I like this episode. Any time I hear good, motivational encouragement, that’s good. I like the idea of challenging reality and not limiting myself and persisting.
Hydration. I like the idea of having a goal, at least 8oz for every 16 pounds. For me, that’s 17 servings. The dietician told me to add more based on how much I need to lose, but I think 17 is a good intermediate goal. Like the other things, I think keeping track of my hydration will help me get the right amount. And it’s real easy, not like tracking grams of carbs or something.
At this time I was able to have 1300-1400 calories. Not too bad.
UPDATE 12/4 – I just got back from vacation. I’m 283 pounds. I rode the stationary bike for 5 minutes and did one set of curls with the 15-pound dumbells.
It was a cheat week, so pretty bad diet-wise. Sometime the second day I started feeling bad physically, a little nauseous, and not wanting to eat from most of the selection of foods I had brought to the cabin. I think it might have been the caffeine. I didn’t bring any non-caffeinated drinks, and I didn’t want to drink the water there, I’ve gotten too used to the filtered water I get at work and at home.
Stress-wise it was pretty good. Most of the time the only sound was either wind or crickets. Beautiful views, clean air. I silenced my phone and just checked messages once per day. Pretty good sleep too.
I was back at Mt. Nebo state park, in the same cabin as last time. I have two episodes about my first visit there back in 2019, episodes 155 and 156, which of course you can get to at http://RunningAFEVER.com/155 and http://RunningAFEVER.com/156. #155 has a video of the park, I’ll link to the video in the show notes.
What I learned is that there is another reason to limit cheat meals. In moderation, they offer a way to satisfy cravings without a descent into complete relapse and a return to old habits. The good habits stay intact. We know that once I developed those good eating habits, the old ones were just not that attractive anymore, and when I aim for overdoing it like I did last week, it’s just an unpleasant experience. Moderation and consistently healthy living feel good.
In my first cabin stay at a state park, I didn’t eat great, but I think that was balanced with some other more healthy activities like hiking every day and working on my fiction writing projects. This time I didn’t do those things. I still have pain in my feet when walking and I still have a limp. No excuse for not writing except that I’ve just gotten out of the habit. I did read quite a bit. And I’m just about on track for finishing my goal of reading 100 books this year.
On the reading thing, this is one of the good habits, but reading 100 books a year, for me, is too much while holding down a full-time job that doesn’t involve a lot of book-reading. I wind up reading a lot of books that are easier to read. Nothing wrong with that in moderation, but it’s kind of like watching too much TV the way I’m doing it now. So I’m lowering my goal next year. I think I’ll try 75 as I did in 2020.
Another missed opportunity was taking advantage of an ideal environment for meditation. I went outside and enjoyed nature from my back deck, and even hiked a small bit, but when I sat on the deck I was reading, not really meditating. I won’t have that kind of peace and quiet back in my regular world.
But I’m thinking of taking some more trips like this throughout the year. Long weekends. You have to book these cabins way in advance. And once my feet heal I can make hiking trips to nearby parks like Devil’s Den. For the first time in five years, I’m missing my annual trip to the top of the Yellow Rock Trail with my buddy Robert. I don’t plan to miss that again.
Mt. Nebo State Park Video Episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGo-ncfENWw
Photo by Michael Davis Media