Extend is one 🎂

I celebrate by writing my own report card

Toni Moyes

May 25, 2025

This month marks the first anniversary of Extend and the beginning of my personal quest to improve my healthspan.

It’s a good moment to pause and ask: has all this effort gotten me anywhere?

Here’s my first annual check-in.

TLDR

Yes—totally worth it. In ways both expected and surprising.

I’ve seen measurable progress across many areas—though not all. Most things moved forward, others slipped sideways or even regressed.
Highlights: improvements in fitness, strength, body composition, and metabolic health.
Lowlights: sleep, flexibility, and eating habits still need work.
I discovered a high-risk genetic biomarker this year—unsettling, but I’ve since learned all I can and feel now feel well equipped to manage it.
Most profoundly, taking care of my physical health, writing Extend, and connecting with others has boosted my mental and emotional wellbeing more than I imagined.

I’m genuinely surprised by how far I’ve come in a year. Whatever you’re working on, don’t underestimate the power of simply keeping going.

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The Healthspan Framework

From the start, I’ve used the Healthspan Framework to order my thoughts on the complex topics of healthspan and longevity.

A key tenet is the cycle of understanding, measuring, practicing and repeating to improve.

So in that spirit, let’s begin with the measurable stuff.

Self-Assessment: Quantitative

Body composition and fitness: My report card reads mostly green here — meaning lots of improvement, rather than excellence. Bold colours show re-tested measures, pale colours are interim estimates.

Habits: More of a mixed bag. Clearly, there’ve been trade-offs. Nutrition has improved but could be so much better and sleep has been sub-par. But overall, great progress.

Screening and biomarkers: I’ve made a start—far from comprehensive, but I’ve tackled some of the big ones. I learned a lot from my experience with Lp(a).

Self-Assessment: Qualitative

I haven’t yet gone deep on Mental & Emotional Wellbeing in Extend, though it’s a core pillar of health. That’s still coming.

Still, this year has taught me plenty. A few reflections:

Steady on — Overall, I’ve felt happy and grateful. The ups have outweighed the downs, and the trajectory of life feels positive. Perspective is one of the gifts of getting older (chronologically, at least). I also had my first taste of Internal Family Systems—a therapeutic model for understanding our inner parts—which left me feeling optimistic.

Anxiety — Earlier this year, returning to work from maternity leave, I had a rough patch of anxiety. It made sense given the context, but it was uncomfortable and unfamiliar. I waited too long to make changes, and the experience reminded me: when your mental health starts slipping, early action matters.

Doing something for myself — Both writing Extend and prioritising my physical health has had a profound impact on my sense of mental and emotional wellbeing. I’ve been nourished by the creative project I didn’t know I needed. And I believe more avidly than ever that physical and emotional health are inseperable.

Relationships and connection — Today I received a wonderful text message, from a person I admire but barely know. A founder, CEO, father and grandfather.

He’s been reading Extend and following a similar journey to me - DEXA scan, VO2 max, adopting strength and HIT training and a higher protein, whole food diet. After 10 months, he’s lost 15 kgs and his body composition is within the top 30% for his age.

“Just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart”, he signed off.

All I can say is, “Ditto”.

I get to hear stuff like this often now. Mothers and daughters lifting weights together, people facing into long-postponed health issues. People tell me about their fundamental wellbeing rather than chit chat about the weather.

Extend has created more meaningful connections with people I’ve known for years and brought all sort of new ones into my life. We all need connection to thrive, and meaning too, so I’m grateful to all the readers of this newsletter for giving me both.

Keep Going

I began by asking: has this year of effort been worth it?

I didn’t really need a report card to know the answer is a resounding YES.

Still, reflecting and measuring matters and is true to the kaupapa of Extend. I encourage you to do it, you might be surprised.

My progress hasn’t been evenly distributed. Some things are up, others down, some sideways. That’s life.

But here’s what stands out:

I frequently overestimate what I can do in a week—and underestimate what I can do in a year.

So, I’ll keep going.

I hope you will too.

xx
Toni