This year I have decided to set a couple of goals. What's the difference? I see resolutions as nebulous in nature. I will lose weight. I will stop smoking. I will stop telling awful jokes. All good ideas, even though I don't smoke, but no real way of measuring whether I have succeeded.
So, I am setting two health-related goals for 2009. First, to count my food intake and limit it to 2,000 calories per day. Second, to walk one mile per day, five days per week.
I will be sixty-two in three weeks. I was blessed with good genes and have never had to pay too much attention to my body. With just a little bit of help, it has always snapped back quickly from illness or injury.
But over the past two years, I have noticed that that ability to spring back has diminished. During that same period, my hair has gone almost totally to gray and my skin, tight and smooth when I moved to the Keys five years ago, has taking on a dappled appearance. I still look younger than my years, but strangers don't react with as much surprise as I used to see when I tell them my age.
So, I have decided to take a more active interest in my health. Just how big an effect it will have on my day-to-day well-being is difficult to determine right now. We shall see.
I've set some goals for my writing, too. If you're interested in the numbers there, check them out at my writing blog, A Moving Line.
As to my health goals, I'll be doing regular posts here.
Have an exceptional new year!
