Lift heavy. Walk 10,000 steps. Do Zone 2 cardio. Eat 100g of protein. Social media has no shortage of things women are told they must do, easy enough to say, much harder to actually do when the day's already full before you've even started.

I know the feeling of getting to the end of a day with nothing left, only for my watch to cheerfully suggest a 20-minute brisk walk would close my exercise ring, as if that was ever the problem.

If you can't keep up with all of that, you're not alone, and it's not a discipline problem.

Research consistently shows women still carry most of the household and caregiving load, even working full-time, plus the mental load, the constant remembering and planning that rarely shows up as a visible task. It's a well-documented pattern, and it's exactly why "just find the time" advice misses the point.

Many women don't just struggle to find time to exercise, they struggle to believe they're allowed to take that time for themselves.

The good news is that staying healthy doesn't have to mean doing everything social media tells you to do.

So instead of asking, "How do I fit everything in?" A more useful question is: with the little time I have available, what's the most effective thing I can do?

The answer is usually much less than you'd think. Short, focused sessions, even just a couple of times a week, tend to add up more than the occasional long workout you never quite get around to. And if all you can manage is 10 minutes, that's still worth doing.

Those few minutes are often the only part of the day that's truly yours, a chance to switch off from work, the mental load, and everyone else's needs, if only for a little while.

And that's true even on the days you can't manage more than a few minutes. Something really is better than nothing. Health bodies including the WHO, NHS, and CDC all agree that any amount of physical activity is beneficial for your overall health, whether it's walking to work or carrying heavy shopping. Even a single short bout has also been shown to lift mood and ease anxiety almost immediately. A 10-minute walk on a hard day is a genuine win, not a consolation prize. The one exception is bone density and muscle mass specifically, those need real progressive loading, which we'll come back to soon.

I'll admit something too: on days I have to choose between a workout and housework I can't put off, I count the housework as my movement instead, and I am fine with that.

Evessa is being built around that reality, not an idealised routine for women with endless free time. Health shouldn't feel like another job. It should make the rest of your life easier.

More soon.

Next time: some days, getting through the day is enough. Here's how to look after your health when you have no energy left.