Football Epilogue

Image by Jeon Sang-O from Pixabay Spring is officially here! The vernal equinox was this past week and now we have more daylight than night. It is amazing how fast the days have become long, extending natural light well into the evening hours. One of my favorite things about Minnesota are the long summer evenings with light on the horizon until nearly 10 pm Naturally, the season change, here in Minnesota, was greeted with sub-freezing temperatures. It is also quite blustery out with a stiff north wind with what is perhaps winter's last hurrah. However, it is more likely the penultimate or antepenultimate hurrah. Snow in May has happened in recent memory.  With the weather fluctuating between nice and friggin' freezin' we dance between getting outdoors and hunkering down. The earlier week witnessed temperatures in the 60s F. Comfortable enough for a jog around my favorite little lake (sub-20 minutes for two miles!) in shorts and a light jacket. It was a little cooler a coup...

The first lift up. This is going to be a quick one. I took my kids skiing in Montana a little over a week ago. It was a fun trip. The snow was great (at least for a Minnesota skier) and we left the rockies on Sunday sore, but ready for our next outing.  As with my recent flurry of trips, it's a good opportunity to reflect on the food and activity choices. So here's another report card: Item Score (1 to 4 with 4 = best) Notes Water Intake 2 I made sure to drink morning and evening glasses of water. I also bought a case of sparkling water. Intake in normal conditions was likely adequate, but the activity, high altitude and dry air had me feeling dehydrated. Alcohol Consumption 3 This was limited to beers at dinner.  Steps/Activity 4 Two full days of skiing and a decent chunk of time wandering mammoth hot springs. This was well covered Positive Attitude 4 Hell yeah! ...

I've been using this blog to keep on with my fitness journey quite a bit. I've been writing less frequently as habits are being instilled. Still, it's good to check up and it might be getting time to pivot on to other things that this journey is enabling.  First off, a quick check in though. Since the holidays, I've been maintaining my weight fairly well. The added level of consciousness from daily weigh-ins along with having some good baseline habits is making this task easier. In rambling on with a friend this week, as well as some past discussions with others, being able to maintain in challenging times like winter is a victory in and of itself. I'll take it. When the weather warms and heading outside becomes more comfortable, work can continue on the "next level" goals. That's not to say I can't and shouldn't take advantage of some extra walking or cardio time when I can. Nor does it mean I shouldn't keep working on better eating habits...

Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay While I love the song, I have to admit that getting the daily 10k steps leaves much to be desired in winter walking. Before delving into my recent walking challenges, I do have to make a very real brag. With the help of Noom, and may some luck, I was able to maintain my weight through the holidays! I consider this a sizeable victory, as it is tough for anyone to do.  That said, the colder winter weather and Covid weariness has made for some challenges to the habits that ran smoothly in fairer weather; particularly for getting in those precious steps not to mention my overall activity level.  I was fairly gung-ho at the start of the cold. My smart goal of at least 5,000 steps during the workday and filling in the rest at the gym in the evening was working well.  Then the real cold came along with the snow and ice. In one particular moment of feeling invincible, I went out for a walk and within 500 steps had a nice slip and bruise on the...

Image by Oberholster Venita from Pixabay And just like that, Thanksgiving 2021 is a shrinking speck in the rear-view mirror. I'm grateful for having written my previous post as it helped keep me mindful during the feast. Still, there was a mix of good things and areas of improvement. Thus, similar to my travel report card , I came up with one for social/holiday eating scenarios (again I used this handy table generator website ) so here we go: Item Score (1 to 4 with 4 = best) Notes Water Intake 4 I conscientiously chose water throughout the celebration Alcohol Consumption 4 No alcoholic beverages were consumed Appetizer Grazing 3 I started strong, but found myself making a couple more passes than necessary once the desserts came out Meal/plate 2 Considering it was Thanksgiving, I think I did okay. I took modest portions of most foods, but did go back for some seconds on the ...

One of the big challenges in staying healthy, particularly for those of us who struggle with eating, is when the outside world "pivots" on us after we've established good habits under a certain set of conditions. By this I mean anything from a prolonged change in the weather to an injury or medical condition that might keep us from getting our steps. I started Noom in May. Living in Minnesota I've had the "fair weather" treatment up to now, literally. The days throughout the summer are long. Going for a run or walk at 8:30pm still has plenty of natural light and there's plenty of warmth for generating a good sweat. Also, in doing the math for me, there are fewer celebratory occasions and close-quartered social eating situations during those months. Enter the winter plunge. The days have gotten significantly shorter with twilight around 5pm. It's mostly dark when I get out of bed and mostly dark when I head home from work. The temperature hovers ar...

  Healthy frozen lunches for the week. For this healthier me journey to work for me, I require simplicity. As on top of things as it sounds to cook meals at the start of the week, that's actually luxury talk for those who have time and don't mind the cooking and the dishes.  I don't mind the cooking, but I abhor the dishes. I also don't think there's much actual cost savings and, for me, there's diminished value in taking the extra time that I could be using to jump start my week at the gym or do the laundry. In addition the same thing all week can be kind of droll.  Now I shouldn't be all down on fresh meal prep. A home cooked meal is awesome, but as I mention it's more of a luxury than I can regularly handle on a sustainable program. The flip side is to brave the restaurants over lunch. This lacks preparation, is super expensive and adds a ton of Calories; even if you're trying to eat conscientiously. Subconsciously, I believe I also interpret thes...