Dry January

More than 25 years ago, in the early to mid 90s, I made my last New Year's resolution: it was to never make a resolution again.

So far, I've kept that promise.

A year ago, a Twitter friend of mine made a resolution to cut drinking for the month of January, to follow the challenge that is known as Dry January. But at the end of January, she continued to abstain from alcohol and today, she remains a teetotaler.

She's also started running, and has chosen a healthy lifestyle that has seen her lose 75 pounds.

Though we have never met, I have held her as an inspiration for living a healthy life.

Over the past few months, I have noticed that I haven't been eating well and have practically cut out exercise from my life. I have seen my gut expand to what I feel is embarrassing. When I view my video of DW's and my Mexican vacation, and I see myself snorkelling and exploring cenotes without a shirt, I feel disgusted.

In December, my Twitter friend was interviewed on CBC Radio, and she discussed her changes and fitness, and how it all started with last year's Dry January. She admitted that she drank more than she should have, and how much better she feels for giving up the booze, especially with her weight loss.

I don't drink a lot and I don't consider giving up alcohol for a month to be a challenge, but I am motivated to see my belly shrink. And so, as of January 1st (actually, I didn't consume any alcohol on New Year's Eve), I have decided to accept this challenge to see how much weight I can lose by leaving my beer and wine in the basement for the month.

But giving up booze isn't enough to work off my fat. And so, I've also decided to cut sugar out of my diet, as well as any foods that I don't 'need.'

No cream in my coffee: the same goes for sugar.

No desserts.

No potato chips (this one is going to be the hardest).

No fast food.

Of course, cutting out food is just the start. I have also committed to performing a minimum of 30 minutes of stressful activity every day. On New Year's Day, I did a lot of house cleaning, in which I went up and down the stairs 18 times over the course of 72 minutes. Yesterday, I shovelled the wet sludge that the snow plow had left at the end of my driveway, which took 36 minutes and left me covered in sweat.

It wasn't a treadmill or spin bike, but both tasks were a workout that got my heart pumping.

With two days under my belt, so far, I've not had a drop to drink, even though my parents came over for a movie night on New Year's Day and brought beer. My father had the beer: I drank club soda. I've eaten healthy choices, and though DW made crepes for breakfast, yesterday, I only added pineapple and raspberries (natural sugars are okay) and skipped the maple syrup.

As I was writing this post, DW and DD16 were in the next room, watching Netflix and eating chips. I fought the urge to help myself to their bag.

On New Year's Day, I weighed myself for the first time in months: I am the heaviest I've ever been, at 81.2 kgs. I'm not a tall person, so I am clearly overweight. At the end of the month, I'll share my weight, and if I've made significant improvement, I'll share the results.

And though I'll resume enjoying my beer, I'll make sure that I've exercised enough to counter the calorie intake. But I may continue cutting out sugar and avoiding junk food.

One promise to myself is to continue working out. I've committed to a 100-kilometre ride with some friends, and I'd like to be able to look at myself in the mirror, and not shudder.

This is not a New Year's resolution. Dry January just happens to fall at the time that most people make resolutions. I've been inspired by a friend, and I'm tired of feeling tired all the time.

I want my old body back. Dry January is merely the catalyst.