Happy 2013

I would first like to wish all a happy new year.  Not only am I happy to see the end of 2012, I am also happy to get to the end of the holiday eating season.  I just love the end of one year and start of the next. It’s a new beginning, a fresh start, a time that I like to use to take inventory. I think about the things that I am doing well and also about the things that I think can stand a little improvement. 

One of the things that I thought could use a little improvement was the look of this blog. I swore this blog would never have photos but I realized that some readers have never known me at an unhealthy weight.   In the hope of earning just a little credibility, Deb helped locate a photo of me at an unhealthy weight which is now posted at the top of the left column. This photo is likely 30 to 40 pounds below my highest weight.  A recent photo is at the top of the right column.

Another thing that can clearly use a little improvement is my eating habits. In the right sidebar you will notice that my weight climbed above the top end of my goal range (160 – 165) at the end of the year. My goal range will remain the same for 2013 at least until I can get back to regular weight workouts.  I would like to get my weight back to the bottom of my goal range and hold it there until I feel a little more settled and can return to regular weight lifting.

I’ll try not to hurt my arm as I reach around and give myself a pat (or 2) on the back because I was successful in pushing my weight down about 25 pounds during 2012 and kept it in my goal range for most of the year.  However, I also know I can’t get complacent. I’ve learned that it is just too easy for me to ignore a 5 or 10 pound gain year after year until all of a sudden I start looking like the photo at the top of the left column.  The next thing you know my doctor is whining about my cholesterol or blood sugar and I hate to hear a grown man whine. I’d much rather make the small changes necessary to get to a healthy weight. I’ve know I’ve mentioned in the past that small changes can yield big results.

I actually took a break from nutrition reading in December and read a little fiction I had been trying to get to. I do have several works of fiction in my to read list right now but the other day I read a preview of Al Roker’s Never Goin Back about his struggle to maintain a healthy weight. I saw that it was being released on December 31^st so I had Amazon deliver it to my Kindle and it is now waiting for me. As soon as I get through it I will let you know what I thought.

So now you know what I will be working on for the next month. I will revisit Fear No Scale around the first of February to let you know how it is going.