Wednesday, December 31, 2014

New Year's Resolutions for 2015

First, let's look back at 2014.

December 31, 2013
New Year's Resolutions for 2014

1. Climb more stairs.
2. Eat more food.

Mission accomplished! I climbed a lot more stairs (a lifetime personal best) and ate a lot more food (also a lifetime personal best)!

Unfortunately, I weigh more now than I did when I started. Sigh. Getting Shingles in the spring really did some damage to me both on a physical and mental level. That was roughly 4 months without any exercise at all to speak of (just laid there on the couch like a boneless chicken). It also took out yet another hiking season (the previous year was lost to a very serious ankle sprain). It really brought me down. Very depressing.

You can see the symptoms in the four months of reduced blog posting activity (April through September).

1. Don't get Shingles.
2. See Rule #1.

For what it is worth, I was severely deficient in Vitamin D (as was confirmed with a blood test during my annual physical). I live in the Pacific Northwest. I intend to take Vitamin D supplements for life. It's possible that this deficiency helped trigger Shingles for me, especially since my ankle injury in the summer of 2013 kept me inside and away from the sun. Who knows?

50 miles of vertical is my minimum goal. It will take me 10,560 minutes. That's exactly 7 days and 8 hours of exercise. I'll need to average roughly 30 minutes per day (slightly more than that to cover when I'm potentially sick or out of town of course).


0:25:08:00

Or bust! That's the minimum time I wish to see a year from now.




Mission accomplished! Two hours to spare! I hadn't really factored in what Shingles could do ("slightly more than that" indeed), but I made it to the goal just the same. Whew! I got off to an excellent start before the Shingles hit and managed to make up the lost time in the fall and winter. Thank goodness I set this goal in public or who knows where I'd be now.

It is also my intent to make climbing 20 flights of stairs each and every day a permanent habit again.

Mission accomplished!

It was my intent. Even with Shingles, I never stopped intending to exercise each and every day, lol. Hurray! Saved by a technicality! And Vicodin! And Naproxen! And Tylenol! The latter two did nothing for me at all near as I could tell, especially the Tylenol.

And for those curious, I had no chance of getting hooked on Vicodin. It offered great relief but when you've got chronic pain and only have about 70 pills spread out over 3-4 months, it's a bit like throwing water balloons at a house fire. The directions said I could take 1-2 every 4-6 hours. Good luck on keeping up that pace! Try 2 every other day or so (one alone generally wasn't all that effective). Let's just say that I have great sympathy for those who experience ongoing chronic pain.

Here are my New Year's resolutions for 2015.

1. Climb even more stairs.
2. Don't eat even more food!
3. Drink at least one extra glass of water each day.
4. Lose some weight.
5. More hiking!

I'm back to 227 pounds, and at 6'3" that's just too much to be comfortable. I don't care how much I lose, but I do want to see progress in the downward direction.

I'm increasing my pace from a leisurely 25 feet per minute to 30 feet per minute. I'm shooting for 60 miles of climbing. It will take me the same 7 days and 8 hours of total exercise (~29 minutes per day on average). It would be another lifetime personal best if I can do it.

Assuming the timer flips at 30 days, I therefore wish to see the following minimum time on the exercise timer at the end of 2015.

1:02:18:00

The primary goal for 2015 is not to lose weight or to eat less food. It's to be in good shape for the hiking season. The weight will come off naturally if I'm outside doing something I really enjoy doing. In general, I gain weight in the winter and lose it in the summer. 2014's summer was a complete nothingburger though. And on that note...

Happy New Year! :)

37 comments:

  1. As a side note, I would not even dream of trying to climb 60 miles straight up in a single year if I had not gone several years with stair climbing baby step mentality first.

    ...baby step onto the elevator... baby step into the elevator... I'm *in* the elevator. - Bob Wiley, What About Bob? (1991)

    All it takes to start doing something is to simply stop doing nothing. I'm a believer in the theory! :)

    So if you are thinking about a New Year's Resolution, there's nothing wrong with setting an incredibly easy goal. Doing something is better than doing nothing.

    (Unless doing nothing is your goal, which oddly enough I also find admirable. Hey, I'm generally a lazy person.)

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  2. Eating lots of salmon and bone-based broth (made preferably from beef/lamb or fish bones) will help your body absorb the vitamin D.

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  3. Anonymous,

    Figures. Our dogs eat salmon and sweet potato dog food (Costco brand).

    They might be eating better than me. D'oh! ;)

    (Salmon is a luxury meal in this household. I do buy the frozen salmon at Costco from time to time, but it's a bit pricey.)

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  4. I've been a bad boy this year:

    http://i.imgur.com/Qe5Bpsi.png

    off the reservation since June.

    But a 1 lb/week loss rate will get me back into shape (~180) soon enough . . . well, June at least.

    TBH I didn't look very healthy in the low 170s. . .

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  5. Troy,

    Parabola!

    They have a way of sneaking up on both of us apparently. Here's to trend failures in 2015. :)

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  6. Well, you can get soup bones and that works as well. We just make bone broth from the leftover bones from steaks, chops and roasts.

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  7. Anonymous,

    You might find this as interesting as I did.

    Somebody overdid the soup bones and it apparently became quite the medical puzzle.

    It does back your point that soup bones can provide a good source of Vitamin D, at least in moderation.

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  8. I was prescribed this painkiller a while back
    http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/aches-and-pains/medicines/oramorph.html

    Very effective, but your doctor wouldn't want you to take it for months.

    As for salmon:
    (i) Smoked salmon is so tasty that a little goes a long way. Mmmmm!
    (ii) Otherwise we buy salmon when it is on offer, and poach it in the microwave. Delish.


    Anyway, have a Happier New Year.

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  9. My favorite parabolic fail of last year:

    https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?graph_id=199491&category_id=

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  10. I've said it before (so this isn't jinxing you) and, thus, I'll say it again, I'm most impressed that your stairclimber has held up all these years. I'd reckon you use it more in one month than most machines get used in a year, and more in a year than most machines see in their entire lifetime.

    What incentive does a manufacturer have to engineer and build a machine that's going to last longer than 98% of their users are going use it?

    Also, as one of the guys that recommended vitamin D, I must mention consider adding magnesium (but NOT oxide), zinc, and K2 (not to be confused w/ K1). Those are all co-factors for each other.

    Then there's the whole pre & pro biotic wormhole (heh).

    Happy New Year!

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  11. 16 flights of stairs everyday. 8 up in the morning. 8 up after (getting) lunch. I could do the full 17...but why?

    Anyway, happy new year and stay healthy.

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  12. dearieme,

    I once didn't like fish all that much, but I could probably live off of salmon or cod now. Go figure.

    Every Friday after work I'd pick up fish and chips, bring it home, and eat it while watching X-Files. Good times.

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  13. TJandTheBesr,

    A bonus hug for our dogs? Well, okay! If you insist! ;)

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  14. Luke the Debtor,

    8 sips of egg nog in the morning and 8 sips later in the day. No idea why I gain weight in the winter, lol.

    Some things are so worth it though. :)

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  15. I've said it before (so this isn't jinxing you) and, thus, I'll say it again -- I'm most impressed that your stairclimber has held up all these years. I'd reckon you use it more in one month than most machines get used in a year, and more in a year than most machines see in their entire lifetime.

    What incentive does a manufacturer have to engineer and build a machine that's going to last longer than 98% of their users are going use it?

    Also, as one of the guys that recommended vitamin D, I must mention consider adding magnesium (but NOT oxide), zinc, and K2 (not to be confused w/ K1). Those are all co-factors for each other.

    Then there's the whole pre & pro biotic wormhole (heh).

    Happy New Year!

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  16. AllanF,

    I've broken every other stair climber I've owned (and health riders too), so perhaps that was their incentive. I paid about $2000 for this one about 15 years ago.

    The thing is built like a tank. That's what I was looking for. On a dollars spent per flight climbed, it is probably just now hitting the break even point.

    I believe it was actually you who inspired me to have my Vitamin D level tested. Thanks for that! :)

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  17. I paid about $2000 for this one about 15 years ago.

    Ah, that explains it then. It's the Land Cruiser of stair machines. :)

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  18. AllanF,

    One of the stair climbers I broke scared the you know what out of me.

    I was climbing at a rapid pace, an internal cable broke, and both steps instantly lost all friction.

    I opted to never experience that feeling again.

    I've opened up my current one a few times and it still looks mostly new on the inside. As an added bonus, crouching behind the flywheel would probably protect me from small calibre gun fire if there's ever a shootout. You know, if my house is ever robbed by a roving gang of exercise equipment thieves, lol.

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  19. Haha, you jinxed Harry Reid.

    Couldn't have happened to a nicer scumbag.

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  20. Reid out of hospital after breaking ribs, facial bones

    Who would have guessed that cheaply made exercise equipment can be dangerous? D'oh!

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  21. http://www.pcgamer.com/best-pc-games-2015/

    was a cool review of what's coming. Kinda fun seeing the gaps in the review, what's not coming down the pike as it were.

    I'd forgotten about World of Warships. That's a better design space than World of Tanks, but not sure they have the vision to make the game I want (thankfully).

    Company's richer than god tho so they've got the technical ability no doubt.

    I was deeply dissatisfied with XPlane on my iPad Air so there's market daylight for me there, too.

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  22. Troy,

    Many of those games are very tempting, but I'm done playing pesronal computer games more than likely.

    I'm even starting to think that this new iPhone may postpone the purchase of a PS4 by a considerable margin. Go figure.

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  23. get a fitbit or jawbone. My Up 24 is great.

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  24. i've thought about a fitbit but the iPhone w/Spotify seems to be motivating me plenty so far..

    That said, the iPhone w/SimCity seems to be cutting into my posting activity, lol,

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  25. Two words... "Battle Cats."

    Get the Up 24 or whatever after research.

    And since it is free advice here at IoP; Limit screen/tv/bright lights time just before bed.

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  26. Rob Dawg,

    I have been using more eyedrops and getting less sleep lately. Turned up the brightness. Probably not a coincidence!

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  27. Many of those games are very tempting

    well, I don't look with a player's eye but as inspiration as a developer.

    These guys:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xctmwrTBKjs

    "stole" one of my working titles ("XYZ: The OOB")

    but seeing the phase-based air/sea movement made me want to punch the designer's face through the LCD.

    (I also /hate/ hexes)

    One of the more fun game dynamics is the from-the-hip long-distance artillery shot, but it looks like the OOB designers didn't want that.

    Remember Atari Games' Rampart?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvxcW3aXwjw

    While it suffered from trying to spot weld two genres together, the cannoniering part was totally fun.

    WW2 ships weren't lacking in the artillery department, that's for sure.

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  28. 30-year bond closed at 2.50 today. It seems like the right time to mention your <3.00 prediction for 2015. After the recent yield crushing, you have 50 bps to give. Nice start to the year.

    The oil crash brought a strong whiff of deflation with it. Bonds up , commodities down, stocks just starting to catch down.

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  29. Troy,

    I bought Pacific Fleet (the game, not the real thing ;)).

    I'm experiencing addicting game overload. I really need to get some sleep at some point, lol.

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  30. Mr Slippery,

    Yeah, I'm building up quite a safety buffer as I battle the long-term rising interest rate theorists.

    I'm not superstitious, but probably best not to jinx this prediction with excessive gloating though, lol.

    I mean really, what an amazing run over the past month. Wow.

    This also bodes well for my shadowstats prediction. Looks like subscription pricing power will continue to be under pressure until hyperinflation appears in digital information media. Speaking of which, my subscription fee for this blog seems pegged at $0 per decade. If you renew today I'll throw in an additional decade absolutely free! ;)

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  31. The 1-year and 2-year UK Gilts yield less than the 6-month. What can it mean?
    http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Bonds

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  32. dearieme,

    Somebody in the UK apparently wants to lock in the 2-year in case the 6-month yield falls from its currently "lofty" levels, lol.

    That's not exactly an encouraging development for UK savers (or for the UK economy), but what's new? Sigh.

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  33. Fresh fails:

    http://goldsilverworlds.com/investing/qe-quantitative-easing-or-questionably-effective/

    We both need to resume posting. Lazy or...?

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  34. Rob Dawg,

    Lazy.

    I managed to go 50 years without a mobile phone. The games on it have captured my attention (productivity unmiracle).

    This too shall pass. :)

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  35. I'm addicted to 5 different games simultaneously. It's a personal best, lol.

    They all started off as free but I spent about $15 upgrading them.

    It's killing my sleep schedule and my eyes are fatigued. Where's the nanny state to step in and protect me from myself! Hahaha! :)

    Fortunately, I'm not entirely insane. At least I'm getting plenty of exercise (New Year's resolution).

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