What a difference a year makes!
This time last year, just as we were making plans to watch Ole Miss in the New Orleans Sugar Bowl, Mississippi covid cases were skyrocketing, reaching a January 20 peak of 7,000 daily cases.
Today, I have a minor cold. Nobody cares. No worries. No quarantining. Nothing. Things are back to normal. There were no Mississippi covid deaths in the last week and 66 cases. Thank you, Lord.
It seems Ginny and I went to more parties this holiday season than any other time. Everybody is catching up on the missed parties of the past few years.
Christmas and New Year’s Day fall on the weekend this year, giving me the opportunity, as a boss, to joke about how there’s no need for any days off. I love playing the part of an old-school boss, even though I am nothing of the sort. I care about productivity, not about where you sit.
Covid was nasty, killing over a million people in the U. S., about one in 350. It was the worst plague since the Spanish Flu of 1918, which killed 675,000 about one in 150.
The big difference was the Spanish Flu killed young people and covid tended to kill older people.
The medical system held up well. Despite fears, our hospitals were never overrun, although we came close at times.
There was the big debate about lockdowns. In retrospect, covid ran amuck without much concern for human intervention. Sweden, which was notorious for not locking down, fared about as well as the strict lockdown countries.
As we grapple with the worst inflation in two generations, we are seeing the negative effect of the lockdowns, which closed businesses, disrupted supply chains and generally wreaked havoc on the economy.
The sudden stoppage of business caused by the lockdowns led the federal government to increase the money supply like never before. And now we have inflation.
Life goes on and now we have a new crisis: A genuine war in Europe between Russia and the West. We will survive this too.
With the passing of covid, I decided it was time to lose my “covid 19,” a reference to the 19 pounds we all gained while sitting around our houses eating, drinking and watching TV as we sheltered at home.
Truth be known, Ginny and I didn’t do much sheltering. Nothing much changed in our lifestyle except for the government restrictions we had to work around. We were on the same page in that regard.
I know several couples that had severe covid incompatibilities. One spouse would want to lock down. The other spouse couldn’t care less. Now that’s a marital incompatibility most couples never thought about when engaged!
I got covid once. It hit me like a ton of bricks one day and was gone the next. Two years later, as covid was winding down, I was the sickest I had ever been. In fact, I worried I would never get well. The tests were negative, but I was convinced it was covid related. But I lived and I’m fine now.
So with New Year’s Day, I join the American horde that makes losing weight the number one resolution.
I’m actually ahead of the game, having started several months ago with a new diet.
In the past, I was a big believer in one-day fasting. Fast one day a week to maintain your weight. Fast two days a week to lose weight. It worked great.
But now I’m older with less willpower and strength. Fasting is hard on the body. So at the ripe old age of 64, I am trying to actually diet the right way — by counting calories and exercising modestly and losing weight over the long haul.
I have to admit that it’s working. Why did I never try to do this before?
Here’s how it works: First of all, I weigh myself every morning. Every Monday, I compute my seven-day average weight that adjusts for daily fluctuations.
At the same time, I count calories, minus my resting metabolism and any exercise and compute how much weight I should have lost during the week. My goal is to lose around a pound or a half pound a week. So far, I’ve lost four pounds in six weeks.
There are no restrictions on what I eat. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. Because dieting is generally unpleasant, I try to offset that unpleasantness by emphasizing the most pleasure per calorie possible, so cutting out wine is off the table.
I don’t use an app because I want control. I used a simple smartphone notepad to write down everything I eat and estimate the calories. The Internet is a great help because you can Google any food and find the calorie content. I bought a scale and measuring cups but I really didn’t need them. After a while, you get pretty good at estimating the calories in anything.
For things I consume daily, I have a pre-set list of the calorie counts to save time. So, for instance, when I order my regular sushi lunch, I have already figured out the calorie count.
Same thing with exercise: There are great Internet tools for estimating calorie burn. Turns out walking 18 holes of golf burns 1,700 calories, about a half pound. Since I love golf, this works really well for me.
In reality, it’s not that we eat too much, it’s that we don’t exercise enough because we drive everywhere. So if you can just figure out a way to burn 500 calories a day, you eat a normal diet and not gain weight. Treadmills and walking are great in this regard.
So far, I’m right on target. For the first five weeks, I lost exactly how much my calorie counting projected.
But this won’t last. Your body adapts. So better to go slow. Lose a little bit. Level off. Let your body adjust. And then continue watching your calories. In fact, over time, studies show that if you quit overeating you will get back to normal weight sooner or later. Eventually, the percentage of calories you over-consume per day will exactly match the percentage you are over your normal body mass index.
So wish me luck. Happy New Year!
