Goals 2020
Ok, so they're more like resolutions. Whatever. As always, I spent more time thinking about these than is probably healthy, and I'll be immensely satisfied if I successfully do two of them well.
1. Stay Small And Healthy
As noted, last year's Stay Small resolution mostly worked until about November. I'm afraid that so long as I'm on the edge of pre-diabetic and really love food, this will always be a ongoing fight. For this year, I'll bring back my most effective tactic.
I will not eat food at work that I did not bring to work.
I will allow a blanket exception for official company parties (holiday, release) at at least the department level (no team events), and for food trucks at work (which will count as eating out for the next resolution).
However, I'm going to add on to that. I've noted that many of the desserts I eat aren't really all that great, whether at a restaurant or store bought. Homemade desserts are typically much better. The once exception is ice cream, which I'm not making at home. This leads to two clauses:
I will not eat store bought desserts. Exception: if I just donated platelets, I can have snacks at the canteen immediately afterward.
I added the platelet item because I donated platelets 20+ times in 2019, so that's a pretty limited scenario.
I will not eat restaurant desserts except ice cream. However, I can’t have ice cream from the same location twice in the year.
To be clear, this means I can eat at each Mitchell's location once, if I so choose. This list I made a few years ago. might come in handy.
My assumption is that this level of mindfulness, if achieved, will combine with my workout schedule (which is still extensive) and keep my weight and blood sugar where they need to be.
2. Eating Out
When I tracked all the places I ate out last year and in 2015, it became very apparent that I ate out a lot. Now, some of that is travelling, and one of the pleasures of travelling is eating out. However, a substantial number of those 182 times eating out in 2019, not to mention 65 desserts/drinks only, were local to Cleveland. Given that I'm a perfectly capable cook, that's ridiculous. It's time to do something about that.
For 2020, I will eat out no more than once a week when not traveling.
However, there's a problem there. What about all the baseball games (both pregaming for the shuttle and the game itself) and concerts I go to? I don't want to stop that altogether; if nothing else I'd have to revise my pregame to walk over the bridge. Therefore, my first caveat is:
Drinks (not food) at concerts or baseball is fine.
There's another problem though; M likes to eat out as much as I do, and I can't unilaterally stop having dinner with her! However, I've in the past noted that I don't get together with friends very much, which led to the utter failure that was the "Cook for People" resolution in 2016. Therefore, I've decided that:
The first meal with friends each week does not count against the once a week limit. Subsequent meals do.
So if M and I make an effort to go out for dinner or brunch with people, then I'll accept that as a fair trade off. And if they come over for dinner instead, that's even better.
3. Donate More to Charity
I did not do well at this last year. I need to be better at it, so I will try again.
I will make at least one charitable donation of at least $X each month.
To give an ideal of the scale, X is comfortably in three figures.
Errata
I'm going to continue cutting out red meat, because it was super easy anyway. I may have a limited exceptions for very special occasions, but that's it. In any event, I don't think I need a resolution to continue something that worked so easily.
1. Stay Small And Healthy
As noted, last year's Stay Small resolution mostly worked until about November. I'm afraid that so long as I'm on the edge of pre-diabetic and really love food, this will always be a ongoing fight. For this year, I'll bring back my most effective tactic.
I will not eat food at work that I did not bring to work.
I will allow a blanket exception for official company parties (holiday, release) at at least the department level (no team events), and for food trucks at work (which will count as eating out for the next resolution).
However, I'm going to add on to that. I've noted that many of the desserts I eat aren't really all that great, whether at a restaurant or store bought. Homemade desserts are typically much better. The once exception is ice cream, which I'm not making at home. This leads to two clauses:
I will not eat store bought desserts. Exception: if I just donated platelets, I can have snacks at the canteen immediately afterward.
I added the platelet item because I donated platelets 20+ times in 2019, so that's a pretty limited scenario.
I will not eat restaurant desserts except ice cream. However, I can’t have ice cream from the same location twice in the year.
To be clear, this means I can eat at each Mitchell's location once, if I so choose. This list I made a few years ago. might come in handy.
My assumption is that this level of mindfulness, if achieved, will combine with my workout schedule (which is still extensive) and keep my weight and blood sugar where they need to be.
2. Eating Out
When I tracked all the places I ate out last year and in 2015, it became very apparent that I ate out a lot. Now, some of that is travelling, and one of the pleasures of travelling is eating out. However, a substantial number of those 182 times eating out in 2019, not to mention 65 desserts/drinks only, were local to Cleveland. Given that I'm a perfectly capable cook, that's ridiculous. It's time to do something about that.
For 2020, I will eat out no more than once a week when not traveling.
However, there's a problem there. What about all the baseball games (both pregaming for the shuttle and the game itself) and concerts I go to? I don't want to stop that altogether; if nothing else I'd have to revise my pregame to walk over the bridge. Therefore, my first caveat is:
Drinks (not food) at concerts or baseball is fine.
There's another problem though; M likes to eat out as much as I do, and I can't unilaterally stop having dinner with her! However, I've in the past noted that I don't get together with friends very much, which led to the utter failure that was the "Cook for People" resolution in 2016. Therefore, I've decided that:
The first meal with friends each week does not count against the once a week limit. Subsequent meals do.
So if M and I make an effort to go out for dinner or brunch with people, then I'll accept that as a fair trade off. And if they come over for dinner instead, that's even better.
3. Donate More to Charity
I did not do well at this last year. I need to be better at it, so I will try again.
I will make at least one charitable donation of at least $X each month.
To give an ideal of the scale, X is comfortably in three figures.
Errata
I'm going to continue cutting out red meat, because it was super easy anyway. I may have a limited exceptions for very special occasions, but that's it. In any event, I don't think I need a resolution to continue something that worked so easily.