Two days left in 2022

 

Last thing I had before starting my fast Thursday

I like to have a little bit of sweet during my eating window.  And I still have LOTS of Christmas leftovers, so I'm doling them out, one or two items a day.  Wednesday it was pizzelles, Thursday, Spritz cookies.

Thursday was a fairly relaxed day.  I did have my workout with the trainer.  Home for a shower.  It was sunny and 45℉ at 2 p.m. so I headed out for a walk.  By the time I got back it had clouded over, and remained gray for the remainder of the day.

Still working at the leftovers sent home with me from Christmas dinner, too.  It's kind of similar to the loaves and fishes, seems like I eat some of it, but there's always more.  Hanukkah miracle, anyone?

Friday morning has arrived with fog, but not with snow.  The hourly forecast seems to think we're going to be in the 40's again, so an afternoon walk outside is something to look forward to.

On Thursday, while checking Facebook, it presented me with a memory photo, from my retirement "party".  I didn't want a lot of fuss, and neither did Dick, whose last day was the same as my own... so they gave us a joint cake and small gather in a conference room.

I looked at that photo and thought, "dang I look thin and fit..." and then "I wonder what I weighed then?"  Fortunately for my curious mind, I have one of those scales that talks to the internet, so I have online records going back to September, 2013, when I bought the scale.  So I can look up December 29, 2017 and see that the morning that photo was taken, my weight was 136, only about 10 pounds less than it is today.  

Now keep in mind that 136 was about 20 pounds over my fastest running weight.  I can also review that at the beginning of 2017 I was at my all-time lowest adult weight, and I remember being worried at the time that it was TOO low, and working to gain weight over the beginning of 2017.  This illustrates the history I have with obsession over the management of my body weight.  Currently, working on just letting my body be and do it's own thing, with the goal of health, not weight!

This time of year, many are thinking of goals and aims for the "New Year" whether we make resolutions or not.  We also think of retrospectives on the current year, and what we'd like to be different in the next one.  

So here's the weight graph retrospective from the last 365 days:

That steep drop?  Is the time since Halloween, when I began the intermittent fasting experiment.  

Now, this graph seems deceptive to me.  The total pounds from bottom to top is about 20.  What I see in it is some "out of control" pattern, roughly maintaining about 10 pounds above where I am now.  So that steep drop represents, 1. Getting back to that maintenance point, and 2. Dropping about ten more pounds.

So, no, for myself and anyone who might worry about me, I am not developing an eating disorder, starving myself, or "losing too fast."

I have now entered what I consider "the sweet spot" of the process, where I'm fairly happy with my eating, and with my levels of activity (although goals of increasing activity dance in my head).  What happens at this point?  You just keep living your life, listening to your body, and letting that precious body (we only get issued one) determine its optimal state.  Health is more than physical:  it is emotional, it is spiritual, it is mental.  And to a certain degree, it is social!

This is long enough for a blog for today.  Tomorrow being New Year's Eve, I will wrap up with what I aim for in 2023!  If this has made others think and do their own consideration of what's right for them, for their own aims, I am glad!

Life is good.  Spark on!
🔥✨🎉💖