October Microresolution Check-in

It's been about two and a half weeks since I set my October microresolutions, and about two weeks since I reworked one of them. Time for a check-in!

My first microresolution is now "I will put my food down between bites at dinner to savour what I'm eating" is working better than it was when I first set it (this is the microresolution that I reworked). The idea of "savouring" food is resonating with me, and I'm having an easier time remembering it. That being said, there are still times I'm struggling, like when I'm out for dinner with other people. And sometimes I just forget through dinner. So I'm thinking this one is going to take a lot more work (probably longer than the month) before it becomes a habit. I may need to rework it a little more too, but right now I'm going to focus on trying to remember better. I had the idea to write a note to help me remember it, so I'm going to do that and see if it helps.

My second microresolution, "I will stop looking at screens at least one hour before bed," has been fairly successful....except during the weekends. On weeknights, I have no problem disengaging from my phone and other screens about an hour before bed. But on a weekend, it's proving to be more of a challenge. My partner and I have played video games right until bedtime, so I end up on my computer until I'm getting ready before bed. I enjoy spending the time with him, but then I feel more unsettled when I'm trying to sleep. I'm not quite sure what to do about that at this time - do the weekends become an exception? Or should I try to find a way to disengage from screens sooner? My gut is telling me I should do the latter, so I'll need to think on how better to do that for next weekend.

Reworking an October Microresolution

 A couple of days ago, I set two new microresolutions for October. I've been having some trouble with the first one, "I will put my fork down between bites of food during meals." I found I never remembered it when I was eating! :( So after a bit of thought, I decided to try rewording it so it will hopefully resonate more with me; I'm going to change it to "I will put my food down between bites during dinner to savour what I'm eating." I originally was thinking I would change "utensil" to "fork" to better cover meals (for example, eating soup for dinner means using a spoon, not a fork). But that doesn't cover foods like sandwiches, burgers, and pizza that you don't use a utensil for.

Making the switch to talking about "savouring" food seems to have really helped. Today at dinner, I had a better time remembering about this microresolution. I didn't put my food down between every bite, but I did put it down between most bites, so that was a victory in itself. I also noticed that I seemed to get full faster (in a satisfied way), which is exactly what I was hoping, that I wouldn't be overeating. Hopefully this change in language will continue to resonate and help me make this a habit!

The second microresolution, no screens an hour before bed, has been fairly successful already. With the exception of last night where I was trying to show my partner something, I've had no problems with stopping the use of my phone and computer before bed. I've got my alarm programed in for the work week, so I don't have to worry if I set my alarm right. I've also programmed my phone so it can be set to silent and the people closest to me can still get through if it's an emergency. So now I've had about an hour where I've mostly been journaling before bed (which becomes another added bonus of writing down things that are bothering me, getting them out of mind before bed to help with a better sleep), reading, and doing word puzzles offline. It's been great and I feel quite sure that this will be an easily kept habit before long. :)

Weight Update for Oct 8

 As promised, here's a weight update from the other day:

weight: 232.4
fat percentage: 54.5

hydration: 31.2
muscle: 22.3
bone: 10.5
cal: 2424

I'm glad to see that my weight has continued its downward trend since the end of September. My muscle has also increased slightly and my fat percentage has dropped a little. Hopefully that continues, too!

Time to Talk Goals...

I can't believe there's only three months left of 2025! With that in mind, I wanted to take a look at the goals I last set for myself, and look at what I'd like to do for the rest of the year.

For August and September, I set two microresolution goals:

1. I will get up out of bed immediately with my main alarm (continued from June).
2. Three breaths of box (4/4/4/4) breathing or 4/7/8 breathing every day after work.

Neither of these really worked for me. I really like lounging around in bed for a bit, especially when my cat comes to hang out with me in the morning. And outside of a few days, I never really remembered to do the breathing after work - I needed to chain it to another behaviour but never did. I also don't feel comfortable with the neighbourhood where my work is now located, so when I get to my car, I just want to get out of there as fast as possible, not take a moment for a few deep breaths. 

I also got majorly derailed while on vacation. So that didn't help in trying to set two habits like these.

So for October, I decided to discontinue working on these right now. I'd like to work on some other areas of my life, but I may revisit these ideas in the future (with some tweaks!) What I'd really like to start tackling right now is my weight. My weight has been steadily rising since 2022, and that's been doing a number on my mental health. I keep feeling like I'm trying, but I feel like nothing is working. So maybe it's time to use smaller microresolutions to try to stop that continual weight gain?

My first thought is to focus on eating. I was originally thinking of measuring everything, but instead I am going to make the microresolution to put my fork down between bites of food. I have long been a fast eater, and I worry that eating fast means I end up shoveling more food into my body than I really need to (or really want to). I've been feeling like I've overeaten on a few occasions lately, so I want to see if slowing myself down will make a difference.

The second microresolution I am going to make for the month is to stop looking at screens one hour before bed. I'm hoping that will help me sleep better - I hadn't been sleeping well recently, and I know that I am normally more hungry when I am tired. There are going to be some exceptions to this: my insulin pump is a screen, and that is okay to look at. I may also end up looking at my phone when I'm low during the night and trying to keep myself up until my glucose level is high enough to go to sleep again - when I'm low, I find that I have a hard time concentrating on reading and other activities that take a little more brain power. Also, in the case of getting an emergency phone call during the night, it is also okay to be looking at my phone (I've got my phone set to silent except for specific people and circumstances, so it really will only be an emergency that gets through once my phone is on silent).

Well, that's my plan for October. I'll give these both a try for the next week or so and check back - it'll be good to see if anything needs to be tweaked at that time.

More Weight Updates

 Here are my last two weight updates:

Sept 25:

weight: 234.2
fat percentage: 55.7
hydration: 30.4
muscle: 21.7
bone: 10.4
cal: 2436

Oct 1:

weight: 233.2
fat percentage: 55.4
hydration: 30.6
muscle: 21.9
bone: 10.5
cal: 2429

I'm planning to do another weight in the next day or two.