Written by It may seem unusual to consider a ‘reset’ just days away from Christmas. “Why not wait until New Year’s Day?” one might ask. My response would be, “Why wait? Why not just start the day you realize you need the reset? What’s the advantage of waiting?”.
My reset comes after having stepped outside the cycling bubble from the 48 days spent cycling from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine in the late summer/early fall. My body – and mind – underwent significant changes during that time. Riding an average of 80 miles per day means you burn an exceedingly high number of calories, and I found myself very fit and, well, small. The time leading up to the ride with the high volume of training also took its toll on my body and my time. I trained roughly 2-3 hours per day to prepare myself for what would be a physically challenging experience. It had been a part time job. Returning home, I needed a break. I needed to not be so physically challenged. I eased off and returned to the gym and did the odd bike ride here and there. I walked, a lot. All of this was good, but my metabolism was still high and screaming at me for some time to eat more. I did. Not insane amounts more, but enough to see the numbers on the scale move up and my clothes feel a little tighter.
We have traveled a fair amount since the completion of my ride and also experienced some life changes that I’ll share at another time. We were recently in Minneapolis for four days for Thanksgiving, followed by a ten-day amazing trip to Hawaii, and then home for a day and to Florida for over a week to take care of some business that needed tending to. All in all, my routine was disrupted and I wasn’t exercising as I could have been, nor was I eating as healthy as I could have been, and I was drinking more alcohol than usual with night after night after night of eating out at restaurants. As a result, my sleep was disrupted and everything just ‘off’. I am a creature of habit and thrive on routine. We arrived home on Friday afternoon and I knew that I needed a reset and it needed to be immediate.
I started yesterday and went back to the habits that had served me well during my periods of training and preparation for the ride as well as other physically demanding challenges. I’m focusing on 4 main areas – weight, nutrition, exercise, and hydration/alcohol.
Weight
First, I weighed myself to determine how far off I was – not that weight is everything, but I wanted to understand where I was at on this one data point. This would be one of many data points I use to determine my overall health and well-being.
Nutrition
I also logged back into the ‘Lose It’ app for the first time in what seemed like forever. This is a fantastic app that helps track your food and ensure you are managing to your set macros optimized for your goals. Since I am looking to lose weight and gain fitness, I am heavily indexing on a higher protein number, a moderate number of carbs, and a balance of fat. I’ve been tracking for 2 days now and will weigh myself next Saturday to see where I’m at. If I’m sticking to the macro mix and not yet seeing any results, I’ll tweak to see if I need to reduce or increase anywhere.
Aside from tracking my macros, it’s a good discipline to have to understand where and when I’m eating. Am I eating healthy foods or am I over-indexing on things that won’t serve my well-being.
I’ve decided to also use this exercise as a forcing function to share recipes for my go-to meals along the way. Admittedly, there may be a few recipes shared along the way for things that I like to make for my family. I’ll note how I adjust them for my eating to help with demonstrating the balance.
Exercise
This will be the first time in some time that I will work through an exercise regime for me and my health, and without a specific goal in mind. Usually, I have a triathlon or event in mind for my training. In this case, I will be exercising purely for the benefit of feeling – and looking – healthy. I’m going to stick with the cadence I had during my ride and triathlon training but cut back on the durations for each session. For example, I’m going to index heavily on being in the gym and work towards doing so 5 days a week for 5 minutes each session. Beyond that, I’ll include sessions of cycling, running, and some swimming. I enjoy the mix of cardio, and it will help my mental model to trigger me back to the routine where I was training for a specific event. I believe this will help me stay committed to the program I’m setting forth for myself.
One other thing I’ve done is add the workouts to my calendar to ensure that I treat them as any other appointments I would have. This has been helpful for me in the past to ensure I carve out the time necessary to complete my workouts. It also means that if something needs to happen at that time, then I need to move the workout to another time on that day – or to another day – to ensure it happens. This is very important for me. The structure helps to ensure that I stay committed and focused, and accountable to myself.
I am also walking regularly. I have a somewhat large dog who is a forcing function for me getting outside to walk every day. She needs to get outside and stretch her legs. I take advantage of this need of hers to do the same for myself. Sometimes it’s once a day and sometimes more than once. I try and take her during the day so that we can both enjoy the benefits of the vitamin D the sun provides, but I’m also happy to take her at night when necessary, so that we can both enjoy the fresh air of the evening.
Hydration and Alcohol
Finally, but perhaps equally important to the nutrition and exercise is my focus on hydration. I’m a coffee drinker – I love myself a latte or two or three a day. I can very easily replace water with lattes which doesn’t help on a number of levels. First, as a diuretic, the coffee has a negative effect on hydrating my body. I have decided to limit myself to two lattes a day – both in the mornings. Milk, however, can contribute to a higher level of carbohydrates than I would like, so I’m also switching my second latte to an unsweetened almond milk latte to ensure that the first coffee of the day is the one I really love and that I can get in a second, but ensure that I’m not overdoing it with the carbs in the milk. Limiting these to the morning should also help with my sleeping and ensure the caffeine is out of my system well before bedtime.
I am also ensuring that I start my day with an 18 oz bottle of water with 5g of creatine and packet of LMNT electrolytes mixed in. I’ve been incorporating creatine in my diet to help not only with the physical benefits, but also the long-term mental benefits it has on cognitive abilities. The LMNT ensures that I have enough electrolytes in the day. I’m targeting 64 ounces of water in a day, and I have an 18-ounce water bottle that I will ensure I consume at least 3.5 times to meet this goal.
Finally, I am quitting alcohol. I’m not sure whether this is a ‘forever’ thing or for how long, but I know that for the foreseeable future it will serve me far better to avoid it entirely. The more I read and listen to studies regarding the toxicity of alcohol, the more I realize that I don’t need it in my life. I’m not a soda drinker and have no issues with sticking with a sparkling water while out for meals. I’m also experimenting with non-alcoholic wines and will share the good ones as I find them. I’ve been drinking Athletic non-alcoholic beer for some time and quite enjoy it. Admittedly, it’s better on a hot day and isn’t exactly the go-to during the winter, but it is a decent alternative. That said, while looking to keep the macros under control for a while, I’ll stick with the sparkling water for the time being.
One of the other aspects of my life I’m zeroing in on for a betterment of my well-being is my spiritual life. I am a practicing Catholic and, for me, daily time with meditational podcasts and inspiring messages is helpful. I listen to the Lectio Divina on the Hallow app as well as their seasonal devotionals. I’m not proposing this specifically for everyone but suggesting that a daily form of quiet and meditation to clear the mind is critical to an overall sense of well-being. Find something that you can latch onto that speaks to you and to which inspires you to want to commit to it on a long-term basis. I listen to my Hallow app while walking or while at the gym or working out. Yes, I could absolutely gain more from it by taking the time to quiet my soul without distraction, I agree. Sometimes I’m able to do that while walking and listening, and sometimes not. If I find myself unable to concentrate on what is being shared, I’ll pause it and come back to it at a time when I believe I can listen in the quiet and fully absorb.
We move so very quickly through aspects of our life, and I’m feeling as though I need to slow down somewhat and be truly present. My daily spiritual devotion helps me center on that idea and put it into practice.
I’m excited to share my progress with you here over the next while, especially what works and what doesn’t work. Life changes, and we need to be adaptable. We are expecting some changes in the coming months, and I’ll be interested to see how I need to adjust and adapt this routine to ensure that I keep myself committed to this much needed reset.