At the start of 2016, I decided on a few New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t normally make a big deal of New Year’s Resolutions and I can’t think of any that I have seriously followed through on. This year, I’m actually doing pretty well on them. For 2016 my resolutions are:
- Drink less alcohol, drink alcohol less frequently
- Exercise more
- Read the Bible
- Play more guitar
I have set a goal of getting my weight down to 185 pounds by my wedding (June 18th). To do this, I am eating at a caloric deficit and exercising three times a week. I am using MyFitnessPal to track what I eat and have done so for 28 days straight. The biggest change to my diet has been replacing bacon & eggs with a banana at breakfast, eating more chicken for dinner, and drinking less alcohol (goal #1). Drinking less alcohol has actually been fairly easy so far. Not drinking in a day is easy for me but once I have had a drink, I like to have a lot more. I am limiting my drinking to three days a week and tracking it with my food logging to ensure it does not push me beyond my caloric goals. In just a month, I’ve gone from 206.5 pounds (post-vacation weight) to 193 pounds.
For exercise, I am working out three times a week on the Stronglifts 5×5 weightlifting plan and the Couch to 5k running plan. I gave Stronglifts a try last year. I like the program a lot but didn’t do a great job of sticking to it (often taking a week off every two or three weeks). The Couch to 5k plan has been way better than I expected. I am actually enjoying the workouts and am not feeling the painful cramps I have felt when running over the past few years (even when I was in good shape). A big reason for this has been new running shoes, a Christmas gift from my grandparents. Kelly and I registered for a 5k at the start of March, which will be my first 5k.
This is not the first time I have tried reading the Bible. I’m definitely behind pace on this one but I am still making progress. I am on the 90 day plan (stretching it out any longer will lead to me dropping it). I’m reading it from start to finish and I sort of wish I had found a plan that mixed Old Testament and New Testament.
Playing more guitar is definitely the most fun goal. I am definitely playing more guitar than last year. Mostly this has been picking up my guitar when in my living room and playing a song or two. For a little while I was brushing up on the modal scales. However, I haven’t tried to institute regular practice or playing. I have so much structure in place with the other goals, I don’t want to overdo it and burn myself out.