My new years resolution has been as such:
- More exercise, but at minimum, 5 squats in the morning and 5 squats at night (5-10 seconds).
- Less pop, more soda stream (ie: Less sugar, but not no sugar)
- Disciplined caloric intake Monday to Thursday, no restrictions on Friday to Sunday if it's a special event. Attempt to continue disciplined caloric intake if no special event Friday to Sunday.
- Improved BQ and improved strategies for body recovery after exertion.
I'm doing much more than the minimum 10 squats a day and for exercise I'm doing calisthenics and yoga. Sometimes I turn on those kid themed yoga segments on Youtube and the kids do it with me. I'm also doing physio for nagging things that are bothersome. I am aiming to fix it before it gets bad.
Not doing great on the soda stream. It's so boring. I'm thinking to start cutting my pop and juice intake with the soda stream water. TBH I already cut juice with water, so using soda water with my pop and juice shouldn't be too bad. It's honestly speaking the attempt at net zero that's causing the resistance and bounce back.
In the same way that I find it hard to stay disciplined for caloric intake unless I have a specific goal or a cheat day to look forward to, I find the same might be true for sugary drinks. But in the same way that things aren't as cool when they're not forbidden, I kinda find that it's easier to say no on the weekend for certain empty calories. The feeling of feeling good feels better and lasts longer than the feeling of consuming that tasty treat.
I've only lost like 3 pounds since I first started, but my strength is up. I cut out beer, and I think my revised approach for pop will accelerate things rapidly. TBH, my target weight loss isn't even that high. But my aim is easy sustainability. I currently fluctuate between 186 to 201 pounds with a typical weight float around 188 to 194 pounds. I'd love a 6 pack again, but there's no way I'm getting back down to the 155 pound range (21 BMI) and even though I felt great back then, it seemed too lanky in pictures. Even breaking the 180 pound barrier to hit 175 (23.7 BMI) wasn't easy nor sustainable (fluctuated 15 pounds up then down in a week and a half). Many people told me I looked sickly rather than healthy when I force dropped my weight below 180 and that was more modded diet than exercise.
I'm an athletic build, but I find that my body feels better in a different build these days than the build I had a decade before if that makes sense. If using football as a metaphor, if in my youth my body was more of a specialized lean and fast running back type build. My body doesn't feel good like that now and seems to prefer training towards more of a balanced tight end type of build. If looking at sports, I used to love running in my youth, but I feel like my body can't handle that singular range of motion anymore and is screaming at me to exercise like a triathlete or take up something completely different than running sports like boxing or wrestling. It's a bizarre feeling. During the pandemic, it felt way better to alternate swimming, riding the bike (first time in literally over a decade) and running vs running/sprinting only. I love the swimming for recovery.
My aim is to get my weight float to around 183-186 or around a 4-5% weight reduction (25 BMI ish). But the focus isn't on weight, but focus more on range of motion, strengthening the body to avoid injury when playing with the kids (from 20-40 to approx 30-50 pounds of sustained lifting per arm + at awkward angles for 5-15 minutes at a time) and increased stamina for the fact the damn kids have unlimited energy. I also aim for stronger functional strength for lifting/moving things around the house or construction etc. even though I currently consider myself no slouch in that department. I have good range of motion, but I want great. I'm no slob, but I go through extreme ranges of diet and exercise which causes extreme changes in short time frames and my body doesn't like that, so I'm basically trying to level things out.
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