I’m overweight in February and am thrilled. Why? Certainly not because I gained 5 pounds in December which was the maximum I was allowing myself for the whole winter.
They may have gotten the pronoun wrong in that gif, but that’s me they are talking about. As I reported in my last weighty post, my goal for January was to simply hold the line and not gain any more weight in January. Unlikely? Yes. Who wants to exercise and watch what you eat in the dead of winter? Not me. I want to sit, eat, and watch television while my wife, kids, and neighbors shovel my snow. But it somehow happened. I gave it a week into February to make 100% sure, but I continue to hang in at 5 pounds max gained and may even be heading back down just a bit. I’m thrilled!
Against all odds, my steps actually trended up a bit in January. Take a look.
It wasn’t by design. It just kind of happened. I was more concerned with my mental health during the grey, cold, and snow of January than my physical wellness, although the physical can often help with the mental. For me, if having an eggnog heaped on top with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles made me feel better mentally, I didn’t deny myself. I really was in survival mode. Add in bouts of COVID for my two youngest daughters who still live at home with us, and all of us were literally trying to survive. My daughters did, but not before they both required doctor’s care for respiratory trouble, sinusitis, and bronchitis. Don’t mess with COVID, really. How my wife and I didn’t get it is a mystery as we cared for our kids. No, wait, make that my wife cared for our kids while I quarantined in the basement watching sports and Netflix.
As we move through February toward Spring, I am still in “hold the line” mode. I don’t feel a need to lose weight. I just don’t want to gain any more before the end of calendric winter at the end of the month. I’m walking outside more. And when I do, I don’t have to walk in darkness before the start of the workday or after it ends. I can feel the sun getting stronger as it rises higher in the sky. That’s a kind of a good news/bad news deal for a skin cancer survivor. That’s okay as I am ready to break out the sunscreen. I know March can bring 80F degree days (26C) along with snowstorms. But if it does snow, I don’t have to worry so much about my wife/kids/neighbors clearing my snow. It’ll melt … eventually.
I’ll let you know if I can hold the line on weight gain in February, but I gotta run (figuratively, not literally) now. The sun is not shining today and there’s still eggnog in the fridge to be drunk.
Jim Flanigan Looks at the World 