2019 in Review

My 2019 goals were:

1. Eat out only once a week or less.
2. Try 1 new recipe every two weeks.
3. Exercise 60+ minutes (not counting walking) every week.

Don't forget, a success meant meeting the goal 80% of the time.  How'd I do?

Goal #1 was a fail.  Out of 50 weeks (I reviewed this goal in the middle of last week, and since I'd already failed by too much it didn't matter how I did for the rest of the week or this week), I successfully ate out only once or less for 33 weeks, which gave me a 66% success rate.  

Goal #2 is a weird one.  Strictly speaking, I failed because I didn't make a new recipe every two weeks.  But through math, I made a new recipe on 20 weeks of the year, which was super close to a success (77%!)  And if we go by new recipes I made through the year, which was 26, I actually succeeded 100%!  So even though I failed at the goal the way it was written, I'm still quite happy with what I did through the year with it - I made a lot of new recipes. :)

And that brings us to goal #3. I started the year out really strong.  I stumbled a bit in the spring, but got back to it, until everything fell apart in the summer.  I don't think I really wrote about it, but in July my doctor didn't like the number of basals I had programmed in my pump and wanted me to change them.  Due to that, and my diabetes care team wanting me to try the doctor's suggestions for far longer than I wanted to, I was scarily low for several weeks.  By the time I got everything back under control to the point that I could function without being terrified of going low, I had lost my exercise habit.  :(  I've been really struggling to get back to it in the aftermath of my terrible (diabetes-wise) summer. :(  

So due to everything that happened, I only worked out for 60+ minutes (not counting walking) for 22/50 weeks (I reviewed this in the middle of the week last week, and since I'd already failed the goal I decided to just post the results from the incomplete year), or 44%.  :(

So that was 2019.  Tomorrow I'll set some new goals for 2020!

Meditation

I read a book on meditation a few weeks ago.  Apparently there are all kinds of health benefits to meditating, so I've been giving it a solid go.  I've actually fit in two 15 minute meditation on most days; on the few that I didn't (like on Christmas), I still managed to fit in one.  So I'm quite proud of the fact that I'm sticking with it so far.

I don't know if I'm seeing any health benefits yet...but I definitely feel like I've got more energy!  After meditating I feel like I can fit a lot more in than I used to.  Meditating has also helped me get going after waking up in the morning.  I'm not a morning person, so getting myself out of bed is always a hardship.  But if I can drag my butt into a chair and meditate for 15 minutes (or on the few mornings when I've had a REALLY hard time getting going, I've just meditated in bed), I suddenly have the energy to get going for the day!  So whether or not I see any other benefits from this practice, this alone is totally worth it. :)

Weight Update for Dec 25

Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day!

I know, I know, I shouldn't have bothered weighing myself on Christmas Day, but I really wanted to know how things were going (after eating waaaay too much on Christmas Eve).  So here are those numbers:

weight: 215.8 lbs
fat percentage: 47.4%
hydration: 36.1%
muscle: 25.9%
bone: 10.6%
cal: 2379

Yup, need to be careful through the remainder of the holidays! Hopefully I won't gain more weight (and make things a bit harder for myself going in to the new year).

On the plus side though, I've got my skis waxed, I'm excited for snowshoeing, and I'm planning on returning to swimming in the new year.  :)

Weight Update for Dec 3 + Basal Test Update

Just a quick weight update from earlier today:

weight: 214.2 lbs
fat percentage: 46.8%
hydration: 36.5%
muscle: 26.2%
bone: 10.6%
cal: 2370

I've managed to do a couple of workouts around some basal tests (workout Sunday + a walk, basal test Monday, workout today + a walk).  Plus I've been carb counting pretty accurately over the last few days thanks to my scale (just not Sunday at dinner, I had to make an educated guess there) and eating a lot more vegetables than I had been over the last while.  All of this has been coming together really well - today I was tired, but feeling really good! :)

Unfortunately I'm not quite sure what's going on with the basals.  I've had to reverse some of the changes that I made because my glucose hasn't wanted to drop below about 9 for the last few days.  I have modified one of my ISFs and carb ratios though to hopefully help with that - we'll see!