Goals 2017: Final Update
It's time to review my 2017 resolutions. Things have gone pretty well since my prior two updates.
1. Get Smaller
On January 3, 2017, I weighted 232 in jeans, t-shirt and sweatshirt. In August I was down to 207. I weighed myself the week before Christmas and was at 206. I have not been above 210 since Q2. At one point in Q3 I was down to 199 after a particularly strenuous week of working out, but I suspect that's not sustainable without really clamping down on the food more than I care to.
As previously reported, my blood sugar didn't change much on the daily fasting test, but did improve on the A1C test, which takes a longer view. This means that in addition to losing the weight, the dietary changes also improved the result I cared about the most.
This goal had secondary points.
A- Any time I eat food at work beyond what I brought with me, I will donate $25 to charity. I allowed myself nine specific cheat days.
I bought lunch one day at work total, which was the day after I flew back from California and arrived home very late. I spent less than $5 at the diner in that one meal, which is a dramatic drop from the $150 I spent in 2016. Outside of the nine designated cheat days, everything else I ate at work I brought with me. Per my goal, I only had to donate $25 to charity, but that was actually less than I intended to give to the Cleveland Food Bank so instead I tacked $25 on to the amount I had in mind.
B. I will lose 20 pounds in 2017.
232-206 = 26. Success.
I feel I can rate this goal as A+++.
2. Bake More Bread
My aim was to bake twice per month. I baked 18 times, as documented here. On the plus side, I definitely baked more than before. On the minus side, summer heat completely derailed my baking, and many of the times I baked were muffins or biscuits, and not the loaves of bread I specified in my original post. If the intent was to work with yeast, it's worse still since I baked a number of quick breads.
It was a delicious project, but a C+/B- is the best I can rate myself.
1. Get Smaller
On January 3, 2017, I weighted 232 in jeans, t-shirt and sweatshirt. In August I was down to 207. I weighed myself the week before Christmas and was at 206. I have not been above 210 since Q2. At one point in Q3 I was down to 199 after a particularly strenuous week of working out, but I suspect that's not sustainable without really clamping down on the food more than I care to.
As previously reported, my blood sugar didn't change much on the daily fasting test, but did improve on the A1C test, which takes a longer view. This means that in addition to losing the weight, the dietary changes also improved the result I cared about the most.
This goal had secondary points.
A- Any time I eat food at work beyond what I brought with me, I will donate $25 to charity. I allowed myself nine specific cheat days.
I bought lunch one day at work total, which was the day after I flew back from California and arrived home very late. I spent less than $5 at the diner in that one meal, which is a dramatic drop from the $150 I spent in 2016. Outside of the nine designated cheat days, everything else I ate at work I brought with me. Per my goal, I only had to donate $25 to charity, but that was actually less than I intended to give to the Cleveland Food Bank so instead I tacked $25 on to the amount I had in mind.
B. I will lose 20 pounds in 2017.
232-206 = 26. Success.
I feel I can rate this goal as A+++.
2. Bake More Bread
My aim was to bake twice per month. I baked 18 times, as documented here. On the plus side, I definitely baked more than before. On the minus side, summer heat completely derailed my baking, and many of the times I baked were muffins or biscuits, and not the loaves of bread I specified in my original post. If the intent was to work with yeast, it's worse still since I baked a number of quick breads.
It was a delicious project, but a C+/B- is the best I can rate myself.