Resolutions 2021 Update
An important part of any resolution is evaluating your progress toward it. I intentionally framed my 2021 resolutions in a way that was designed to be independent of the pandemic. Since we also knew Birdie was on her way, I also tried to make them things that could be done with a baby. 7/12 of the way through the year, how'd it go?
Stop Eating At Home After 9pm
This actually has gone pretty well. We pretty frequently sit down for dinner anywhere from 8pm to 8:30pm anyway, so typically we finish dinner by 9pm, clean up and go to bed by 10pm or 10:30pm. There have definitely been a few times when I snacked on something late at night, especially in the first month of Birdie's life where everything was chaotic. On balance though, this is going well.
Grade: B.
Work Out For At Least 30 Minutes Five Days a Week
So at the start of the year this went great. I worked out in the basement every day until we went to the hospital for Birdie's arrival, and sporadically in the rest of January when I was on parental leave. These workouts were actually very effective. I definitely worked up a solid sweat doing them, and even felt sore at times. When I went back to work full-time this basically collapsed, as there was always far too many things that needed to get done around the house (laundry, dishes, caring for a baby) that seemed more urgent than working out.
This state continued until late May when I started taking Birdie to the lake almost every morning. Every one of those walks was at least an hour. A pretty significant chunk of those walks became rucks by throwing 15 pounds of weight in my bike backpack, which definitely upped the challenge level. From May 22 onward, I missed two days in May, three days in June and five days in July, basically all because of inclement weather. That's 61/71 days, and well over 5 days a week. I suppose we could quibble about whether walking counts as a work out, and while even when rucking it's not the workout I had in mind, it's definitely better than nothing.
Birdie's schedule is rapidly becoming more reliable, so I think in the near future I'll be able to work in a 30 minute workout in the basement at least a few days a week. If I can do that and transition to that when the cold weather returns, I'll be in good shape.
Grades:
January - B
February through May 21 - F
May 21 to present - A.
Overall - C-.
Happily, despite my lack of exercise in 2021, eating healthily has kept my weight around 215, which is a little higher than in recent years but still well below my weight from 2002 to 2016.
Stop Eating At Home After 9pm
This actually has gone pretty well. We pretty frequently sit down for dinner anywhere from 8pm to 8:30pm anyway, so typically we finish dinner by 9pm, clean up and go to bed by 10pm or 10:30pm. There have definitely been a few times when I snacked on something late at night, especially in the first month of Birdie's life where everything was chaotic. On balance though, this is going well.
Grade: B.
Work Out For At Least 30 Minutes Five Days a Week
So at the start of the year this went great. I worked out in the basement every day until we went to the hospital for Birdie's arrival, and sporadically in the rest of January when I was on parental leave. These workouts were actually very effective. I definitely worked up a solid sweat doing them, and even felt sore at times. When I went back to work full-time this basically collapsed, as there was always far too many things that needed to get done around the house (laundry, dishes, caring for a baby) that seemed more urgent than working out.
This state continued until late May when I started taking Birdie to the lake almost every morning. Every one of those walks was at least an hour. A pretty significant chunk of those walks became rucks by throwing 15 pounds of weight in my bike backpack, which definitely upped the challenge level. From May 22 onward, I missed two days in May, three days in June and five days in July, basically all because of inclement weather. That's 61/71 days, and well over 5 days a week. I suppose we could quibble about whether walking counts as a work out, and while even when rucking it's not the workout I had in mind, it's definitely better than nothing.
Birdie's schedule is rapidly becoming more reliable, so I think in the near future I'll be able to work in a 30 minute workout in the basement at least a few days a week. If I can do that and transition to that when the cold weather returns, I'll be in good shape.
Grades:
January - B
February through May 21 - F
May 21 to present - A.
Overall - C-.
Happily, despite my lack of exercise in 2021, eating healthily has kept my weight around 215, which is a little higher than in recent years but still well below my weight from 2002 to 2016.