We’re back from our ~2 week mountain trip and it was excellent! Beck skied 4 days this year and really took to it. I took him to the top of the ski lift and he was able to get down on his own, only falling a couple of times, and in control the entire time!

Now that I’m back, it’s time to dive back into work and health. I’m moving forward with the diet challenge for the month, but I’ve added a second challenge b/c I’m motivated to do it and I think it’s important: Journaling.

I’ve dabbled with journaling over the years and have never stuck with it for more than a few days. I think I’m disciplined enough now that I can consistently do it. My goal in journaling is to improve my memory recall and to be more mindful about life. I feel like my memory has gotten worse as I’ve aged. Journaling is supposedly a good way to sharpen your memory. I also feel like it’s a nice way to reflect on your day.

I started this morning with a journal entry for 1/6. I will write my journal entries at the end of the day or the beginning of the next. I’m using Google Docs/Drive and a really simple template I came up with. The template is intended to jog my memory as I write.

Date:
Diet:
Weight:
Fitness/Adventure:
Work:
Family:
General:

Part II of my monthly challenge is a stricter and improved diet. I’ve had good success with intermittent fasting, but I feel like I’ve restricted my caloric intake too much. When I had my body fat tested, my muscle mass was much lower than I expected, so I believe I’ve lost a good chunk of muscle in the process. (Unfortunately, I don’t have a baseline prior to the end of Dec 2018.) Here is the diet I’ll follow for January. My weight is currently 171.5 (Jan 7 morning weigh-in) and I’ve been losing roughly 1.5 lbs per month for the past 6 months.

January Diet Challenge

This won’t be perfect b/c we get back to Austin on January 6th from our family ski trip and I’m on a guy’s ski trip over MLK weekend. The two ski trips are “off” with regards to the strict diet, but fasting is “on” during these trips.

Rules:

• Jan 7 (Monday) morning weigh-in is the benchmark. Feb 4 morning weigh-in is the end result.
• Caffeine is allowed, but no coffee or diet soda. (Low key ice tea addiction is surviving this month’s challenge.)
• Everything goes into MyFitnessPal, no exceptions (plug-in ski trip fubars.)
• Each Monday morning weigh-in is your weight for the week.

Diet:

• Sun – Breakfast egg white taco X 1 / high protein lunch <400 cal / <200 cal snack / <600 cal dinner
• Mon – Fast to 5pm / <200 cal snack / <800 cal dinner
• Tues – 4X egg whites breakfast / high protein lunch <400 cal / <200 cal snack / <600 cal dinner
• Wed – Fast to 5pm / <200 cal snack / <800 cal dinner
• Thurs – 4X egg whites breakfast / high protein lunch <400 cal / <200 cal snack / <600 cal dinner
• Fri – 4X egg whites breakfast / high protein lunch <400 cal / <800 cal dinner – 3x drinks allowed at dinner
• Sat – Breakfast egg white taco X 1 / high protein lunch <400 cal / <600 cal dinner – no alcohol limitation

*Sat/Sun 1X breakfast taco can be subbed to 2X breakfast taco with lunch skip
*4X egg whites might get old/gross. If that happens, look at fruit/protein smoothie.