2016. Happy New Year. Leap Year. Election Year. In the United States, there will be an election in eleven months to select the next President of the United States. I hope that the collective wisdom of the electorate is a bit wiser this time than last time. This choice of President is largely outside of my control, other than my one vote in an uncontested state where the candidates are unlikely to bother campaigning as the outcome is pre-determined by the majority of liberal voters who live in the state. I will be ineffective in changing the country. The things that I can change are things within myself.
I stepped on the scale today, and my weight is 217 lbs. So, 217 lbs will be the 'baseline' for my progress this year. I still intend to get down to 200 lbs. Perhaps lower. New Year's Resolution #1.
My 'diet' has included too much tasty but nutrient questionable tasty treats. I am aware that my 'diet' has been lacking in protein. I expect to reach out to a nutritionist and get some advice on how to improve my eating habits. New Year's Resolution #2.
My New Year's Resolution #3 should be the easiest - as I resolve to continue to do so many of the things that successfully resulted in my weight loss this past year. I resolve to continue to watch my calorie intake each day. I resolve to continue to log my meals into MyFitnessPal app as I have done each and every day in 2015. I resolve to continue working out, almost every day as I did this past year. In fact, the hardest part of this resolution is to remember to take a day off from time to time.
New Year's Resolution #4. This one I have given great thought to over the past year. Often during 2015, I wondered what should I do with my blog once once a full year had passed. The blog originally was to document how a 309 lb man lost nearly 100 lbs. If that weight loss actually happened (and it did) it seemed that a blog documenting it could be (at least mildly) interesting. The blog was done for myself. I am so glad that I documented this journey day-by-day. It has been so instructive to read my thoughts as the weight disappeared. The question presents itself: Now What? I am not sure, but I am going to continue the blog. I still have a very specific goal of ducking under 200 lbs. The blog, and the fact that I post my food diary each day helps keep me on track. And even with these tools, I still derail every now and then. My New Year's Eve Resolution #4 is to keep the blog going. I am going to change its focus just slightly in the coming year. I have tried so hard to be apolitical in year one. This year is an election year. I think that there will be times when I have something to say about this. I will say things simply to get them off my chest, I will say things to (hopefully) enlighten others, I will say things that I fervently hope do not tick off any of my members of my family, and mostly I will say things that make me feel better for having said them.
. . . .
New Year's Resolution #4. This one I have given great thought to over the past year. Often during 2015, I wondered what should I do with my blog once once a full year had passed. The blog originally was to document how a 309 lb man lost nearly 100 lbs. If that weight loss actually happened (and it did) it seemed that a blog documenting it could be (at least mildly) interesting. The blog was done for myself. I am so glad that I documented this journey day-by-day. It has been so instructive to read my thoughts as the weight disappeared. The question presents itself: Now What? I am not sure, but I am going to continue the blog. I still have a very specific goal of ducking under 200 lbs. The blog, and the fact that I post my food diary each day helps keep me on track. And even with these tools, I still derail every now and then. My New Year's Eve Resolution #4 is to keep the blog going. I am going to change its focus just slightly in the coming year. I have tried so hard to be apolitical in year one. This year is an election year. I think that there will be times when I have something to say about this. I will say things simply to get them off my chest, I will say things to (hopefully) enlighten others, I will say things that I fervently hope do not tick off any of my members of my family, and mostly I will say things that make me feel better for having said them.
. . . .
92 minutes on the elliptical machine on New Year's Eve morning
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92 minutes on the elliptical machine as the
'odometer' of the year switched from 2015 to 2016
I have been noticing that my workouts on the elliptical machine have increasingly become more and more effective. I am measuring effectiveness by the so-called calories burned. This 'effectiveness' comes with a price - as I sense that I can improve on my output - I do pedal harder and harder for longer and longer times. So, it is not like this improvement comes without any extra effort. The improvement comes with much greater effort.
I started thinking that it might be interesting (at least for me) to plot a graph of my 13 workouts that I took in the last days of December and the one that I took at midnight on January 1. These days, one only has to imagine something, before one realizes that there are probably all kinds of places online where you can do what you want. I easily found a website that would create a graph from the points that were entered.
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Your Food Diary For:
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Your Exercise Diary for:
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total calories consumed 2376 calories
total calories (184 minutes elliptical, walking) 2897 calories
total net calories 521 calorie defecit
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fitbit day 119
23163 steps. . . . . . . . . . .   
. . . . . . . .
I found a place to make the graph on a website from NCES. nces.ed.gov/kidzone/createagraph
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES is located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences. NCES fulfills a Congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition of American education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally.
It makes me wonder... the US Government is spending so many taxpayer dollars collecting, collating, and analyzing statistics of the condition of American Education... Here's the bottom line on the state of US Education in the public schools today. It is very weak. US Schools have become indoctrination centers. Kids today are taught NOT to think for themselves. And as bad as it is in the elementary schools and high schools - it is much worse in the universities. But, please don't get me started...
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