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!
🔥✨🎉💖

The end game

 2022 is coming to a close

What kind of a year was it for you?  A good number of "happy" kinds of things happened this year.  My son getting engaged.  A week-long visit from the grand-dog.  A new fence.  The air conditioner being replaced (OK, maybe not "happy", but a bit mixed).

Were there challenges?  Sure!  

I have an overall positive sense of "taking charge" over my own destiny.  The intermittent fasting is doing its job from the perspective of feeling better on a daily basis.  I can feel myself normalizing, if you get that general idea.

Is there still an infinite to-do list?  Oh, yeah!

2023 is ahead... 

That means there are things to look forward to... a wedding in April, followed by another week-long visit from the grand-dog, for starters.  Which is great motivation for staying in shape.  Grandma has to be able to keep that 75 pounds of muscle in line.

Also on the looking forward to list:  cataract assessment and possibly surgery.  Timing on that could be "interesting".  Which reminds me, I only have a couple of weeks to get my "Boston Suggestion list" ready for my dentist (her husband got in to the Marathon!)

I have floated the idea in my mind of returning to an in-person run, like a 5K... but... dancing at the edges of my mind is the Havelock Charity run, in early June, and it's a 10K.  I haven't even started any form of interval training yet... could I possibly be ready for that one?

Dreams!

Reading: an online chat with Lacey led me to discover there is a newer Dragonriders of Pern novel, this one written by Anne McCaffrey's daughter Gigi.  I kind of like that her children are writing in her world, now that she's gone.  It's a writing family.  Anyway, it came out in 2019, and I had been paying attention to other things.  So I ordered it.  It should arrive in time for the New Year.

Besides that one, I still have to finish An Immense World, Fast. Feast. Repeat., and White Rage.  All non-fiction.  And I'm not much of a non-fiction reader, but I've taken them on, so trying to make myself "work" on them.  I'll make Dragon's Code my reward reading!

What about habits?  I'm going to try to watch/listen to less TV.  Reading is better for me!  Maybe listen to more music, that's good for the brain, too!

And the house?  Time to resume the de-stuffing project!  Somehow, I've been retired five years now, and while I started out well with the house, the pandemic put the skids on it, and I've not had a proper re-start.

A fresh new year turns us in the direction of goals, dreams and desires to move forward with our lives!

Your turn:

What are your dreams and desires for 2023?  Anything big looming in your near future?  Something to look forward to?  A project to work on a day at a time?

Let's do it!

Life is good!  It's better when we share.  Spark on!