on the App Store, although they are planning to charge an annual subscription fee of around $20. Steppin is not yet available on Google Play, but Android users can sign up for its waitlist.

"We have several thousand downloads, which is great since we just released the app a couple weeks ago and we have not started any marketing yet," the elder English said. He declined to give a specific download count.

Why Steppin might — or might not — work

Pamela Rutledge, a media psychologist and the director of the Media Psychology Research Center, an independent research organization in California, said that Steppin could appeal to users who enjoy setting short-term goals with immediate rewards.

Assuming that screen time is a "high-reward" activity, pairing it with a "good for you" behavior can help people overcome inertia, she told BI. "This app might act as a gentle reminder to get moving, but more importantly, it breaks habitual behaviors and shifts attention," she added.

But Rutledge said that the app's effectiveness will depend on the user's motivations, adding that users may become frustrated or lose interest once its novelty wears off.

Some experts also expressed concerns about a feature that allows users to override screen time restrictions in emergencies.

Melissa Hunt, a clinical psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said the app might be effective initially in making people more aware of their screen time by helping them be mindful, she said. "But overall, technology solutions to technology problems are always going to be inherently problematic," she said.

Mike English said the option to override restrictions was included to give users more flexibility.

It took self-discipline to stop myself from overriding restrictions when I ran out of earned time. But being restricted from using social media didn't stop me from fiddling with my phone when I had nothing to do. I found myself gravitating to other apps — and usually ended up at NYT Games to play rounds of "Spelling Bee."

• Chris Curle, 77, does yoga and walks daily.
• She shared her tips for staying active and healthy into older age with Business Insider.
• These include going on field trips and not letting age hold you back.

A 77-year-old who does yoga and goes on daily walks shared three things that she believes have helped her stay healthy and active with Business Insider.

Chris Curle and her husband, Don Farmer, were anchors on CNN for a decade. When they retired in 1997, they moved from Atlanta to Florida to be close to her aging parents and nature. Farmer died in 2021, and Curle now lives at the Vi at Bentley Village senior living community in Naples, Florida.

Curle does yoga classes twice a week at the community's fitness center and walks at least a mile every day, she told Business Insider. Bentley Village is set over 150 acres of land, some of which is a reserve, so she sees all kinds of animals, including alligators, bears, coyotes, bobcats, and raccoons, on her walks.

Shai Efrati, a doctor specializing in longevity and an associate professor at Tel Aviv University, previously told BI that staying active is one key to healthy aging, alongside other basics of longevity such as limiting ultra-processed foods.

Here are Curle's other simple tips.

Go on field trips

"You have to have a lot of curiosity and maintain that your whole life," Curle said. To do this, she goes on lots of "field trips" — half or full-day excursions to local attractions similar to the ones she used to do at school.

"Every community has something interesting nearby or something to do or something to learn," she said. She's been to local botanical gardens, museums, nature reserves, ranches, and festivals. She often takes friends along with her — although she's never afraid to go alone, she said.

Staying curious was a common trait among centenarians who participated in a 2023 study by researchers at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Stay mentally active

"Staying active and keeping your body and your brain working, that seems to be the formula the experts provide" for longevity, Curle said.

Curle learns new skills, including Tai Chi, and attends lectures at a local university on topics such as history, entertainment, and tech.

Keeping the mind active and learning new skills is thought to be one of the keys to longevity, Heidi Tissenbaum, a professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School who researches healthspan, previously told BI. This is because doing new things creates pathways in the brain, which keeps it active and healthy.

You're only as old as you feel

"When you're 77, the mirror says something entirely different from how you feel inside," Curle said. "But go with whatever your brain thinks your age is. And celebrate every birthday because it's better than the alternative!"

A 2022 study published in JAMA Network Open found that adults over 50 who thought more positively about aging had a 43% lower risk of dying of any cause than people who were less satisfied by their aging. They were also more likely to do frequent physical activity and less likely to be lonely.

• Every night between 5 and 7 p.m., my two little ones would hit an emotional wall.
• We started going on a walk with them every evening, and it helped so much.
• Adding a walk to our routine helps our family connect, and helps ease them into bedtime.

As a parent to two little ones, I dread what many call the "witching hour," the time between 5 and 7 p.m. when my 2-year-old and 4-year-old hit a wall, and I crash land behind them. When I was a new parent, the meltdowns, demands, and emotional dysregulation of my babies used to force me to revert to babyhood myself. I'd also become tearful and distraught. I even started to develop noticeable anxiety leading up to that specific time of day.

That is until I began implementing a tried-and-true parenting hack in our evening routine: a change of scenery. Yes, when my kids reached toddlerhood and turned into puddles on the floor — made of tears and flaccid bodies — I decided to switch up our environment and head outside, hoping to ease the blow of that anxiety-inducing time of day.

Our routine is important to me

We started our routine years ago, but after the disruptive summer schedule and a hurricane that made walking outdoors unsafe, our walks were put on pause for a time. I decided to re-commence our evening walks once power lines had been repaired and fallen trees removed, and as expected, there was some pushback from my preschoolers. The unwillingness to comply was a challenge. Simple acts of putting on shoes, jackets, and hats were akin to those of the trials and tribulations of a hero in a Greek myth.

But what I have found to be effective in decreasing both the length and intensity of their own emotional reactions is to speak about new habits as an exciting addition to our already-established routine.

When we return home from school pick-up, I allow my kids to watch one (or two, depending on how much time I need in the kitchen for dinner prep) episodes of a children's show. Once our meal is in the oven or turned to simmer, I announce, "It's time for our evening walk!" Then, I remind them that our evening walk is "what we do every day now, so that we can enjoy the last hour of sunshine before the moon rises and tells us that it's time to rest our bodies."

And now, as the temperatures drop and the sun sets earlier in the day, I make it a point to gear up my kids as early as possible. In the middle of the transition from indoors to outdoors, I say, "Remember, this is how we take care of our minds and our bodies."

We go for walks no matter the season, and they help us all feel better

And though we still have days where one or two or all of us are feeling out-of-sorts during the witching hour, I find our evening walk to be the spell we all need: the thing that breaks the curse and grants us the freedom to disconnect from the stresses of our day and reconnect with one another, our community, and our natural world.

During our stroll, I put my phone away. I allow my kids to choose the route, and I resist the urge to fill the air with my words. I listen. I hold their hands. I participate in their play. We say hello to our neighbors. My girls pass on treats — handed to them by other dog owners — to satisfy their furry children. We pay attention to the "treasures" that will undoubtedly appear along our path: colorful fall leaves, in-tact acorns, shiny rocks, or "really cool" tree branches.

By the time we've made our loop around the neighborhood and return home, we all feel much better. It's become the best part of my day and one I'm hellbent on practicing, even into the darkest winter months.