My New Hiking Goal, Plus StairMaster, Meal Prep, and Other Successes

In 2020, I set a goal to walk one long trail from end to end. I broke it into chunks, and did a different portion every weekend, ultimately completing it in August, walking 102.6 miles in the process. Now I’m back at it!

JJ and I went for our first hike of 2021, and it was the first leg of my 2021 hiking goal: to

Switching Up My Meal Prep Because I’m So Sick of Salads

Let’s get things started with a few updates. This Wednesday will mark 12 weeks of constant headache (residual pain from my shingles outbreak in the fall). The good news is that it’s been extremely mild, and I’m used to it, so I barely notice it anymore. It’s been weeks since it’s flared up to the point where it’s caused any significant inconvenience in my life. Hopefully this means it will go away soon – I feel like I’m 97% of the way there!

In other news, I’m hitting the stairmaster with a renewed vigor. My current plan is to use it twice a week (Mondays and Fridays), and while I’m only starting my second week of that plan, I’m excited by it.

Working out with a mask on is

February Weigh-In and Update

Happy February, everyone! I wanted to start this post with a correction. I track my workouts, and last month, in my 2020 Year-End Progress Report, I said that in order for activity to count, for me, as exercise, it needed to “be activity where the sole purpose is to get exercise.” Well, there’s an exception to that rule… shoveling snow.

(There’s actually probably more than one exception, but, for now, I’m going to focus on this one.)

There’s a very practical reason why people shovel snow –